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I am Alexis Ohanian, start up guy.
My mission statement is to make the world suck less.
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I don't want to keep ranting.
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Back when I was at UVA, I actually met Steve Huffman, who I started Reddit with on move-in
day.
Ever since we first met, we had all kinds of just discussions about technology, things
we wanted whether it was video games or just gadgets and it was like it would be much more
fulfilling to be able to create something with him, start a company with him, so we
both needed somewhere to go to find out what was new and interesting online and that what
we kept circling back to.
We spent about three weeks putting Reddit together and the first version was—janky.
But it had core and to see how far it has come is mind-blowing.
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Reddit is actually a platform for online communities.
It's a place for anyone to come online, submit a link with a clever headline and have people
vote it up if they like and vote it down if they don't.
And the end result is this rising and falling front page of links about pretty much all
the best stuff on the Internet for scores of different communities ranging from people
who want to share photos of cute animals, one my favorite Reddits, to people who want
to discuss politics.
The reason we were able to start building this community was because we put so much
emphasis on the users and giving them the tools to just do awesome stuff and if any
user wants to create a Reddit about whatever community they want, they can.
One of my favorites is random acts of pizza.
So what it basically says is if you're in the mood for a pizza, let's say you can't
afford it.
You just lost your job or money's tight.
You can request a pizza and you see this happening.
This is an act of community that is totally based on gifting strangers pizzas and it's
so encouraging for me because even with just a username, people all over the world that
don't even know each other are willing to be good, which is about the best you can hope
for for humanity.
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I've heard skepticism from people about whether or not you can actually have a community or
a connection between a bunch of anonymous people and I think for so many of us who have
experienced online community, what it allows for is this kind of candor and honesty that
you just cannot get attached to a real identity.
By coming onto Reddit, you're not wholly anonymous because you still have a username.
But it's a username.
It could be your name, if you want it to be or it could be some random characters.
It doesn't matter.
So many people talk to me about the value of this wonderful platform for people to connect
in a way that simply could not happen at a place like Facebook or even a place like Twitter
and express themselves more freely than they would if y'know they knew that their parents
were gonna be reading it or that some of their friends were gonna see it and I think we need
that.
For so many Redditors, it gives them a voice that they feel like they don't have elsewhere.
Whether it's a kid who's in the middle of the country who doesn't have anyone to talk
to about being gay who can come online, watch some YouTube videos, have a discussion on
the LGBT Reddit—like can actually connect with people who—who y'know he or she can't
find at home in the offline world.
That's the power of the Internet and I value these connections even in this anonymous world
as much as I value the ones that I have in this offline, y'know, more human world.
I'm Alexis Ohanian and I am compelling you with force mind control powers to subscribe
to THNKR.