Reddit users throw down gauntlet

Published Jul 6, 2015

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Trying to catch up on Reddit this holiday weekend? Good luck.

The "Ask Me Anything" subreddit and several other major portions of the site are inaccessible to the public, and it's all because of the sudden apparent removal of Reddit's popular director of communications, Victoria Taylor.

Taylor, known on the community by the username "chooter," has been a key administrator for the site's open Q-and-A subreddit "Ask Me Anything" - a prominent section of Reddit that has hosted conversations called "AMAs" with everyone from an unnamed McDonald's employee to President Barack Obama. Several Reddit users have posted that Taylor was let go without warning - a story that has spread through the site like wildfire and caused widespread outcry on the site. Several moderators began locking down their sections of Reddit in solidarity starting Thursday night.

Users have started calling it the "AMAgeddon".

Tensions have already been running high between the company and its longtime users. Interim chief executive Ellen Pao has made several rule changes, most notably to the site's anti-harassment policies. That's been part of an effort to clean up the site's reputation, a change that could make Reddit more palatable to its current users, new users and advertisers. But Pao's changes have drawn ire from those who want the company to remain the freewheeling forum for discussion - even highly offensive discussion - that it has always been.

Many Reddit users are blaming Pao for Taylor's departure, piling on to widespread anti-Pao sentiment on the site.

Reddit declined to comment on the situation because it was a personnel matter. But Alexis Ohanian, Reddit co-founder and executive chairman, has posted comments to users on the site attempting to smooth things over.

Taylor has not commented publicly on the matter apart from saying on Reddit that she was "dazed" by the situation; she also thanked people for their support via Twitter:

"Thank you to everyone for their good wishes and support. Love you guys." – Washington Post

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