Reddit is pretty clearly trying to find any viable alternative to outright banning T_D. They're attempting a proof by exhaustion that the community will not cooperate with any viable moderation policy. They're rightly afraid to just pull the trigger and delete the whole subreddit.
There's also some chance that they can get the community in its current form to die in a more organic and less sudden manner, by expunging enough of the worst users and behaviors that it is no longer such a self-sustaining cesspool. Banning mods who directly encourage "shitposting" by name seems like a reasonable step toward that goal.
What obscure and/or twisted definition of "shitposting" are you operating under where you don't see it as bad for a forum that's intended to foster civilized discussion?
If you want shitposting, why would you ever choose a platform that has moderation and content guidelines in the first place?
> If you want shitposting, why would you ever choose a platform that has moderation and content guidelines in the first place?
That's a totally legit argument. People shouldn't. But as someone that was on reddit from 2008 on there were a few years were it wasn't corporate run and actually celebrated free speech in both words and policy. Then that changed. I stopped. But network effect keeps groups there.
There's also some chance that they can get the community in its current form to die in a more organic and less sudden manner, by expunging enough of the worst users and behaviors that it is no longer such a self-sustaining cesspool. Banning mods who directly encourage "shitposting" by name seems like a reasonable step toward that goal.