Reddit modding is a joke. I've only ever seen a handful that I would consider well-run and the worst offenders are the most popular. Power trips aside, most mods basically don't want to do their job, assuming their job is making a "good" space that fits the sub name and description.

In one sports-related sub I visit, sometimes a conversation can get heated, with people challenging others' closely held beliefs when off-the-field real life bleeds into the subject. If more than 3 or 4 people take it too far, they lock the whole thread, ending the actual good conversation taking place between a hundred other people. They stop the whole discussion instead of the few who can't act civilized, just because they don't want to put in any effort at all. It's maddening.