Follow Up to the Red Hair Dye Story, and Announcement of a New Service Provided by the Mods

jThe mod team attempted to contact Reddit admins on behalf of both parties this issue has affected, and Reddit admins got back to us very quickly, though only to say that they can only assist those directly affected by the issue. However, the admins appear to not have gotten back to either user yet. Despite that, we have reached a conclusion that everyone on the team feels appropriate.

We are extremely limited in our scope of authority as mods of a subreddit. We have nowhere near the power or resources that admins do. And also, per our truth policing policy, we cannot and will not just take someone's word on another user without irrefutable proof. The mod team had to do extensive digging in order to find that proof, which took some time to coordinate and execute. We combed archives, caches and all the news sites. Our search resulted in being able to find the original comments on the original Red Hair Dye post. The username matched with the screen capture u/Why-Am-Eye-Back provided, and the exif data backed up that it was a real screen capture. With this proof, we believe u/Why-Am-Eye-Back to be the original OP of the Red Hair Dye story.

We apologize for this taking so much time to verify, and for being unable to do more to proactively deal with this situation as it unfolded. We are very sorry for the harm this has caused OP and their family. Though we did our very best to do what was right, harm still came as a result of the situation, and we regret that. u/Why-Am-Eye-Back, I am sorry. We are sorry.

In light of this situation, since we cannot protect users from content poaching, we are instituting a new, optional, entirely voluntary countermeasure for anyone who feels the need to delete their account. Prior to deleting your account, please modmail us to tell us so, and provide us with a phrase or password, akin to how we teach children to only go with adults who know the family password. This way, if you come back or if your story is stolen, and you can provide us with that password along with your modmail, we will be able to implicitly trust that your new account is owned by the same person who originally owned the account through which the stories were posted. Please visit the announcement made over on JNMIL for more information.

Thank you all for being here. As always, we welcome criticism and feedback on moderation practices at all times.

#EDIT/UPDATE:

Just so you all know, we have banned WAEB from posting in the JustNo subreddits they have thus far participated in (JNMIL and Letters) after receiving numerous abusive messages from WAEB. We are unpaid volunteers, that does not give anyone the right to treat us badly in PM's or via modmail, even when they are being victimized. We do not normally ban people who have been victimized, as we understand why being subjected to abuse can lead to FLEAs and unusual behavior, but these are truly extraordinary circumstances.

For context, here are the personally harassing messages I have received from WAEB since we took action that aligned with our subreddit and network-wide policies. PLEASE KNOW that we are NOT publishing the modmails that led up to WAEB attacking me personally for her own privacy and security, which frankly I don't think she deserves at this point but I am respecting and preserving because I care more about the greater good than my own circumstances. Yes, I clapped back. I am open to criticism and feedback, and still feel it best to share this exchange despite my choosing not to take the high road. [Link to screencap of PM I received from u/Why-Am-Eye-Back](https://imgur.com/j99vENj)

A part of the reason why we always kept modmails private in the past is to save users from their own embarrassment. Oftentimes, even when we do right, we still frequently suffer abuse from the very people we are trying to help. Usually we don't out anyone who is so abusive, but these have been exceptional circumstances.

I only feel comfortable sharing this information since the user has deleted their account and they cannot receive harassing messages from any justifiably angry JustNo users. Please know that this is only a single example of the targeted abuse we all receive on a daily basis while we try to maintain and defend this community.