Who wants this

We’re back!

 As some of you are no doubt aware, Spez recently spoke to the media, stating that subreddits that are participating in the blackout may be taken over by new moderation teams. Even if the mod team is in full support and even if the users agree with the protest, if anyone takes issue with it? Reddit will unequivocally side with those users. Admins have sent out a mod mail to large subs… Well, I’ll just quote it.

 "If there are mods here who are willing to work towards reopening this community, we are willing to work with you to process a Top Mod Removal request or reorder the mod team to achieve this goal if mods higher up the list are hindering reopening. We would handle this request and any retaliation attempts here in this modmail chain immediately.

Our goal is to work with the existing mod team to find a path forward and make sure your subreddit is made available for the community that makes its home here. If you are not able or willing to reopen and maintain the community, please let us know." https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/16/23763538/reddit-blackout-api-protest-mod-replacement-threat

 Earlier, Spez also said in an interview with NBC News that dissenting users who disagree with the blackout can take their concerns to the administrators and have the current moderation team removed. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/reddit-protest-blackout-ceo-steve-huffman-moderators-rcna89544

 This situation has very much forced our hand. As I’m sure everyone who has ever read a thread on Reddit is aware, there are actors on this website that would actively take over as many subs as possible and use them as a means to spread political extremism. This is very much a thing we’d like to avoid, for obvious reasons, and it’s happened on enough completely unrelated subs that it’s honestly a serious threat. There’s also a concern that any mods Reddit installs may not understand the community the subreddit has built, what we actually do here, and why. Because of these reasons, and after an extensive debate between the moderators of the Retro Gaming Network, we’ve decided to reopen the sub to the public again. As users of the service first and foremost, we feel that the risks involved are just too high to justify continuing a protest. If Reddit stays or goes, our duty is primarily to provide a positive environment for the discussion of retro video games, and a sudden mod switch may do the exact opposite.

 Clearly, we’re all very unhappy with the steps Spez has taken to force our hand on this issue. A few moderators from multiple Retro Gaming Networks subs have stepped down permanently as a result of these actions, and those of us that remain are dedicated to trying to keep things stable while all of this shakes out or individual subs decide to find new homes. The fact is, he put down his iron fist. If we want the sub to stay in its current form, we have no choice. He played his strongest card.

 We would like to thank all of the users who supported the blackout. This is not how we were intending to end things, obviously, and we appreciate you having our back.

 This is a very heated topic, and threads of this nature on larger subreddits have turned into massive arguments that we feel would be detrimental to the overall health of the sub. Our user base is generally very kind and thoughtful, so we don't imagine it being a problem, but as a precaution, we've decided to lock this thread. We're here to talk about video games; infighting about policy changes can only hurt that goal and do harm to our community. We hope you understand that we want to do whatever we can to prevent that from happening.

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I've been a mod for quite a few of the retrogaming (and other adjacent) subs here for a long time -- even if kind of dormant recently. I love these topics, and how our digital "ancestors" solved hard problems, and how we've build a continuum of interest with their work. I started and even took over a few dormant subs and worked with /u/zadocpaet to help build a broad community here, even appealing to niche systems.

The mod teams are doing a great job, especially /u/Derf_Jagged. I feel like now is a good time to step down. I'm going to continue to lurk, and be a regular user and I wish the subs, the mods, and the users the best!