Let me expand a bit on my original thought as well, since I wrote my original comment while still in bed. :) The biggest problem reddit is going to encounter is the fundamental ways that different users and demographics view reddit. You have the new users who come for the pix, you have people who solely use it for the darker side, you have moderators who have been around forever and have a much wider knowledge of how reddit actually operates, you have privacy minded folks who like the deeper insights some of reddit produces and the outlet it provides, you have trolls and people who don't take it too seriously but holy shit do they take it seriously, you have the media (like Guardian and Buzzfeed) who see it as a place to get top stories and nothing else and always seem to be comparing it to fucking twitter, and you have investors who are trying to make some money because there has got to be some way to make fucking money when you have 100 bazillion users, and you have the reddit admin team who has always been hands off but is now being forced by the fact that they are playing in the 'real social media site' circle now. The goals and expectations of all these parties are too too different to keep everyone happy, but reddit (especially now that Alexis is back) will try their damned hardest. As reddit has grown, the comparison to real social networks like twitter and facebook have also grown and the expectation that they take action (like facebook and twitter) in moderating some of the more offensive content has become a must-have. However, these media outlets that are pushing this agenda fail to fully grasp what reddit was and still currently is: a place for people to make communities, share links, and talk amongst themselves about whatever they want. I find it a bit funny that the media, who prides itself with constant talks of first amendment and free speech, can't see the hypocrisy. Yes, there is a difference between 'breaking a news story' free-speech and 'The Fappening' free speech, but it doesn't even seem like these media agencies are even attempting to see any view but "porn = bad" and "omg their are subreddits for dead kids." While Conde Naste, for the most part, let reddit exist as it was, the more and more media coverage they get, the more they are forced to take action. Jailbait wasn't shut down until Anderson Cooper did a breaking news piece on it and the world was outraged. This story as well pokes at the reddit admins and ownership to take action. As for where that “leadership” comes from, Strudelle says “I don’t care if it’s Advance Publications or if it’s [Reddit co-founder and chairman] Alexis Ohanian or Ellen Pao, but there are hate movements that use Reddit as a propaganda organ… and someone needs to step up and get rid of them.” Literally. ^ This bullshit right here is utterly pointless except to poke at the admins/owners of reddit. Guardian is essentially saying "Hey - you guys - you own this site - why aren't you doing anything - here - we're publishing your goddamn name in a typically worthless article - do something now? We are the media. We have power." Hey Guardian. You can shut down the darker sides of reddit, most likely causing it to speedily race downhill and utterly be the demise of reddit. But you know what is going to happen? All those people will go to others site to get their darker content, and you won't have any bullshit to pull from reddit.com to put on your homepage. Also, I find it hysterically that the Guardian is quoting SRS mods on reddit as a source of propaganda. lulz.ts largest shareholder is US media conglomerate Advance Publications, a family-owned company best known for owning magazine firm Condé Nast, not for hosting hardcore pornography. Reddit was formerly owned outright by Condé, but the company transferred ownership sideways in 2011 within its corporate family, while diluting selling a portion of the company back to Reddit itself.