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Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

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Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#141

Post by bradlys »

esperent wrote: post #130
rayiner wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably for the same reason you wouldn’t get a civil rights activist to replace the captain in a Navy boat. We need people fighting for civil rights, but we also need to create room for people from diverse backgrounds to do all of the rest of the work that needs doing.

They're not bringing in a new CEO. All people are asking for is _one_ outsider voice on the board.

> All people are asking for is _one_ outsider voice on the board.

I'm curious what people think the end result of such a thing would be. Does having an outside voice actually contribute to better outcomes for the company? Is there a reason people couldn't just advocate for the current board to listen to other people in their time rather than having a dedicated "outside voice" position? I've seen outsiders come into companies before and fail miserably to accomplish anything because the culture is to not listen to an outsider.

It seems like virtue signalling position to take (advocating for one outsider voice rather than systemic change). Who cares if you get a person who is an outsider on a board if it doesn't fundamentally change things. If you want fundamental change, you'll need to kick all those people out and/or shutdown the company. One person would be ignored.

You know this is true because we all do this at work already. We've all encountered someone who is that "outside voice" in one way or another - they promptly get ignored in a discussion. "Here's Jim with his crazy ideas - again. :eyeroll:"

Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#142

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

esperent wrote: post #129
missosoup wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly is 'social good', in your mind?

It's not that complicated. Start by working to deal with the platform being used to spread racism and hate speach and go from there.

Board members aren't really in a position to work on specific problems - their role is to set high-level priorities, and Reddit's already indicated fighting hate speech is a priority. If you want someone who's empowered to make specific concrete changes, that's not a board member.

Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#143

Post by downerending »

nisuni wrote: post #13

I am sorry for him. I know as a fact that he’s brilliant and fully deserves the position, but given the circumstances (Ohanian resigning and calling for someone black to replace him) he will always have to live with people having the reasonable doubt that he didn’t arrive there for merit alone.

Meh. If someone wants to pay me for the color of my skin, I'll cry all the way to the bank. Not like the Reddit board does anything useful. I'm happy for him.

Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#144

Post by gxon »

dntbnmpls wrote: post #104
jstgord wrote: post #87

Dear Reddit, for the love of Mike .. PLEASE treat reddit as a web-first platform. You are killing the golden goose by trying to force people toward the app - by gradually removing features and usability from the mobile web site and constantly reminding people they "should" use the app. I don't want reddit as an 'app', I want reddit to be readable/scrollable on mobile and web without any form of coercion.

> PLEASE treat reddit as a web-first platform. Agreed. But I think they've made up their minds already. In the meantime, you can use "old.reddit.com" until they decide to take that away.

Killing old.reddit.com would probably be their final Digg moment for me. Maybe they'll manage to keep the bulk of their users and keep some husk of it's former self going for a long time, but I'm gone. I suspect many others will join. The quality of content has been plummeting for years anyway.

Too bad there's no clear successor this time.

Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#145

Post by rmason »

_jal wrote: post #135
hazz99 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think they're killing it. Anecdotally, all my friends prefer the app and the redesign to the old web client. I suspect this anecdata is supported by Reddit's metrics, otherwise they wouldn't be pushing so hard for it (barring some other long term goal) Not that I like the changes. I much prefer the old version.

I barely use Reddit anymore. The UI on mobile is intentional garbage and I do not want the bloody app. But the desktop UI is getting worse; navigation is ridiculous and the pages are so junked up that it is actively repellant. It is too bad. I used to actually enjoy browsing and (gasp) commenting sometimes. Now I tend to hit a single page via search and leave. Can't remember the last time I actually logged in.

Try https://old.reddit.com for a vastly superior experience.

Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#146

Post by shbooms »

paulcole wrote: post #105
jstgord wrote: post #87

Dear Reddit, for the love of Mike .. PLEASE treat reddit as a web-first platform. You are killing the golden goose by trying to force people toward the app - by gradually removing features and usability from the mobile web site and constantly reminding people they "should" use the app. I don't want reddit as an 'app', I want reddit to be readable/scrollable on mobile and web without any form of coercion.

If you’re using Reddit on iOS or iPadOS and you’re not using Apollo, you’re doing yourself a disservice. https://apolloapp.io/ As an added bonus if you subscribe to the subreddit, /r/ApolloApp it’s like /r/ChoosingBeggarsLite with the complaints and feature requests for a free app.

> complaints and feature requests for a free app.

eh, except for those who paid the 2.99 for the Pro upgrade.

Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#147

Post by krelian »

jstgord wrote: post #87

Dear Reddit, for the love of Mike .. PLEASE treat reddit as a web-first platform. You are killing the golden goose by trying to force people toward the app - by gradually removing features and usability from the mobile web site and constantly reminding people they "should" use the app. I don't want reddit as an 'app', I want reddit to be readable/scrollable on mobile and web without any form of coercion.

>You are killing the golden goose by trying to force people toward the app

I think this is the the type of requests that shows the disconnect between the HN crowd and real users. The majority of users will use the app. It's entirely in reddit's benefit to push the app, that's where they have complete control and can add more tracking and ads without the hindrance of ad/tracking blockers.

old.reddit.com is all I use but some new features (like polls) are already a second class citizen and I don't see it surviving long down the line.

Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#148

Post by pvg »

rayiner wrote: post #83
henryfjordan wrote: post #53

Why stick to the insular Silicon Valley club and not get someone who's devoted their life to civil rights? There are a ton of community activists who could actually bring a fresh perspective. EDIT: I do not mean to question his particular qualifications or his commitment to change, only to comment on the fact that it could have been someone from a different walk of life. Tech leadership in Silicon Valley does not app…

Presumably for the same reason you wouldn’t get a civil rights activist to replace the captain in a Navy boat. We need people fighting for civil rights, but we also need to create room for people from diverse backgrounds to do all of the rest of the work that needs doing.

This is a really poor analogy. The position of captain of on a warship is almost entirely unlike that of a corporate board member and corporate board members often represent external interests.

Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#149

Post by screye »

henryfjordan wrote: post #75
whatshisface wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably the duties of a Silicon Valley board member would center on running a Silicon Valley company, which a Silicon Valley CEO would be uniquely qualified to do.

This is exactly my point. They brought someone in who presumably is going to see Monthly Active Users as the metric to live or die by when what the world needs from Reddit/Twitter/FB is a more social-good focus. It might be worth it to shed a few users and lose a few ad dollars to make positive change on their platforms but with a Silicon Valley CEO on the board that is unlikely to happen.

> lose a few ad dollars to make positive change

Don't think there is a single company during the entire reign of capitalism that this has happened.

Additionally, Reddit is owned by Advance Publications which is pretty much entirely the Newhouse billionaire family. Don't think we've every seen such as a thing as a compassionate old school billionaire. Their other major holding Condenast, is presently embroiled in accusations of racism/discrimination despite portraying themselves as 'allies'.

By hiring Michael Seibel they do exactly what a profit driven company would do. Hire an incredibly competent person who espouses the same values (cut throat Silicon Valley ideology), has been molded by the same kind of people (Ivy league education), and serves as a great "UNO reverse' card for any accusation of the company unilaterally chasing money over ethics.

If an activist was hired, they would steer the company into a direction that matches their lip service and not actual intentions.

and I don't mean to say it is an evil thing to do or something. It is entirely in line with what almost every other company does. It is a perfectly capitalistic thing to do and will change nothing. As was the original intention.

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