Can the mods out right delete the subs? I don’t understand that aspect of Reddit.
Mods can leave a community private. Reddit can replace mods. But replacing mods is not a trivial process - you either have to pay them, or they have to be interested in doing that.
At long last, if agreement cannot be reached and Reddit decides to show their kingly status (referring to their naming mods as landed gentry :P ), Reddit might establish a standard way of mods being elected.
Alas, most subreddits aren’t invested enough in the process of delegating power to hold regular mod elections, and even those that do (r/anarchism comes to mind), require proof (of work / effort / participation) to qualify. Reddit would have to provide a mechanism.
Since they obviously won’t, apparently they just threaten protesting subreddits with administrative takeover. A great way to ram the platform into ground. :o
This is correct, but I think it leaves out that the proper way to protest mods is to create an alternative sub. So mod elections aren’t really needed - if users disagree with a mod’s actions, they can just go to another sub. If one doesn’t exist, that means not enough people care for the original mods.
Replacing mods by force undermines the whole system - what is even the point a mod if you have no say in what your subreddit is like? That is also what makes federation so enticing - by self hosting, you have the ultimate say in what your server does, and people can either choose to federate with you or de-fed if they disagree with your actions. That’s a much fairer system.