Reddit's interim chief executive Ellen Pao has acknowledged a "long history of mistakes" after hundreds of thousands of users of the social news website called for her to step down before "irreversible harm" is done.

A change.org petition saying Ms Pao has "overstepped her boundaries" and warning that she "will run Reddit into the ground" currently has attracted more than 190,000 supporters.

The petition accuses Ms Pao of censorship, poor communication with moderators and empty promises.

In a Reddit post, Ms Pao apologised and admitted, "We screwed up...We haven't communicated well", adding that the "community have lost trust in me and us".

"We have apologised and made promises to you, the moderators and the community, over many years, but time and again, we haven't delivered on them," she said.

"When you've had feedback or requests, we haven't always been responsive."

Ms Pao said change would be implemented to improve the site, dubbed the front page of the internet, and it will "take time for us to deliver concrete results".

During her time at the helm Ms Pao has overseen the introduction of strict anti-harassment policies which saw five subreddits (discussion areas on specific topics) banned for concerns of abuse.

In March this year Ms Pao lost a lawsuit for gender discrimination against Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Perkins which, the petition says, caused Reddit users to believe she was "a manipulative individual who will sue her way to the top".

Yishan Wong, the previous Reddit chief executive who hired Ms Pao, defended her saying: "She's been in the job for a few months and is cleaning up the mess I made".

He said the way Reddit users have been treating Ms Pao as "eerily similar to how Republicans blamed Obama in his first years of the presidency for the problems he was working on fixing that were caused by the Bush administration".

Reddit revolt unfolds over firing of popular figure

Ms Pao has been in the firing line since last week's unexpected dismissal of Victoria Taylor, a very popular and much-loved director of talent, who was known to be very responsive to comments and concerns.

Following the discovery that Ms Taylor had been fired, around 300 subreddits including science, history and cinema were shut down by moderators as a form of protest against the decision.

Reddit user Karmanaut said the community "had the rug ripped out from under us and feel betrayed" and "the admins need to realise how much of an asset Victoria was".

Ms Taylor played an important role within Reddit, hosting the incredibly popular Ask Me Anything (AMA) in which users can ask questions to influential people, which has previously included US president Barack Obama, Sir David Attenborough and entrepreneur Bill Gates.

Reddit has not provided an explanation behind Ms Taylor's dismissal but many Reddit users have speculated that it could be due to the AMA with Baptist minister Jesse Jackson last week, during which he was presented with many uncomfortable questions.

Following the backlash to Ms Taylor's sacking, Ms Pao released a statement saying "I want to apologise for how we handled the transition yesterday".

"We should have informed the moderators earlier and provided more detail on the transition plan," she said.

However, many Reddit users were unsatisfied with this apology as it was not provided directly to users on the website.

Ms Pao said it was difficult for her to communicate via Reddit as her comments were being voted down by so many users to the point that the posts became hidden.