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> A number of Snoos have been working around the clock, adapting to infrastructure strains, engaging with communities, and responding to the myriad of issues r

> A number of Snoos have been working around the clock, adapting to infrastructure strains, engaging with communities, and responding to the myriad of issues related to this blackout I find a CEO referring to their employees as 'Snoos' to be offputting personally. I'm sure it's meant to be a fun and inclusive term but the guy is sending out a pretty serious email that ends in, "I am sorry to say this, but please be mindful of wearing Reddit gear in public. Some folks are really upset, and we don’t want you to be the object of their frustrations." The tone strikes me as weird for this message and I feel like the term 'Snoo' is infantizing at best? Maybe I'm alone, it just feels super weird to hear that coming from someone with the title of CEO at a company of more than 100 people

xatax 3y ago
Snoo is the name of the reddit alien. I believe it was going to be the original name of the site (what's new - what'S NOO). Since "redditor" is a community name, it makes sense there would be a different internal/employee demonym and Snoo fits the site as good as any other name might.
- mulmen 3y ago
  Here’s an idea, call them employees.
  - xatax 3y ago
    Every company I've ever worked for has had some sort of name for their employees. It's probably supposed to foster some sense of community/belonging. You're welcome to take the cynical approach to that, sure, but I've never felt it to be a particularly harmful thing. It's good to have some semblance of a friendly culture, if only to break up the day. Some people will like it and I'm sure some people hate it. I've never given it a second thought though.
    - throwaway742 3y ago
      I always hated it. It feels infantilizing.
      - johnnyanmac 3y ago
        I don't see it as any different from schools or sports going "go [Mascot]s!". I was never into that culture, but I also see my world getting more and more lonely by the year. If others bond together from that, I get it now.
  - scubadude 3y ago
    Family! ;-)
AmericanOP 3y ago
Because its us vs them, don’t you get it? Us noisy, violent users getting in the way of the Snoos tribe big shiny IPO.
philwelch 3y ago
Lots of tech companies have silly names for their employees, I think it might have originated with “Googlers” but some companies (like Reddit) went a little further. (“Snoo” is also the name of the little Reddit alien mascot.)
- scubbo 3y ago
  I recently joined LegalZoom, where the demonym is apparently "Zoomers". Yeah, I won't be using that one :P
  - philwelch 3y ago
    Congratulations on getting hired in this economy!
    - scubbo 3y ago
      Thank you!
  - fireweed 3y ago
    [flagged]
- russelg 3y ago
  I believe GitHub employees are called Hubbers
quickthrowman 3y ago
I also think it’s weird and infantilizing at best (patronizing at worst) to call your employees ‘Snoos’ or ‘Metamates’ or any such corponym (for lack of a better term), regardless of the context.
lapcat 3y ago
It sounds like something from Dr. Seuss
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- mynameishere 3y ago
  More like Li'l Abner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmoo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmoo
AdamJacobMuller 3y ago
Reading the full letter[1] I think the first use of that term seems generally fine ("Hi Snoos,") whereas the 2nd one comes across as grossly tone-deaf (which is exactly what I expect from reddit at this point), mostly because the first one is just the opening greeting and can be a bit more colloquial while the 2nd one is addressing actual human beings who are suffering from the strain ("working around the clock" etc) and feels like he's trying to dehumanize them. The whole letter seems incredibly tone-deaf. calling the protests "noise" is incredibly dismissive of their user base and their concerns. The whole section about not wearing reddit gear outside is an obviously farcical attempt to paint people who oppose this change as violent when they are more likely to be people who never go outside, let alone people who are prowling around with weapons looking for vengeance for API changes. 1. https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/13/23759559/reddit-internal-memo-api-pricing-changes-steve-huffman https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/13/23759559/reddit-internal-...
marklyon 3y ago
One Snoo not working around the clock is /u/Cryfi the Snoo responsible for helping my subreddit land and manage AMAs. They were unceremoniously shown the door and none of the mods were notified. https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/145bram/addressing_the_community_about_changes_to_our_api/jnk29vb/ https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/145bram/addressing_...
dimmke 3y ago
It reminds me of that movie Spy Kids where the villain kidnaps people and turns them into these teletubby like creatures. Looking back, that was kind of some heavy body horror for a kids movie. But yeah, “Snoo” is easily the worst tech company name for their employees I’ve heard. I had no idea Reddit had an internal name for their employees. This is way worse than “meta mates” or whatever Zuckerberg ended up coming up with.

xatax 3y ago

Snoo is the name of the reddit alien. I believe it was going to be the original name of the site (what's new - what'S NOO). Since "redditor" is a community name, it makes sense there would be a different internal/employee demonym and Snoo fits the site as good as any other name might.

mulmen 3y ago
Here’s an idea, call them employees.
- xatax 3y ago
  Every company I've ever worked for has had some sort of name for their employees. It's probably supposed to foster some sense of community/belonging. You're welcome to take the cynical approach to that, sure, but I've never felt it to be a particularly harmful thing. It's good to have some semblance of a friendly culture, if only to break up the day. Some people will like it and I'm sure some people hate it. I've never given it a second thought though.
  - throwaway742 3y ago
    I always hated it. It feels infantilizing.
    - johnnyanmac 3y ago
      I don't see it as any different from schools or sports going "go [Mascot]s!". I was never into that culture, but I also see my world getting more and more lonely by the year. If others bond together from that, I get it now.
- scubadude 3y ago
  Family! ;-)

AmericanOP 3y ago

Because its us vs them, don’t you get it? Us noisy, violent users getting in the way of the Snoos tribe big shiny IPO.

philwelch 3y ago

Lots of tech companies have silly names for their employees, I think it might have originated with “Googlers” but some companies (like Reddit) went a little further. (“Snoo” is also the name of the little Reddit alien mascot.)

scubbo 3y ago
I recently joined LegalZoom, where the demonym is apparently "Zoomers". Yeah, I won't be using that one :P
- philwelch 3y ago
  Congratulations on getting hired in this economy!
  - scubbo 3y ago
    Thank you!
- fireweed 3y ago
  [flagged]
russelg 3y ago
I believe GitHub employees are called Hubbers

quickthrowman 3y ago

I also think it’s weird and infantilizing at best (patronizing at worst) to call your employees ‘Snoos’ or ‘Metamates’ or any such corponym (for lack of a better term), regardless of the context.

lapcat 3y ago

It sounds like something from Dr. Seuss

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
mynameishere 3y ago
More like Li'l Abner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmoo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmoo

AdamJacobMuller 3y ago

Reading the full letter[1] I think the first use of that term seems generally fine ("Hi Snoos,") whereas the 2nd one comes across as grossly tone-deaf (which is exactly what I expect from reddit at this point), mostly because the first one is just the opening greeting and can be a bit more colloquial while the 2nd one is addressing actual human beings who are suffering from the strain ("working around the clock" etc) and feels like he's trying to dehumanize them. The whole letter seems incredibly tone-deaf. calling the protests "noise" is incredibly dismissive of their user base and their concerns. The whole section about not wearing reddit gear outside is an obviously farcical attempt to paint people who oppose this change as violent when they are more likely to be people who never go outside, let alone people who are prowling around with weapons looking for vengeance for API changes. 1. https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/13/23759559/reddit-internal-memo-api-pricing-changes-steve-huffman https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/13/23759559/reddit-internal-...

marklyon 3y ago

One Snoo not working around the clock is /u/Cryfi the Snoo responsible for helping my subreddit land and manage AMAs. They were unceremoniously shown the door and none of the mods were notified. https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/145bram/addressing_the_community_about_changes_to_our_api/jnk29vb/ https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/145bram/addressing_...

dimmke 3y ago

It reminds me of that movie Spy Kids where the villain kidnaps people and turns them into these teletubby like creatures. Looking back, that was kind of some heavy body horror for a kids movie. But yeah, “Snoo” is easily the worst tech company name for their employees I’ve heard. I had no idea Reddit had an internal name for their employees. This is way worse than “meta mates” or whatever Zuckerberg ended up coming up with.