Creator of Fat-Positive Video That Hit Reddit's Front Page Opposes the New Bans

Bring out the popcorn. Gaming YouTube vlogger Steven "boogie2988" Williams came out against Reddit's banning of subreddits, or subsections, that it found in violation of its anti-harassment policy this week.

Williams launched a staunch defense of the site's former neutrality, saying that he'd rather have the site's freedom of expression over what he considers controversial "half measures."

"There are plenty of harassment subreddits that are left over. Coontown comes to mind. If I was banning harassment subreddits, coontown would be on top of the list," he said. "This is a half measure. Either you rule with an iron fist or you don't. Like, this seems personal."

He defended /r/fatpeoplehate's existence, strangely because it gave him some peace of mind:

"It was actually kind of nice to have all that fat people hate in one place because it allowed me to know for certain that people hated me," he said. Ironically, his video about why fat people get hated on landed his face onto the front page of the site, where it attracted an outpouring of positive comments (as well as the usual jerks).

Obviously this shouldn't be mistaken for advocacy, knowing the anxiety and isolation that fat shaming causes. Williams has been a victim of it since he was still in school and since then he's been a supporter of body acceptance.

"The only thing I care [about] is that hopefully your opinion, your mind and your heart broadens and changes one day," he said. "And the amount of damage you've done to other people of size who are already fairly fragile or who are already having trouble in their lives—I think it's kind of gross."

Fat people hate is now banned from reddit alongside many other subreddits based on harassment. Not sure how I feel about it.
— Boogie2988 (@Boogie2988) June 10, 2015

While the site was known for keeping an open forum and keeping its hands off subreddits no matter how dividing or unpopular, the new anti-harassment policy it enacted this May made those five subreddits the first casualties in a long-running battle to stamp out user toxicity. In fact, the site's administrators are already banning subreddits made in reaction to the decision.

I would always rather engage with people who disagree with me and change their minds, over silencing them or pretending they don't exist.
— Boogie2988 (@Boogie2988) June 11, 2015

And users haven't just been making new subreddits. They've been upvoting swastikas, fat-shaming posts and calls to fire Reddit CEO Ellen Pao to the front page while migrating to Voat, a Reddit lookalike site. Maybe the reaction is exactly what they need to justify the ongoing /r/mageddon.