The shooting at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday morning left at least 12, including a gunman dead. But police say there may be another suspect at large, and they “have reason to believe” this individual was involved in shootings.
Erik Martin from reddit tells us: "We banned it because it violated site rules by encouraging the posting of personal information. The quote from the side bar that subreddit that was banned said 'no personal information about leads unless you are really sure.' We do not allow the posting of personal information under any circumstances."The problem is that news outlets pickup the Reddit speculation from Tweets and they run with it, without thoroughly checking it out first.
So, the press probably asked Reddit to save them from themselves.
Reddit became a gathering place for amateur sleuthing in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing earlier this year, fueling what some reports called "online witch hunts" that resulted in some people being falsely identified as the bomber.
Wapo
