Reddit is in revolt. This week, Victoria Taylor, director of talent and coordinator of the site’s popular “Ask me Anything” (r/IAmA) subreddit, left Reddit, apparently against her will. In response, a group of the site’s coordinators have pulled the shades on some of the site’s most popular sections.
The link-sharing site – called the “front page of the internet” so often it’s bordering on cliché – relies on its team of volunteer moderators, who run and curate its various subreddits. This, as it turns out, has its downsides: moderators of a swathe of subreddits, including Books, Gaming, Movies and Music set them at “private” last night, meaning they’re now inaccessible to users. (You can see the full list, along with updates on their current status, here.)
The furore follows hot on the tails of another revolt last month, this time among users rather than moderators. The site banned five offensive subreddits, including “r/fatpeoplehate” and several anti-trans threads, and in response, many users flocked to competitor site Voat in search of an uncensored browsing experience.
It’s not clear why Taylor, who went by the username chooter, was let go – she wrote in response to one user that she was “dazed” by what had happened. (Amusingly, an unknown user responded by paying for her “Reddit gold” premium membership, thereby handing over money to her ex-employer) . However, rumours abound that she objected to proposed attempts to monetise r/IAmA by, for example, launching video webchats with the well-known celebrities who agree to be interviewed by users on the subreddit.
According to the Guardian, Alex Ohanian, co-founder of the site, has now posted in a private forum for volunteer moderators in an attempt to quell the uprising:
The communication between Reddit and the moderators needs to improve dramatically. We will work closely with you all going forward to ensure events like today don’t happen again.”
Spare a thought, too, for the news sites who rely on Reddit for a constant stream of recycled viral content – wedding videos, cool pictures of dogs and questionable sexual anecdotes will slow to a trickle on newsfeeds today. Let’s hope, for all our sakes, that the site can work through its internal disputes.
Now listen to Barbara discussing Reddit’s rebellion on the NS podcast:
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