Comment by johnnyanmac

>but the original intent was actually that mods are part of a community, not some sort of petty tyrants

No, it was always to "create your own community". Right down to the asinine mechanic where the Head mod is simply first come first serve. If Mod A makes a community, assigns Mod B to moderate it, and leaves for 5 years, B cannot override A when he comes back without intervention from Admins. On the contrary, A can kick out B despite doing nothing for 5 years.

They very much designed it for "petty tyrants" and the site should/would have built a much better system to kick out inactive mods if they cared about "being part of a community". But I think we both know that Reddit just cared about free labor (until news sites force their hand).