Biography
Karmanaut is one of Reddit's longest-tenured and highest-karma users and a longtime senior moderator of r/IAmA, the subreddit where public figures host 'Ask Me Anything' question-and-answer sessions. He compiled and maintained rankings of the most popular AMAs, including a much-cited list headed by President Obama's 2012 session, the first AMA to exceed ten thousand net points. His handle recurs throughout the documented history of r/IAmA's most notable moments.
His most historically significant role came during the July 2015 episode widely dubbed 'AMAgeddon' or the Great Reddit Blackout. After Reddit abruptly dismissed Victoria Taylor, the talent coordinator who managed AMA logistics, the r/IAmA moderators set the subreddit to private in protest, stating that the community depended on Taylor and could not function as before without her.
The action helped trigger a cascade in which roughly a thousand or more subreddits, including some of the largest on the site, went dark in solidarity within a day. The blackout became a watershed in Reddit's history and contributed to the pressure that led to the resignation of interim chief executive Ellen Pao days later. It drew heavy international press coverage from outlets across the major news media.
Karmanaut has never publicly disclosed his real name. He is documented primarily through his role in the 2015 blackout and his standing as a top-karma user and influential AMA moderator, and he is frequently referenced in accounts of how moderator power and dissatisfaction shaped Reddit's relationship with its own staff.