During a previous interview with my colleague, a couple of the r/MildlyVandalised subreddit’s moderators opened up a bit about the community and the content that they share.
One of the moderators, redditor DoxBox explained what lies at the core of the photos shared on their subreddit. "Mild vandalism is vandalism that is humorous but not overly damaging," they explained to Bored Panda that comedy without the damage is essential.
"Regular vandalism is costly to fix and malicious in intent. The sub is about mostly-harmless but humorous vandalism intended to make people laugh,” the moderator explained to us during an earlier interview.
Meanwhile, another moderator, redditor Awesomesprime, noted that the subreddit reacts to the news and current world events. For instance, at the time, the 2020 United States presidential elections were on pretty much everyone’s minds.
"Recently, political posts have been at the top, but [they still] have to be funny and clever. Those seem to be the ones that make it the highest," they noted what was popular at the time.
"Posts do well the funnier they are, with the caveat that Reddit's usual issues do sometimes interfere. Posting the same post at different times can have different results," moderator DoxBox pointed out that some posts don’t always go viral because the timing might not be right or due to other less-than-obvious reasons.
The subreddit has been celebrating mild and humorous vandalism all the way since October 2015. And it looks like it’ll keep going strong so long as there are rebels out there who know that using their imagination and creativity can be just as powerful (if not more so!) than vandalising property in rage.
#15 Found This In My Camera Roll That I Took A While Back Whilst In Cambridge. Still Makes Me Chuckle
The sub’s mods note that the images people post have to be about mild vandalism, without any costly property damage. What’s more, they stress that the vandalism can’t be racist and that all the community members have to be polite to each other.
Meanwhile, reposts are discouraged if they’re newer than three months. What’s more, street art doesn’t actually count as vandalism. While bathroom graffiti belongs on another subreddit, namely, r/ToiletDoodles.
#19 I’d Consider This More Art Than Vandalism. In Either Case, It’s Absolutely Outstanding. (If You’re Unfamiliar, This Is ‘Tactile Paving’ And Used To Help The Vision-Impaired Navigate Streets. This ‘Bumps’ Pattern Marks The Locations Of Pedestrian Crossings)
