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Reddit’s future is hanging in the balance after users of the site mounted an open insurrection against the company’s interim chief executive, Ellen Pao, following a string of unpopular decisions, the most abrasive being the sacking of popular director Victoria Taylor.

Taylor’s role had been to co-ordinate the site’s popular Ask Me Anything series, also known as AMAs, where celebrities answer questions submitted by the Reddit community. Her dismissal resulted in protests across the site which saw many of the subforms shut down.

The recent controversy has culminated in a petition with 200,000 signatures calling for Pao’s resignation stating that “Action must be taken to prevent Reddit from being further run into the ground, stop Ellen Pao from destroying the Reddit.com community by making her step down as CEO of Reddit Inc.

Pao, who was appointed interim chief executivein November 2014, responded to the backlash with a statement in which she admitted that “we screwed up. Not just on 2 July, but also over the past several years. We haven’t communicated well, and we have surprised moderators and the community with big changes.”

Here’s more about the giant online discussion form.

While the 200,000 signatures on the petition against Pao is significant in echoing her unpopularity, the number represents just 0.12 per cent of Reddit’s readers.

Founders Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian met while hall mates during their freshman year at the University of Virgina.

The idea for Reddit was influenced by the 'popular' Del.icio.us, a website which shares the most bookmarked links online. Huffman and Ohanian decided to take the idea further and create a website that highlighted the most shared links on the internet making it easier for users to discover content.

The started the company with a $12,000 start-up grant from early stage start-up company Y Combinator.

Last year Reddit raised $50m in outside funding and promised to share 10 per cent with investors’ equity with the community via a custom cryptocurrency. Sam Altman, president of Y Combinator was responsible for leading the funding. He graduated from the same YC class as Reddit founders Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman and was one of Reddit’s first users.