This might all be normal behavior and I would just like to get a temperature check because i am in the process of rescuing a different subreddit for a music band I really love.
I moderated a subreddit for a corporate baby brand for around 6 months that the subreddit says is run by "fans of the brand". We had a separate discord for managing moderation. I was told by the admin I was picked as a moderator in order to give insight from a new customer of the brand and to moderate the content about the brand's products for young babies.
I knew pretty quickly that my opinion on the brand was significantly more neutral than the admin of the subreddit. The other moderators fell between my neutrality and her "super fandom".
There were just really big red flags from the beginning.
1) They insist on approving every post and any negative ones were removed, using the blanket statement "we are not customer service." They do not tell the subreddit this anywhere. The modmail primarily is just people asking why their posts are deleted or not approved.
2) The admin had access to an e-mail where she got early/secret info from the founder of the brand and would refer to these exchanges without giving any proof.
3) They created very cultured positive-only posts for engagement that have to basically be approved by the admin.
4) When the brand did a price increase, I created a megathread to collect all of people's thoughts in one place, and she deleted it in order to create the exact same megathread except with corporate speak in the body of the post and only very curated responses let through.
I really enjoy the brand's products but there were very clearly some issues. I would never be able to post about that on the subreddit, so I would converse with the moderators in the discord. I could tell the admin was really annoyed by any of my negative comments. She let me know today that I didn't participate actively enough so they were letting me go - but I definitely know I participate more than one of the other moderators. I wasn't too upset because the subreddit really started giving me the ick.
I think why this really bothers me is because as a new parent, we have so much pressure thrown at us for which products to buy, whether through influencers, social media etc. I spent a lot of time researching every brand and product I bought for my baby. If you Google the brand, the subreddit comes up a lot and I feel like it's extremely deceptive for it to not actually be an open forum.
I am very active in Google-branded subreddits. Google CS accounts pop in every now and then but they're very clearly open forums that allow criticism of the brand.
But maybe a lot of the things this admin did are normal? Again, just asking for a temperature check so that I can learn to be a better moderator.