4 ms·

Management being averse to criticism is not unusual, nor is it unusual for someone to believe that is why they were fired, nor is it unusual for someone to say

Management being averse to criticism is not unusual, nor is it unusual for someone to believe that is why they were fired, nor is it unusual for someone to say that is why they were fired even if they know otherwise. Until the CEO responded, this was just an ex-employee with limited credibility saying pretty mild and unremarkable things few people would ever see. Now it's a CEO obviously feeling threatened and bringing wide attention to it.

opendais 12y ago
Tbh, I view it the opposite way. If an ex-employee publicly posts/publishes in a visible way that would be obvious to the previous employer...and the previous employer says nothing, that speaks volumes more. Generally corporate silence is a sign they can't refute the statement without opening themselves up to libel/being sued. The fact yishan is willing to say this (no matter how poor the delivery) basically means he is comfortable that he won't be sued successfully over it. That means the former employee (at best) failed to understand why he was let go.
- nknighthb 12y ago
  "It is company policy not to comment on personnel matters." is the standard, expected response, no matter the guilt or innocence of either party. Is it satisfying? No. But it avoids exactly this situation. And by the way, even that response is only expected when the company is directly asked. The correct response until then is to simply pretend nobody (or at least nobody in management) is aware of the issue.
  - opendais 12y ago
    And some potential employees will look at it and go "Well, I am not going to risk working there" as a result either way.
    - nknighthb 12y ago
      His allegations were a mix of the implausible and the cliché. It would take a remarkably naïve candidate to both take these allegations at face value, and think Reddit is somehow unusual in being on the wrong end of them. If not having this stain is the criteria by which they judge potential employers, they will find no employment. Now, however, potential experienced employees who actually live in the real world will be avoiding Reddit. Why put your career at the mercy of an obviously angry, irrational CEO? There are all sorts of companies big and small where the CEO is either rational or at least kept on a short leash by a competent board of directors. Going into ordinary damage control mode whenever somebody says something negative about your company is worse than the original damage. Any statement at all draws attention to the issue and risks making you look defensive. But this isn't even ordinary damage control mode, this is a CEO personally attacking an ex-employee. It may even make mainstream news now (...and so it begins[0]). And worse, he's doing this right after getting another $50 million to play with and announcing a new anti-worker policy. Before seeing the CEO's response, I would have said that responding to the thread at all was the worst possible choice. But I would have been expecting the response to at least be of a remotely responsible form. If the comment hadn't already been two hours old when I saw it, I would have thought it more plausible that the account had somehow been compromised than that anyone would actually think to respond in such a manner. And now he's doubled down, but vaguely[1], "there's actually more, but we're pulling our punches, if you can believe it". If the original comment wasn't legally actionable, that one might be. The CEO has created a PR and potentially legal nightmare where there was originally nothing but some guy howling at the moon. I'm reminded of the OMGPOP/Dan Porter/Shay Pierce fiasco. Troubling that the CEO of "the front page of the internet" wouldn't have learned from that... [0] http://gawker.com/reddit-ceo-shames-ex-reddit-staffer-on-reddit-you-wer-1642998030 http://gawker.com/reddit-ceo-shames-ex-reddit-staffer-on-red... [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditCensorship/comments/2ifd3p/udehrmann_i_am_a_former_reddit_employee_ama_riama/cl25q4l https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditCensorship/comments/2ifd3p/ud...
      - opendais 12y ago
        > His allegations were a mix of the implausible and the cliché. It would take a remarkably naïve candidate to both take these allegations at face value, and think Reddit is somehow unusual in being on the wrong end of them. If not having this stain is the criteria by which they judge potential employers, they will find no employment. 1) Well, that is demonstrably false. I'm employed just fine. 2) I've encountered a similar situation before that was a real toxic mess where I took the view you espouse and I regret it. So I think you are the one who is naive. But hey, whatever. I must be lying since your absolutist view is 100% correct to you.

opendais 12y ago

Tbh, I view it the opposite way. If an ex-employee publicly posts/publishes in a visible way that would be obvious to the previous employer...and the previous employer says nothing, that speaks volumes more. Generally corporate silence is a sign they can't refute the statement without opening themselves up to libel/being sued. The fact yishan is willing to say this (no matter how poor the delivery) basically means he is comfortable that he won't be sued successfully over it. That means the former employee (at best) failed to understand why he was let go.

nknighthb 12y ago
"It is company policy not to comment on personnel matters." is the standard, expected response, no matter the guilt or innocence of either party. Is it satisfying? No. But it avoids exactly this situation. And by the way, even that response is only expected when the company is directly asked. The correct response until then is to simply pretend nobody (or at least nobody in management) is aware of the issue.
- opendais 12y ago
  And some potential employees will look at it and go "Well, I am not going to risk working there" as a result either way.
  - nknighthb 12y ago
    His allegations were a mix of the implausible and the cliché. It would take a remarkably naïve candidate to both take these allegations at face value, and think Reddit is somehow unusual in being on the wrong end of them. If not having this stain is the criteria by which they judge potential employers, they will find no employment. Now, however, potential experienced employees who actually live in the real world will be avoiding Reddit. Why put your career at the mercy of an obviously angry, irrational CEO? There are all sorts of companies big and small where the CEO is either rational or at least kept on a short leash by a competent board of directors. Going into ordinary damage control mode whenever somebody says something negative about your company is worse than the original damage. Any statement at all draws attention to the issue and risks making you look defensive. But this isn't even ordinary damage control mode, this is a CEO personally attacking an ex-employee. It may even make mainstream news now (...and so it begins[0]). And worse, he's doing this right after getting another $50 million to play with and announcing a new anti-worker policy. Before seeing the CEO's response, I would have said that responding to the thread at all was the worst possible choice. But I would have been expecting the response to at least be of a remotely responsible form. If the comment hadn't already been two hours old when I saw it, I would have thought it more plausible that the account had somehow been compromised than that anyone would actually think to respond in such a manner. And now he's doubled down, but vaguely[1], "there's actually more, but we're pulling our punches, if you can believe it". If the original comment wasn't legally actionable, that one might be. The CEO has created a PR and potentially legal nightmare where there was originally nothing but some guy howling at the moon. I'm reminded of the OMGPOP/Dan Porter/Shay Pierce fiasco. Troubling that the CEO of "the front page of the internet" wouldn't have learned from that... [0] http://gawker.com/reddit-ceo-shames-ex-reddit-staffer-on-reddit-you-wer-1642998030 http://gawker.com/reddit-ceo-shames-ex-reddit-staffer-on-red... [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditCensorship/comments/2ifd3p/udehrmann_i_am_a_former_reddit_employee_ama_riama/cl25q4l https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditCensorship/comments/2ifd3p/ud...
    - opendais 12y ago
      > His allegations were a mix of the implausible and the cliché. It would take a remarkably naïve candidate to both take these allegations at face value, and think Reddit is somehow unusual in being on the wrong end of them. If not having this stain is the criteria by which they judge potential employers, they will find no employment. 1) Well, that is demonstrably false. I'm employed just fine. 2) I've encountered a similar situation before that was a real toxic mess where I took the view you espouse and I regret it. So I think you are the one who is naive. But hey, whatever. I must be lying since your absolutist view is 100% correct to you.