13 ms·

A meme pointing out that u/spez was a mod of r/jailbait in 2008 was the top post on r/all a few hours ago

trompetenaccoun 3y ago
Doesn't seem that unbelievable when you look into some of the other stuff he's done. For example he secretly used his admin powers to edit user comments from users he didn't like or who criticized him.
- mmastrac 3y ago
  I don't like what he's done one bit, nor him personally, but this is a really big stretch and not really the level of comment HN should strive for. EDIT: to clarify -- a big stretch to connect editing comments (which was well-known to have happened) with other actions.
  - tipsysquid 3y ago
    the accusation of editing comments I believe to be confirmed as fact, everything else I am not sure of.
  - mrgalaxy 3y ago
    Parent commenter shouldn't have said secretly. That was something he openly admitted to doing. https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/23/13739026/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-edit-comments https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/23/13739026/reddit-ceo-stev...
    - AlecSchueler 3y ago
      I believe the issue the commenter above was taking was that just because someone commits, for lack of a better term, comment fraud, we shouldn't jump to suggesting he's also a paedophile.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
      - unshavedyak 3y ago
        Oh, i took that comment to suggest that the downtime could (mostly jokingly, i assume) have something to do with Spez dealing with a post he didn't like.
    - b112 3y ago
      That was something he openly admitted to doing. Not true! He did not openly admit to doing this. Instead: * he did it, and told no one at all * was caught doing it, after people figured it out * then, admitted he did it This is absolutely not the same as "openly admitting it". He did secretly edit comments.
    - DANmode 3y ago
      It was secret/nontransparent until he admitted to it. Still misleading, I agree.
  - MattGaiser 3y ago
    He admitted to doing it. https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/23/reddit-huffman-trump/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/23/reddit-huffman-trump/
    - croes 3y ago
      I think it's about > was a mod of r/jailbait in 2008 not the comment editing
    - danudey 3y ago
      "Openly admitting" has a very different connotation than "fessing up after you get caught".
  - koprulusector 3y ago
    This is something I’ve seen repeated on Reddit often. Virtually any meta thread on Reddit about Reddit will have several comments containing these allegations. I can’t imagine how much time someone might need to spend to dig through all the noise to get to the truth, but it rings of something that might have a kernel of truth, given the prevalence and uniformity of such accusations. In either case, it’s easily as speculative as the parent comment above, maybe slightly more so, since the parent came from Twitter.
    - drak0n1c 3y ago
      >“Yep. I messed with the “fuck u/spez” comments, replacing “spez” with r/the_donald mods for about an hour,” Huffman, who co-founded Reddit with Alexis Ohanian in 2005, wrote. He did not admit to it until evidence was compiled and hit the front page, and let it appear for part of the week to participants and onlookers as if there was massive internal strife. https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/23/reddit-huffman-trump/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/23/reddit-huffman-trump/
    - sarsaparilyptus 3y ago
      [dead]
- brazzledazzle 3y ago
  Completely out of line to connect admin abuse with pedophilia.
- EMCymatics 3y ago
  This didn't get enough exposure
- EMCymatics 3y ago
  It is really really wild for other comments to try to pretend the comment above is about something other than the admin (spez) using his powers to edit reddit comments of people he didn't like or political opponents.
oofta-boofta 3y ago
[dead]
EamonnMR 3y ago
I'm surprised he didn't get more flack for this when he last courted controversy by changing posts critical of him.
- mort96 3y ago
  What surprises me is that he's not ousted by the board yet. Surely at this point he's causing more trouble than he's worth?
  - baud147258 3y ago
    Maybe he knows where all the skeletons are buried, so the board removing him would be to difficult (or they're not ready to pay his golden parachute/buy his silence)
  - mjr00 3y ago
    Part of spez's job is to be the lightning rod for controversial decisions. The board I'm sure is pushing for the same things (increases in pricing, driving users to the official app) in order to boost metrics before the IPO. Aside from the somewhat pointless AMA where his frustrations came out a bit too much, if you assume that the effective removal of API access had to happen, what do you think he's done wrong during this?
    - TheNewsIsHere 3y ago
      Many take exception to his handling of Reddit’s relationship with Apollo and Christian Selig specifically. Steve Huffman has reportedly told employees that Selig threatened Reddit. Selig posted a (perfectly legally recorded and disclosed) call recording showing the alleged “threat” was a misunderstanding over which the Reddit employee on the call apologized immediately. Huffman serves in an official capacity at the Anti-Defamation League. People are (rightly, I think) critical of his handling partly in light of that.
satvikpendem 3y ago
I'm not sure if this is true, but if I were a creator and admin of a site, I'd assume I'm automatically a mod of every subreddit or subforum. It doesn't necessarily mean spez was specifically moderating that sub.
- 3836293648 3y ago
  There's a difference between an admin having mod access to every subforum and being listed in that specific subforum's list of moderators
gpm 3y ago
"Pointing out" Fabricating? Or do you have some reason to believe this is true. The wayback machine doesn't list him as a mod (SFW): https://web.archive.org/web/20100420183707/http://nl.reddit.com:80/r/jailbait/over18?dest=%2Fr%2Fjailbait https://web.archive.org/web/20100420183707/http://nl.reddit.... PS. Wow, the sidebar makes that sub seem even scummier than I assumed it was.
chomp 3y ago
This isn't that surprising, you used to be able to add anyone on the entire site as a moderator and it'd autoaccept. It's doubtful he actually moderated it in any capacity. He's still moderator of some random subreddits.
nilespotter 3y ago
Nobody likes spez and reddit is the worst of the worst in terms of what the Internet could be and what it is. Reddit is where know nothings pontificate as if they were experts on anything and everything while congratulating each other. It used to be a great site, now I'm ashamed I ever used it and I'm embarrassed for people who mention they use it. That said, that meme is propaganda and defamation. Anyone could add anyone as a mod anywhere for a time, and violentacrez added spez "for the lulz" or however people like that think. I'd be beside myself it there's evidence that he was an active moderator working on that sub. Although, given the prevailing winds of the modern left, in a few years he'll probably be trying to claim that he was.
- Chiron1991 3y ago
  [dead]
- fullspectrumdev 3y ago
  > Although, given the prevailing winds of the modern left, in a few years he'll probably be trying to claim that he was. I’m genuinely curious what the fuck you mean by this.
  - luroc 3y ago
    He probably alludes to the common conservative trope that jews/blacks/environmentalists/gays/trans people are 'pedophiles' (depending on which era you look at)
    - nilespotter 3y ago
      Jews and blacks?
  - nilespotter 3y ago
    Pedophilia is coming en vogue on the left. If you can't see it now, you'll see it soon. Spez will likely claim that he really was a /r/jailbait moderator for leftist credibility, I would guess 3-5 years from now.
aw1621107 3y ago
It's worth noting that a very old user (/u/andrewsmith1986 IIRC) responded that at that time it was possible to add arbitrary users as mods without needing interaction/feedback/etc. from the user in question. If that was the case, then any user being a mod on any particular sub at that time doesn't really mean much. Obviously I can't reference the comment in question right now, but I'll try to remember to circle back and add a reference when(/if?) Reddit comes back up. Edit: /u/andrewsmith1986's comment can be found at https://old.reddit.com/r/dankmemes/comments/1477psa/all_3_are_going_to_lie_to_you/jnuy0xf/ https://old.reddit.com/r/dankmemes/comments/1477psa/all_3_ar...
- the_gipsy 3y ago
  Other users apart from u/andrewsmith1986 also confirmed this, in that thread. Sounds plausible.
- Zak 3y ago
  I remember the change to requiring people to accept an invite. Adding people as moderators of distasteful subreddits without their consent was a common form of abuse just prior.
- wahnfrieden 3y ago
  This counter-narrative is also misleading Consider: spez was the voluntary "mod" of the entire platform as CEO, and he maintained that subreddit. Excusing him for the unsolicited mod invite is just optics management. It would be like saying lowtax had no responsibility as co-signer for the existence of subforums that his paid or unpaid staff maintained.
- bee_rider 3y ago
  It seems like a funny distinction to make in the first place. Was he an admin of the site when it was hosting that sort of stuff? Anyone who was an admin at the time is responsible for the policies that allowed it to exist on the site…
- roncesvalles 3y ago
  I mean it's also worth noting that spez was CEO of Reddit and subreddits like that were allowed to exist for many, many more years.
invokestatic 3y ago
Back when Obama hosted an AMA on Reddit, a bunch of users added his account as a moderator to a bunch of subreddits, including some pretty objectionable ones. This prompted a change that moderators would be invited instead.
chakintosh 3y ago
Back in the day you could create a subreddit and invite anyone to mod it. The invite would be automatically approved. I suspect this is what happened here.
karaterobot 3y ago
What's funny about this to me is that the actual moderators of r/jailbait thought "I know how I can insult u/spez, I'll make him a moderator of my sub, so he'll look like a scumbag, like I am"
meghan_rain 3y ago
A meme? So was he or was he not?

Doesn't seem that unbelievable when you look into some of the other stuff he's done. For example he secretly used his admin powers to edit user comments from users he didn't like or who criticized him.

mmastrac 3y ago
I don't like what he's done one bit, nor him personally, but this is a really big stretch and not really the level of comment HN should strive for. EDIT: to clarify -- a big stretch to connect editing comments (which was well-known to have happened) with other actions.
- tipsysquid 3y ago
  the accusation of editing comments I believe to be confirmed as fact, everything else I am not sure of.
- mrgalaxy 3y ago
  Parent commenter shouldn't have said secretly. That was something he openly admitted to doing. https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/23/13739026/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-edit-comments https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/23/13739026/reddit-ceo-stev...
  - AlecSchueler 3y ago
    I believe the issue the commenter above was taking was that just because someone commits, for lack of a better term, comment fraud, we shouldn't jump to suggesting he's also a paedophile.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - unshavedyak 3y ago
      Oh, i took that comment to suggest that the downtime could (mostly jokingly, i assume) have something to do with Spez dealing with a post he didn't like.
  - b112 3y ago
    That was something he openly admitted to doing. Not true! He did not openly admit to doing this. Instead: * he did it, and told no one at all * was caught doing it, after people figured it out * then, admitted he did it This is absolutely not the same as "openly admitting it". He did secretly edit comments.
  - DANmode 3y ago
    It was secret/nontransparent until he admitted to it. Still misleading, I agree.
- MattGaiser 3y ago
  He admitted to doing it. https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/23/reddit-huffman-trump/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/23/reddit-huffman-trump/
  - croes 3y ago
    I think it's about > was a mod of r/jailbait in 2008 not the comment editing
  - danudey 3y ago
    "Openly admitting" has a very different connotation than "fessing up after you get caught".
- koprulusector 3y ago
  This is something I’ve seen repeated on Reddit often. Virtually any meta thread on Reddit about Reddit will have several comments containing these allegations. I can’t imagine how much time someone might need to spend to dig through all the noise to get to the truth, but it rings of something that might have a kernel of truth, given the prevalence and uniformity of such accusations. In either case, it’s easily as speculative as the parent comment above, maybe slightly more so, since the parent came from Twitter.
  - drak0n1c 3y ago
    >“Yep. I messed with the “fuck u/spez” comments, replacing “spez” with r/the_donald mods for about an hour,” Huffman, who co-founded Reddit with Alexis Ohanian in 2005, wrote. He did not admit to it until evidence was compiled and hit the front page, and let it appear for part of the week to participants and onlookers as if there was massive internal strife. https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/23/reddit-huffman-trump/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/23/reddit-huffman-trump/
  - sarsaparilyptus 3y ago
    [dead]
brazzledazzle 3y ago
Completely out of line to connect admin abuse with pedophilia.
EMCymatics 3y ago
This didn't get enough exposure
EMCymatics 3y ago
It is really really wild for other comments to try to pretend the comment above is about something other than the admin (spez) using his powers to edit reddit comments of people he didn't like or political opponents.

oofta-boofta 3y ago

[dead]

EamonnMR 3y ago

I'm surprised he didn't get more flack for this when he last courted controversy by changing posts critical of him.

mort96 3y ago
What surprises me is that he's not ousted by the board yet. Surely at this point he's causing more trouble than he's worth?
- baud147258 3y ago
  Maybe he knows where all the skeletons are buried, so the board removing him would be to difficult (or they're not ready to pay his golden parachute/buy his silence)
- mjr00 3y ago
  Part of spez's job is to be the lightning rod for controversial decisions. The board I'm sure is pushing for the same things (increases in pricing, driving users to the official app) in order to boost metrics before the IPO. Aside from the somewhat pointless AMA where his frustrations came out a bit too much, if you assume that the effective removal of API access had to happen, what do you think he's done wrong during this?
  - TheNewsIsHere 3y ago
    Many take exception to his handling of Reddit’s relationship with Apollo and Christian Selig specifically. Steve Huffman has reportedly told employees that Selig threatened Reddit. Selig posted a (perfectly legally recorded and disclosed) call recording showing the alleged “threat” was a misunderstanding over which the Reddit employee on the call apologized immediately. Huffman serves in an official capacity at the Anti-Defamation League. People are (rightly, I think) critical of his handling partly in light of that.

satvikpendem 3y ago

I'm not sure if this is true, but if I were a creator and admin of a site, I'd assume I'm automatically a mod of every subreddit or subforum. It doesn't necessarily mean spez was specifically moderating that sub.

3836293648 3y ago
There's a difference between an admin having mod access to every subforum and being listed in that specific subforum's list of moderators

gpm 3y ago

"Pointing out" Fabricating? Or do you have some reason to believe this is true. The wayback machine doesn't list him as a mod (SFW): https://web.archive.org/web/20100420183707/http://nl.reddit.com:80/r/jailbait/over18?dest=%2Fr%2Fjailbait https://web.archive.org/web/20100420183707/http://nl.reddit.... PS. Wow, the sidebar makes that sub seem even scummier than I assumed it was.

chomp 3y ago

This isn't that surprising, you used to be able to add anyone on the entire site as a moderator and it'd autoaccept. It's doubtful he actually moderated it in any capacity. He's still moderator of some random subreddits.

nilespotter 3y ago

Nobody likes spez and reddit is the worst of the worst in terms of what the Internet could be and what it is. Reddit is where know nothings pontificate as if they were experts on anything and everything while congratulating each other. It used to be a great site, now I'm ashamed I ever used it and I'm embarrassed for people who mention they use it. That said, that meme is propaganda and defamation. Anyone could add anyone as a mod anywhere for a time, and violentacrez added spez "for the lulz" or however people like that think. I'd be beside myself it there's evidence that he was an active moderator working on that sub. Although, given the prevailing winds of the modern left, in a few years he'll probably be trying to claim that he was.

Chiron1991 3y ago
[dead]
fullspectrumdev 3y ago
> Although, given the prevailing winds of the modern left, in a few years he'll probably be trying to claim that he was. I’m genuinely curious what the fuck you mean by this.
- luroc 3y ago
  He probably alludes to the common conservative trope that jews/blacks/environmentalists/gays/trans people are 'pedophiles' (depending on which era you look at)
  - nilespotter 3y ago
    Jews and blacks?
- nilespotter 3y ago
  Pedophilia is coming en vogue on the left. If you can't see it now, you'll see it soon. Spez will likely claim that he really was a /r/jailbait moderator for leftist credibility, I would guess 3-5 years from now.

aw1621107 3y ago

It's worth noting that a very old user (/u/andrewsmith1986 IIRC) responded that at that time it was possible to add arbitrary users as mods without needing interaction/feedback/etc. from the user in question. If that was the case, then any user being a mod on any particular sub at that time doesn't really mean much. Obviously I can't reference the comment in question right now, but I'll try to remember to circle back and add a reference when(/if?) Reddit comes back up. Edit: /u/andrewsmith1986's comment can be found at https://old.reddit.com/r/dankmemes/comments/1477psa/all_3_are_going_to_lie_to_you/jnuy0xf/ https://old.reddit.com/r/dankmemes/comments/1477psa/all_3_ar...

the_gipsy 3y ago
Other users apart from u/andrewsmith1986 also confirmed this, in that thread. Sounds plausible.
Zak 3y ago
I remember the change to requiring people to accept an invite. Adding people as moderators of distasteful subreddits without their consent was a common form of abuse just prior.
wahnfrieden 3y ago
This counter-narrative is also misleading Consider: spez was the voluntary "mod" of the entire platform as CEO, and he maintained that subreddit. Excusing him for the unsolicited mod invite is just optics management. It would be like saying lowtax had no responsibility as co-signer for the existence of subforums that his paid or unpaid staff maintained.
bee_rider 3y ago
It seems like a funny distinction to make in the first place. Was he an admin of the site when it was hosting that sort of stuff? Anyone who was an admin at the time is responsible for the policies that allowed it to exist on the site…
roncesvalles 3y ago
I mean it's also worth noting that spez was CEO of Reddit and subreddits like that were allowed to exist for many, many more years.

invokestatic 3y ago

Back when Obama hosted an AMA on Reddit, a bunch of users added his account as a moderator to a bunch of subreddits, including some pretty objectionable ones. This prompted a change that moderators would be invited instead.

chakintosh 3y ago

Back in the day you could create a subreddit and invite anyone to mod it. The invite would be automatically approved. I suspect this is what happened here.

karaterobot 3y ago

What's funny about this to me is that the actual moderators of r/jailbait thought "I know how I can insult u/spez, I'll make him a moderator of my sub, so he'll look like a scumbag, like I am"

meghan_rain 3y ago

A meme? So was he or was he not?