The subreddit exists because a user created it. I created two subreddits 12 years ago that have a few hundred thousand subscribers today. So do I not have the right to set my subreddit to private? I never told people to join them. I never advertised them. Reddit has given me the built in functions to set it to private and to ban anyone I choose.

As a matter of fact, one of them has been private since this started and the other has remained open. They're both gaming related. I let my moderators decide because ultimately, they're the ones who have put the most work into keeping the curated. One group didn't really feel it was necessary while the other felt like it was a slap in the face from spez to essentially say, "I don't care what you think, 12 years of hard work to grow a community or not, you'll do what I say."

And I agree with them. They didn't moderate it for power. They did it because they love the specific console they were created for and are really proud to see their hard work pay off after years of investing their time into it. I've become jaded by this whole thing. Reddit no longer cares about its voluntary workforce in the slightest and I'll be handing ownership off to them, deleting my account and that will be the end of it.

So yes. In a way, it does belong to the users. But 48 hours of discomfort leading to threats of repossession after 12 years of work? They want it? They can have it.

only so long as you can find competent moderators willing to do the job for free while using shitty tools.