The other day, Reddit announced that they would be introducing a new “Start Chatting” feature for subreddits. Basically these are chat rooms that exist within subreddits, where small groups of users can gather and chat at the same time, thus saving the time from having to send direct messages or joining a Discord server.However, it seems that as quickly as the feature was rolled out, it has since been rolled back. In a post on Reddit, the company has announced that they will be rolling back the feature. It seems that the company’s eagerness to release the feature has resulted in it being rather buggy, plus it also seems that many moderators of subreddits weren’t too thrilled by it.
This is because the chat rooms are completely unmoderated. As some have pointed out that this leaves the feature open to abuse and trolls who might be scouring Reddit for open chat rooms to harass other users. This is important as there are some subreddits that are home to vulnerable communities that might not appreciate having trolls come to harass its users.
The feature isn’t being cancelled entirely, but rather Reddit will be reassessing it and will be making some changes. In a statement provided to The Verge, a spokesperson said, “Given the issues and concerns expressed by our users and moderators throughout the last 24 hours, we’ve made the decision to disable Start Chatting so we can reassess our rollout plan and evolve the product to meet the needs of our community.”