I moderated one subreddit that was loved by users. It wasn't about anything that is illegal or controversial. The controversy came not from the content, but from how we were running the community -- we were breaking a reddit rule that was in place to prevent spam. I understand why they had that rule and I agree that it probably makes sense for most subreddits, but like any blanket rule: it doesn't perfectly fit every scenario. So, we had our own method of preventing spam and it worked.
The admins didn't care that we had a thriving community, no spam, and they banned the subreddit. They also blocked anyone from ever creating a replacement with the same name (still to this day). So, it definitely does happen. I'm keeping it vague here to maintain my anonymity.
Side note, reddit dropped that rule about 2 years ago so I suppose we could start one up again, but I've lost interest in that topic.
A bunch of subreddit admins took their ball and went home because they didn’t agree with site changes. This is practically the same thing. There was a whole website to track it.
Right, but they pretty much all came back. I'm not saying some don't do the blackout for protests, but none I have ever subscribed to have gone away 100% forever.
That’s different than your initial statement that none have vanished overnight. Hundreds or thousands vanished overnight. Many returned, but it was very unclear whether they ever would. Thank goodness the Reddit admins stepped in and basically forced lots of them to come back. Even major ones like r/video are still gone.
In fact, the biggest losers were the users of the small, niche subreddits that the admins couldn’t strongarm into returning.
They all came back because the admins allowed anyone to volunteer to overtake them. So, either the existing mods changed their minds to remain at the wheel of a subject they're passionate about, or they were replaced with new mods.
EDIT: "Vanish" forever. Yes, there have been protests and black outs, but everything I have ever subscribed to did come back.