Ex-LSF Mod Stale2000 Banned from Reddit After Showing Up to HQ Event

Showing Up Anyway

Bryan Wade has never been accused of lacking confidence. The former r/LivestreamFail moderator, better known online as Stale2000, found himself at the center of another controversy this week after he attempted to walk into an in-person moderator meetup at Reddit’s headquarters, only to be escorted out by security and, the next morning, permanently banned from the platform entirely. As reported by Dexerto, Wade shared the full story in a video posted to his YouTube channel.

The situation began with a simple enough calculation on Wade’s part. He acknowledged his reputation but figured the event was technically open to moderators, and he still moderates other subreddits. “I’ve been to a few of these events in the past. They’re super fun,” he said in the video. “Now I know I’m a bit of a controversial character to say the least these days, but hey, it’s a mod event. I’m a moderator of other subreddits. Why not just like shoot my shot, see if I can stop by?”

The shoot did not land.

A Hat, a Plus-One, and a Lobby

Finding himself stuck on the waitlist, Wade arranged with someone he met online to attend as their plus-one. He also came prepared with a hat, figuring the disguise would prevent other moderators from recognizing him and, as he put it, swarming him. After checking in, he was asked to wait in the lobby. That is roughly where things went sideways.

“A security guard walked up to me and asked me very nicely to step outside, which I politely did,” Wade explained. “Then he said to me that I am not authorized to be at the event and asked me to leave else they would have to call the police. I just said okay and then briskly walked away.”

He was insistent, both in the video and apparently in the lobby itself, that he was not there to stir up trouble. “I wasn’t there to cause any problems or do an internet prank or do anything. I just did nothing and sat down in the lobby.” Whether Reddit’s security team found that reassuring is not recorded.

The Morning After

Whatever the intent, the consequences arrived the following morning. According to Dexerto, Wade woke up to find every one of his Reddit accounts had been wiped, with the stated reason being a moderator code of conduct violation.

“I wake up this morning to see that all of my accounts have been permanently banned for a moderator code of conduct violation,” he said. “A bit annoying, but whatever.”

The casual shrug tracks with how Wade has handled his ongoing friction with the platform. Dexerto had previously covered his removal from the LSF mod team following reports that he demanded to be treated as a celebrity, and more recently reported that he has been calling on the US government to release what he calls the “Twitch and Reddit files.”

The Ongoing Stale2000 Saga

What makes this story worth paying attention to, beyond its obvious absurdity, is what it says about the strange, undefined territory that powerful volunteer moderators occupy in online communities. Wade rose to prominence managing one of the most-trafficked streaming culture communities on the internet. That role came with genuine influence over what clips went viral and which creators got amplified. It was also, technically, an unpaid volunteer position with terms of service attached.

When that relationship soured, there was no clean offboarding, no severance, no formal exit. Just a gradual erosion of access, a string of public conflicts, and now a security guard in a lobby asking a man in a hat to please leave the building.

Reddit has not publicly commented on the ban, according to Dexerto’s reporting. Wade, for his part, seems to be taking it in stride, at least on camera.