Reddit shuts ‘Start Chatting’ feature a day after launching it

Although, the firm did not reveal what problems did moderators exactly faced with the new feature. The comments to the official launch post indicate issues with the moderators’ control over the chatroom.

Given the issues and concerns expressed by our users and moderators throughout the last 24 hours, we’ve made the decision to disable Start Chatting so we can reassess our rollout plan and evolve the product to meet the needs of our community. (REUTERS)

Reddit, one day after introducing its chatroom called 'Start Chatting', has taken a decision to pull it off from the platform. The decision comes due to a negative feedback from the users and moderators.

"Reddit's users, moderators and communities are at the core of every product decision we make, and our intention in rolling out 'Start Chatting' was to give Redditors a new avenue to connect with each other during these difficult times. Given the issues and concerns expressed by our users and moderators throughout the last 24 hours, we've made the decision to disable Start Chatting so we can reassess our rollout plan and evolve the product to meet the needs of our community," said the firm.

Although, the firm did not reveal what problems did moderators exactly faced with the new feature. The comments to the official launch post indicate issues with the moderators' control over the chatroom. Some were concerned over their valuable groups being targeted by scammers and trolls.

"At this time, r/science would prefer to have this feature disabled in our subreddit because it undermines our goal of having serious, strongly-moderated discussions," said one of the moderators.

This concern came even after Reddit explicitly mentioned in the FAQ section of 'Start Chatting' that in case someone is harassing you in a group chat, you can report the message, block the user or leave the chat.

Reddit introduced 'Start Chatting' with an aim to keep people more connected to each other during Covid-19 lockdown. "This past month, as people around the world have been at home under various shelter-in-place restrictions, redditors have been using chat at phenomenal new levels. Whether it's about topics related to COVID-19, local news, or just their favorite games and hobbies, people all around the world are looking for others to talk to. Since Reddit is in a unique position to help in this situation, we've created a new tool that makes it easier to find other people who want to talk about the same things you do," announced the firm.

It is not for sure what the future is for 'Start Chatting' right now.