Reddit CEO Resigns Following User Revolt

[NiPah]

A few of my co-workers use Reddit quite a bit and they brought up a theory that I didn't consider. They think Pao was nothing more than someone for the Reddit owners[footnote]I really don't know how Reddit works, so pretty much whoever owns Reddit should be here.[/footnote] to place all the blame on for new polices they wanted to put into effect. Seemed like something to think about at the time.

This does seem to have the stink of "fall guy" written all over it doesn't it? Closing a branch office and firing lots of people seems to benefit the stock holders more then a new CEO.

 

[mad825]

And perhaps you should find your humor, read the rest of his sarcasm filled post and you will find out that this "insult" was made in jest.

Yes because using inflammatory words is funny. You should become a comedian.

 

[Pax Romana]

snip

I thought the dripping sarcasm of every single line was abundantly clear, but apparently not, to both recipient and mod. Oh well :/

Yes we will see if the sub reddits are reactivated but I doubt it now they are gone. I would hope the mod gets her job back but we will see what happens.

 

[CaitSeith]

snip

I thought the dripping sarcasm of every single line was abundantly clear, but apparently not, to both recipient and mod. Oh well :/

Yes we will see if the sub reddits are reactivated but I doubt it now they are gone. I would hope the mod gets her job back but we will see what happens.

Your sarcasm is like the message in the Fight Club. Totally evident, except for those who take it seriously...

 

[rbstewart7263]

So does anyone in this thread even know what those "sickening actions" were or is everyone here so cued up that you don't even need information before you go calling a group... "children, cunts, disgusting, ect ect".

Good to know that all I need to do to add validity to my argument is say my opposing group was doing something mean to another person and I have total agreement even if they admittedly know nothing about the subject at hand.

(Note I know nothing about what happened, just that a few boards were taken down in protest, but I'm not going to go around saying one side is right or wrong without fucking proper knowledge on the subject).

How is assuming we're dismissive of the complaints because we dislike the methodology, any different to what you're doing?

They could be as right as rain, I will still always be critical of tantrums. In fact, if someone is right beyond reproach, why the hell are they throwing a tantrum?

Hmm yes tell that to the gay community or blacks who protested in the 70's. Being right is not quite what it takes to get what you want.

 

[marioandsonic]

I have no idea what this controversy is about, because I never visit reddit.

Would someone mind filling me in on what happened?

 

[Ricardo Lima]

This preceds the Pao's resignation but its the best article I saw in the whole situation

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2015/07/reddit_amageddon_what_it_s_really_about.html 

Pao inhereted a lot of problems she did not create, but in my opinion her heavy hand was the spark that set the fire. And she did not understand what exactly she was dealing with.

The reality they needed a big gesture to calm things down.This is it.


 

[Bat Vader]

The more and more that is revealed about this the more it seems like Ellen Pao was meant to take a fall for someone else. I found this posted in another thread on here. Of course the person doesn't actually say this until weeks after the incident happened and until Pao stepped down. https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3cucye/an_old_team_at_reddit/csz2p3i

From the sounds of it it sounds like this piece of shit deserves to get fired as well. This guy is as corrupt as a politician.

 

[Elijin]

So does anyone in this thread even know what those "sickening actions" were or is everyone here so cued up that you don't even need information before you go calling a group... "children, cunts, disgusting, ect ect".

Good to know that all I need to do to add validity to my argument is say my opposing group was doing something mean to another person and I have total agreement even if they admittedly know nothing about the subject at hand.

(Note I know nothing about what happened, just that a few boards were taken down in protest, but I'm not going to go around saying one side is right or wrong without fucking proper knowledge on the subject).

How is assuming we're dismissive of the complaints because we dislike the methodology, any different to what you're doing?

They could be as right as rain, I will still always be critical of tantrums. In fact, if someone is right beyond reproach, why the hell are they throwing a tantrum?

Hmm yes tell that to the gay community or blacks who protested in the 70's. Being right is not quite what it takes to get what you want.

Annnnnnd you equated people being upset about their favourite message board's moderation choices with human rights struggles.

Im out.

 

[Jake Martinez]

A few of my co-workers use Reddit quite a bit and they brought up a theory that I didn't consider. They think Pao was nothing more than someone for the Reddit owners[footnote]I really don't know how Reddit works, so pretty much whoever owns Reddit should be here.[/footnote] to place all the blame on for new polices they wanted to put into effect. Seemed like something to think about at the time.

This does seem to have the stink of "fall guy" written all over it doesn't it? Closing a branch office and firing lots of people seems to benefit the stock holders more then a new CEO.

Just a couple of things:

Reddit isn't a publicly traded company, the people who "own" it are all investors, so they are putting their own money into this and expecting (someday) to get a return on that investment through either going public or through selling Reddit to someone else. Cutting costs isn't really a concern at this point since the company isn't profitable.

As for the "scapegoat" theory - I don't think it's reasonable to believe that this was anyone's intention at the start of this fiasco and there's no doubt in my mind as a long term reddit user that Pao did herself no favors in how she interacted with the community. To put it bluntly - she demonstrated a profound lack of knowledge about not only reddit as a platform (literally showing hundreds of thousands of redditors that she didn't know how to use it) but she also showed zero consideration for the concerns of the community or it's culture.

Very few places that have reported on this seem to understand that there is a huge amount of distrust on behalf of the average reddit user and the moderators (free staff that run the subreddits) and the actual paid reddit employees. This is why when they fired Victoria everyone got upset - because it demonstrated (yet again) that reddit showed absolutely no concern for the mods and forums that relied up Victoria's efforts as well as serving as yet another example of how the company doesn't communicate massive changes to the people who, in all fairness, actually run reddit.

You see, the administrators that reddit employs merely enforce "site wide" rules (and they do it poorly and unevenly, but that's another subject). The actual day to day content and moderation is provided by users - for free. When all the default subreddits went dark that day, it really drove home the point to reddit as a company that technically they own "nothing" but the platform, which is useless if people don't want to use it. Basically if you are going to treat your unpaid labor as serfs, don't be surprised if they revolt when you continue to abuse them.

 

[NiPah]

This does seem to have the stink of "fall guy" written all over it doesn't it? Closing a branch office and firing lots of people seems to benefit the stock holders more then a new CEO.

Just a couple of things:

Reddit isn't a publicly traded company, the people who "own" it are all investors, so they are putting their own money into this and expecting (someday) to get a return on that investment through either going public or through selling Reddit to someone else. Cutting costs isn't really a concern at this point since the company isn't profitable.

As for the "scapegoat" theory - I don't think it's reasonable to believe that this was anyone's intention at the start of this fiasco and there's no doubt in my mind as a long term reddit user that Pao did herself no favors in how she interacted with the community. To put it bluntly - she demonstrated a profound lack of knowledge about not only reddit as a platform (literally showing hundreds of thousands of redditors that she didn't know how to use it) but she also showed zero consideration for the concerns of the community or it's culture.

Very few places that have reported on this seem to understand that there is a huge amount of distrust on behalf of the average reddit user and the moderators (free staff that run the subreddits) and the actual paid reddit employees. This is why when they fired Victoria everyone got upset - because it demonstrated (yet again) that reddit showed absolutely no concern for the mods and forums that relied up Victoria's efforts as well as serving as yet another example of how the company doesn't communicate massive changes to the people who, in all fairness, actually run reddit.

You see, the administrators that reddit employs merely enforce "site wide" rules (and they do it poorly and unevenly, but that's another subject). The actual day to day content and moderation is provided by users - for free. When all the default subreddits went dark that day, it really drove home the point to reddit as a company that technically they own "nothing" but the platform, which is useless if people don't want to use it. Basically if you are going to treat your unpaid labor as serfs, don't be surprised if they revolt when you continue to abuse them.

Ah thanks for the the information, I'd say they still might want to cut costs to make it more sell-able (in their opinion) to other companies, but this whole fiasco does scream a lack of understanding on what makes reddit tick.

 

[Strazdas]

And perhaps you should find your humor, read the rest of his sarcasm filled post and you will find out that this "insult" was made in jest.

Yes because using inflammatory words is funny. You should become a comedian.

It is. Thats why so many famous comedians use them.

Besides, words themselves are not inflammatory, its the context you use them in. Sadly Escapists Terms of Service does not seem to take context into account.

 

[disgruntledgamer]

"Pao's resignation was not a result of the recent controversy, and rather a "mutual decision over a number of weeks"

Yeah Right..... She doesn't even lie good.

 

[Kameburger]

The Reddit community had problems with Pao since she started. I think the seperation in ideology came from that one quote from ages ago 'It's not our site's goal to be a completely free-speech platform'(Source: Business insider [http://www.businessinsider.com/reddit-ceo-ellen-pao-its-not-our-sites-goal-to-be-a-completely-free-speech-platform-2015-5#ixzz3fptnSy8L]) I don't think the sentiment was meant to come across as totalitarian, but Reddit's community have considered themselves a central player in the constant battle for free speech with them making headlines during the SOPA debate and so on. I think she could have chosen her words better and probably saved herself a lot of ire. But on top of that the reddit moderators take their position seriously, and while I don't blame her for her decision to close some more aggressive sub-reddits, again as an executive, she is setting precedent on what is essentially a rather libertarian minded community in regards to internet policing.

But I do think there is a sect of people that want to make this about her being a woman, and the cis-white-neck-bearded-patriarchs that populate the internet.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2015/07/reddit_amageddon_what_it_s_really_about.html

This was informative, thanks. People (on both sides) trying to spin this as just another war between the social justice camp and the Internet-as-a-mouthpiece-for-assholery crowd when there's clearly more going on aren't doing this matter any favors.

 

[TristanBelmont]

All of you people slinging insults are absolutely clueless, do you have ANY idea how bad pao messed up the site and what mistakes she made? She went back on so many of reddit's policies, had no communication with moderators, shut off the community so that she could sit in her little throne of power, and then fired several absolutely vital employees without giving reason.

Thisssssss

While I'm not quite all the way on Rooster Teeth's side in believing reddit might be screwed beyond all repair, I do think that getting rid of an EXTREMELY unpopular employee is the right way to go in bringing back who they've already lost.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Well now, this could be interesting: https://np.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3dautm/content_policy_update_ama_thursday_july_16th_1pm/ct3n7hc?context=3

"But... the most delicious part of this is that on at least two separate occasions, the board pressed /u/ekjp to outright ban ALL the hate subreddits in a sweeping purge. She resisted, knowing the community, claiming it would be a shitshow. Ellen isn't some "evil, manipulative, out-of-touch incompetent she-devil" as was often depicted. She was approved by the board and recommended by me because when I left, she was the only technology executive anywhere who had the chops and experience to manage a startup of this size, AND who understood what reddit was all about. As we can see from her post-resignation activity, she knows perfectly well how to fit in with the reddit community and is a normal, funny person - just like in real life - she simply didn't sit on reddit all day because she was busy with her day job."

"Well, now she's gone (you did it reddit!), and /u/spez has the moral authority as a co-founder to move ahead with the purge. We tried to let you govern yourselves and you failed, so now The Man is going to set some Rules. Admittedly, I can't say I'm terribly upset."

 

[AndrewEB]

Well now, this could be interesting: https://np.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3dautm/content_policy_update_ama_thursday_july_16th_1pm/ct3n7hc?context=3

"But... the most delicious part of this is that on at least two separate occasions, the board pressed /u/ekjp to outright ban ALL the hate subreddits in a sweeping purge. She resisted, knowing the community, claiming it would be a shitshow. Ellen isn't some "evil, manipulative, out-of-touch incompetent she-devil" as was often depicted. She was approved by the board and recommended by me because when I left, she was the only technology executive anywhere who had the chops and experience to manage a startup of this size, AND who understood what reddit was all about. As we can see from her post-resignation activity, she knows perfectly well how to fit in with the reddit community and is a normal, funny person - just like in real life - she simply didn't sit on reddit all day because she was busy with her day job."

"Well, now she's gone (you did it reddit!), and /u/spez has the moral authority as a co-founder to move ahead with the purge. We tried to let you govern yourselves and you failed, so now The Man is going to set some Rules. Admittedly, I can't say I'm terribly upset."

Seeing that post, and reading the comments in here: I can't help but feel a little bit giddy inside. The absolutist free speech meatheads brought this upon themselves, and now they potentially put power in the hands of one who would basically be more then willing to censor, all because they believe Pao was the one who was censoring them. Pao is basically the Severus Snape of Reddit. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/07/15/everything-you-think-you-know-about-reddit-is-wrong/?tid=sm_fb

Irony, such delicious irony.