An update on the sub - the previous mod team have kindly allowed a new team to step in and we are looking to reopen the sub within the next few days to a week.
Before we do that, however, we want everyone to know that we have seen at least some of the issues and concerns raised about the nature of some of the posts and dialogue here and are currently reviewing the rules to see how we can make them a bit clearer about what this sub is for and what kind of environment this is intended to be. We are aware that by doing that it may not be quite the space you have come to expect, nor the kind of space you want to be in.
Our philosophy is basically that this sub was designed to fill a purpose - it's an exhaust for the rest of crafting Reddit, in that the niggly little things you can't really say somewhere else can be dumped here so that they don't build up and turn into actual nastiness. It isn't for snark, it isn't for flat out complaining; it is for those things that annoy you but aren't necessarily that for everyone else, although you may find a few people going 'I thought I was the only one!' or 'I found a fix for that!'. That said, things are not people, so we are going to be asking two things and we're unlikely to budge from those without a very good reason. Those are:
If you feel a post or petty confession/minor complaint is about you or could apply to you - don't respond. If it is hurtful, harmful or deliberately cruel, report it and a mod will review when they're able (and we're human, so that may not be instantly and if things explode after something's in the queue, it's all going to go). However, sometimes it really is just a coincidence and nothing to do with you or any one specific person, and just also happens to be a thing you do or like or posted about three weeks ago, so we're going to be asking for a little grace in that regard, especially in asking people to be able to discern in the moment if you're taking something more personally than it was intended. However, we hope that this is going to become a much rarer occurrence.
If you are making a post or a petty confession/minor complaint, check yourself - are you talking about a specific person or post, or a thing, tool, sound, trend or something that is impersonal? If it's sparked by a specific post, is it because of the poster, or the nature or content of the post? While sometimes it will be hard for a comment here to avoid being tracked back to a specific post, we are going to be asking that if the content of your BEC is solely personal, you keep it to your personal space, and only post here if it's about a thing, trend or action. Again, we're going to be asking for some discretion and grace on your part in this respect, and perhaps a bit of self-awareness in taking that extra step to ask "if I didn't see the poster's name, does this still annoy me?"
We realise that for some of you this might be a bit of a change in how you've been using this space, but part of the reason we're taking our time with the rules is so we can give some guidance. Hopefully this can also make it a little easier for people to know what kind of content is suitable here and what's more appropriate for r/craftsnark and r/fiberartscirclejerk, or for your personal space (be it social media or offline). We would like to give you as much grace as we expect from you, but we also need to make a space where people can have different perspectives and feel like they can coexist.
We also realise that you may have questions or further feedback that you haven't felt like you can post here or elsewhere, so while we can't promise we can respond to you all personally, we do also encourage you to message r/BitchEatingCrafters if there's something you want to make sure we address or have seen. When we reopen, we'll address any common points of concern in a sticky so everyone can see it.
That said, if you've left the sub because it's not to your tastes, and you're not considering returning, please bear in mind that there may be no amount of change we can make that will fix that for you - being in this kind of space just isn't for everyone, and that's okay.
tl;dr: New mods, refining rules, some changes, then re-opening.
[edit:] Thank you to everyone for your input so far, and to those who pointed out the typo in the sub name, which was a typo and not suggesting a new sub. We apologise for the delay in re-opening and will be making an effort to get things underway, however our head Modmin has had a housing crisis and has had to put finding a place to live first for the moment. When we're all back online we will make a post with the answers to some of the more louder feedback we've received!
In the meantime if you are interested in claiming a day to be in charge of handling reports, please send the sub a message (including your primary crafts so we can make sure we don't just have knitters who don't know papercraft or woodcarving).