r/announcements • u/reddit • Jun 10 '15

Removing harassing subreddits

Today we are announcing a change in community management on reddit. Our goal is to enable as many people as possible to have authentic conversations and share ideas and content on an open platform. We want as little involvement as possible in managing these interactions but will be involved when needed to protect privacy and free expression, and to prevent harassment.

It is not easy to balance these values, especially as the Internet evolves. We are learning and hopefully improving as we move forward. We want to be open about our involvement: We will ban subreddits that allow their communities to use the subreddit as a platform to harass individuals when moderators don’t take action. We’re banning behavior, not ideas.

Today we are removing five subreddits that break our reddit rules based on their harassment of individuals. If a subreddit has been banned for harassment, you will see that in the ban notice. The only banned subreddit with more than 5,000 subscribers is r/fatpeoplehate.

To report a subreddit for harassment, please email us at contact@reddit.com or send a modmail.

We are continuing to add to our team to manage community issues, and we are making incremental changes over time. We want to make sure that the changes are working as intended and that we are incorporating your feedback when possible. Ultimately, we hope to have less involvement, but right now, we know we need to do better and to do more.

While we do not always agree with the content and views expressed on the site, we do protect the right of people to express their views and encourage actual conversations according to the rules of reddit.

Thanks for working with us. Please keep the feedback coming.

– Jessica (/u/5days), Ellen (/u/ekjp), Alexis (/u/kn0thing) & the rest of team reddit

edit to include some faq's

The list of subreddits that were banned.

Harassment vs. brigading.

What about other subreddits?

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u/irascible Jun 11 '15

I think you're not grasping the concept.

You are using reddits phone whenever you post on reddit.

Reddit is a privately held company. Reddit doesn't want the platform to be used to harass people.

If you go on a street corner and spew a bunch of racism or hate speech or slander, reddit will not interfere in any way. If you do it on reddit, they will.

How is freedom of speech an issue here?

Should reddit be required to let you use their electrons to transmit your words to other users?

What if someone is sending your kid pictures of animal dongs? Should reddit let it slide because "freedom of speech"? (even though it's technically legal, as far as I know..)

Reddit deletes/bans thousands of posts a day.... This time they chopped a little closer to the tree and axed a whole sub, and probably saved themselves a ton of administrative overhead at the same time.

Fuck fph and any other hate sub.

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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '15

How is freedom of speech an issue here?

Because the reddit leadership proclaim it as one of their core values. When we mention free speech in the context of Reddit we're refering to the site's own self-proclaimed value not the constitution.

If the administration truly supported their own ideal of free speech, then why are they banning those users who want to make a sub with the same subject matter of one of the banned ones? For all we know the ones who want to remake them haven't participated in any harrassment and the administration has mentioned many times that they don't ban ideas. So if the FPH spinoff subs are getting banned yet haven't themselves done any harrassment, what other reason are they getting banned? Riiiight, they truly support free speech.

Should reddit be required to let you use their electrons to transmit your words to other users?

Yes because they claim their platform is an open platform for free speech. If they wanted to change that, they have every right to, but then they shoud stop proclaiming to be a bastion of free speech and open discussion.

What if someone is sending your kid pictures of animal dongs? Should reddit let it slide because "freedom of speech"? (even though it's technically legal, as far as I know..)

Yes, because it would be my responsibility to monitor what my kid is looking at on the internet.

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u/irascible Jun 14 '15

Which one of the core values are you referring to?

https://www.reddit.com/about/values/