Reddit bans hateful communities

Social networking website Reddit is banning certain communities that were perceived to be "offensive" to its general users.

Besides, common users will not be able to see several other communities as they would be hidden from the general users, TechCrunch reported.

Reddit chief executive officer (CEO) Steve Huffman has announced the new user policies, which included details for how Reddit would be "quarantining" certain communities and banning ones which were particular awful, including the infamous r/CoonTown.

Quarantined communities will be hidden from the general Reddit community and only visible to members of those specific subreddits that opt-in.

According to Huffman, the tactic will be used on communities that are generally offensive and "would be considered extremely offensive to the average redditor".

The community r/CoonTown and related subreddits were specifically banned.

In the statement Huffman said the bans were exercised on communities that "exist solely to annoy other redditors".

"Our policies are not changing dramatically from what we have had in the past. One new concept is Quarantining a community, which entails applying a set of restrictions to a community so its content will only be viewable to those who explicitly opt in," Huffman explained in a post on r/Announcements.

"In addition to applying Quarantines, we are banning a handful of communities that exist solely to annoy other redditors, prevent us from improving Reddit, and generally make Reddit worse for everyone else," he added.