so the official reply is that mod got bored, and also was asked to re-open. which is, of course, fine.

and to be clear

• i didn't think there is any conspiracy, that would be ridiculous,
• if we subscribe to the idea that a community is owned, not stewarded, by mods, it's perfectly fine to do with the community whatever the mods want, without the need of them being accountable to anyone else,
• i do think that reopening the sub after closing it in protest is mostly sad,
• and a very small and rather insignificant footnote to a more general discussion on (f)utility of using master's tools to bring down the master's house.