You know how on Friday I was talking about how great Reddit.com is as a community? Via BoingBoing, I found this article providing a run down of some of some of the more notable acts of kindness.
In early October of 2010, a story was posted on Reddit about a seven-year-old girl, Kathleen Edwards, who was in the advanced stages of Huntington’s disease, a degenerative brain disorder. The story told of how the girl’s neighbors, who were feuding with her parents, began taunting Kathleen about her illness, hitching a coffin to a pick-up truck outside their house and putting depictions of her as part of a skull-and-crossbones on Facebook.1
The story caused an uproar, with Redditors all over the world expressing their rage and disgust over the neighbor’s behavior. The neighbors quickly apologized, but the outpouring of support for Kathleen and her family didn’t stop. Within just a couple of weeks, a toy store owner and Redditor in Kathleen’s area, Hans Masing of Tree Town Toys, organized a shopping spree at his store for the child, raising donations on Reddit.
Reddit is an example of how all online communities could be. I’m not a member on Reddit, just a lurker, but reading this article and reminding myself of all the great things they have done makes me think I really should start participating.
