This whole ordeal has obviously gone completely out of control, I feel like it’s good to sit down and evaluate how we got to this point. Please correct me if I am mistaken.

Imgur admins began deleting submissions from /r/FatPeopleHate

/r/FatPeopleHate got upset at this, and reacted by pulling a publicly hosted picture of the Imgur staff to ridicule them for being fat. This same image was posted on the sidebar. This has been disputed as to whether this is considered personal attacks; or it’s okay since it’s a publically available image and no names were provided (that I am aware of).

Reddit (Ellen Pao) responds by banning /r/FatPeopleHate for violating its rules of personal attacks. If they considered the group photo from Imgur to be a personal attack, then that is their justification for the ban.

Redditors believe that this deletion of /r/FatPeopleHate was unfair, and thought it was an effort to silence the largest “Hate Subreddit” to make the site more appealing to advertisers.

FPH supporters respond by flooding the front page of /r/All with swastikas & calling Ellen Pao a cunt in an effort to make the site unappealing to advertisers, so that Ellen Pao will be forced to either reinstate FPH, or endure the posts.

This ordeal brings to light information about Ellen Pao’s past, including the fact that her husband (a reformed homosexual) ran a Ponzi Scheme & that she lost a lawsuit in which she sued a former employer (for gender discrimination) for the exact amount of money it would cost to free her husband. Then threatened to appeal the lawsuit unless she was given $2.7 Million (to cover her legal fees).

Posts that bring to light this information about Ellen Pao have been swiftly deleted by the admins.

The Bottom Line:

Did FPH violate the rules of reddit and deserved a ban? Yes, a case can absolutely be made for that. Did many other subs do the exact same thing & have no repercussions? Yes.

Was FPH a hateful subreddit? Obviously, it has hate in its fucking name. Are there other subs out there that are far far worse? Definitely.

This move was because FPH fucked with the wrong people, being Imgur, who have a strong relationship with reddit.

This move was easy because it was by far the largest “hateful” subreddit. And from a revenue perspective, its difficult to attract advertisers when posts from /r/FatPeopleHate are hitting the front page (which is what differentiates it from all other hateful subs, its size).

Much of this could have been avoided if there was consistency in their actions.

Is posting swastika’s & calling Ellen Pao a cunt childish? Of course it is. But these redditors feel there is nothing else they can do to voice their complaints. They feel their subreddit was unfairly targeted to achieve higher ad revenue, and are trying to counteract that with offensive posts.

Was banning FPH an abuse of power? No, they are a private company and can operate how they please.

Is deleting all posts that point out Ellen Pao’s past an abuse of power? Absolutely, and this is something that should outrage all of reddit, not just ex-FPH members.