Why We Shut Down Reddit’s ‘Ask Me Anything’ Forum – The New York Times

Our primary concern, and reason for taking the site down temporarily, is that Reddit’s management made critical changes to a very popular website without any apparent care for how those changes might affect their biggest resource: the community and the moderators that help tend the subreddits that constitute the site. Moderators commit their time to the site to foster engaging communities. Ms. Taylor’s sudden termination is just the most recent example of management’s making changes without thinking through what those changes might mean for the people who use the site on a daily basis.

The issue goes beyond Reddit. We are concerned with what a move like this means for for-profit companies that depend on the free labor of volunteers — and whether they truly understand what makes an online community vibrant. [emphasis mine]

Source: Why We Shut Down Reddit’s ‘Ask Me Anything’ Forum – The New York Times

Posted in Internet Tagged with: reddit

What do you HATE about your public library?

What happens when a librarian asks Redditors “What do you HATE about your public library?”

This is not an anti-library rant. I am a public librarian with 12 years behind the desk. Once a year or so I like to ask reddit what we are doing wrong, what we could be doing better, and what they would like to see from their library in the future. Love to hear what you have to say, thanks for stopping in.

My answer is outreach in its purest form. Read the full conversation @ /r/books.

Posted in Libraries Tagged with: marketing, outreach, reddit