Do you remember in April, when we were locked out of this sub while 5 new admins did things inside? We stood on the street like fire alarm practice at work.
DNM sub feels like a public building. A debating society, a library, and a court.
We forget that all subreddits are privately owned, which is why I was so keen to find out how Lobali came to own it instead of Astrid, how she paid for it, and why?
If the sub's owner used it to defraud a charity collection, it undoubtably breaks Reddits "Terms of Service" and will be closed down.
I think its too important to close down. Unfortunately, a thing always happens on US-dominated drug-related forums just before they fail, where they splinter into two opposing groups who troll the shit out of each other. The mods sowed the wind, and are now reaping the whirlwind because it created an environment like pre-war Germany where Bruce's right wing "fight club" disenfranchised counter trolls can flourish.
That's why its turned to shit, and will soon be gone. 13btc is obsessing us more than the two marketplace exit scams that are going on, because we are transfixed by the fight between a psychopath and a sociopath for influence of a subreddit that may not exist next week.
We need to convince Reddit not to just delete or archive us, but nominate a viable owner to look after the keys.
(this isn't a nomination for myself. I rule myself out right now and forever because it would be a recipe for disaster. You know what I'm like. Plus, I'm a commercial interest).
I think, like a charity, we need a board of trustees. People we trust from the darknet world, to somehow have transparent and joint responsibility for the sub's ownership, and moderator selection / removal.
That's as far as I've thought it through.
Reddit's admins aren't going to step in. The site doesn't work like that. Mods are the boss of their subs. Them's the breaks. On the other hand, even if some mods get banned for violating the rule against profiting from a sub, that wouldn't mean the sub itself would be banned. The mod of /r/frisson got caught selling his sub and the two offending parties were banned, but the sub itself was left intact. The thing that gets subs banned is harrasing other users. For example, if the mods of the sub put up a sticky with a list of users from an anti-drug sub with a "sick em boys" message, the whole sub might get the hammer, but otherwise the sub should be safe.
P.S. The rulers of the sub are "mods" not "admins": admins are payed by Reddit, mods are not.