What dark secrets do popular subreddits have in their past?

I was there. I didn't speculate or try to solve the crime, but I encouraged those that did.

The crime wasn't that we got a security guard killed by forcing the bombers out of hiding, or that we brought pain to a suicide victim's family. Worse mistakes have been made by better people. The crime is that the community didn't learn a goddamn thing and we still engage in witchhunts based on shaky information against people who are accused of trivial infractions. We're so quick to demand free speech and due process from the government but for some reason consider ourselves above the law as long as we're acting in some self-described noble endeavor and nobody ever stands up and takes responsibility when this shit goes wrong.

And it's worse now, because whenever this community gets the scent of blood and starts taking names and screaming justice, you'll see anyone who actually learned something that day warning people that when the facts come out and the dust settles, the damage we've (because Reddit is all of us) done won't be forgotten by anyone (least of all ourselves), but they get told to shut up and fall in line because it's different this time or even worse: who gives a shit about patience and fairness because we're just having some harmless fun? It's someone else's fault for taking us seriously.

I can't think of anyway to prevent it though. But I'll stand up and say I killed that security guard, and I broke the dam, and I got Ellen Pao fired (I'm not even sure what actually happened there, if she was in the wrong or what, but no one deserves the type of justice Reddit hands out based on their decisions about website management, that's for sure), and maybe next week I'll be the asshole who spread the link to the "joke" kickstarter to assassinate someone.

/r/AskReddit Thread Parent