{"id":339306,"date":"2017-04-26T07:06:27","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T23:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1481246"},"modified":"2017-04-26T07:06:27","modified_gmt":"2017-04-25T23:06:27","slug":"a-chat-with-imzy-co-founder-jessica-moreno-on-building-a-kinder-online-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/a-chat-with-imzy-co-founder-jessica-moreno-on-building-a-kinder-online-community\/","title":{"rendered":"A chat with Imzy co-founder Jessica Moreno on building a kinder online community"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jessica Moreno and her co-founder\u00a0Dan McComas couldn\u2019t find the kind of inclusive online community they were looking for when they\u00a0left Reddit in the summer of 2015 so they left the Bay Area and headed east to Salt Lake City to start\u00a0Imzy<\/a>, a community platform encouraging kinder interactions with like-minded individuals.<\/p>\n

Moreno and McComas spent six years prior to starting Imzy cultivating community and learning the ropes at the site boasting itself as \u201cThe front page of the internet.\u201d McComas came in as the founder of Redditgifts, a section of the site allowing people to send gifts to friends and Moreno worked with him for about five years before becoming Reddit\u2019s head of community.<\/p>\n

Moreno says the decision to leave was \u201cdifficult\u201d but at the time Reddit was known for pulling out the darker elements of the web with seedy and offensive comments rampant on the site. That summer Reddit\u2019s interim CEO Ellen Pao, who\u2019d famously lost a\u00a0gender discrimination lawsuit<\/a> earlier that same year, stepped in to curb the deluge of hateful subreddits.<\/p>\n

Pao faced a serious backlash from the community and many called the move \u201ccensorship.\u201d One user even started a petition<\/a>\u00a0on Change.org asking for Pao\u2019s resignation. It worked, Pao stepped down and the harassing comments continued.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Moreno decided it was time to exit as well and soon after moved with McComas to the up-and-coming startup community nestled in Utah\u2019s \u2018Silicon Slopes\u2019 where she had family and the cost of living was much cheaper than the Bay.<\/p>\n

Imzy opened up the platform to the public last fall<\/a> and has since grown to tens of thousands of users with over 6,000 Imzy communities.<\/p>\n

It uses the same kinds of threaded comments, subreddit like sections and interaction as you might find on a site like Reddit so it\u2019s easy to make comparisons, but it started out with basic rules on how people should treat each other while interacting on the site and comments are monitored to make sure no one is bullied.<\/p>\n

Does that cause a reaction or accusations of censorship? Not so much, according to Moreno. \u201cThe people who came to us in the beginning were pretty supportive of [those rules] and they wanted to help maintain that,\u201d she told me on a recent visit to her office in downtown Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n

Imzy doesn\u2019t allow hate speech and the open stance on inclusion instead creates a safe space for members who might feel more comfortable exploring communities and speaking on threads knowing they can do so free of ridicule. And you can find almost anything you want on the site, including a community for cat lovers, toy collectors, Star Trek enthusiasts or those interested in polyamory.<\/p>\n

I chatted with Moreno about building the site and what it\u2019s like running her own open and inclusive community platform in the heart of Utah\u2019s capital. You can see that interview and learn more about Imzy in the video above.<\/p>\n

*This article is part of a larger series focusing on the Utah tech scene. We\u2019re going to be sprinkling several of these articles and videos throughout the TechCrunch newsfeed for the next couple of weeks, so strap on your ski boots and stay tuned as we guide you through the \u201cSilicon Slopes\u201d!<\/em><\/p>\n

Featured Image: Felicia Williams<\/small> <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" Jessica Moreno and her co-founder Dan McComas couldn’t find the kind of inclusive online community they were looking for when they left Reddit in the summer of 2015 so they left the Bay Area and headed east to Salt Lake City to start Imzy, a community platform encouraging kinder interactions with like-minded individuals. Moreno and McComas spent six years prior to… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

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