Due to what they call “recent events,” the moderators of the r/Helldivers subreddit have temporarily closed the community. Meanwhile, the moderators of r/Helldivers2 have decided to keep theirs open.
At around 11:30 eastern, the moderators of r/Helldivers, which has 1.2 million members, locked the community, meaning that moderator approval is required for all new posts and all new comments on posts. They pinned a message to the subreddit explaining the decision.
“Due to recent events and the high amount of posts about the topic, we will be locking the subreddit temporarily. We're aware of what happened, our modteam doesn't condone it,” the post reads. “In any case, posts and discussions about it are against this sub's rules regarding real-world political discussions.”
Although they don’t specifically reference the killing of Charlie Kirk, that is the only recent event that would require condemnation from the moderation team of r/Helldivers. The alleged killer engraved one of his shell casings with the phrase “Hey fascist! Catch!” and then arrows pointing up, right, and three arrows pointing down. Those arrows are the inputs needed to call in the 500kg Eagle bomb in the game Helldivers 2.
There haven’t been any new posts in the r/Helldivers subreddit since 11:15 am ET. Aftermath has reached out to the moderators of r/Helldivers for comment, but they did not reply in time for publication.
By contrast, the comparatively smaller r/Helldivers2 community—boasting only 318,000 members—have not only kept the community open, but the mods have used a community member’s post about the potential weirdness of having a Helldivers 2 tattoo as a “megathread” for discussion on the killing of Charlie Kirk. Megathreads are used by Reddit moderators to keep conversations contained to one post, rather than let their communities be overrun with dozens of posts on the topic. People are allowed to discuss the shooting of Charlie Kirk and its connection to Helldivers 2, but in the designated megathread only.
“Locking it down isn't managed democracy. People can have THIS outlet. It's contained here. You have a place to go and discuss that fine. 5000 places with 2 comments, nope,” wrote one moderator. “Being able to have the conversation is important. It happened for a reason. Unprecedented times etc.”
Responding to another user asking if today was a weird day to be a r/Helldivers2 moderator, they said it wasn’t anything they couldn’t handle.
“Community is necessary because of events like this. If we as people spent more time learning about each other and overcoming our differences instead of bickering we might actually achieve equity and not just equality,” the moderator wrote. “As Helldivers it's our responsibility to keep those we love and are sworn to protect safe from outside evils. Sometimes those evils exist within our own society. This is just another dive in a long long history of dives.”
Aftermath also reached out to the moderators of r/Helldivers2 for comment, but they did not respond in time for publication.
