things go nuclear in r/falloutmemes when a mod removes a meme, deeming anything transgender as “political”

This drama is ongoing, and as of right now the users still appear to be in conflict with the mods. Remember, do not stick your hands in the popcorn, so to speak!

r/FalloutMemes is a subreddit “dedicated to memes about the Fallout Series”. Created back in 2012 and boasting 308k weekly visitors, this regularly active sub is normally full of posts begging Todd Howard for remasters of Fallout 3 and New Vegas, silly moments captured from gameplay, and overall your general fandom shitposting content.

However, as of the past 24 hours, the sub has seen an explosion in activity in the form of protest and general discord. It all began one day ago, when the mods made a simple post:

>>Rule Change:

>>Our rules have changed, please review them as they go into effect immediately.

>>Bans will issued at Mods discretion and content removed.

The new rules posted appear to be numbers 5 through 9, but the most notable change is rule number 9: Mod Discretion - Moderators may remove content that harms the quality of the subreddit, even if not listed above. If you disagree with a removal, message Modmail respectfully.

While it doesn't appear to be 'new' based off update timestamps, also relevant to this SRD post is the sub's rule number 2: No Real-World Politics - No real-world political memes, arguments, or culture war content. Fallout satire is allowed. Content pushing real-world political agendas will be removed and the user who posted it will be banned.

It appears that these many rule changes coincide with the timely appointment of a new mod, who, to quote one member in what is likely a soon-to-be-nuked post, "blew in from aggrotown, has decided to be a transphobe, and the hands off mod that would fix it has been barred from moderating."

Said mod's transphobic behavior began with removing a meme mocking the notification that players get in the Fallout games when they become addicted to some sort of substance. However, this particular meme was obviously intended to be a cute nod to transgendered individuals, stating "You have become addicted to estrogen."

While I can't find the original meme post since it's been taken down, it seems that as result of the post and its subsequent removal, the user who posted it was temporarily banned. The mod apparently claimed that the post was "political" because it referenced trans people, and gave the reason that politics aren't allowed on the sub.

At this point in time, posts rallying in support for the meme or calling out the mods are still appearing rapidly and being scrubbed down just as quickly, so I've been unable to really catch any big ones, but here are a few choice comments/posts:

>>No politics in a Fallout subreddit is crazy.

>>Estrogen was invented for cis woman to use to combat menopause literally lmao. Just because people associate it with trans women, the mods removed it citing it was too political.

>>One side thinks an entire category of people shouldn't exist. The other is posting memes.

>>Me watching the dumpsterfire that is this sub rn

And finally, in an entirely bizarre twist, the head mod joins in with a rather confusing post of their own, but doesn't comment any further on the issues.

Once again, this is ongoing and I'll keep an eye on the drama as it unfolds. Enjoy the popcorn!

^This is my first post on SRD-- please let me know if I've broken any rules or formatted anything incorrectly!