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Agreed, this post only makes reddit look like a very unprofessional workplace.

by penprog 12y ago

Karunamon 12y ago
Maybe it's not "professional", where that word has the common meaning of avoiding saying hard truths on the grounds that someone's feelings and/or political position might be hurt. This significantly elevates Reddit, IMO. Their CEO acts like a fucking human being instead of a politicized, sanitized, pretentious, weasel-wording sock puppet like so many other CEOs. You have no idea how much respect I have for this.
- blazespin 12y ago
  He's adding fuel to the fire. This was a childish move on his part and certainly not leadership material.
  - Karunamon 12y ago
    Maybe the fire needs to burn. Maybe Reddit's definition of leadership and company culture is different from that of Goldman Sachs.
    - blazespin 12y ago
      Sorry, are you saying someone needs to burn (metaphorically) Reddit down? Because that's what this fire is doing..
  - deleted 12y ago
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- waterlesscloud 12y ago
  And you have no idea how little respect I have for it. It's a move that hurts more than it helps.
- rosser 12y ago
  A CEO's job isn't to be "a fucking human being". It's to be the public face of the company, and represent its interests in all of his/her professional (and often personal) interactions. To get stroppy like this abrogates that responsibility in such a way, and to such a degree, that it may well be actionable.
  - uncoder0 12y ago
    Agreed. It doesn't help that his post was clearly made during working hours, on company time and with his official account. This is now the Reddit's official and definitive response to this employee's termination. You can go against the grain as a CEO and be more involved and approachable but, at the end of the day it is your ultimate responsibility to uphold the best interests of the company and it's investors. I'd be very concerned about this behavior if I was an investor or employee of Reddit.
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  - jsmthrowaway 12y ago
    Disagree. Nipping the rumor in the bud that Reddit management fires for dissenting opinion has tangible value to hiring and retention, so a case could be made that Yishan was compelled to provide this response as part of his fiduciary duty. Reddit is a special case that is very pitchfork-happy when it comes to online drama, and even a mere offhand rumor will grow legs. This specific response with that level of harshness is definitely worth discussing, but if you're going to make the abrogation of fiduciary duty argument I think I'd side on him doing the right thing here (with respect to that).
    - rosser 12y ago
      I didn't say no response was warranted. I said a stroppy response wasn't warranted. Absolutely, letting the rumor mill run with this guy's allegations is a net negative for Reddit, so Yishan (or, preferably, his PR folks) needed to respond somehow. My quibble is with the form and content of the response, not with there having been one.
- Iftheshoefits 12y ago
  Why should anybody believe either the CEO or the ex-employee based only on their word? You're assuming the CEO has all the actual facts and is being honest about them. I can envision many scenarios where he may actually have cause to believe he has the actual facts, when he doesn't (e.g. colleagues lying about the employee's resistance to change, performance, etc.).
  - TeMPOraL 12y ago
    Because CEO has taken a few orders of magnitude more of personal risk here than the ex-employee.
    - Iftheshoefits 12y ago
      Nonsense. For starters the employee's actual identity is apparently known and there are comments in one of the threads indicating hiring managers at other companies have taken note of him (negatively). Secondly, being the CEO of a YC company means he's "in the club." Short of explicitly defrauding investors, the limit to this guy's personal risk is very lilely that he may be forced out of his CEO role. Unless he's a very stupid person he has put enough untouchable wealth aside to be just fine should this occur. Even if he hasn't I would suggest his chances of securing funding for another company is not impacted by this drama negatively (in fact, it may have a positive effect). Besides that, even if he did have more at stake personally that is insufficient reason to take his word over the employee's, because there's nothing even close to any objective evidence in such a determination: it's purely subjective based on your own biases.
- 8note 12y ago
  Being human doesn't mean you have to be an asshole though. ysihan is really on the side of politicized, sanitized, pretentious, weasel-wording sock puppet; minus the sanitized part. Consider his posts about the celeb nude photos leaks http://www.redditblog.com/2014/09/every-man-is-responsible-for-his-own.html http://www.redditblog.com/2014/09/every-man-is-responsible-f... and http://www.reddit.com/r/yishan/comments/2frlxb/and_now_to_make_explicit_my_own_commentary/ http://www.reddit.com/r/yishan/comments/2frlxb/and_now_to_ma... compared to somebody who's actually speaking like a human being http://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/2fpdax/time_to_talk/ http://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/2fpdax/time_t...
  - Karunamon 12y ago
    You mean he realized that the PR-speak version (which judging by the comments in this thread, people want for some reason) went over like a turd in a punch bowl, and then he reverted to plain English? Am I supposed to see that as a negative or something?
    - imanaccount247 12y ago
      Your posts reek of intellectual dishonesty. It is not logical to conclude that he decided to be one kind of an asshole about one thing because being a different kind of asshole about a different thing wasn't popular. His response is based on his relation with the subject, not time or learning a lesson.
      - Karunamon 12y ago
        You're the one who brought "being an asshole" into this, and the entire rest of your post is completely nonsensical.
        imanaccount247 12y ago
        Both instances he is being an asshole. His response varies purely on how he feels about the subject. He did not "learn a lesson". I'm not sure how to make it any clearer for you.
- mindcrime 12y ago
  > You have no idea how much respect I have for this. Same here. A CEO doesn't have to be a "soulless robot like David Simms" type... showing some passion, fire and enthusiasm and being - as you said - "a fucking human being" is a Good Thing in some eyes.
- imanaccount247 12y ago
  >Their CEO acts like a fucking human being instead of a politicized, sanitized, pretentious, weasel-wording sock puppet like so many other CEOs. No, he doesn't. Just because he acts like a moron one time doesn't mean he's somehow not a weasel.
angersock 12y ago
It's a website with entire sections devoted to cat pictures, stupid image memes, borderline child pornography and all kinds of other weird shit. Why would you expect it to be "professional"?
- tdicola 12y ago
  When you've taken 50 million dollars in investment and are expected to bring a good return on it, amatuer hour is over.
  - angersock 12y ago
    When people invest 50 million dollars in the aforementioned website and service, maybe the amateurs aren't just the ones running the business.

Agreed, this post only makes reddit look like a very unprofessional workplace.

by penprog 12y ago

Agreed, this post only makes reddit look like a very unprofessional workplace.

Maybe it's not "professional", where that word has the common meaning of avoiding saying hard truths on the grounds that someone's feelings and/or political position might be hurt. This significantly elevates Reddit, IMO. Their CEO acts like a fucking human being instead of a politicized, sanitized, pretentious, weasel-wording sock puppet like so many other CEOs. You have no idea how much respect I have for this.

blazespin 12y ago
He's adding fuel to the fire. This was a childish move on his part and certainly not leadership material.
- Karunamon 12y ago
  Maybe the fire needs to burn. Maybe Reddit's definition of leadership and company culture is different from that of Goldman Sachs.
  - blazespin 12y ago
    Sorry, are you saying someone needs to burn (metaphorically) Reddit down? Because that's what this fire is doing..
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
waterlesscloud 12y ago
And you have no idea how little respect I have for it. It's a move that hurts more than it helps.
rosser 12y ago
A CEO's job isn't to be "a fucking human being". It's to be the public face of the company, and represent its interests in all of his/her professional (and often personal) interactions. To get stroppy like this abrogates that responsibility in such a way, and to such a degree, that it may well be actionable.
- uncoder0 12y ago
  Agreed. It doesn't help that his post was clearly made during working hours, on company time and with his official account. This is now the Reddit's official and definitive response to this employee's termination. You can go against the grain as a CEO and be more involved and approachable but, at the end of the day it is your ultimate responsibility to uphold the best interests of the company and it's investors. I'd be very concerned about this behavior if I was an investor or employee of Reddit.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- jsmthrowaway 12y ago
  Disagree. Nipping the rumor in the bud that Reddit management fires for dissenting opinion has tangible value to hiring and retention, so a case could be made that Yishan was compelled to provide this response as part of his fiduciary duty. Reddit is a special case that is very pitchfork-happy when it comes to online drama, and even a mere offhand rumor will grow legs. This specific response with that level of harshness is definitely worth discussing, but if you're going to make the abrogation of fiduciary duty argument I think I'd side on him doing the right thing here (with respect to that).
  - rosser 12y ago
    I didn't say no response was warranted. I said a stroppy response wasn't warranted. Absolutely, letting the rumor mill run with this guy's allegations is a net negative for Reddit, so Yishan (or, preferably, his PR folks) needed to respond somehow. My quibble is with the form and content of the response, not with there having been one.
Iftheshoefits 12y ago
Why should anybody believe either the CEO or the ex-employee based only on their word? You're assuming the CEO has all the actual facts and is being honest about them. I can envision many scenarios where he may actually have cause to believe he has the actual facts, when he doesn't (e.g. colleagues lying about the employee's resistance to change, performance, etc.).
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  Because CEO has taken a few orders of magnitude more of personal risk here than the ex-employee.
  - Iftheshoefits 12y ago
    Nonsense. For starters the employee's actual identity is apparently known and there are comments in one of the threads indicating hiring managers at other companies have taken note of him (negatively). Secondly, being the CEO of a YC company means he's "in the club." Short of explicitly defrauding investors, the limit to this guy's personal risk is very lilely that he may be forced out of his CEO role. Unless he's a very stupid person he has put enough untouchable wealth aside to be just fine should this occur. Even if he hasn't I would suggest his chances of securing funding for another company is not impacted by this drama negatively (in fact, it may have a positive effect). Besides that, even if he did have more at stake personally that is insufficient reason to take his word over the employee's, because there's nothing even close to any objective evidence in such a determination: it's purely subjective based on your own biases.
8note 12y ago
Being human doesn't mean you have to be an asshole though. ysihan is really on the side of politicized, sanitized, pretentious, weasel-wording sock puppet; minus the sanitized part. Consider his posts about the celeb nude photos leaks http://www.redditblog.com/2014/09/every-man-is-responsible-for-his-own.html http://www.redditblog.com/2014/09/every-man-is-responsible-f... and http://www.reddit.com/r/yishan/comments/2frlxb/and_now_to_make_explicit_my_own_commentary/ http://www.reddit.com/r/yishan/comments/2frlxb/and_now_to_ma... compared to somebody who's actually speaking like a human being http://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/2fpdax/time_to_talk/ http://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/2fpdax/time_t...
- Karunamon 12y ago
  You mean he realized that the PR-speak version (which judging by the comments in this thread, people want for some reason) went over like a turd in a punch bowl, and then he reverted to plain English? Am I supposed to see that as a negative or something?
  - imanaccount247 12y ago
    Your posts reek of intellectual dishonesty. It is not logical to conclude that he decided to be one kind of an asshole about one thing because being a different kind of asshole about a different thing wasn't popular. His response is based on his relation with the subject, not time or learning a lesson.
    - Karunamon 12y ago
      You're the one who brought "being an asshole" into this, and the entire rest of your post is completely nonsensical.
      - imanaccount247 12y ago
        Both instances he is being an asshole. His response varies purely on how he feels about the subject. He did not "learn a lesson". I'm not sure how to make it any clearer for you.
mindcrime 12y ago
> You have no idea how much respect I have for this. Same here. A CEO doesn't have to be a "soulless robot like David Simms" type... showing some passion, fire and enthusiasm and being - as you said - "a fucking human being" is a Good Thing in some eyes.
imanaccount247 12y ago
>Their CEO acts like a fucking human being instead of a politicized, sanitized, pretentious, weasel-wording sock puppet like so many other CEOs. No, he doesn't. Just because he acts like a moron one time doesn't mean he's somehow not a weasel.

angersock 12y ago

It's a website with entire sections devoted to cat pictures, stupid image memes, borderline child pornography and all kinds of other weird shit. Why would you expect it to be "professional"?

tdicola 12y ago
When you've taken 50 million dollars in investment and are expected to bring a good return on it, amatuer hour is over.
- angersock 12y ago
  When people invest 50 million dollars in the aforementioned website and service, maybe the amateurs aren't just the ones running the business.