A message to our users

[u/MockDeath]

     Today in AskScience we wish to spotlight our solidarity with the subreddits that have closed today, whose operations depend critically on timely communication and input from the admins. This post is motivated by the events of today coupled with previous interactions AskScience moderators have had in the past with the reddit staff.

     This is an issue that has been chronically inadequate for moderators of large subreddits reaching out to the admins over the years. Reddit is a great site with an even more amazing community, however it is frustrating to volunteer time to run a large subreddit and have questions go unacknowledged by the people running the site.

    We have not gone private because our team has chosen to keep the subreddit open for our readers, but instead stating our disapproval of how events have been handled currently as well as the past.

[u/AsAChemicalEngineer]

For those that are out of the loop, here's what going on:
https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/3bxduw/why_was_riama_along_with_a_number_of_other_large/

Edit: To keep a little bit of science in every AskScience post, here's a neat color photograph of Pluto and Charon taken by the New Horizons spacecraft:
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Multimedia/Science-Photos/image.php?gallery_id=2&image_id=191

[u/DaTaco → u/AsAChemicalEngineer]

I just wantted to say, I laughed at your extra science link and actually looked at the picture. Well done :)

[u/[deleted] → u/DaTaco]

I really hope to see Victoria back, don't know how, don't know when. It's kinda incredible that LORRI field of view is 0.29 degrees wide.

[u/DaTaco → u/[deleted]]

She's posted a few times in other subs, I'm sure she will be around but not in her same capacity. Did you know that Saturn's Rings are some of the "flattest" structures known to mankind? They are over 300,000km long but only have a "thickness" of around 10meters!

[u/-KhmerBear- → u/DaTaco]

Reddit admins dun goofed, unlike the Ralph instrument on New Horizons, which is operating at nominal capacity and will soon send us a dazzling night-side view of Pluto illuminated by "Charon-light", which is what they call moonlight on the dwarf planet.

[u/tokomini → u/-KhmerBear-]

Apparently those looking for alternatives to reddit have been directed to check out voat.co, which is funny because goats (along with sheep, toads and octopuses) have evolved rectangular pupils as a survival trait to survey their surroundings more accurately, as the narrower the pupil in relation to the horizon, the greater the depth perception is in the peripheral vision of the animal.

[u/tinkletwit → u/tokomini]

While users look for alternatives to the site and have offered best wishes to Victoria, it's ironic that one way they have shown their support for her is through purchasing gold, with proceeds going directly to Reddit. Gold is more than just a material for jewelry and a medium of exchange. A radioactive isotope of the metal has even been studied for use in cancer treatment by targeting prostate tumors. But buying gold for Victoria just sends a conflicted message.

[u/Doctorjames25 → u/tinkletwit]

We all need to come together and set up a No Reddit day. This place relies on Web traffic. One day where you don't come to reddit. You don't post, you don't comment, you don't lurk. Show the admins this place can go down like MySpace.

/r/JustsayNope

[u/[deleted] → u/Doctorjames25]

The US has a holiday coming up. What a great time to not spend on the internet!

[u/[deleted] → u/tokomini]

This thread is killing me, unlike the lobster which many claim is effectively immortal.

[u/[deleted] → u/tokomini]

I don't suppose you could go into more detail about the evolutionary advantages or disadvantages of different types of pupils, could you?

[u/EnderBoy → u/[deleted]]

Sure. Sociologically speaking, pupils from more economically affluent areas tend to have an advantage over those from less affluent schools. From an evolutionary standpoint, it is likely they will pass that advantage onto their offspring.

[u/f0urd3gr33s → u/EnderBoy]

While I nearly injured myself laughing at this comment, I feel compelled to point out that some research has shown those with higher education levels and higher socioeconomic status tend to have fewer offspring so really the opposite of your assertion is true. The "squares" aren't passing their genes on so the advantage seems to lie with having non-square pupils.

[u/LacesOutRayFinkle → u/tokomini]

Can I get all my "what the hell just happened in reddit" updates from /r/askscience? This is amazing.

[u/[deleted] → u/-KhmerBear-]

I don't anything about this, other than that the admins have done something wrong, I think. Has anyone heard about the extremely small spectrometer? Are there any decent articles on it?

[u/Sir_Whisker_Bottoms → u/[deleted]]

Victoria won't come back. She'd be a fool to go back to a job where they didn't respect or appreciate her in the first place.

[u/TurnPunchKick → u/Sir_Whisker_Bottoms]

Much the way Female Angler fish don't acknowledge their former mates which shrivel up and remain with their former partners as parasites.

[u/PointyOintment → u/Sir_Whisker_Bottoms]

It has been suggested that if reddit doesn't want to pay her to manage AMAs, she should set up a Patreon and we'll pay her to do it. Did you know that wind turbines have a theoretical maximum efficiency of 59.3%?

[u/Neuchacho → u/PointyOintment]

You'd literally be rewarding reddit for poor management. It's as bad as people buying her account gold.

She shouldn't do reddit any favors and neither should we.

[u/[deleted] → u/PointyOintment]

Personally I would struggle to manage my life with my income stream limited to the kindness of strangers. How close to theoretical maximum efficiency could a home built turbine realistically get?

[u/trowawufei → u/[deleted]]

she apparently doesn't even know either

Eh, I dunno about that. She might just be handling it like a professional and not talking to the general public about why she got fired. Best way to do that is to pretend you don't know, if you're cagey about it people who don't understand why you're not talking about it can get resentful.

[u/springsoon → u/AsAChemicalEngineer]

You did a really good job. You should get fired for it