Reddit, a site that calls itself “the front page of the internet”, is in turmoil. The firing of Victoria Taylor, who oversaw the company’s relations with the volunteers who moderate its thousands of discussion boards, or subreddits, prompted fury. Many of them shuttered their forums. Even the well-known “Ask me Anything”, which Ms Taylor helped co-ordinate, went dark. Managers have (understandably) been putting a greater emphasis on making money; the moderators (understandably) worry that this is destroying Reddit’s distinctive culture of link-sharing and discussion. Ellen Pao, the interim chief executive, has apologised (twice) but 200,000 have signed an online petition calling for her resignation. The episode exemplifies the online world’s perennial tension between commerce and community. As with Wikipedia and Flickr (and Digg and MySpace—remember them?), it’s a reminder that sites whose success depends on users’ fervour must treat them with respect: they are volunteers, not employees.