@pterodactyl: Hey there, I'll field this, since I was up until recently the most active mod on the subreddit. (Commenting from Mastodon, so excuse the weird formatting.)

First of all, there was no demodding involved; instead, there was an internal reshuffling by ZadocPaet, who was the previous de jure head mod and decided to leave formally at the same time I did. DreadedChalupacabra becoming head mod was a decision made between Zadoc and I.

@pterodactyl: In practice, the subreddit was and is run pretty much democratically between the mod team, so Chalupacabra being formally head mod doesn't make much of a difference. He was a bit perplexed at the decision as well, for what it's worth.

Now, I'd have been "ride or die" about sticking to the blackout, especially given the response in both the subreddit and the Discord. But I'm stubborn and principled. Since I was already stepping down, I wasn't going to assert fiat over the decision.

@pterodactyl: The decision to reopen was taken based on an assessment of the response by the Reddit admininstrators and deciding that we didn't want the subreddit falling into the hands of people who might use the subreddit to push malignant political positions, which are far too common in video gaming.

Notably, this was *not* a case of the mod team wanting to cling onto power at all costs like some people would cry. I want to nip that idea in the bud.