The Wall Street Journal wrote an excellent profile of the guy who started r / WallStreetBets, the subreddit that got into controversy this week. His name is Jaime Rogozinski, and if you ask him how he felt about this whole thing, he compares it to ‘watching one of the horror movies where you can see the bad guy slowly coming up the stairs.’
The article gives the impression that the subreddit, which is now trying to increase the price of GameStop shares to the moon, was not just made for profit – it was created for fun. Rogozinski was apparently bored with the usual stock market advice on buying index funds and was looking for real discussions about individual stocks. He also talks about how the community is ‘refreshing’, with posts ranging from ” Look at my money! ‘om “Look at all this money I’ve lost.”
As many classic stories do, creation eventually turns on the creator. Rogozinski is no longer a moderator for the subreddit; he was kicked out last April after clashing with moderators for saying “were straight white supremacists.” This is apparently a problem that the community has been dealing with for a while.
It’s an excellent story and gives an excellent insight into what happens when a community becomes something the creator never intended, and the consequences that the creator’s life can have. If you’ve been following the story of WallStreetBets, it’s definitely worth reading.