Unfortunately reddit was never going to allow that. I'm sure spez genuinely thought that mods would throw their little fit and then it would be business as usual. Once he realized that this wasn't a flash in the pan he was more than ready to put his boot on some necks. At this point the mods should just abandon their posts and move on to greener pastures. They don't owe reddit anything much less a two week notice. It's not like they're on Reddit's payroll or anything.