The forum is divided into threads with different themes called 'subreddits': hot, new, rising, controversial, top, gilded, wiki, promoted. Users submit links, jokes, photos and videos to the forum for the community to vote up or down.
The moderators, which are a team of volunteers, oversee the site. The employees of Reddit only step in if the company faces being sued.
The ‘Reddit exodus’ is a perfect illustration of the state of free speech on the Web: "a R… http://t.co/FzDwP2yUso pic.twitter.com/jwqEbAQuhG
— The Cool Stuff Deck (@CoolStuffDeck) February 19, 2015
Reddit says it ‘is a pretty open platform and free speech place, but there are a few rules'. These include: don't spam, don't ask for votes or engage in vote manipulation, don't post personal information, no child pornography or sexually suggestive content featuring minors and don't break the site or do anything that interferes with normal use of the site.
Newer social media sites use Reddit to test the tempo of a story or idea and gauge internet interest; and the stories and chats often resurface elsewhere online. But now it's reported that users are leaving the site over free speech concerns.
[Serious] Do you believe that the freedom of speech includes the right to offend religions? http://t.co/ug0lFSDMUA #askreddit
— Reddit AskReddit (@askredditbot) February 15, 2015
So called ‘Redditors' are saying that ‘censorship' of their comments, which is part of the site's corporate policy, is putting them off. According to the Washington Post, a user called redditisocorrupt posted about a secret ‘cabal' of moderators censoring free speech ‘along radical feminist lines'.
Is Voat the new Reddit?
— Bill Perrin (@BillPerrin) February 19, 2015
As a result, a sub Reddit group called r/subredditcancer was subsequently created, then a few hours later a site called Voat, based in Switzerland, was formed where the redditors migrated to.
During a conversation with the site's founders, a new Voater said:
"So essentially I can be offensive to anybody, as offensive as I want, as long as there are no death threats, etc., and you guys will not ban me?"
The reply from the founders read:
"We are not SJW [social justice warriors] and don't plan on becoming it".
However amid speculation about Reddits leaving the site over free speech concerns, there are claims that the bookmark site is just becoming an outdated mechanism with a rather dated interface.
So it remains to be seen how many ‘redditors' become ‘voaters'.
