Sears Faces Online Backlash
Sears Holdings Corporation (Public, NASDAQ:SHLD) has unleashed a hornet's nest in some parts of the 'social internet' after using their influence to have a critical post removed from the semi-popular social news website Reddit, which is owned by media company Conde-Nast.
The Reddit site, where content is contributed by volunteer editors called Redditors, contained a user-submitted link to a hacked page on Sear's website that described a "Human Cooking Grill" that was particularly useful in "cooking babies."
Apparently someone who didn't see the obvious humor in the page responded by forcing the link to be removed from Reddit.
Redditor "Spez," who appears to have more authority than many others on the site due to the large "A" next to his username and the red font highlighting his nickname, admitted that he was forced to remove the controversial link.
"As a matter of fact, yes. I was ordered to take it down. Pretty awesome of them," wrote Spez.
The removal of the link has caused the Redditors to have a "panties in a wad" moment and has turned the once-tranquil website into a fiery battleground over user's freedom of speech rights.
"F*** Sears" say multiple links on the Reddit main page.
It is clear from the reaction on Reddit that Sears doesn't know who they are messing with and just what these characters are capable of.
Sears Holdings Corporation (Public, NASDAQ:SHLD) shares remain relatively un-moved, despite the controversy.
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