The specifics of how cancer tried and failed to claim r/meirl [1] are not very interesting. My goal here is to see if my experience can add anything of significance to the body of work here at r/subredditcancer.

So, a brief introduction to how I came to be top mod of r/meirl, then a shoutout to you guys, and then I have suggestions for my past self, if no one else. I'll be around to provide supporting information upon request.

I made r/meirl years ago to help me network with other redditors at the rally to restore sanity and/or fear. The idea did not catch on and I forgot about it. Meanwhile r/me_irl was born and grew big enough for factions to split off and thus r/meirl was born for real as an alternative to the underscored sub.

I learned about how the underscored mods behaved. This led me to all of you at r/subredditcancer, where I got myself up to speed on the cancer playbook as best I could. Without the content here, I probably would have not been alert enough to see and have some context for the patterns of behavior that led up to the failed coup from the other day.

Things I wish I'd thought more about from the beginning

1) Set up your own back room -- lots of discussion goes on in mod-only subreddits. I fell for cancer's trap here because I was not top mod in the back room and NaNS banned me from it.

2) Reputation system for mods? -- I never would have modded NaNS if I had known anything about his pattern of behavior as a mod. This pattern is difficult to ascertain. Whom to trust? Using reddit and modding a popular subreddit are two completely different beasts. Regular karma and post history together do not provide enough information to predict how a user will behave as a mod. I was so relieved to get help from new mods that I failed to fully vet them.

footnotes

[1] quote from my announcement to r/meirl:

So...remember that election for mods we just had? One of the winning mods was invited to join us, and then NotaNestleShill (NaNS) canceled that invite (something about a naughty list, idk about these alliances). I removed NaNS as mod for violating the integrity of the election process according to procedure suggested by Ghostise. Ghostise, NaNS, BigBlue, and others vehemently objected but I had to stand by my decision.

Unfortunately, then NaNS locked me out of our own back room (r/meirlmods) where we have our procedures and other documentation. At that point I was concerned for the integrity of this community and so I locked down the privileges of all other mods. NaNS and others responded by launching public attacks against me elsewhere on parts of reddit and I felt I had no other option than to remove them as mods entirely.