> A subreddit, is not 'owned' or property of a moderator.
That is exactly how reddit works. Reddit does not compensate the mods.. this is a minor compensation that they get to maintain their fiefdom. Don't like it, create a new sub.
This seems like a canned retort intended for usual cases of randos complaining about how a subreddit is run. But it doesn't work in the context of this discussion; if Reddit admins don't like how a subreddit is run they don't have to "make their own sub", they can just take control of the sub they already own. Make no mistake, moderators do not own these subs, reddit owns all of them. There is no compensation deal between reddit and the moderators, the moderators have no rights from the perspective of Reddit's owners.
That's just not true. This is not how reddit works. There are other rules in place that make it clear that mods don't own the subreddits that they mod. They are stewards of that community, but when they try to sabotage that community they can and should be removed.
Historically speaking, it has been incredibly rare for subs to be taken over like that. Subs have run with rules about banning members with at least 1 comment in subs they don't like (usually the_donald, mra, conservative, etc) [banning over non-sub behavior is a big no no for a long time with the admins], there are subs that aggressively automod, there are subs that ban over constructive criticism, there are subs where active mods are pushed out at any moment by a top mod, etc. Heck, there are a few subs that require photo evidence of your race or gender to participate.
Unless it highly embarrassed the company or it is an ongoing violation of their content policy, mostly those communities still remain as they are.
It's a reasonable policy if we're talking about a very niche hobby. If it's /r/news or /r/nfl where the name serves as a natural Schelling point, then it will attract power-hungry people who are able to indulge their drive to control others with a large natural constituency that continues to flow into to their subs without any awareness of its governance.
That is exactly how reddit works. Reddit does not compensate the mods.. this is a minor compensation that they get to maintain their fiefdom. Don't like it, create a new sub.