Are the Reddit group's moderators having a bit of a tantrum?
Let it be known: WallStreetBets doesn’t like being told what to do.
On Thursday, a Bloomberg article had claimed that the Reddit group “can’t hold back the rising Bitcoin crypto wave any longer” — and was going to abandon a long-held policy that banned the discussion of digital assets.
An initial WSB post had said: “I don’t see the point in delaying the inevitable anymore as crypto is here to stay.”
Alas, the apparent acceptance of crypto discussion didn’t last long. At all. Hours later, a moderator wrote:
“Due to the article that was written @bloomberg who somehow felt that ‘WallStreetBets Bows to Crypto.’ Crypto discussion is banned indefinitely. I've read a lot of dumb articles written about wsb. This one takes the cake. P.S. Like always. Please be respectful.”
Divided Opinion
It’s fair to say that not everyone was thrilled by the hard-line approach that WallStreetBets has taken — with some questioning the wisdom behind the screeching U-turn.
One Redditor criticized the moderators for “the most childish response I could think of,” while another likened it to “a Shakespearian tragedy.” Others claimed that the introduction of crypto discussion helped move the forum on from GameStop, the stock that helped propel WSB to headline news back in January. As u/Chromosomaur wrote:
“Literally only came to wsb today for the new thread bc I’m sick of gme. It was a needed change and the original ban never made sense. How are digital commodities different from silver gang and soybean gang?”
Initially, crypto chat was banned amid concerns that it would drown out discussion of stocks. Of course, those waters were muddied slightly this week when Coinbase completed its direct listing on the Nasdaq.
