The use by white supremacists of Reddit to organise last year’s violent rally in Virginia was a catalyst for change at the digital giant. In an extract from her new book We Are the Nerds, Christine Lagorio-Chafkin looks at how the site has tried to detoxify itselfAs the clock ticked up to 9pm on Friday 11 August 2017, more than 200 men snaked down a dark, long expanse of grass in Charlottesville, Virginia, called Nameless Field. The assembled group was abundantly white, and almost uniformly dressed in pressed khakis and polo shirts.