Largest Subreddit Shut Down Briefly as a Protest

Over the weekend, the largest World of Warcraft subReddit was shut down temporarily by one of its moderators. The shutdown was seen as a way to protest the recent server woes that World of Warcraft has been undergoing since the launch of the Warlords of Draenor expansion last week. Once this particular editor was able to log into WoW, the subReddit was reopened but the backlash against his decision has been a phenomenon all its own.

According to an interesting investigative piece at TheNoseMilk.com, angry /r/WoW are having posts deleted from the hugely popular Reddit stream and several are working to create a new space for all things World of Warcraft related.

Of particular note is that the anger is directed at this one individual and whether or not any single person should have the ability to summarily shut down a popular subReddit on his or her own.

Moderator Nitesmoke claimed that his actions were a protest against WoW developers and issues with their new expansion. Over the past few days from release, there have been many issues including server wide lag, queue times, and DDOS attacks that have increased the pressure on the WoW development team. Regardless, what gives him the right to shut down a community? This only draws attention to the design of Reddit, in which some individuals are given complete power over thousands. Nitesmoke is the original creator of the subreddit and has total control over the entire community- and at this point, he still rests on his throne.

Read more at the link above and be sure to leave us your thoughts in the comments.