6 ms·

The richest part here is where spez refers to moderators as a "landed gentry": https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/reddit-protest-blackout-ceo-steve-huffman

by mlyle 3y ago

The richest part here is where spez refers to moderators as a "landed gentry": https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/reddit-protest-blackout-ceo-steve-huffman-moderators-rcna89544 https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/reddit-protest-blacko... “And I think, on Reddit, the analogy is closer to the landed gentry: The people who get there first get to stay there and pass it down to their descendants, and that is not democratic.” What does that make spez relative to the constituents in his community?

hn_thrwn 3y ago
[flagged]
- consilient 3y ago
  That would be its investors.
- bloqs 3y ago
  Rent a storefront Get people to run and supply it for free Sell the supplies and profit
  - piyh 3y ago
    Build a platform Recruit free labor Replace them when they stop working
- hughesjj 3y ago
  Well, except the mods, he doesn't pay them. Or the people who made moderator tooling to hack around his lack of moderator tooling. Or those who wrote entire third party apps to get around his lack of viable third party apps. Or those people who had to implement accessibility for the blind or otherwise disabled to get around his lack of tooling for the blind or otherwise disabled. But besides all those people, yeah he pays the bills. Well okay he doesn't actually pay anything, it's the investors and advertisers that pay the actual bills. But other than all that spez contributes by.... Uhh ..... Lowering server costs by causing a mass exodus?
- mlyle 3y ago
  Adding thousands of employees and pissing away profitability to force these kinds of no-win choices ain't exactly "payin' da bills."
kentrado 3y ago
The mods in /r/anarchism are selected by voting.
- zik 3y ago
  That's amazing and wonderful. The only guys who use a vote are anarchists.
  - ipaddr 3y ago
    Makes sense, it's not that they don't follow rules/code it's just they do so randomly which breaks all rules
  - garte 3y ago
    You should read up on anarchism. You're in for a huge surprise there.
    - marsven_422 3y ago
      [dead]
    - LunaSea 3y ago
      Not really. It's usually twenty somethings that somehow think the world wouldn't devolve into chaos if there wasn't a structure to organise society and secure it.
      - Dah00n 3y ago
        That's as close to a correct description of anarchy as using North Korea to describe Communism. Or a republic for that matter.
        LunaSea 3y ago
        Ah yes, because all these concrete implementations of anarchism are able to disprove my description. Classic dogmatism.
lannisterstark 3y ago
>that is not democratic Lol like he cares about democracy.
- kibwen 3y ago
  Out-of-touch CEOs and pretending to give a damn about democracy, where have we seen that one before: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/twitter-users-vote-elon-musk-quit-ceo-poll-rcna62332 https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/twitter-users-vote...
angled 3y ago
Charles (You choose which one!)
lamontcg 3y ago
> “And I think, on Reddit, the analogy is closer to the landed gentry: The people who get there first get to stay there and pass it down to their descendants, and that is not democratic.” That is some hefty fucking projection from him.
- A4ET8a8uTh0 3y ago
  It is funny and almost the same level of funny as CEOs saying WFH is not fair to people can't do WFH ( why won't you think of all the poor people, who are not laptop class you awful person )!
rjvir 3y ago
Spez is CEO because the board and investors deem him to be the best person for the job. Of course, he founded Reddit, so he has a strong case on merit for why he is the #1 person on the planet to run the company. The process for selecting moderators is way less meritocratic or democratic than this. They merely got there first, finders keepers. The analogy for landed gentry is accurate.
- willis936 3y ago
  I can think of roughly 100,000 people that would be better suited to run reddit than spez.
  - goykasi 3y ago
    [flagged]
    - willis936 3y ago
      If it were my decision the pool of serious contenders would not be 100,000 and spez would not be anywhere near among them.
      - goykasi 3y ago
        So you rounded up to 100k. Gotcha. Cool. Cool.
        willis936 3y ago
        That is not what I said. I said I can find 100,000 people more qualified than spez to be CEO of Reddit. I would only pull from a pool if maybe a few hundred globally if I were looking for the position. ie spez wouldn't be remotely considered. That has nothing to do with rounding.
- dehrmann 3y ago
  He's the CEO because he was the best person to take over after Ellen Pao resigned. He's the CEO today less because he's the right person, and more because the metrics were moving in the right direction and inertia. He might still be the best person for the job, but it isn't something the board actively reconsiders unless they have a reason to.
seneca 3y ago
> What does that make spez relative to the constituents in his community? It makes him just like many authoritarian dictators in history. Taking something of value away from the people who actually built it, and claiming it's for the people while it's really all about giving him power. Completely unsurprising in this case though. These people built their communities on someone else's platform, and now they want to be paid. This is bound to happen.
vkou 3y ago
If the mods are the landed gentry, the regular users must be serfs, which would make spez some kind of untouchable god-emperor..?
dredmorbius 3y ago
Reddit (spez) created that "landed gentry"[1], and was more than happy with its existence until roughly two weeks ago. It is Reddit's policies, procedures, and practices which created a first-come, first serve, seniority-based moderator role. Not the volunteers who stepped up and assumed that role, uncompensated by Reddit. ________________________________ Notes: 1. Actual landed gentry labeling volunteer labour they'd cultivated and created as "landed gentry" has to go down as one of the most audacious rhetorical distractions of all time. Or at least the past week.
Dah00n 3y ago
There's a first time for everything. I agree with spez. That is a very on point description of Mods, and it needs to be fixed. Just because you came first to /r/news doesn't mean you should rule like a king on Reddit. It is too open for abuse and politics.
- bb611 3y ago
  Your argument belies reality, where moderators even on the very large subreddits turn over all of the time. The oldest moderator on r/news has only been in their position for slightly more than 3 years: https://www.reddit.com/r/news/about/moderators https://www.reddit.com/r/news/about/moderators
  - Dah00n 3y ago
    No, it really doesn't. Both what I wrote and what you wrote can be correct. A moderator on a single big sub can, for example, turn it in a red or blue political direction no matter if s/he is a mod for a week or a year. As Reddit is a Corporation we will never see a democratic style mod selection, but in my opinion it is one of the big changes Reddit needs.
lordfrito 3y ago
I'm glad u/spez cares so much about "democracy". For a second there I thought he was trying to extract profit off the backs of the mods who built the communities for him.
duxup 3y ago
> “and that is not democratic” Whose fault is that? Seems like Reddit administrators exact design.
matheusmoreira 3y ago
I can't believe I'm reading this bullshit about democracy and "landed gentry" from a goddamn CEO of an advertising corporation who wants to literally monetize the eyeballs of every human being on his site, people who are only there because those "gentries" keep his site from turning to shit at no cost to him.
coffeebeqn 3y ago
The king.

by mlyle 3y ago

hn_thrwn 3y ago

[flagged]

consilient 3y ago
That would be its investors.
bloqs 3y ago
Rent a storefront Get people to run and supply it for free Sell the supplies and profit
- piyh 3y ago
  Build a platform Recruit free labor Replace them when they stop working
hughesjj 3y ago
Well, except the mods, he doesn't pay them. Or the people who made moderator tooling to hack around his lack of moderator tooling. Or those who wrote entire third party apps to get around his lack of viable third party apps. Or those people who had to implement accessibility for the blind or otherwise disabled to get around his lack of tooling for the blind or otherwise disabled. But besides all those people, yeah he pays the bills. Well okay he doesn't actually pay anything, it's the investors and advertisers that pay the actual bills. But other than all that spez contributes by.... Uhh ..... Lowering server costs by causing a mass exodus?
mlyle 3y ago
Adding thousands of employees and pissing away profitability to force these kinds of no-win choices ain't exactly "payin' da bills."

kentrado 3y ago

The mods in /r/anarchism are selected by voting.

zik 3y ago
That's amazing and wonderful. The only guys who use a vote are anarchists.
- ipaddr 3y ago
  Makes sense, it's not that they don't follow rules/code it's just they do so randomly which breaks all rules
- garte 3y ago
  You should read up on anarchism. You're in for a huge surprise there.
  - marsven_422 3y ago
    [dead]
  - LunaSea 3y ago
    Not really. It's usually twenty somethings that somehow think the world wouldn't devolve into chaos if there wasn't a structure to organise society and secure it.
    - Dah00n 3y ago
      That's as close to a correct description of anarchy as using North Korea to describe Communism. Or a republic for that matter.
      - LunaSea 3y ago
        Ah yes, because all these concrete implementations of anarchism are able to disprove my description. Classic dogmatism.

lannisterstark 3y ago

>that is not democratic Lol like he cares about democracy.

kibwen 3y ago
Out-of-touch CEOs and pretending to give a damn about democracy, where have we seen that one before: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/twitter-users-vote-elon-musk-quit-ceo-poll-rcna62332 https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/twitter-users-vote...

angled 3y ago

Charles (You choose which one!)

lamontcg 3y ago

> “And I think, on Reddit, the analogy is closer to the landed gentry: The people who get there first get to stay there and pass it down to their descendants, and that is not democratic.” That is some hefty fucking projection from him.

A4ET8a8uTh0 3y ago
It is funny and almost the same level of funny as CEOs saying WFH is not fair to people can't do WFH ( why won't you think of all the poor people, who are not laptop class you awful person )!

rjvir 3y ago

Spez is CEO because the board and investors deem him to be the best person for the job. Of course, he founded Reddit, so he has a strong case on merit for why he is the #1 person on the planet to run the company. The process for selecting moderators is way less meritocratic or democratic than this. They merely got there first, finders keepers. The analogy for landed gentry is accurate.

willis936 3y ago
I can think of roughly 100,000 people that would be better suited to run reddit than spez.
- goykasi 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - willis936 3y ago
    If it were my decision the pool of serious contenders would not be 100,000 and spez would not be anywhere near among them.
    - goykasi 3y ago
      So you rounded up to 100k. Gotcha. Cool. Cool.
      - willis936 3y ago
        That is not what I said. I said I can find 100,000 people more qualified than spez to be CEO of Reddit. I would only pull from a pool if maybe a few hundred globally if I were looking for the position. ie spez wouldn't be remotely considered. That has nothing to do with rounding.
dehrmann 3y ago
He's the CEO because he was the best person to take over after Ellen Pao resigned. He's the CEO today less because he's the right person, and more because the metrics were moving in the right direction and inertia. He might still be the best person for the job, but it isn't something the board actively reconsiders unless they have a reason to.

seneca 3y ago

> What does that make spez relative to the constituents in his community? It makes him just like many authoritarian dictators in history. Taking something of value away from the people who actually built it, and claiming it's for the people while it's really all about giving him power. Completely unsurprising in this case though. These people built their communities on someone else's platform, and now they want to be paid. This is bound to happen.

vkou 3y ago

If the mods are the landed gentry, the regular users must be serfs, which would make spez some kind of untouchable god-emperor..?

dredmorbius 3y ago

Reddit (spez) created that "landed gentry"[1], and was more than happy with its existence until roughly two weeks ago. It is Reddit's policies, procedures, and practices which created a first-come, first serve, seniority-based moderator role. Not the volunteers who stepped up and assumed that role, uncompensated by Reddit. ________________________________ Notes: 1. Actual landed gentry labeling volunteer labour they'd cultivated and created as "landed gentry" has to go down as one of the most audacious rhetorical distractions of all time. Or at least the past week.

Dah00n 3y ago

There's a first time for everything. I agree with spez. That is a very on point description of Mods, and it needs to be fixed. Just because you came first to /r/news doesn't mean you should rule like a king on Reddit. It is too open for abuse and politics.

bb611 3y ago
Your argument belies reality, where moderators even on the very large subreddits turn over all of the time. The oldest moderator on r/news has only been in their position for slightly more than 3 years: https://www.reddit.com/r/news/about/moderators https://www.reddit.com/r/news/about/moderators
- Dah00n 3y ago
  No, it really doesn't. Both what I wrote and what you wrote can be correct. A moderator on a single big sub can, for example, turn it in a red or blue political direction no matter if s/he is a mod for a week or a year. As Reddit is a Corporation we will never see a democratic style mod selection, but in my opinion it is one of the big changes Reddit needs.

lordfrito 3y ago

I'm glad u/spez cares so much about "democracy". For a second there I thought he was trying to extract profit off the backs of the mods who built the communities for him.

duxup 3y ago

> “and that is not democratic” Whose fault is that? Seems like Reddit administrators exact design.

matheusmoreira 3y ago

I can't believe I'm reading this bullshit about democracy and "landed gentry" from a goddamn CEO of an advertising corporation who wants to literally monetize the eyeballs of every human being on his site, people who are only there because those "gentries" keep his site from turning to shit at no cost to him.

coffeebeqn 3y ago

The king.