I feel so sorry for the Tripathis. Apart from their son/brother being missing they just got put through hell for 24 hours. Sadly, Reddit can't offer up a collective apology.
Reddit is a discussion board made up of individuals with widely varying viewpoints, motives, and ages...what would a collective apology look like? The closest thing to official Reddit action on this is when a moderator of r/findbostonbombers shut discussion down on Sunil 14 hours ago:
The mod was ridiculed when Sunil's name was reportedly mentioned on scanners hours later but he/she stood their ground.
Demanding reddit to collectively hang their head in shame would be like asking all of Russia to apologize on behalf of the alleged actions of these ethnic Chechens...it's a bit impractical and overestimates the cohesiveness of the group
Obviously Reddit can't offer a collective apology, the parent even said as much.
However, since there are obviously individuals who were willing to take credit on behalf of Reddit ("Reddit was right!", "Historic thread!"), it stands to reason that the inverse is also possible.
In the "duh-factor" statement of the day : groups are made up of people, and we shouldn't hide behind the amorphousness of a group to avoid taking responsibility for our actions. I'm sure the family would appreciate a few retractions, even if they didn't represent reddit/4chan/the internet as a whole.
> Sadly, Reddit can't offer up a collective apology.
If course they can - not Reddit the company, but a group of individuals sure can. We have petitions, donations, and signature-gathering for all kinds stuff, why not for this? Make it large, make it public, make it heart-felt - let's stand publicly behind the Tripathis and say this was wrong and offer anything we can do to help.
I would urge everyone who hasn't already to watch the video they put together, pleading with Sunil to come home. You couldn't find a more likable collection of people, it is really really touching. Let's return the favor. Let's apologize. Let's try and help finding him.
In light of what we know, this Reddit thread makes for such sad reading. http://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/1cn9ga/is_missing_st...