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Petition: Step down as CEO of Reddit Inc

95 points by DanBlake 11y ago

butwhy 11y ago
You could have said over 120k but decided to round down. Hm.
baby 11y ago
And no one will be talking about that next week. Can we please avoid upvoting internet non-news/drama on HN? EDIT: seeing the downvotes, if anyone followed what happened when they banned the racist subreddits and the backlash of the vocal minority: nobody was talking about it the next day. EDIT2: plus the fact that this is totally bullying on the CEO. Why should we echo this?
- moonshinefe 11y ago
  One of the largest sites on the internet had a large % of its content set private by moderators in protest of the firing of an employee. Now thousands of people are calling for the CEO to step down. I'd hardly call that "non-news"... but to each their own I guess.
  - baby 11y ago
    > One of the largest sites on the internet had a large % of its content set private by moderators in protest of the firing of an employee. Yes and there was already a post on that edit: btw it's not exactly in the protest of a firing of an employee, and it's not either because of Ellen Pao. It was to show the admins the poor communication between them and them mods + bad moderation tools available to the mods. But a lot of trolls took this as an opportunity to put reddit on fire/blame Ellen Pao. If you look at the topics of the subreddits re-opening (and they re-opened because admins answered in the positive in r/modtalk), you will see that everyone is insulting the mods for re-opening the subs and not going dark longer. There is no true argumentation behind this, it was just "fuck you for caving we need victoria back" > Now thousands of people are calling for the CEO to step down No, that's always been the case that there is some sort of a "meme" against Ellen Pao for different questionable reasons (although I'd have to admit I don't like the fact that she doesn't seem to use reddit). This "meme" is more than a "meme" actually, it has become true harassment filled with racists/sexists jokes, photoshops, doxxing on the CEO. This is bullying, I don't see why HN would endorse that (this sort of story should be ignored)
    - mintplant 11y ago
      It's rather frustrating--the subreddit shutdowns had little to do with the "Pao must resign" crowd, but they're being co-opted by the same as validation of their crusade against her.
- ProAm 11y ago
  Reddit is part of the cause that no information matters in 2-3+ days. The best, most relevant, important story may hit the front page but after 48 hours good luck in finding it again. Social sites has made topical news have a really short half-life.
  - kbar13 11y ago
    I think the fact that information is readily available contributes to the accelerated "half-life" of "news" more so than design. Every day there's some new drama or something to get behind.
  - baby 11y ago
    That's very true. So when a drama happens in reddit, since discussions happen IN reddit, it moves on pretty fast.
benten10 11y ago
Can we leave this drama to angsty white male American teenagers please, sigghh.
- TheAldGarde 11y ago
  what are you, an angsty white male American 20 y.o.?
- eclipxe 11y ago
  What does race have to do with this
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
- rjf1990 11y ago
  I disagree with this comment but understand the spirit behind it. This incident just shows the immaturity of the reddit community. People get let go all the time. At the risk of sounding like a monster, it's just business. Nobody knows the reasoning behind it, yet a bunch of people happen to have 'power' in this instance revolt, despite how childish it is.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
ScootyPuff2000 11y ago
"change.org" is nothing but an internet bullying site.
rokhayakebe 11y ago
I seriously hope Reddit board does not fire their CEO. Group bullying should not work in this case. This is not a matter of life and death. If some users are upset with the Reddit way, nothing is to stop them from creating an alternative. If they fear most people won't follow, then perhaps their opinion is that of a minority. When someone owns a platform, they can run it as they please. No one is being woken up at gun point and forced to use Reddit. If the users win in this case (where we do not have the details to know whether they have treated others unfairly), it will simply be like paying a ransom and not expecting the receiver to come back for more.
- ekianjo 11y ago
  > No one is being woken up at gun point and forced to use Reddit. you can say that kind of things for ALL services out there. And even about the country you live in ("dont like your president? Just move somewhere else!"). There is a fine line between phrasing a demand and bullying. It's not because protests are led by minorities that they should be ignored altogether.
  - rokhayakebe 11y ago
    Are there examples in which any of Reddit changes have affected someone's well being? If not then Reddit can do as they please with their property. The market will decide whether they are right or wrong.
    - ekianjo 11y ago
      > The market will decide whether they are right or wrong. There is no need to antagonize Reddit. It's a fine service that has many uses. Asking for improvements/changes is part of the normal process of having a discussion - if every single time we had a problem with something we had to create a new solution that would be a serious waste of time for everyone involved. Don't re-invent the wheel, just try to fix it first.
  - nness 11y ago
    Side-point; there are many people who aren't actually allowed to leave their country. Its a very Eurocentric viewpoint to just assume everyone has complete autonomy and the resources necessary to relocate. "Don't like your President" isn't a valid reason for political asylum either.
comrade1 11y ago
What a tempest in a tea cup. Reddit users have a far too high opinion of themselves. We're all getting tired of their angsty drama leaching over into real life.
- eclipxe 11y ago
  Who is we? Speak for yourself.
  - nness 11y ago
    I'm tired of it. I'm glad most of these stories are being flagged for removal on HN.
    - bluecalm 11y ago
      It's not much of an effort to not click those stories. I see your attitude as damaging. "Let's remove content which makes me uncomfortable discussing even though it's very popular and a lot pf people want to discuss it" thinking. I mean, reading one sentence (topic description) and moving your eyes one row down isn't much of an effort even if you were to do that for 2 weeks several times a day. Just do it and leave the topics for people how want to read about it and discuss it.
- baby 11y ago
  It's a vocal minority. Most of people browsing reddits don't have an account OR couldn't care less about these stories. And I'm not even talking about the good part of reddit who unsubscribe from default subs to get in touch with more interesting smaller subs.
  - brymaster 11y ago
    > vocal minority That's interesting because it mirrors Ellen Pao's attitude: > But Ms. Pao says that the most virulent detractors on the site are a vocal minority, and that the vast majority of Reddit users are uninterested in what unfolded over the past 48 hours. - (source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/04/technology/reddit-moderators-shut-down-parts-of-site-over-executives-dismissal.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/04/technology/reddit-moderato...) ... yet here we are with over 100K signatures and quickly rising. When your largest subreddits and influential content creators take a big chunk of the site down, it's not a vocal minority with zero ramifications - it's you about to become the next Digg. This isn't an issue for Reddit to take lightly. If content creators pack up shop, Reddit becomes just another cat photo and yesterday's news dump like your facebook feed (read: low quality content). Users will end up where ever your cool content creators defect to.
paulhauggis 11y ago
Just another example of hypocritical, bullying, behavior.
- thephyber 11y ago
  Could you please explain why you think it's hypocritical? I'm guessing it's related to the anti-bullying campaigns of the Reddit site, but I thought those were spearheaded by the company and not the community.
  - paulhauggis 11y ago
    Many are against bullying in the community, yet have no problem bullying the CEO and trying to get her fired simply because they don't agree with her decisions. We don't even have all of the information, yet this doesn't seem to matter. Should gays be bullied simply because we don't agree with their lifestyle? I shouldn't be surprised as this seems to be the way our society now works: anyone that doesn't agree with you, bully them into submission and ruin their lives, business, or reputation (sometimes all 3)..punishing them for their disagreement. The new catholic church from the middle ages. I've seen the same thing on Facebook with the passing of gay marriage: Anyone saying they disagree with the ruling gets destroyed and called a bigot, yet those same people can say horrendous things about religious groups and people with no repercussions. It's this sort of backward thinking that makes me realize how much smarter I am than anyone else.
    - studentrob 11y ago
      What's wrong with being hypocritical? I'm pretty sure we all are. Nobody likes bullies, and we all stand up against them, but we also probably inadvertently offend someone every day. CEOs, celebrities, etc put themselves in a highly visible position with some responsibility attached. I think they can understand they won't win everyone's support all the time, otherwise they would not be there. The thing to do here is move forward, focus on getting all the facts out, and answer any community questions so they are not left in the dark.
ghiculescu 11y ago
This seems like a bit of a disaster: https://np.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/3bw39q/why_has_riama_been_set_to_private/csq204d https://np.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/3bw39q/why_has... and https://np.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3c0hcz/welcome_back/ https://np.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3c0hcz/welcome_back/ (linked from the petition)
frontsideair 11y ago
I know this is about the firing of a reddit mod, but I can't shake of the feeling that the people behind this petition care more about the banning of hateful subs. This is a retribution for them. I really feel disappointed when people think free speech is more important than anything. Yes, it is important, but we defend it for a reason. Because it protects the weak. But when I see people defending it so they can harass or otherwise spew hate speech about minorities, I wonder where did we do wrong. Maybe, just maybe, we treated it like a dogma and then it backfired? It should've been a means to an end, not the other way.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- Klinky 11y ago
  The problem was that /r/fatpeoplehate was banned while other "vile" subreddits continued to exist. Censorship is weird. In the US we can't show breasts on TV, but someone can get their head blown off. On reddit, you can't hate on fat people, but you can watch someone's face get ripped off in a car accident. You can also still hate on black people or deny the holocaust. I think sites have the right to censor what they want, but reddit has to tread carefully when dealing with it. The free organic growth it enjoys can also turn into organic backlash. The massive energy exerted into managing and creating the content that fuels reddit can also go in the opposite direction, with reddit being the platform of it's own destruction. reddit has a history of problems, from technical stability issues in the past, to now more managerial/executive issues. reddit needed help and a guiding vision, but Ellen Pao has the reputation of being a professional griefer, and was probably the worst fit possible to fix reddit's problems. Removing Pao seems like a difficult proposition given the lawsuit at her previous employer. The firing of the only admin who was proactive with the community seems to indicate more tone deaf action on management's part. This is probably the biggest crisis reddit has ever faced, and it could be it's demise. The snowball seems to keep getting bigger.
  - hueving 11y ago
    To be clear, it wasn't banned because of attacks on fat people, it was banned because it was attacking specific fat people.
nness 11y ago
Go through the comments left on the petition, and you'll see someone posting under Pao's name with the message "I'm a cunt." I don't think Reddit's management is the undoing of Reddit, its the immaturity of the community and the loudness of its most extreme elements. It's disheartening that so many people are getting behind such racist and shortsighted comments.
- thiagowfx 11y ago
  Every community has a few trolls and some immature members, but this doesn't characterize the community as a whole [necessarily]. I think your comment is a big generalization.
  - nness 11y ago
    120,000 people have signed that petition. I'd wager the same number posted comments, up-voted or posted similar threads about the topic on Reddit, Twitter or HN over the last few days. That's not to ignore those actually trying to have a proper discussion about the matter. If you look at the press that this has generated I would say that, even if they are a minority of Reddit's active users, they have been successful in strengthening an immature image for Reddit as a whole.
    - bluecalm 11y ago
      Many of those who signed aren't trolls. It's clear that current Reddit management is doing 180 turn on the policy/principles the site was built on and which attracted a lot of people in the first place. From "safe space" nonsense through being clueless about Reddit itself to failing at communicating with very people who build the value of your site. She is a terrible person for the position. In every unhappy crowd you will have uncivilized part making fun of her appearence or what not but it's more than that minority who feel deceived by recent Reddit policy changes. It's very unfair from you suggesting that anyone calling for her resignation is a troll.
    - Bromlife 11y ago
      I signed the petition. I don't care about FatPeopleHate being banned. I don't care about censorship & I don't care about trolling. Although I did troll a few FPH users after the fattening event. Sacking your most prominent staff member that is essentially the only one that happily & directly helps moderators.. with nary an explanation? Even if this push is actually coming from senior management beneath her, she's obviously oblivious to how her company is being run. I doubt that, Ellen Pao is basically pushing to make Reddit in her own image, you can bet she believes she's going to be more than "interim" CEO. Reddit deserves a better CEO. Or it deserves to fade into obscurity.
calcol 11y ago
The thing that is kind of strange, but not surprising, to me is that the thing that they're using as justification for this is the firing of one of the admins, but these people don't know why that admin was fired, and also don't know who did the firing. Is Reddit the company primarily controlled by Ellen Pao or does she have managers that help her and therefore responsible for this kind of stuff? I get the feeling that a lot of these people don't like is that Reddit is not what it used to be in that it's a "free for all" because it's now more business oriented, meaning that Reddit has to cater to its shareholders just as much as its community. They don't see past the fact that someone that supported them was fired and see the reality that these things happen, and it sucks, but it's a reality of a business. As an aside, if the moderators had such a problem with what was going on, they should have been much more vocal about it and raised flags before instead of acting like children and throwing tantrums by making subreddits private (I call it a tantrum because they made it private for like 12-24 hours, most of that time during the US night where there's not as much traffic). I'm not saying Ellen Pao is the best person for this job, and while I don't have super high opinions of her, I don't believe all the stuff Reddit says about her either, and she's being vilified for something that could have been completely out of her control. If you want to give a justification for "firing her", at least use the one that she's not very connected with day-to-day of the non-business side of the site, the community and the volunteer moderators, and that she doesn't use the product she's the CEO of. But given they've raised a lot of money recently I'd guess she doesn't seem to be doing poorly to the shareholders/investors, or at least isn't doing a piss poor job.
- studentrob 11y ago
  > If you want to give a justification for "firing her", at least use the one that she's not very connected with day-to-day of the non-business side of the site, the community and the volunteer moderators, and that she doesn't use the product she's the CEO of. To be fair the reasons you stated have been discussed endlessly on reddit. I agree that petition could have been written better though. I didn't even think to read the description until you mentioned it. I doubt many others have either, they just read the headline (as usual...)
  - 11y ago
rdlecler1 11y ago
If she didn't file the lawsuit against Kleiner, I wonder if people would be calling for her to step down.

95 points by DanBlake 11y ago

You could have said over 120k but decided to round down. Hm.

baby 11y ago

And no one will be talking about that next week. Can we please avoid upvoting internet non-news/drama on HN? EDIT: seeing the downvotes, if anyone followed what happened when they banned the racist subreddits and the backlash of the vocal minority: nobody was talking about it the next day. EDIT2: plus the fact that this is totally bullying on the CEO. Why should we echo this?

moonshinefe 11y ago
One of the largest sites on the internet had a large % of its content set private by moderators in protest of the firing of an employee. Now thousands of people are calling for the CEO to step down. I'd hardly call that "non-news"... but to each their own I guess.
- baby 11y ago
  > One of the largest sites on the internet had a large % of its content set private by moderators in protest of the firing of an employee. Yes and there was already a post on that edit: btw it's not exactly in the protest of a firing of an employee, and it's not either because of Ellen Pao. It was to show the admins the poor communication between them and them mods + bad moderation tools available to the mods. But a lot of trolls took this as an opportunity to put reddit on fire/blame Ellen Pao. If you look at the topics of the subreddits re-opening (and they re-opened because admins answered in the positive in r/modtalk), you will see that everyone is insulting the mods for re-opening the subs and not going dark longer. There is no true argumentation behind this, it was just "fuck you for caving we need victoria back" > Now thousands of people are calling for the CEO to step down No, that's always been the case that there is some sort of a "meme" against Ellen Pao for different questionable reasons (although I'd have to admit I don't like the fact that she doesn't seem to use reddit). This "meme" is more than a "meme" actually, it has become true harassment filled with racists/sexists jokes, photoshops, doxxing on the CEO. This is bullying, I don't see why HN would endorse that (this sort of story should be ignored)
  - mintplant 11y ago
    It's rather frustrating--the subreddit shutdowns had little to do with the "Pao must resign" crowd, but they're being co-opted by the same as validation of their crusade against her.
ProAm 11y ago
Reddit is part of the cause that no information matters in 2-3+ days. The best, most relevant, important story may hit the front page but after 48 hours good luck in finding it again. Social sites has made topical news have a really short half-life.
- kbar13 11y ago
  I think the fact that information is readily available contributes to the accelerated "half-life" of "news" more so than design. Every day there's some new drama or something to get behind.
- baby 11y ago
  That's very true. So when a drama happens in reddit, since discussions happen IN reddit, it moves on pretty fast.

benten10 11y ago

Can we leave this drama to angsty white male American teenagers please, sigghh.

TheAldGarde 11y ago
what are you, an angsty white male American 20 y.o.?
eclipxe 11y ago
What does race have to do with this
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
rjf1990 11y ago
I disagree with this comment but understand the spirit behind it. This incident just shows the immaturity of the reddit community. People get let go all the time. At the risk of sounding like a monster, it's just business. Nobody knows the reasoning behind it, yet a bunch of people happen to have 'power' in this instance revolt, despite how childish it is.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

ScootyPuff2000 11y ago

"change.org" is nothing but an internet bullying site.

rokhayakebe 11y ago

I seriously hope Reddit board does not fire their CEO. Group bullying should not work in this case. This is not a matter of life and death. If some users are upset with the Reddit way, nothing is to stop them from creating an alternative. If they fear most people won't follow, then perhaps their opinion is that of a minority. When someone owns a platform, they can run it as they please. No one is being woken up at gun point and forced to use Reddit. If the users win in this case (where we do not have the details to know whether they have treated others unfairly), it will simply be like paying a ransom and not expecting the receiver to come back for more.

ekianjo 11y ago
> No one is being woken up at gun point and forced to use Reddit. you can say that kind of things for ALL services out there. And even about the country you live in ("dont like your president? Just move somewhere else!"). There is a fine line between phrasing a demand and bullying. It's not because protests are led by minorities that they should be ignored altogether.
- rokhayakebe 11y ago
  Are there examples in which any of Reddit changes have affected someone's well being? If not then Reddit can do as they please with their property. The market will decide whether they are right or wrong.
  - ekianjo 11y ago
    > The market will decide whether they are right or wrong. There is no need to antagonize Reddit. It's a fine service that has many uses. Asking for improvements/changes is part of the normal process of having a discussion - if every single time we had a problem with something we had to create a new solution that would be a serious waste of time for everyone involved. Don't re-invent the wheel, just try to fix it first.
- nness 11y ago
  Side-point; there are many people who aren't actually allowed to leave their country. Its a very Eurocentric viewpoint to just assume everyone has complete autonomy and the resources necessary to relocate. "Don't like your President" isn't a valid reason for political asylum either.

comrade1 11y ago

What a tempest in a tea cup. Reddit users have a far too high opinion of themselves. We're all getting tired of their angsty drama leaching over into real life.

eclipxe 11y ago
Who is we? Speak for yourself.
- nness 11y ago
  I'm tired of it. I'm glad most of these stories are being flagged for removal on HN.
  - bluecalm 11y ago
    It's not much of an effort to not click those stories. I see your attitude as damaging. "Let's remove content which makes me uncomfortable discussing even though it's very popular and a lot pf people want to discuss it" thinking. I mean, reading one sentence (topic description) and moving your eyes one row down isn't much of an effort even if you were to do that for 2 weeks several times a day. Just do it and leave the topics for people how want to read about it and discuss it.
baby 11y ago
It's a vocal minority. Most of people browsing reddits don't have an account OR couldn't care less about these stories. And I'm not even talking about the good part of reddit who unsubscribe from default subs to get in touch with more interesting smaller subs.
- brymaster 11y ago
  > vocal minority That's interesting because it mirrors Ellen Pao's attitude: > But Ms. Pao says that the most virulent detractors on the site are a vocal minority, and that the vast majority of Reddit users are uninterested in what unfolded over the past 48 hours. - (source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/04/technology/reddit-moderators-shut-down-parts-of-site-over-executives-dismissal.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/04/technology/reddit-moderato...) ... yet here we are with over 100K signatures and quickly rising. When your largest subreddits and influential content creators take a big chunk of the site down, it's not a vocal minority with zero ramifications - it's you about to become the next Digg. This isn't an issue for Reddit to take lightly. If content creators pack up shop, Reddit becomes just another cat photo and yesterday's news dump like your facebook feed (read: low quality content). Users will end up where ever your cool content creators defect to.

paulhauggis 11y ago

Just another example of hypocritical, bullying, behavior.

thephyber 11y ago
Could you please explain why you think it's hypocritical? I'm guessing it's related to the anti-bullying campaigns of the Reddit site, but I thought those were spearheaded by the company and not the community.
- paulhauggis 11y ago
  Many are against bullying in the community, yet have no problem bullying the CEO and trying to get her fired simply because they don't agree with her decisions. We don't even have all of the information, yet this doesn't seem to matter. Should gays be bullied simply because we don't agree with their lifestyle? I shouldn't be surprised as this seems to be the way our society now works: anyone that doesn't agree with you, bully them into submission and ruin their lives, business, or reputation (sometimes all 3)..punishing them for their disagreement. The new catholic church from the middle ages. I've seen the same thing on Facebook with the passing of gay marriage: Anyone saying they disagree with the ruling gets destroyed and called a bigot, yet those same people can say horrendous things about religious groups and people with no repercussions. It's this sort of backward thinking that makes me realize how much smarter I am than anyone else.
  - studentrob 11y ago
    What's wrong with being hypocritical? I'm pretty sure we all are. Nobody likes bullies, and we all stand up against them, but we also probably inadvertently offend someone every day. CEOs, celebrities, etc put themselves in a highly visible position with some responsibility attached. I think they can understand they won't win everyone's support all the time, otherwise they would not be there. The thing to do here is move forward, focus on getting all the facts out, and answer any community questions so they are not left in the dark.

ghiculescu 11y ago

This seems like a bit of a disaster: https://np.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/3bw39q/why_has_riama_been_set_to_private/csq204d https://np.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/3bw39q/why_has... and https://np.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3c0hcz/welcome_back/ https://np.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3c0hcz/welcome_back/ (linked from the petition)

frontsideair 11y ago

I know this is about the firing of a reddit mod, but I can't shake of the feeling that the people behind this petition care more about the banning of hateful subs. This is a retribution for them. I really feel disappointed when people think free speech is more important than anything. Yes, it is important, but we defend it for a reason. Because it protects the weak. But when I see people defending it so they can harass or otherwise spew hate speech about minorities, I wonder where did we do wrong. Maybe, just maybe, we treated it like a dogma and then it backfired? It should've been a means to an end, not the other way.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
Klinky 11y ago
The problem was that /r/fatpeoplehate was banned while other "vile" subreddits continued to exist. Censorship is weird. In the US we can't show breasts on TV, but someone can get their head blown off. On reddit, you can't hate on fat people, but you can watch someone's face get ripped off in a car accident. You can also still hate on black people or deny the holocaust. I think sites have the right to censor what they want, but reddit has to tread carefully when dealing with it. The free organic growth it enjoys can also turn into organic backlash. The massive energy exerted into managing and creating the content that fuels reddit can also go in the opposite direction, with reddit being the platform of it's own destruction. reddit has a history of problems, from technical stability issues in the past, to now more managerial/executive issues. reddit needed help and a guiding vision, but Ellen Pao has the reputation of being a professional griefer, and was probably the worst fit possible to fix reddit's problems. Removing Pao seems like a difficult proposition given the lawsuit at her previous employer. The firing of the only admin who was proactive with the community seems to indicate more tone deaf action on management's part. This is probably the biggest crisis reddit has ever faced, and it could be it's demise. The snowball seems to keep getting bigger.
- hueving 11y ago
  To be clear, it wasn't banned because of attacks on fat people, it was banned because it was attacking specific fat people.

nness 11y ago

Go through the comments left on the petition, and you'll see someone posting under Pao's name with the message "I'm a cunt." I don't think Reddit's management is the undoing of Reddit, its the immaturity of the community and the loudness of its most extreme elements. It's disheartening that so many people are getting behind such racist and shortsighted comments.

thiagowfx 11y ago
Every community has a few trolls and some immature members, but this doesn't characterize the community as a whole [necessarily]. I think your comment is a big generalization.
- nness 11y ago
  120,000 people have signed that petition. I'd wager the same number posted comments, up-voted or posted similar threads about the topic on Reddit, Twitter or HN over the last few days. That's not to ignore those actually trying to have a proper discussion about the matter. If you look at the press that this has generated I would say that, even if they are a minority of Reddit's active users, they have been successful in strengthening an immature image for Reddit as a whole.
  - bluecalm 11y ago
    Many of those who signed aren't trolls. It's clear that current Reddit management is doing 180 turn on the policy/principles the site was built on and which attracted a lot of people in the first place. From "safe space" nonsense through being clueless about Reddit itself to failing at communicating with very people who build the value of your site. She is a terrible person for the position. In every unhappy crowd you will have uncivilized part making fun of her appearence or what not but it's more than that minority who feel deceived by recent Reddit policy changes. It's very unfair from you suggesting that anyone calling for her resignation is a troll.
  - Bromlife 11y ago
    I signed the petition. I don't care about FatPeopleHate being banned. I don't care about censorship & I don't care about trolling. Although I did troll a few FPH users after the fattening event. Sacking your most prominent staff member that is essentially the only one that happily & directly helps moderators.. with nary an explanation? Even if this push is actually coming from senior management beneath her, she's obviously oblivious to how her company is being run. I doubt that, Ellen Pao is basically pushing to make Reddit in her own image, you can bet she believes she's going to be more than "interim" CEO. Reddit deserves a better CEO. Or it deserves to fade into obscurity.

calcol 11y ago

The thing that is kind of strange, but not surprising, to me is that the thing that they're using as justification for this is the firing of one of the admins, but these people don't know why that admin was fired, and also don't know who did the firing. Is Reddit the company primarily controlled by Ellen Pao or does she have managers that help her and therefore responsible for this kind of stuff? I get the feeling that a lot of these people don't like is that Reddit is not what it used to be in that it's a "free for all" because it's now more business oriented, meaning that Reddit has to cater to its shareholders just as much as its community. They don't see past the fact that someone that supported them was fired and see the reality that these things happen, and it sucks, but it's a reality of a business. As an aside, if the moderators had such a problem with what was going on, they should have been much more vocal about it and raised flags before instead of acting like children and throwing tantrums by making subreddits private (I call it a tantrum because they made it private for like 12-24 hours, most of that time during the US night where there's not as much traffic). I'm not saying Ellen Pao is the best person for this job, and while I don't have super high opinions of her, I don't believe all the stuff Reddit says about her either, and she's being vilified for something that could have been completely out of her control. If you want to give a justification for "firing her", at least use the one that she's not very connected with day-to-day of the non-business side of the site, the community and the volunteer moderators, and that she doesn't use the product she's the CEO of. But given they've raised a lot of money recently I'd guess she doesn't seem to be doing poorly to the shareholders/investors, or at least isn't doing a piss poor job.

studentrob 11y ago
> If you want to give a justification for "firing her", at least use the one that she's not very connected with day-to-day of the non-business side of the site, the community and the volunteer moderators, and that she doesn't use the product she's the CEO of. To be fair the reasons you stated have been discussed endlessly on reddit. I agree that petition could have been written better though. I didn't even think to read the description until you mentioned it. I doubt many others have either, they just read the headline (as usual...)
- 11y ago

rdlecler1 11y ago

If she didn't file the lawsuit against Kleiner, I wonder if people would be calling for her to step down.