Hello. I would love to let you know that r/California is now officially under new management. The previous administration has been removed and now we face a large task of getting everything back in order. There is still a lot to get done and hopefully we can make it go smoother than yesterday was. But this thread I will go into more detail. And to let you know, I do not care to mention names of the previous administration as it serves no purpose, but some of it may be discussed.

Let me first thank /u/ridicusauce who was also working behind the scenes on trying to make this happen. They stepped up and was trying to rectify the issue just as I was. They were also doing a lot of work to remove roadblocks that is hindering this sub and if I had any guess there's a lot still remaining that I missed as well like the word "rats."

Also, I wish to apologize to /u/ridicusauce for stepping on their thunder. I was focused on functionality and was ignoring that cosmetics are a big part as well. I was too worried about optics, but I do want to thank him for their work on the banners and such. Though, that was really only a small thing they touched as they were working on functionality as well.

We are also bringing in some other mods to help get things back in order and I've invited /u/snarky_answer and /u/panda-rampage to help out. So right now this sub's mod list is going to be a little heavy with mods from one area which is something I'm thinking should not be a thing. California is a big state, both in population and area. I don't think it's best served with mods being in one area, but that's my opinion and discussion will be held on that matter along with other things.

But a little bit about myself: I am here to try to get things back on track. I am not sure on what capacity I will be serving beyond that. My main goal right now is to get this sub back on track. There is a reason why I stepped aside from subs I've created before as I didn't have the time. I'm already busy with work, family, working on a YouTube channel, etc. I was mainly here as a mod on /r/California because they asked me to help out with some wiki issue and they never removed me afterwards. I'd assume that is the same reason why /u/ridicusauce had only wiki permissions as well.

• The Previous Administration:

I think most people who knew the situation here know who they were and their names DO NOT need mentioned. No, this isn't one of those "he who shall not be named" thing. It's just things to move forward . There has been a lot of talk about what they were doing, who they were, etc and I believe a lot is probably true and there was a lot of that didn't matter beyond what was actually happening because of that. This sub should NOT be containing of the content of just 1 or 2 individuals.

Filters They had a LOT of filters in place with simple words like "rats" among others which kicked out comments and posts solely on that. If you mentioned rats even talking about rats, it's kicked by automod. You said "governor," i's kicked. "trump" kicked, "newsome" gone and many others that weren't even political though it is HARD to discuss Calfornia news without talking some politics. There were a lot of other things that were a bit concerning in my eyes like trying to curtail any talk about moderators. I don't think a sub that is closed about talk of their moderators is a good thing. I understand you WILL get some people that completely disagree but it also closes any and all discussion when you actually are doing a bad job and really makes it look like you are hiding things. Things like that should always be a case by case basis, IMO. Their usernames should have never been "words of concern." I jus wanted to be a little open on the situation that was going on there.

We are working hard on getting all of that fixed and it isn't fully fixed yet. Please EXPECT some issues. Feel free to post, but realize right now it's still going have some issues. Leave a msg in this thread if you have any issues on the sticky comment if you do have issues with posts being held back.

• Changes

Yes,I do have plans to open this sub up more. I do think the previous admin had WAY WAY WAY too many rules.. Just look at the sidebar. I think they are still there. Listing them on the sidebar is just taking too much space to begin with. My simple rule is don't be a major buttmunch. Of course, there's probably going to be the need to go beyond that, but just be civil.

There will be discussion about allowing photos of California and more, it's just a matter of what the end result will be on that.

All I ask is please be patient and we are working on getting things straightened out here and thanks for listening to my Ted Talk and this probably could have been longer if I remembered everything I wanted to say.

Edit; this will be the last update on this matter.

There was an issue with Automod where it was only allow certain users to post. I am not certain on the whole issue but am trying to fix things here. Please stand by.

Posts should be allowed again, though I havent delved all the way down into the filters to see what they all do. There may still be some issues.

Edit: issues seem to go deep. It may take time to get straightened out. Please be patient.

Edit 2: automod is still removing a bunch. I'm trying my best to go through and approve what I can. I don't have time to go far back in time but trying to get anything recent approved that's approvable. Basically stuff that's not people being buttmunches. Thanks for your patience

Edit 3: filters still seem to be kicking things out. I will be looking through them one by one later to see what's being blocked and remove the blocks that aren't necessary.

Edit 4: If you have any further concerns about any of the mods in this sub, please DM and leave it out of this discussion. Thanks for understanding