( CNN ) -- Months after apologizing for overeager users fingering innocent people as potential suspects in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings , Reddit on Monday shut down a section devoted to chasing down the Washington Navy Yard shooter . Clicking on the page , or `` subreddit '' as specialized communities are called on the site , `` FindNavyYardShooters '' now leads to an image of a closed door wrapped in yellow `` Caution '' tape and a message saying it has been banned . `` We banned it because it violated site rules by encouraging the posting of personal information , '' Reddit general manager Erik Martin said in a prepared statement . `` We do n't allow the posting of personal information under any circumstances . '' The subreddit was created when authorities were still searching for suspects and it was unclear whether there was one shooter or multiple shooters . But Reddit shut it down almost immediately . Police have since named Aaron Alexis , 34 , as the lone gunman . He was killed Monday in a shootout with security at the naval yard . In separate subreddit about Washington D.C. , a related post , `` Active Shooter Washington Navy Yard , '' continued with Reddit 's blessing . Users posted links to news sources , information from law enforcement and other official information in an effort to keep people informed in the shooting 's aftermath . On Tuesday , some were speculating that the Navy Yard subreddit may have been a joke . The user who created it uses the name `` uglyredditors '' and may have just been trolling -- doing something stupid or cruel just to get a reaction out of others . Brian Merchant at Vice captured a screen shot of early conversation in the subreddit , which was mostly jokes , profanity and people saying the subreddit was a bad idea in light of Boston . `` Yes , nothing bad is going to come of this , surely '' one user wrote . `` Are they really going to let this s*** happen twice ? '' In April , redditors banded together to try to piece together what happened in the Boston bombings , which killed three people and injured more than 260 others . What resulted was the sharing of photos of `` suspects '' that had been taken near the marathon 's finish line . Among other theories , users speculated that Sunil Tripathi , a Brown University student who had been missing since March , could be a possible suspect in the bombings . Tripathi 's family temporarily took down a Facebook page asking for help finding him after they were bombarded by ugly comments . Tripathi 's body was found later that month in Rhode Island 's Providence River . No foul play was suspected , police said , although an official cause of death has still not been reported . Amid the confusion over the Boston bombings , other Reddit users focused on two young men with heavy-looking bags , one of whom wore a blue track suit . The New York Post even splashed a photo of the two marathon spectators on its front page with the headline , `` Bag Men : Feds seek these two pictured at Boston Marathon . '' The guy in the track suit turned out to be a 17-year-old suburban Boston track star who told The Associated Press he was afraid to leave his house because of the scrutiny . `` We hoped that the crowdsourced search for new information would not spark exactly this type of witch hunt , '' Reddit 's Martin said at the time . `` We were wrong . '' Founded in 2005 , Reddit has become a hugely popular site divided into more than 5,400 communities that have essentially revamped the early Web 's bulletin boards , with users posting information , links and thoughts rapidly in real time . It has almost 70 million monthly users .
Reddit shuts down community created to seek Navy Yard shooters . Site , which was embarrassed in the wake of Boston bombings , says it violated its terms . Reddit bans the posting of personal information about others . Aaron Alexis , 34 , has been named the lone shooter and was killed in the attack .