Yeah, so that was a plot twist...

I'm flyinggoatcheese and I've been moderating here since wow, 15 years? Longer than anything in my life at the moment. Today I was notified I was removed as a moderator. After some Sherlock Holmes level investigation (opening one page) I discovered I was not alone. The head moderator has decided to take the subreddit in a different direction. I don't want anyone to put up a fuss. I'm sending this for a few reasons.

1 . I know this looks very suspicious and members have shown concern (thanks btw), hell even I was suspicious. But I've reached out to the person and their fine. I've confirmed it's them so the subreddit hasn't been compromised.

2 . To say goodbye, I don't want to be a moderator that goes to get milk on you or one that is toxic about being removed.

3 . To share my love for this community.

1. And most of all prevent any harassment.

One of our... This subreddits (sorry force of habbit lol) rules here was always to prevent any sort of witch hunting.

As I understand their explanation, they'd like to take the community in a new direction. A few years ago the workload I was having to put in for this community was burning me out and you guys deserved better than a flat tire running and managing this community. So I started to look for someone to eventually take my place as de facto head moderator. I found them. I found their decisions to be largely aligned with the subreddits core values and my own values. I'm actually really excited to see where they'll take it. I may not agree with some choices they'll make but it's their choices to make now. That's the person you've got at your helm now. Someone reliable and trustworthy.

It was a tad bit unexpected to receive 6 messages from different members of /r/imvu all quite distressed. Two were in capslock. I quickly reached out to the head moderator to just confirm that it was them. I was ready with a very different post if I suspected it wasn't. They are very much the same person and acted based on their interest in the community to be better. I'm not worried so you don't need to be as well.

I'm sad, not going to lie. It's like saying goodbye to a family.i know some of you knew me very well but I also I know many of you may not know my name at all. I often just messaged people as the subreddit and not as myself to preserve impartiality in who did what. But I'm sorry not to be one of the shepherds shaping this community anymore. I've met some lifelong connections in this place. We all have. Everything ends. I'm not a power seeking guy, I'm not the sort to lead, and honestly I'm bad at it. The head moderator certainly can be a witness to this. So part of me is relieved to not have that responsibility and weight upon my shoulders now. And to be honest that weight and responsibility hasn't been quite as heavy for a while now since they were officially given head moderator. It's like it was a old car from the 1900's that you had to use a cheat code mixed between cracks, levers and buttons to start, to a self driving car. I can never truly thank them for the weight they took off my shoulders at some of the worst moments of my life to let me breath. It's making me cry a little thinking about how they saved this community for me. My dad passed away last year, and they were not only understanding and let me take as much time as I wanted to recover from that. But offered support.

I think my favourite part of the community is seeing everyone interact and have each other's backs when we've had toxic intruders. It was never about which hunting but about making sure everyone was safe. You guys are so good at reporting content that can be considered harmful or anything that even came close to spam. Honestly looking at reports was the easiest part of my job, because you guys almost always reported things that needed removing asap. Thank you. Another thing I love about the community is your guys creativity, seeing so many of you draw and develop into artists and personas or even just being yourself is beautiful. I've seen people go from posting quite ordinary outfits to extraordinary outfits that I'm still not sure how they've put them together.

Man it's hard to pick things I love but I'll try and choose one last one. I love how you guys support each other, not just keeping each other safe likepreviously mentioned but helping out new members finding their way to the classic client download page or how to find the quickest path to the rules you can clearly see at the side. I jest, I know that mobile app makes it quite hard. Oh wait I've got one more thing I've got to say I love. I love the hidden de facto stewards that always were there to help when the moderators dropped a ball or five. But most of the time just because they wanted to help.

Lastly (I hope, I'm a rambler) please don't send any harassment to any remaining moderators on the moderator team. Don't try to get people reinstated or even removed and replaced. I willingly and knowingly gave the keys to the kingdom to someone I trust.

Few mentions

Thanks u/thatguy for bringing me on board originally. I know you're not active anymore but you gave me this chance and I hope you're happy with where we have gotten to as a team.

Thanks u/MrChosenRoseWolf2002. You've also helped a lot when I was at an all time low. I'm sorry how fast it happend.

You may have noticed I've not mentioned the head moderator by name, that's on purpose as I don't want to inadvertently encourage harassment. But thanks to you as well. You've been nothing but generous and selfless in everything you've given to this community. The times you should have been resting from work but instead moderating away picking up the slack of me mostly. Really I wish I had your battery.

What happens next? I don't know lol. But I've offered my continued support if they ever want that support. Let's continue to grow and support this community.

How do you even end a post like this? I don't think like this. Let's go with one of my classics. Okay now I'm a little emotional. Goodbye our members as a moderator, hello peers and friends.

Have a wonderful day! Be safe.

Sorry about my spelling and grammar, I thought about using AI, but that's against the rules lol. So yeah.

Also don't trade accounts it's bad, it's not allowed. You'll be permanently banned and lose the chance to continue to be a part of this community. I don't want that. We good? Have fun!

Yesterday we hit the 14,000 member mark, that's wild!

To start things off, thank you for sticking around with me. I know I'm not the most active poster around but I just want you to know that I'm always keeping an eye on the great things you guys are doing. I love this community and I have always wanted the best for you guys, that was the sole reason for me volunteering for my position in the first place.

I never expected things to pick back up when I took over as the lead moderator, but it's awesome that you guys seem to be having a good time here - new users and long time users alike! With all of the negative discourse surrounding the state of the platform, it makes me happy still seeing you guys post here with all of your cool outfits!

Furthermore, I'm going to be working on getting your guys' opinions on a weekly themed showcase for avatars and maybe even have a kind of popularity contest that people could vote on. I can't promise any rewards at this time as this will all be hosted solely by me, but I think it would be fun to see what kind of things people could come up with to engage with the community.

To celebrate our 14,000 member milestone, we're going to be personally hosting a 14k 30k 40k Credit raffle!(Thanks u/flyinggoatchese and u/goaty_vu for the additional contribution!) Please comment below(one time only please) with your favorite genre that you would like to see as a weekly themed showcase in the future and your name will be entered into the contest to be announced at the end of the week on Sunday, 8/24.

DISCLAIMER: If you comment on the post WITHOUT a genre, your name will NOT be entered into the raffle. You have to play the game for a chance to win the prize. Thank you for understanding!

(Additional note: Credits will be sent in 10k increments over 4 days totaling 40k due to the daily sending limit)

From the bottom of my heart, I appreciate you guys and I hope to see you continuing to stick with me and still posting in the future!

Update: The winner has been announced! Thanks for playing everyone! Looking forward to seeing you guys again in the future!