4 ms·

"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 satisfy

"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.
    - nknighthb 12y ago
      > But hey, whatever. I must be lying since your absolutist view is 100% correct to you. In a thread where you are defending a CEO being criticized as, amongst other things, childish, do you not see the irony of this?
      - opendais 12y ago
        > In a thread where you are defending a CEO being criticized as, amongst other things, childish, do you not see the irony of this? Given you are making absolute statements that are demonstrably false, I was hoping being childish would get the point across that I consider the validity of your argument on par with childish behavior. Sorry that wasn't clear.
        nknighthb 12y ago
        Let me make user I understand this. Because in the course of a long conversation I made statements you disagreed with without equivocating enough for your tastes, you thought the appropriate response was to be childish? Deliberately childish behavior engaged in to be manipulative makes it easy to conclude someone lacks integrity. Is it your intent to be dismissed as lacking integrity?
  - Scuds 12y ago
    > Now, however, potential experienced employees who actually live in the real world will be avoiding Reddit. I've worked for a certain popular online gaming service and have been threatened in my personal email by people who've had their accounts banned. Being in any position of authority (public facing or otherwise) on a site that caters to gamers and/or people who spend all their time on the internet is something I would recommend against. e: www.reddit.com/r/yishansucks yup. You don't want to be in a situation where you're always under fire from these guys.

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.
  - nknighthb 12y ago
    > But hey, whatever. I must be lying since your absolutist view is 100% correct to you. In a thread where you are defending a CEO being criticized as, amongst other things, childish, do you not see the irony of this?
    - opendais 12y ago
      > In a thread where you are defending a CEO being criticized as, amongst other things, childish, do you not see the irony of this? Given you are making absolute statements that are demonstrably false, I was hoping being childish would get the point across that I consider the validity of your argument on par with childish behavior. Sorry that wasn't clear.
      - nknighthb 12y ago
        Let me make user I understand this. Because in the course of a long conversation I made statements you disagreed with without equivocating enough for your tastes, you thought the appropriate response was to be childish? Deliberately childish behavior engaged in to be manipulative makes it easy to conclude someone lacks integrity. Is it your intent to be dismissed as lacking integrity?
- Scuds 12y ago
  > Now, however, potential experienced employees who actually live in the real world will be avoiding Reddit. I've worked for a certain popular online gaming service and have been threatened in my personal email by people who've had their accounts banned. Being in any position of authority (public facing or otherwise) on a site that caters to gamers and/or people who spend all their time on the internet is something I would recommend against. e: www.reddit.com/r/yishansucks yup. You don't want to be in a situation where you're always under fire from these guys.