Literally the next day:

Biden on Tuesday reiterated his “ironclad” commitment to Israel

Very cool for the Biden admin to just make shit up to try and court “the youth”

Clinton is reportedly set to host a Broadway-themed fundraiser with “Hamilton” star Lin-Manuel Miranda on Wednesday.

Another sign that Hillary is forever stuck in 2016 lol. Will corporate Dems ever move on from milking Hamilton dry?

CORRECTION: This story has been updated with the correct spelling of Nikki Haley’s first name.

Oh man, the CNN reporter just assumed Trump spelled it correctly and wrote the whole article while using a misspelled version of her name. As embarrassing as that should be for Trump, it’s almost on brand for him at this point. The reporter could have at least pulled up her Wikipedia article to double check the spelling, like come on.

TL;DR yeah I think you’re right. The original announcement from the Reddit admin comment didn’t give any details, so I filled in the gaps myself and assumed “heart” would imply compassion, especially since I’ve seen that “stay for the empathy” tagline for so long. After all, why would the change from “front page” be necessary if “heart” of the internet gives a the same sentiment that it’s the core or cutting edge?

The contracted marketing team’s writeup has some limited insight into the reasoning:

…Reddit’s updated brand materials would all point back to four traits: inherently eclectic, positively different, delightfully absurd, and genuinely candid. These traits, along with the uniquely empowering foundation of Reddit as the best place to discover and participate through real conversation, led the team to a new, strategic description of Reddit as “the heart of the internet.”

I’m not experienced enough in marketing jargon to understand if this is saying that “heart” only implies that there are lots of communities available on the platform, or if “genuine” and “real conversations” should be factored in to imply that these conversations and communities should be heartfelt.

But all in all, it seems like the focus is on “you can discuss with lots of communities.” And since “front page” doesn’t imply discussion as much as it implies reading a newspaper, the change was needed.

I find it odd that they changed their tagline from “the front page of the Internet” to “the heart of the Internet.” Reddit is certainly a massive hub for discussion, but “compassionate” is not the first association I have with Reddit conversations. Smug condescension, certainly. Frothing mob mentality, often. But compassion? Rare, at best.

I suppose that Reddit may be trying to simply manifest their hopes for the platform into a reality, but I don’t think it’s that easy. The Reddit welcome banner reads, “Come for the cats, stay for the empathy,” but most people probably know Reddit for the Boston Bombing debacle, r/theDonald trolls, and other nasty news items. It’s hard to believe the cushy corporate messaging when Reddit has so consistently allowed horrible shit on their site until the media fervor gets so intense that they can’t ignore it anymore