Reddit doesn’t have control over its own community
Factions are starting to form on Reddit over the recent firing of communications director Victoria Taylor. Some moderators have placed the subreddits they control on private to protest the firing of Taylor, and as of now many are open to the public after Reddit promised continued support and communication. Taylor, was the facilitator of Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything, where celebrities, the president, and other people from different walks of life are asked questions from anyone with a Reddit account).
Taylor, was supposedly fired without notice and without any reason according to several reports on the site. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, known on reddit as kn0thing, commented on the issue in one of the threads on the site, but did not go into specifics about her departure.
“We don’t talk about specific employees, but I do want you to know that I’m here to triage AMA requests in the interim. (…) We get that losing Victoria has a significant impact on the way you manage your community. I’d really like to understand how we can help solve these problems, because I know r/IAMA thrived before her and will thrive after,” he wrote.
Ohanian noted that getting the blacked out subreddits back online was a top priority.
“Your message was received loud and clear. The communication between Reddit and the moderators needs to improve dramatically,” wrote Ohanian. “At this point, however, the blackout has served its purpose, and now it’s time to get Reddit functioning again.”
Reddit has had a problem controlling its community over the past years, and most recently when it banned 5 highly offensive subreddits. Reddit as a company has taken a very hands of approach to moderating its community, allowing mods (Normal users, not Reddit employees) to moderate and dictate what is being discussed in their subreddits.
Tell us what you think about Taylor’s firing and Reddit’s apparent revolt in the comments below!