As a very small handful of you are aware, I was removed from the moderation team yesterday. Yes, this is related to the drama that played out a couple weeks ago, and yes, this post may incriminate me slightly.

You see, shortly after Knowltey torched her account, she implemented a subreddit shadowban on /u/Drapetomania. This is a highly controversial and not-widely-known method of silently banning an account from a subreddit, and she did so without consulting the rest of the moderation team. In fact, I didn't even know she had done it until I saw a string of Drape's comments removed a few days later.

If you don't recall, I'm the one who pushed the creation of the new subreddit rules from the top. They aren't perfect, but they're better than what we had, and by being intentionally vague they close all the loopholes trolls can use to step around more explicit "anti-harassment" rules. But even with the implementation of the "don't be an asshole" rule, it was never my intention to ban Drape. I just wanted him to dial it back a couple notches and not make this subreddit such a terrifying place for those unfamiliar with who's who around here (I've said this publicly already). But Knowltey dropped the nuke and imposed the silent ban and Drape had no idea.

I let it be known to a user of this subreddit and real-life friend of mine that Knowltey shadowbanned Drape a couple weeks ago. I did so in an outgoing modmail so as to keep the rest of the mods on the up and up with regard to who knows what kind of information. It turns out that, according to said user/friend's communications with Drape, he thought I was the one who banned him.

The reason I'm writing this post is to reveal Knowltey's thirst for control, and willingness to deceive her community for her own gain. Knowltey has remained internet friends with Drape through all this mess, while Drape severed all communication with me. Drape realized recently that his comments weren't displaying on the subreddit. When asked why, Knowltey feigned ignorance and pretended she had no idea Drape was shadowbanned. She pretended to check the automoderator configuration and said his name was on there, but also claimed she couldn't access the old revisions so she couldn't tell who put it there (*).

After I revealed Knowltey to be the one who banned Drape, she came up with some spiel about user privacy and how I violated it. Don't discuss moderation actions against a user with anybody besides that user, she said. Fair enough. So, after having zero contact with him in two weeks, I sent a message to Drape himself... to discuss a user's ban with said user. He had recently sent in a modmail about the fact he knew he was shadowbanned, so I knew he knew he was shadowbanned at this point. I thought it necessary to clear the air and make him aware of exactly who implemented that, because he was being intentionally deceived by somebody who he likely thought was his friend.

Drape forwarded my message and asked his "friend" Knowltey about this, and she didn't like it. She fears her exposure, so she promptly booted me from the mod team over what amounts to a very small issue. All I was going for was a little bit of transparency regarding a significant moderation action, and I was removed for it.

Just thought I'd keep everyone in the loop about what's going on with your subreddit. It was a pleasure serving you, /r/Omaha.

(*)^{AutoModerator was recently upgraded and built directly into reddit's codebase, and the configuration pages were moved. It is possible, though not likely, that Knowltey is unaware you can still access the old wiki page and its revisions.}