Reddit Island Project Might Not Be A 'Technopia'

Reddit, the online forum based on users who create boards on topics of interest, wants to buy an island. The Reddit Island Project is a real effort to do exactly what it sounds like, buy a tropical island for the Reddit community.

The plan is to purchase a tropical island with contributions from several hundred Reddit users and send a select few to start building a society. Over time, more and more people will arrive and take part in what sounds like a pseudo-libertarian society: no taxes, legal marijuana and high-speed Internet, according to Gawker.

The Reddit Island project has been in the works for years now, with posts on the official site as early as 2010.

"This is a real project to buy an island in a tropical location," claims the Reddit Island FAQ section. "It is ambitious, but we aim to succeed and with 300 people actively signed up and over 2,500 in the subreddit, we think we can make it work."

The last update to the official site was in March 2011, stating: "We're not going anywhere, we've paid our hosting fees, and the subreddit continues to hum along." The post adds that plans are still on to buy an island someday, but that date may not come for a while.

Even though the official site isn't active, the forum discussing the Reddit Island is still creating new posts almost daily. The most recent post, "I guess we're sort of famous...," is a direct link to the Gawker article about the project.

Despite the high hopes of Redditors, the scheme may not have wide appeal. Gawker reporter Adrian Chen writes, "There are few places on Earth I could imagine wanting to spend time less than a remote island populated solely by hundreds of hardcore users of the social news site Reddit."

Reddit has received acclaim for its open forum service, as noted by Gawker in their critical article. "Enraptured journalists have been pumping up Reddit as the future of everything from education to politics to journalism," Gawker notes, warning that the praise has gone to the heads of certain Redditors, resulting in the Reddit Island Project.

The self-proclaimed "front page of the Internet" has gained criticisms for male-dominated mindset, elitism amongst its users and even some sympathizing with admitted rapists. Sites like the Atlantic Wire and Jezebel (part of Gawker) have accused Reddit of mysogyny.

"Given the disturbingly high amount of men's rights activists and rape apologist Redditors...it's easy to see why some would be skeptical about the possibility for productive discussion," said Jezebel in response to a series comments from Reddit boards. This blatant sexism could cause conflicts in what Gawker is referring to as a "technopia."