Best of Reddit - Introduction:
There are so many great threads on reddit, every single day, but soon they disappear into the void - for the very nature of reddit itself. This is a place to save what I find most “useful” in a given week.
I’d bet that the quality of this panel is gonna vary a lot on a week by week basis, but I hope that overall it’s gonna be worthwile — you’ll be the judge of that.
Last week Reddit has been a mess, many words have been spent on the topic and pretty much everyone has their own opinion about it.
I’ll just explain what happened without saying who’s right and who’s wrong.
It all started on Iama where the mod decided to set the subreddit as private after Victoria was fired.
But who is Victoria you may ask… Victoria was the Reddit Admin that helped the mods @ iAma and elsewhere with the organization of every high profile AmA and made sure that the interviewee answered relevant questions and not only the easy ones. She only provided a way to provide confirmation to the community about the person who was doing the Ama and helped the non tech savy interviewee with the set up of everything.
iAmA had a few high profile AmAs set for the few days after Victoria was fired and no one at Reddit told them if there would be a replacement or any way to contact the interviewee so, since they couldn’t conduct the AmA properly they just decided to set the subreddit as private.
Hundreds of other subreddits respond going private as well. A live channel is set up to follow the events.
The firing of Victoria now is only the catalyst of the protest. The real reason, according to the mods, is the lack of communications from the Admins, the lack of proper tools to facilitate their work, all the promises made, but not fulfilled and finally the revamped search feature that hides the most useful features for mods at the bottom.
But it gets even worse:
The news break that the Admin in charge of organizing r/secretsanta had been fired as well a few weeks before.
Following the news even more subreddits go private in protest.
A mod of lots of subreddits writes in r/self complaing and gets told that he’s part of the problem as well.
After a long time the Admins post an answer @ r/defaultmods saying that they are aware of the miscontent of the community and that they would address the issues raised by the mods and tell the mods to reopen.
The reaction is mixed. A lot of subreddits reopen, including iAMA, saying that there will be a few changes, the major one is their refusal to interact with the admins again. Users now are the ones pissed though and ask the mods to at least close again for a total of 24 hours (minimum).
The users on r/pics that reopened start posting and upvoting images of Ellen Pao (the CEO) as Hitler or with Nazi banners, or just upvoting completely black images. The same pretty much happens in r/gaming as mods try to delete everything.
An eve mod closes the subreddit without permission from the other mods and rage ensues
A subreddit decides to even shut down permanently.
And much much worse:
The admin in charge of r/secretsanta who was fired does an AMA in which he explains the reason why he was fired:
Less than a month later, in February of 2015, I received a call from Ellen stating that I was to be terminated in less than a week. When I asked what the specific reason was, she had roughly stated that “because of our discussion, you are too sick to properly fulfill your duties as Community Manager.” (At no point during our meeting was this stated - I had raised concerns about the stress levels of Community Management, but had ultimately decided that it was something I could easily manage.)
I pleaded with Ellen to let me stay, as I had been sick for over a full year now and the only thing that was on my mind was coming back to work - work I loved so very, very much. She finally stated that if I were to get permission from my doctor stating that it was okay for me to move to SF and begin work, that I would be able to come back. I stated this wouldn’t be a problem, and proceeded to contact my doctor to arrange this. Unfortunately, a day later, she had called and once again stated that I was fired, stating that work would be too demanding for my health (something that I still, personally, should have been decided by me and my doctor - not someone who I had effectively never worked with while she was CEO).[…]
I honestly still don’t know why I was let go from reddit, but it was a devastating blow, especially because I was finally able to return to work after so much time. Though, the decision to keep my position open was ultimately Yishan’s and /u/hueypriest’s, not Ellen’s, so once they left, I guess the decision was her’s.
In my opinion, a great deal at reddit has changed since Ellen Pao has taken the helm. It used to be a company run by a tight-knit group of people honestly working towards the happiness and welfare of the community and its employees. The inner workings, while sometimes a bit convoluted and messy, were always with the best of the community in mind. I can say that with 100% honesty.
To be fair, I had only witnessed the current inner workings of reddit for a few months while Ellen took the helm, so I thing definitely might have changed since I left, though today’s situation doesn’t exactly shine good light on the current structure of reddit and its employees.
Victoria (aka /u/chooter) was, without question, one of the nicest, most passionate, most efficient workers at reddit, and I honestly can’t fathom why she would have been terminated. It was such an honor to work with her, and as many mods have already stated, she truly took her work to heart and tried to provide a service to the community. She was one of the most well-known admins and was just incredible at her job. Without her, there would be hundreds of incredible AMAs that would have never happened.
My guess as to why she was fired is as good as anyone else’s, but if I had to muster up some explanation, it would be that reddit is likely trying to turn AMAs into something they currently aren’t. (Perhaps sponsored AMAs? I don’t know.) Otherwise there would have been no reason to let Victoria go. Literally everyone at the company loved her, including me, and it’s an enormous shame to see her go.
He was fired because he had Leukaemia. I really have no words for this kind of behaviour. Such a shame.
Two days ago backnblack92 posted a comment about CEO Ellen Pao: [Just click and read the full comment]
Her claims were so hilariously without merit it’s amazing it went as far as it did. Not to mention that she was paid more than her male peers, warned multiple times about her behavior, didn’t change her behavior, and was offered a very good severance package that she refused.
There is a reason reddit was the only place willing to hire her, and it wasn’t because other firms were “scared” of backlash from Kliner Perkins.
Anyways, regarding Paos behavior, this is what her performance reviews said and what she said to the married guy she was screwing.[…]
Then there is this article where she tried to justify her asshole behavior by saying everyone was an unprofessional asshole.
She literally made a “resentment chart” about everyone she hated at work.She’s an extremely toxic person. she abused the system in order to try and get $$$ to cover the legal costs for her scumbag husband (who stole $144 million from the pensions of Louisiana firefIghters and police).
She abused the system set up to protect those from gender discrimination in order to further her own personal goals. She was also reportedly toxic to other females in the office. (something feminists, and SJWs should hate)
She tried to make false discrimination accusations after having a consensual affair with a married man, throwing the man under the bus. She claims to have been unfairly treated while making more money than her male peers. (something Meninists would hate)
She was extremely unprofessional and tried to get retribution against a former employer that gave her chances time and time again (something people in the executive business world would hate)
She got rid of employee negotiations because of a bullshit lie that “women can’t negotiate as well as men” (something feminists and people in the working business world should hate)
She abused the legal system for her own personal gain (something anyone that hates frivolous lawsuits bogging down the court system should hate)
She took a site that was once centered around free speech and turned it into a censored shithole, with the “safe space” excuse only existing to help push it through (something many people that care about free and open debate should hate)
I could keep going on and on and on.
Yesterday, after a week Victoria broke the silence:
I just want to take a moment to say thank you to all of you who have reached out.
Thank you for everything you’ve given me. From your messages to your artwork, I am deeply moved and grateful beyond words, and your encouragement has meant more than you’ll ever know.
I’ve been incredibly humbled and honored to serve this community, and I truly believe all voices matter.
Your voices matter.
You proved that this weekend.
And really, this weekend wasn’t about me. It was about you. And if I know one thing about this community, it’s that you’ll continue making your voices heard. And that’s an inspiration.
I know many of you may be curious about what’s next for me, and I’m still figuring that out. However, I can assure you, wherever the road leads, I will live up to the faith you’ve had in me.
You can take the woman out of reddit, but you can’t take the reddit out of the woman. I believe in you. And that’s a promise.
And that’s it, for now.