workreformscandal.com -- if website is down, use this link instead ^{(all identifiable information has been redacted/modified as to abide to Reddit's rules. If we didn't do this we would all of been banned instantly as it would've counted as harassment/brigading. I know it can be confusing reading through all the logs, so I would recommend reading the comments to get a better understanding of the situation})

This is a call to action.

DISCLAIMER: Strong language, rated M for Mature.

Join r/Workers_Revolt for developments regarding the workreform scandal. As you are reading this, I am probably already banned from WorkReform , they will not wait to censor me or all the other founding and original mods who support me. This post will live on through crossposting. Please share this anywhere you can within Reddit’s Terms of Service so that communities become aware of unworthy power-mongering moderators and Reddit’s stance on democracy.

We created WorkReform because we believe in transparency and democracy. We believe in equal rights between all workers. We wanted workers to feel safe knowing the mod team could be trusted and that mods would work for them. We created a new place intended for workers to speak up without fear of being silenced or suppressed by higher ups whose only goal is to benefit their own.

We have failed you.

In the span of 72 hours, WorkReform went from the heaven it was meant to be – to its’ complete opposite hell. The mods I was forced to appoint have now taken over the sub. It is now controlled by power tripping people who have no intention of empowering you to democratically shape our movement.

What was initially a temporary lack of transparency in the name of defense is now made permanent thanks to the new mods. All posts are being manually filtered by the top moderator and their friends, in an effort to push their own narratives and long-term failed personal Reddit projects. They manually select what post goes to the frontpage, manipulate votes, and astroturf the subreddit by blocking new submissions, only accepting those that fit their agendas.

We can’t stop them anymore. Opposing moderators were intimidated through the very union-busting tactics we fight against and were gradually silently removed. At one moment, the modqueue was 70 submissions long (This is what just 20 looks like: https://imgur.com/a/KuHoPtH) and we feared accepting any, because we knew those posts waiting were not what the new mods wanted but we couldn’t come to reject them.

There is no democracy anymore, the top mod and their friends get to dictate what the sub is about. They do not trust or care for you to shape this sub. We have been manipulated and lied to. Reddit admins refuse to help (actually, they don’t even answer me, which is worse). The sub is doomed.

This is the reddit version of a new shitty manager being hired at your workplace, and that manager only exists to make your life a pain. Worse, they clean house and hire all their friends to replace you. It is nepotism at its finest.

For those who want to understand the situation better, let’s go into specifics. Let’s rewind time back a bit.

I created the sub on Jan 26. The sub reached 450 000 members on Jan 27. That same day, the reddit admins forced us to appoint new moderators. In reality, we wanted to go slow and work with the community because we were unfamiliar with Reddit… But they wanted us to appoint new mods NOW. After accepting the reality that I couldn’t keep my promise with the community, I gave up mod to someone else…

Then we met the new mods in question. Following a series of manipulative speeches where they promised transparency, democracy, and alignment with the broader Work Reform movement, we appointed these new moderators up. They managed to gain all of our trust at our most vulnerable point, and we ended up being deceived. https://imgur.com/a/KNzSsIn (28 Jan 2022, 2:24pm PST, proof of their manipulation) (Note that all names and identifiers are replaced to abide to Reddit ToS)

Since then, every attempt at transparency, no matter how basic, has been rejected and no democratic election of moderators has happened; and instead, friends of the powermods are being brought on, without us even having a say on it.

They convinced us it was for the better that we hand them control. They coached us on how to do it. They tricked us. After we handed them control, they immediately took off their masks, setting forth rules on their own, intimidating other moderators, and we’re left with a fucking burning sack of shit. We asked for control back, and of course they refused to give it.

So we’re mind-blown that this has happened. Reddit admins enabled this, and won’t fix it.

The new power mods are not your rightful leaders. You were promised democracy where you would elect your leaders. They have performed a facist takeover. https://imgur.com/a/JIOPgc0 (proof they use this sub to push their own project, completely disregarding the intended purpose of the sub)

We do not understand why. They have spent years building a Bernie Sanders movement and networking with Progressive politicians - they even had an AMA with AOC - and now they turn on the community like this, going against everything Bernie Sanders and Progressives would stand for!? It makes no sense.

So you might be wondering how I learned all of that? Why did I not tell you sooner?

The WorkReform mod team has a discord server. This is where they discuss what posts get approved, what posts get removed, what rules get implemented, etc etc. Typical modding stuff.

This is a message that was sent from the current top mod to OG mod u/itzwarty , first red flag :

Those modteams aren't a democracy. It's a project headed by ["Not Us, Me"] and myself in close collaboration with a handful of our friends.

Uhh? He never ever mentioned this before becoming a mod. In fact we discussed the exact opposite - transparency of moderation actions, community-driven environment, moderators in service, collaborative moderation, transparent moderation election, and frankly this needing to be bigger than just one subreddit. What’s next, he’ll want to go on national news to try to explain a movement he doesn’t even comprehend?

Is this how their other projects, “SFP” and “NDA” operate? By co-opting existing communities, feigning transparency and being community-driven, banning everyone they disagree with to create an echochamber, hiding all of this from the community who thinks the community is organic? This is not what Bernie Sanders and Progressives stand for, and this is not what the politicians and future leaders of our country that they are working with expect, so why are these people now dictating what 1,000,000 redditors can see and say from the shadows?

But then, it got even worse. Shit hit the fan.

I received a notification. The last notification I will ever receive from that server. Read this:

Holy fucking shit lol, wait what the fuck did I just read?

First thing I did was straight out call him out on it. No way I’m letting this slide.

But then guess what? 10 seconds after I called him out on it, he banned me. I didn’t even have time to screenshot it.

He attempts to invalidate democracy on reddit because “people are free to unsubscribe”. This is the equivalent of saying that North Korea is a democracy because "people are free to leave". How fucking delusional and disconnected from the situation do you have to be to actually believe that. He went against ALL founding principles of the subreddit, the very REASON it was created!

This is such a fucking shit show. I’m ashamed that it has come to this.

What else is there to say really? We have failed you and succumbed to the takeover of hostile power mods. The sub is controlled by power freaks, it is not in good hands. They are now choosing your leaders for you. Here is their recent mod recruiting post, not even trying to hide that it won't be democratic!

We understand some of you may not believe or fully trust this post, so for full transparency, we are providing the community with WorkReform’s full snapshot of its moderation Discord server. We have thoroughly swept through and redacted it to ensure it is compatible with Reddit’s Terms of Service. A few records of messages by short-term moderators who had nothing to do with this have been removed, and where redactions happened is clearly outlined. Usernames and personally identifiable information have been stripped quite beyond necessary.

It is our right and ethical duty to gather and hand this data to you. It would be immoral for us to not tell you this: you are being tricked, and we cannot allow that to continue.

• 27 Jan 2022, ~7pm PST powermod joins the team.

• 27 Jan 2022, 8:29pm PST - ‘Yeah, it 100% makes sense to emphasize “This is a community-led movement”’ from powermod’s sidekick.

• 28 Jan 2022, 2:24pm PST - Subreddit ownership transfer.

• 28 Jan 2022, 2:44pm PST - “We don’t need to be personally responding to anything right now”

• 28 Jan 2022, 2:53pm PST - Someone brings up concern over the reordered mod listing with powermod now on top, popcorn ensues. “Don't approve meta posts that ask why things were removed, are critical of mods, negative on the community”

• 28 Jan 2022, 3:43pm PST - It is decreed we cannot approve “What is workreform?” or “what are our goals?” posts. We cannot collaborate with other subreddits.

• 28 Jan 2022, 3:48pm PST - “Transparency works in theory but the more you give, the more the bad folks out there will take”

• 28 Jan 2022, 4:03pm PST - Powermods invite their friends to the party without any community democracy or input from the existing mod team. New mod quickly writes “There might actually be some valid criticisms of the old mod team in those comments that we can use” oblivious to the fact that old mods are still on Discord.

• 28 Jan 2022, 10:04pm PST - An original mod wants to start recruiting and is told to funnel that through the top mod.

• 29 Jan 2022, 6:47pm PST - “Just let it go for now”

• 29 Jan 2022, 1:56pm PST - New rules are rolled out without consulting any original moderators. Note the comment that powermod’s friends have full permissions while older moderators do not.

• 29 Jan 2022, 2:08pm PST - “Discussion is great & welcome if productive, but we have our eyes set on a big prize”

• 30 Jan 2022, ~9am PST A moderator is kicked rather than being allowed to leave themselves.

• 30 Jan 2022, 11:30am-12:29pm PST - More basic attempts at transparency: “Those mods are gone. They are gone in part because they were promising things they couldn't deliver & things that reddit communities aren't really able to do.” So I guess they don’t even want to let us try democracy, eh? More basic attempts at transparency: “Those mods are gone. They are gone in part because they were promising things they couldn't deliver & things that reddit communities aren't really able to do.” So I guess they don’t even want to let us try democracy, eh?

• 30 Jan 2022, 3:41pm PST We tried to make a [transparency post](https://web.archive.org/web/20220130211612/https://old.reddit.com/r/WorkReform/comments/sgj6qq/im_a_mod_here_in_rworkreform_wanted_to_give_a/) which you can [still see online](https://www.reveddit.com/v/WorkReform/comments/sgj6qq/im_a_mod_here_in_rworkreform_wanted_to_give_a/) but it was closed by the primary dictator. https://imgur.com/a/sd2m2ij

• 30 Jan 2022, 10:51pm PST, original moderators begin discussing the hijack.

• 31 Jan 2022, 6:10am PST, - Was democracy ever promised? Yes, the original team promised that. We should set a date to set expectations. Meanwhile, the moderators discuss Harpreet Chima, Candidate for US Congress (CA-9), is posting on WorkReform fully unaware that it has been co-opted.

• 31 Jan 2022, 12:30pm PST - We are not going to be having moderator elections. “On reddit, democracy is that people are 100% free to unsubscribe if they don't like the way things are done”. New mods are going to be recruited soon (the implication being old mods who disagree will be kicked too).

• 31 Jan 2022, 1:15pm PST - ‘We’re stepping away from “Transparency is Key” as a mantra I think’

• 31 Jan 2022, 2:22pm PST - Reddit admin informs us they will not be stepping in.

• 31 Jan 2022, 3:07pm PST, dissenting moderator is removed from the team.

• 31 Jan 2022, 3:35pm PST, founder u/RIOP3L messages powermod saying “youre going against the principles upon which the sub was founded” and is kicked within seconds.

• 31 Jan 2022 3:44pm PST - WorkReform begins recruiting new moderators.

• 2 Feb 2022 2:45am PST: This post is made.

While we are fully attempting to comply with Reddit’s Terms of Service and intend to cooperate with any communication received from administrators, we do not know if they will delete our post or suppress this information. We ask our users to also comply with Reddit’s Terms of Service and intend to remove ourselves from this situation.

Our goal is not to incite hate or division, our goal is to give our community the opportunity of informed consent - to know that:

1. Reddit communities are not organic. That is a lie. Reddit provides tools for moderators to astroturf subreddits and create echo-chambers without the consent or knowledge of the community. Anyone who points this out is banned. Reddit lets moderators manipulate their communities’ votes to decide what gets on the front page.

2. Reddit communities are controlled by a tiny group of paranoid power-hungry fascists who only serve each other. https://imgur.com/a/u2SVq9B https://imgur.com/a/JIOPgc0

3. Reddit either supports or overlooks these fascists and will not stand for democracy or worker movements when it counts. Reddit does not stand by the millions of workers fighting for basic human rights, healthcare, living and thriving wages, workspace representation, and a mass-movement to improve worker conditions in the US and beyond.

We hope you take a few things away from this:

1. Like workplaces, Reddit communities and moderators are divided-and-conquered by their top-moderators. Coups and hostile takeovers are real. There is zero power in the community and zero power in lesser volunteer moderators who want to fight the status quo.

2. Facist takeovers are real and happen at the snap of a finger. Adversaries will work to gain your trust, lower your weaknesses, and then backstab you.

3. Reddit communities can promise transparency while simultaneously heavily censoring opposing thoughts. You thought this community was normal. You thought we intended for democracy. Those in control did not, and you did not realize it.

4. Reddit will not help you if your community is co-opted. It is clear as day, and we hope you see the same. We sent them these logs. They replied that they would do nothing.

We tell you this not to stir drama, but to inform you. We were naïve. You are probably still naïve. We want to give you the power of information.

Our final recommendation to the community, if you choose to continue mobilizing on Reddit:

1. Splinter into a thousand small communities and trust only those that permit cross-pollination. Big subreddits are OK, but we cannot put all our eggs in one or a few baskets. Our movement cannot succumb to power-hungry moderators. Our movement is simply just too important.

2. Demand moderators who serve communities transparently. We failed at first, but we are doing it for you now. And others can do it too. For something as important as worker reform, we need transparency and accountability.

So this is it. This is our last call. There is 2 options left for the current moderation of WorkReform:

1. Give control back to the OG mods, allowing us to run moderator elections, salvaging whatever is left of your reputation in the process, or;

2. Keep control, permanently tainting yourselves as power mongers.

edit: Here's my goodbye post that was deleted