Originally Posted by Sly

It's a natural cycle.

Website starts out with a "fuck the man" attitude. Brings in lots of users. Website realizes that the man actually is needed or total chaos ensues. The new dependence on the man forces the website to change to appease the needs of the man. Users do not like the new changes, because they hate the man. Website draws down to nothing.

Bringing on Jesse Jackson was bound to be a disaster. He probably pulled some strings with "the man" to get said admin fired. Whoever is responsible should have told "the man" to get bent, as over time they would have overcome the issue, even though in short time it may have been hard to swallow. By not willing to be patient and ride it out, they folded, and it will hurt them even more so.

Of course I don't know jack about reddit, but this is most likely what happened because it happens with every major "stick it to the man" style website.