Hi all,
I’m Tom.

New response · August 28–29, 2026

They knew. A moderator said they laughed. Now they have removed him.

Reddit and Discord moderators announced Tom’s removal after years in which he retained authority while employed by Ubiquiti. Tom agreed that he should have stepped down earlier. In the discussion that followed, moderators said the team knew about his employment, supported the use of separate personal and employee-tagged accounts, and saw no need to tell the wider community.

“I should have stepped down years ago … maintaining a personal account with moderation privileges has undermined community trust.”

“Meanwhile, we all laughed our asses off while he was doing that.” — spot / t.c.o.a. · Discord moderator

Editorial assessment: removing Tom from the two teams was a necessary corrective action. The replies to members who questioned the arrangement, including a moderator’s statement that the team had laughed about it, show why private oversight never substituted for public disclosure. One participant also asked whether alleged employee promotion of Ubiquiti products implicated 16 CFR § 255.5. The site records that legal concern and the response it received without presenting it as an FTC determination.

Two readers later placed links to this investigation beneath the Reddit announcement. In subsequent captures, each link-bearing comment has been replaced by Comment removed by moderator. The notices name no rule and no responsible moderator. Because the same evidence link was removed from two separate users in one accountability thread, this publication concludes that the moderation team was actively suppressing its distribution.