Reddit may about to launch its own standalone news site called Upvoted

Perhaps this new age in the life of Reddit, in which its original founders are back at the helm, will in part be defined by a refocusing of the site’s ambition to, well, grow by its own design, rather than by the free-wheeling, often anarchic growth spurred by its 205 million users.

Upvoted isn’t Reddit’s first attempt to capitalize on its vast digital community: In January, the company started a podcast to discuss the site’s most popular recent posts. In a few cases, watermarks and other identifying features are stripped off entirely, or articlesare mined for their pictures without any link tothe stories that inspired them.

Upvoted, which calls itself a “Redditorial publication”, will host content created by its staff, all of which will have origins in Reddit threads and forums.

It’ll also provide a more gentle way into Reddit for new users, who may be baffled and put off by the sheer scale and scope of Reddit’s sub-forums.

Because what people see on Reddit is driven by users, it seems a little odd that Upvoted doesn’t have any way to comment on stories – or to vote them up or down. Ostensibly catalyzed bythe firing of the site’s popular director of communications, Victoria Taylor, many users took the chance to rail againstthen-CEO Ellen Pao in early July.

To broaden the appeal of Upvoted – and, by extension, Reddit – Chang said that the new site will shy away from a lot of the insider lingo that Reddit’s users use as shorthand to avoid confusion, such as referring to an original poster as “OP”. For Reddit, this is a frustrating loop of internet content, according to Wired.

But unlike its main website, Reddit won’t allow readers to comment on posts or “rate” content by voting it up.

In addition, the company will create two new videos a week for the site – one about a recent Ask Me Anything, and the other from a new web series.

“We all are pretty aware that, given Reddit’s size and influences, that it surfaces or sources most of the newsworthy content of the day”, he said.

“We want to go beyond the upvote and tell stories with you and your communities at the epicenter”.

Upvoted will also be used to test out new ad revenue models, and as a result will not serve traditional banner ads or pop-ups.

Chang’s team will also reportedly produce paid-for content, on which the advertisers will have sign off. “It could be a piece on Tesla, a piece on how wifi works”. Chang promises that such content is “going to be just as interesting as actual content” that will “just happen to be sponsored”.