Trekkies on Reddit face divided loyalties as William Shatner, former captain of the SS Enterprise, has cast judgement on the popular forum, claiming it fosters bigotry and racism.

81-year-old Shatner - a prolific user of social media - joined the forum recently and wrote Saturday that: "I am appalled by some of the immature, horifically racist, sexist, homophobic...posts that are just ignored".

He added: "Reddit has been the first 'mainstream' site that I have been to that actually appears to allow racists and other hate mongers to congregate".

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His comment has now received 2,326 upvotes - considered a good haul - and the discussion on site brings up the tempestuous topic of free speech and trolling.

Shatner is well-known for being bullish in his opinions:

On inferior sci-fi: "Star Trek had relationships and stories that involved humanity and philosophical questions. Star Wars was special effects."

On companies failing to live up to green promises: "You, HP, promised me a toxic-free computer by 2009. Now my friends at Greenpeace tell me that I'll have to wait till 2011. What's up with that?"

On fans wanting freebies: Shatner apparently charged £53 for autograph signings.

On failing to make good on urinary infection: "This takes organ donors to a new height, to a new low, maybe" said Shatner, when auctioning his kidney stone for charity. (It sold for £14,000)