
Reddit’s Ellen Pao and Alexis Ohanian Explain Site Shut Down - Varcht
http://time.com/3945718/reddit-moderator-shut-down/
======
veb
This website is awful. Took forever to load, and when it did I couldn't scroll
until some weird stuff had loaded.

This article just feels like a fluff piece or something. They're all "Sorry.
We'll learn from our mistakes... just look, the mods set the big subreddits
public again!". I have an inkling that a similar situation happened years back
between AMA and admins. (correct me if I'm wrong)

For people whose lives revolve around Reddit, I was completely lost for words
when I saw this:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/3bwgjf/riam...](https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/3bwgjf/riama_set_to_private_over_mod_firing/csqg24d?context=3)
(kn0thing is Alexis Ohanian) all I could wonder was whether he'd not realised
how serious things actually were, or whether he simply didn't care -- I felt
those comments were adding a hell of a lot more fuel to an already raging
inferno.

I also haven't really seen much in the way of... an explanation from them.
Just, "Sorry. We'll do better. We'll even... set up an email contact!!" that's
not exactly much.

~~~
bostonpete
What kind of an explanation are they expected to give for a termination? Any
details would typically be kept private. I've been reading this saga all day
and can't figure out what they did wrong, unless you factor in speculation
about the reasons for termination, which of course portrays Reddit in a bad
light, but even then they don't come off looking evil, just a bit tone deaf to
the mods (who collectively strike me as a pretty entitled bunch)

~~~
jabv
Not just typically kept private - by exposing the reasons for a termination,
they could be liable for pretty serious damages. I have no horse in this race,
but expecting an explanation for the dismissal is pretty short-sighted.

~~~
veb
You say that but I wonder if you remember/know of this incident?
[https://np.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2iea97/i_am_a_former_r...](https://np.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2iea97/i_am_a_former_reddit_employee_ama/cl1ygat?context=3)

So the good thing is, they've learned not to do that again, obviously.

However, by explanation, I definitely don't mean why Victoria was let go, but
how the hell they dropped the ball big time? She was obviously a very
important, yet vital figure on Reddit as per the community themselves so how
did the decision to terminate her not factor in the whole "We need to make
sure we've got a replacement immediately/let people know what we're doing to
minimise this" (or even better, not have such a big part of the community
riding on just one pair of shoulders! bottleneck much?)

The most telling is from /r/books I think, where the mods are freaking out
because they've got half a dozen mostly famous book authors showing up to do
an AMA soon, and they have absolutely _no_ idea how to get in touch with
them/their agents. This sucks a lot for those people who're helping that
subreddit, voluntarily etc. To be stranded like that, is a pretty crappy
situation to be in -- especially considering how Reddit _needs_ them, and
_needs_ the content produced by the authors/AMA/questions etc.

Apology template: "Hey Reddit, we're really sorry for dropping the ball with
this whole incident, really! Don't kill us! We've realised that we handled
this all wrong, and most of all we're stupid for not listening to the
moderators of the bigger subreddits! We'd like to say sorry again. Tomorrow,
we'll have our new blog post up, detailing our plan for Talent Director(s),
and Community Subreddit Director who'll be in charge of helping fulfil your
moderator dreams!"

Heh, but seriously -- I am surprised they're not 'catering' to their audience
(even if they're carrying pitch forks). I'm not sure I'd recommend my apology
letter though, but has to be better than "Sorry. Anyway, those big subreddits
are back. I promise we didn't blackmail anyone" (not saying they did...)

------
hoopd
Explaining the site shut down would be this:

"Over the years we've evolved a business model that depends heavily on
hundreds of volunteers who work in exchange for site privileges like banning
people they don't like. Some of these volunteers became upset yesterday. We're
still rich, they still have nowhere else to go."

~~~
dudul
I'm completely baffled to see that a bunch of imbeciles happily work for free
for this company and help them make money through ads.

~~~
_up
Normal Users that comment, work for free too! But they also get something in
return, otherwise they woudn't do it.

------
PhantomGremlin
Interesting assertion from the article:

    
    
       Ohanian, who has tight bond with the community, ...
    

I haven't paid much attention to Reddit until this fiasco, but from what I
read there yesterday and today, "tight bond" must mean "detested" or
"reviled". Or maybe that's just from a vocal 1%, the other 99% don't care or
don't think that way?

~~~
dhagz
Up until recently he's been fairly well liked. It's the past year that's made
a lot of users dislike him.

------
workerIbe
Seems like they copy and pasted half of their responses from yesterday's
comments of what they should have done here on HN.

------
Shivetya
likely very political as only two names of those let go have been found, one
of which was the mod of secretsanta who only recently moved to SF by reddit;
about six months ago. Considering the popularity of at least Victoria with
other moderators and participants it just doesn't bode well for the site.

