Alright.
So I know a large portion of the internet uses Reddit as part of their day-to-day info-gathering, but is convenience of information really worth condoning the site operators, the horrible sub-reddits, and the general immaturity/misogyny of the user base?
Let's backtrack a bit, and let's go over some information here.
History
Reddit was created in 2005, and popularized after the Great Digg Exodus of 2006, as an alternative link-aggregation site because of a user base fallout with Diggs site ops and rule sets. It originally started out very similar to other aggregator sites like Stumbleupon, Digg, and Fark, but quickly ballooned in size.
Reddit was purchased by newspaper conglomerate Conde Nast in 2006, and became independant of Conde Nast in 2011, and is now under even bigger conglomerate Advance Publications.
The site has a history of a "nothing is sacred, anything goes" posting mentality, which in turn has spawned some of the most vile places on the internet.
Scandal
In 2008, 'jailbait' was named "Sub-Reddit Of The Year". This sub-reddit contained pornographic and suggestive photographs of teenagers and pre-teens.
In September 2011, thanks to tips from SomethingAwful (who continue to troll Reddit in hilarious fashion thanks to sub-reddit r/####RedditSays), Anderson Cooper exposed dozens of sub-reddit's devoted to child pornography. These sub-reddits had existed for years, with site-ops not caring to enforce anything related to removal or strict admonishment for their existence. They were accepted as course. After the bad press from Anderson Cooper, a cursory finger-wagging and half-assed assurance campaign was launched pretending that the issue was resolved, when in fact nothing was done. Many popular posts were made defending child porn as free-speech, and these lasted for well over 2 months. Reddit has a notable community of ephebophiles who feel their deviancy is natural.
It wasn't until February 2012, when SomethingAwful again started an internet-wide campaign to expose the indecencies of these sub-reddits, that Advanced Publications stepped in and forced Reddit to remove all 'jailbait' themed sub-reddits, and put in a rule forbidding "suggestive or sexual content featuring minors". Despite the official rule, many sub-reddits still exist to negotiate the exchange of illegal materials, and site-ops are lax to control them. It has been mused that they may exist as honey-pots for sexual predators.
The *very* popular site-op
violentacrez (real name: Michael Brutsch) was responsible for the creation and maintenance of many of the most reviled sub-reddits found on the site, including most 'jailbait' sub-reddits, r/beatingwomen, r/creepshots (taking pictures of women who don't know they're being taken), r/picturesofdeadkids, r/chokeabitch, r/rapebait, r/hitler, r/misogyny, r/incest, and many many others.
On October 12, 2012, violentacrez was unmasked by Adrian Chen of Gawker for his facilitation of some of the most horrific communities on the internet (as well as being a top contributor to many of them).
http://gawker.com/5950981/
Since the publication of this article, all Gawker links and discussions of the situation have since been banned from Reddit, and users who address it or wish to discuss it have been banned as well. Many of violentacrez sub-reddits still exist, filled with exactly the type of people you would expect them to be filled with.
r/mensrights
If you have noticed any upswing in the hilariously misguided Men's Rights movement on the internet, you can thank this sub-reddit. Demonization of women, an upswing in acceptable misogyny, the lament of 'nice guys', it's all whipped up here, and it's spreading. I could go on about this, but I'm sure there will be some MRAs (men's rights advocates) that post on CP here soon to tell me how Femi-nazi's ruined their life and how the MRA-movement is all about equality for men in an unbalanced world.
The Topic At Hand
For anyone who willfully knew of what transpired (and what currently exists on Reddit), how can you in any good conscience continue to patronize the site, knowing that by doing so you are condoning this and giving them advertising revenue to continue this monstrous activity?
Is it laziness? Lack of concern? Have you given up on the world and just don't care?