Weekly reminder that despite massive community support for them, the mods won’t reallow memes simply because they don’t want to

Going to be doing some copy and pasting from a similar post that I had made in the past, because many of the points are still true. I fully expect the mods to remove this post, but hey, if they don't that'd be a nice start.

If you're a Tarkov veteran, you may remember that memes used to be allowed on this subreddit, and were a quick laugh. Ultimately, it got to the point where there were too man low effort memes, with which I agree. The mods, despite massive community outcry, decided to ban memes altogether and divert them to a separate sub, which is a fraction of the size of this sub, simply because people who wish to browse Tarkov related content come to the main subreddit for the game and don't want to go back and forth. A few months ago at this point, there was a post asking for memes to be reallowed since the subreddit had fallen into a pit of recycled low effort complaints and suggestions that received overwhelming positive support from the community, with the caveat being that low effort memes still be removed. Even Nikita himself recognized that memes are of value to a community and commented in support of them.

When weeks went by without a single word from the mods, except the word "No" (because they said so is a good excuse, right?) I was told to appeal in modmail. Upon Modmailing the moderators, and pointing out that even the head developer for BSG, who created this game that the subreddit is based entirely around, supports the meme efforts, I was told

"Nikita himself doesn't determine what goes on with this subreddit. We're not affiliated with BSG."

Let's break that bit down real quick. They're not affiliated with BSG but they own and moderate a subreddit with the name of BSGs game. If they don't listen to the wishes of BSG or the community, then why are you moderating a sub that holds the name of their flagship game? It seems like the opposite of what you should be doing and appears you're trying to control the sub with an iron fist to fit your image of what it should be rather than allowing content to flourish organically.

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The next point in the modmail stated that "The decision was made for the benefit of the sub." and "Removing them was controversial, meaning there was a large amount of arguments on both sides. We feel that the sub is in a healthier place"

Funny, it seems like the sub these days are all just PC Spec posts, complaints, and constant low effort suggestions (see: the recent secure container shitstorm, females in Tarkov, servers dying, Twitch drops, ETC). If the sub being in a healthier place means that no fun can be had and that the only thing we're allowed to do is complain and suggest, then what's the point of this community based subreddit? You argue that it's better for BSG to see feedback and issues here but isn't that exactly what their own forums and bug report system are for? If there's already an OFFICIAL FORUM for giving feedback and suggesting features, why can't this unofficial one be more laid back and fun?

This is my main gripe, the whole point of a Tarkov community is to have fun and enjoy content related to the game we share common interests in. The name of the subreddit is r/EscapeFromTarkov, not r/EscapeFromTarkovRelatedContentEverythingExceptMemes.

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And finally, I was told that "If we reversed the decision based on what Nikita says, then we're just BSG shills (which we aren't), and if we don't, we're "power hungry" mods. There's really no winning for us in either side of this discussion." Um, yes there is winning for you. Listen to what the community wants. The community mainly expressed support for the re allowal of memes, with it being highly upvoted and supported in the comments. Hell, even your announcement post that you cite for the removal of memes has 0 upvotes, indicating at least a majority dislike this, as well as the comments mostly being against this. If you don't fulfill the wishes of the community, then what's the point of this subreddit, just to fufill your own power trip? The community should be first and foremost and this subreddit should evolve around them.

Here's a picture of the modmail if you so desire to view it.

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What fueled my rant for this today was in the stickied post for Mod applications I asked if they would bring on more mods that supported community ideals and would bring back memes, to which the head moderator responded "They’re not coming back, dude. Let it go." So despite what the community wants, the power tripping mods can just say no simply because they feel like it? Seems a bit unfair to me and completely against the spirit of what moderators should do.

Obviously I'm not saying every meme should be allowed to flood the subreddit with low effort posts. There should be a minimum effort required when submitting a Tarkov related meme, not just putting a Tarkov related caption over the meme flavor of the week, and there should be a meme flair to sort out memes if people don't want to see them, but bring them back, listen to the people for fuck's sake. Even meme weekends, or certain days where they're allowed is better than this Nazi embargo on anything fun.

TL:DR; Bring back memes.