Many of you are aware of . We have generally maintained a policy that criticism of the moderation team should not result in bans, and in many cases we have erred on the side of leaving in place both moderators’ rule-violating comments and those of the respondents, in an attempt to remain transparent. That approach left a lot of evidence of public wrong-doing, which rightly resulted in public criticism and calls to action. Part of our effort to regain your trust is that we’re reviewing any bans issued in the last month while reversing those stemming from regular criticism. In addition, we’re making a few more changes.
Note that some changes to the moderation team have been in the works for a while. Some members were preparing for retirement, some were inactive, and we were aiming to open new applications roughly at this time. The recent issue with luck_panda has changed our approach.
Some of the delay for our recent statement was that the consideration for how to resolve the situation with luck_panda went beyond the subreddit. Over the last year he has not been active in subreddit moderation, though that’s obviously changed in the last few weeks. His departure won’t directly affect subreddit activities. That said, he has been a key individual in building a lot of the community beyond the subreddit, and remains in a position of power or significant influence in several of them. As part of our effort to prevent similar issues in the future, we will no longer have any “official” off-Reddit communities, while expanding our “unofficial” ties. As a result we are considering the “Pathfinder2e” Discord server to be an affiliated resource, rather than our official one. Further, we have added the “Pathfinder RPG” Discord as an additional affiliated resource, and may add others in the future. We haven’t fully confirmed what this means for future public events, like Beginner Box Days, but we’re open to feedback/suggestions and will continue to evaluate this decision as things develop.
For additional transparency, some may have noticed other changes in our mod team over the last few weeks. Here’s what happened:
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, previous head mod, completed a long step-down process which ended with his handling of Beginner Box Days 2024, then left the team.
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, our most active mod in the last year, recently left over irreconcilable differences with certain team members and the lack of team accountability.
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, and have stepped down due to lack of activity.
We’ve added a new mod with unanimous support from the remaining team, and welcomed back others:
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, whom some of you know as Scrip, has been one of PF2’s earliest adopters and she is very passionate about building a helpful community.
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, an experienced moderator who used to run D&D subreddits as well as ours, has previously stepped down over conflicts with luck_panda and is being welcomed back after a long absence.
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, out from the door and in through the window, as his core concerns have been addressed.
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, whose retirement was in main part due to wanting to create space for new mod candidates, is returning to continue to run events, update new reddit’s looks and automation, and provide additional support as able.
A few notable community contributors are being evaluated to provide additional support and are likely to join the team in the next few days. While we normally prefer open applications, the current extended reach and high-traffic conditions of the sub make that difficult for now.
Finally, will no longer be a moderator on the subreddit.
She and luck_panda have made valuable contributions and brought important perspectives to discussions and decisions over the years, and have been an important part of many of the good things the team has achieved. Those contributions will be missed, but members of the moderation team must adhere to the same rules and standards that apply to the rest of the community. Moderators should not be immune from any community rules, and our inability to enforce that effectively is the root cause of all of this.
The safety of vulnerable groups and minorities, that are too often excluded from the hobby, remains our highest priority. The best way to help us achieve that is to report comments and posts of concern and, if you have more complex or detailed issues, send us modmails. We’ll take a bit to settle things down, but plan to have open moderator applications again with a goal of continuing to serve our diverse community with effective representation.
