Reddit swoops in to resolve WallStreetBets moderator drama

The adults have spoken.

After a moderator dispute threatened to tear apart the popular subreddit r/wallstreetbets, Reddit itself was forced to step in to stop the bleeding. In a message sent to the subreddit moderators, a Reddit employee said the site had booted several top moderators.

At issue was an apparent play to capitalize on the subreddit's record-breaking pageviews and talk of movie deals. Allegedly, with dollar signs in their eyes, inactive moderators had come out of retirement to mass ban the active mods on the subreddit in an effort to wrest control.

Whatever the true motivation behind the mod purge, Reddit apparently had enough.

"After reviewing this situation based on input from both current and past moderators, we have decided to remove several moderators at the top of the list that were creating instability in the community," read the message from sodypop, a Reddit employee. "For the same reason, we can no longer permit u/zjz, or any of the mods we removed today, to be a part of this moderator team under their current or alternate accounts."

The message, which was sent Thursday to all r/wallstreetbets mods, is sure to be a controversial one — a reality acknowledged by sodypop.

SEE ALSO: Reddit's WallStreetBets is crowdfunding a Super Bowl ad to 'sh*t' on Robinhood

"Our decision today was not an easy one, as we generally expect moderators to work their differences out as a unified team," wrote sodypop. "Those are our expectations moving forward. We understand many will be upset with our decisions today, however it was clear to us an intervention was necessary for the continued health of the r/wallstreetbets community."

When reached for comment, a Reddit spokesperson confirmed the message from sodypop was sent to r/wallstreetbets moderators Thursday, but decline to comment further.

Reddit moderators are not paid for their roles, and active communities like r/wallstreetbets can be extremely time consuming to moderate.

Perhaps now, with the mod drama behind it, the subreddit can get back to doing what it does best: YOLOing on some random meme stock.

The entire message from sodypop can be read below.

Thank you for reaching out about the recent happenings amongst the moderator team. We understand there has been a great deal of pressure on this community and its mods who have handled the traffic remarkably to this point.

After reviewing this situation based on input from both current and past moderators, we have decided to remove several moderators at the top of the list that were creating instability in the community. For the same reason, we can no longer permit u/zjz, or any of the mods we removed today, to be a part of this moderator team under their current or alternate accounts. However, you are welcome to invite any of the other moderators who were removed last night.

We were greatly disappointed to hear that the division growing within the ranks of the moderator team could not be resolved amicably. Regretfully, these divisions amongst the mods led to instability in the community, which is ultimately our primary concern, and the leading premise of our Moderator Guidelines.

Our decision today was not an easy one, as we generally expect moderators to work their differences out as a unified team. Those are our expectations moving forward. We understand many will be upset with our decisions today, however it was clear to us an intervention was necessary for the continued health of the r/wallstreetbets community. I'm sure many of you will have questions and concerns you wish to raise, and we're happy to respond as we are able, but please understand that our decisions today are final.

It is important to note that we appreciate the past and recent contributions of each of these former moderators, and those individuals should be proud of the community they have helped build. We hope we can continue to work together with the active moderator team to sustain the health of this community.

Best,

sodypop

UPDATE: Feb. 5, 2021, 11:02 a.m. PST:This story was updated to include comment from a Reddit spokesperson.