Sometimes, the internet is still the Wild West, particularly when we're talking about social media and online communities. And yet, it still takes corporate types by surprise when the people show their lawless ways, as they have this week on Reddit. A number of the site's most popular message boards have been moved to "private" by their moderators in protest of Thursday's firing of an administrator, Victoria Taylor, according to ThinkProgress.
"We all had the rug ripped out from under us and feel betrayed," user Karmanaut wrote in an explanation of the protest by the moderators, who are all users, not employees. Taylor was the site's talent director, in charge of the Ask Me Anything Q&As. There is speculation that her firing came after an AMA with Rev. Jesse Jackson, in which users' questions became hostile.
Under the leadership of interim chief executive Ellen Pao, the New York Times reports, Reddit has recently imposed stricter anti-harassment rules that have angered many on the site. As the Art subreddit moderator Solidwhetstone puts it, "Perhaps all of this is the straw that broke the camel's back. /u/chooter (Taylor's username) was one of the best employees reddit has ever had — and we as the community need to say — we've had enough."
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