noun
Internet Slang
witch hunt
· noun · internet
A mob effort to name, shame, and harass a specific user.
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Definitions
1
On Reddit specifically, a coordinated campaign to identify, dox, or mass-downvote/harass an individual user — usually after they did something the mob considers heinous. Site rules ban it outright, which is why drama subs scrub usernames from screenshots.
“Mods locked it before it turned into a full witch hunt against OP's ex.”
by community
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2
More broadly, any pile-on that the speaker thinks is disproportionate or based on flimsy evidence. Politicians love this one when investigations land near them.
“He's calling the entire fraud probe a witch hunt, which is what he always says.”
by community
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witch hunt In A Sentence
Mods locked it before it turned into a full witch hunt against OP's ex.
He's calling the entire fraud probe a witch hunt, which is what he always says.
Origin & Usage
Old English idiom (literal witch trials → McCarthyism → online) repurposed by Reddit's site-wide rule against 'witch hunts' — coordinated pile-ons targeting a named user.
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