As a personal protest against the server issues with World of Warcraft a moderator temporarily closed the WoW subforum on reddit.
As reported by the US magazine Polygon, top moderator “Nitesmoke” temporarily closed the hugely popular subreddit /r/wow. This subreddit alone receives a million hits every day. The closure reportedly occurred as a protest, as “Nitesmoke” himself was unable to log into WoW. According to a tweet, he intends to reopen the subreddit when he can log into the game.
From this moment forward, r/WoW will be made private until I am able to log into the game.
— Nitesmoke (@nitesmoke) November 16, 2014
Fans reacted, according to Polygon, angrily calling the individual action silly and childish. A community manager from Blizzard also tweeted that he appreciates the moderator of the subreddit, but doesn’t think it’s right for r/wow to be taken hostage. It would be better if such a subreddit belonged to someone who couldn’t simply close it out of frustration. Nitesmoke responded with a tweet that he doesn’t care what people think of him. He will reopen the subreddit when he can log in. That’s just how it is.
@CM_Zarhym It will be back the moment I am able to log into WoW. That is the fact of the matter and everyone’s opinion on me is irrelevant — Nitesmoke (@nitesmoke) November 16, 2014
Meanwhile, Nitesmoke was able to log in and the subreddit is now open again. However, a discussion has arisen about whether one person should be able to use a large community as a “weapon” for their own opinion simply because they founded the sub-platform. It’s the Spiderman problem of whether such a position comes with the obligation for measured and responsible action.
Mein MMO thinks: Complicated issue. Essentially, a forum is the sum of its parts, the users. And the thousands of people who visit it every day contribute to its prosperity, growth, and thus also to its power and influence – ideally, everyone should be able to determine how the influence of the forum is used. And with all due respect: A “subreddit wow” owes much of its potential to its very name.
In practice, however, a forum or a site is owned by individual people and is not obligated to a kind of “democracy”. The individuals are then in the tempting position to wield such power, even if they lose integrity in the long run. As long as they don’t commit a crime, they are accountable to no one but themselves.
The key to reddit’s success is precisely not interfering in the decisions of individuals. What should the solution look like? Once a subreddit becomes large and important, is the owner to be stripped of power and replaced by some kind of “collective”? That can’t be the case either.
The best thing would probably have been for Nitesmoke to consult in some form, either letting the community vote or seeking support from his fellow moderators, so that it didn’t look like an “ego” thing. However… many can probably relate to the frustration over the server issues with WoW. And even large YouTubers or “personalities” exploit their influence – but they are also more present and seem more like “individuals”. Their “ego” tours are more easily forgiven.
