Is how easily mods have caved in once the admins threatened to remove them. I had thought we'd see quite a few cases where Reddit would have to step in an replace entire mod teams (effectively killing the community). But it seems like that hasn't happened at all - the closest we've got is mods being reordered.
I guess I didn't appreciate how much moderating means to some people, especially people who are marginalised or otherwise have shitty lives... (which makes Reddit's behaviour even more abhorrent! Exploiting the most vulnerable in society to provide free labour they are making huge profits off).
That said, it seems like Reddit has crossed the Rubicon now. They have now forced mods to run their subreddits in a certain way. Mods now know they are operating in some tight boundaries, and the admins can - on a whim - change the rules and force them to comply. i.e. any illusion of the power they had is now massively reduced. I'm sure a lot of them will be in denial, but this more than likely won't be the last time we see this happen.
Moderations who weren't cowards got their subreddits quarantined/banned. Only Mods who agree with the admins politics or are too weak-willed to resist remain.
In some cases, it's more complex than that. e.g. see this very interesting post by the r/LegalAdviceUK mods: https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/comments/14cr5zc/were_back_and_heres_whats_happening/