> Consider this: What if the redditors, while this protest was going on, found an alternate site and all started posting there instead? Then the mods would've just effectively stripped themselves (and Reddit, Reddit admins, etc.) of power.
Why is that a problem? If the mods are actually acting in the best interests of their communities (which, in your scenario, are able to re-form on another site) then that's a positive result for them (in an altruistic sense).
As I user, I fully support the shutdown. I wish every major sub would shutdown.
So Victora didn't want the quality hurt for monetization purposes and was fired. Now the mods stepped up and said they don't want it either. Immediately we got a really high quality IAMA from a Reddit employee fired by Pao for having cancer. Do you think we'd ever see real back and forth about topics like that if it was just pre-scripted money making IAMAs left?
Victoria and the mods seems to do the absolutely best things they could do for the quality. If I just wanted advertiser sponsored content I'd still be a digg user, which is what that site turned into.
You're thinking democracy. That's not how subreddits work. Some might respect the wishes of the community and try to work with it but they're not beholden at all.
> In this case, they are instead caring for their own personal feelings/ease of moderation through communication with the Victoria.
Your portrayal is not right. While it might be in some cases, there's pretty good arguments about why people are doing what they're doing and the subscribers for different subreddits have given an impressive amount of support to the movements so you can't claim it's some sort of ego power play without consent of other people.
> As a result, hundreds of thousands of redditors are cut off from their friends and fellow subredditors
I find it slightly funny that you're talking as if this was some sort of humanitarian crisis or natural disaster. They can still message their friends and discuss in many subs that are not private if they're so inclined.
> Even the AMAs are cut off.
Well, one of the arguments is that the reddit administration didn't care about the AMAs when they made their decision of removing Victoria without consulting with any moderator (specially those that depended heavily on her).
> Consider this: What if the redditors, while this protest was going on, found an alternate site and all started posting there instead? Then the mods would've just effectively stripped themselves (and Reddit, Reddit admins, etc.) of power.
People can find alternate sites all the time. The "power loss" you claim is negligible and seems more like a scare tactic to force inaction. "Don't try protesting or showing anything is not in order because people might leave and you'll not be as important! Fall back in line!"
> However, the method which these moderators have chosen to demonstrate with hinders the community, and for that reason goes against what moderators represent, and so should not be supported.
The way they chose is absolutely effective with only the cost of a slight inconvenience. What the moderators represent to you is clearly not the popular opinion and the fact that many users seem to be overwhelmingly in support of this measures seems to leave you in a minority position.
At the risk of sounding harsh one could argue that your stance seems motivated by reasons of personal convenience that go against the best for reddit and the community as a whole.
The people who have closed the subreddits are the moderators. These moderators should represent the desires of the users. In this case, they are instead caring for their own personal feelings/ease of moderation through communication with the Victoria.
As a result, hundreds of thousands of redditors are cut off from their friends and fellow subredditors. Even the AMAs are cut off. I think this is wrong.
Consider this: What if the redditors, while this protest was going on, found an alternate site and all started posting there instead? Then the mods would've just effectively stripped themselves (and Reddit, Reddit admins, etc.) of power.
While I don't know Victoria so I cannot sympathize, I can at least understand the moderators' cause. However, the method which these moderators have chosen to demonstrate with hinders the community, and for that reason goes against what moderators represent, and so should not be supported.