Cheating allegations

History

The fully completed original artwork

On April 2nd a video was posted on r/Place, showing admin u/Chtorrr clearly placing tiles without a cooldown over the Marsey the Cat artwork located at (120,712). The post was quickly removed, but other users that saw it quickly began reposting the video. Any mention of the moderator or the artwork in question were immediately automatically removed when tried to post, with some users even receiving shadow bans for posting and users who placed a tile in that area also receiving hugely increased cool downs. Posts started reaching the front page of reddit and after some time, the posts were unlocked or reinstated and admin redtaboo posted a stickied comment on one of the posts, referring to the incident as utilizing moderation tools to keep the canvas safe for everyone.

redtaboo's response

Many users were confused as to why a simple image of a cat warranted such action, especially since it remained on the canvas for more than 20 hours before it was removed, and Reddit’s official Twitter account even replied to a screenshot tweeted by Hank Green, where the artwork was promptly visible.

Marsey the Cat as is the cat’s name, designed by Ukrainian artist Anton Dimitriev, is the unofficial ‘mascot’ of the controversial website https://rdrama.net/. The website was created after the subreddit r/Drama was repeatedly warned and sanctions were put in place for harassment offences and breaking of sitewide rules. The domain was completely blacklisted from Reddit and all posting on r/Drama was changed to emoji only by the subreddits moderators. These actions still stand to this day.

r/Drama going emoji only

Admin mail to r/Drama moderators

u/Chtorrr was also the main admin involved in the banning of subreddit r/2balkan4yu. A satirical shitposting subreddit dedicated to making fun of Balkan stereotypes and nationals, mainly used by users from the Balkan countries, that was banned for hateful content, which many users disagreed with. This added additional fuel to the fire with many users commenting their disliking with u/Chtorrr in the comments on r/Place posts.

One of the interactions between u/Chtorrr and the moderator team of r/2balkan4yu

The Marsey the Cat incident left many users discontent, saying that this ruined their enjoinment of the event and raised questions about censorship, with users wondering how multiple depictions of male genitalia can remain on the canvas, but something like this is where the moderators step in.

Ending

Fully completed artwork before The Whiteout

A new Marsey the Cat started construction at (389, 1387)immediately after the last canvas expansion, and was left untouched until The Great Whiteout.

This further questioned the involvement of moderation as this time the artwork was left alone. The censorship of 2B’s buttocks dressed in a leotard, as seen in the game Nier:Automata immediately as it was being constructed, with users receiving increased timers for placing tiles in that area, further sparked discussions between users, especially since the Widowmaker buttocks remained on the canvas.

Xqc's stream during the censorship of his 2B artwork