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Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

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Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#61

Post by fragmede »

lclarkmichalek wrote: post #14
reduce wrote: post #8

Forcing employees to sign a non-disparagement agreement? -- Screw that. (Edit: force, compel, persuade, strongly hint: semantics.) Saying that a former employee violating a non-disparagement agreement means that it's now a good idea for the company to take use an eye-for-an-eye policy in return? -- What. No (American) non-executive employees should ever be forced to sign anything. I never have for any job. Employers…

Did they force him to sign it? How could they force him; what are they going to do if he refuses? Fire him? Anyway, yishan gives a decent enough justification IMO

not give him the severance package to the tune of 2-month's pay + benefits.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#62

Post by lectrick »

dreamweapon wrote: post #10

Sounds like a toxic environment. Whatever the employee may have done to deserve separation, it is profoundly weird and troubling (and also, implicitly threatening to all employees, whatever their rank or standing) to see a CEO discuss those reasons in public.

Performance is not necessarily a death sentence.

I've had jobs where I've performed poorly and jobs where I've performed excellently. I've also had years I was "on" and years I was a little "off."

Businesses are not charities. They need to get things done. If you can't do the things, then they don't have to continue to pay you. Like it or not, that's how it works.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#63

Post by penprog »

tdicola wrote: post #50

Good lord, I hope the $50M investors in reddit are beating down the doors to get a PR person at the company so the CEO stops making crazy moves like this. There's no way a good developer would want to go work for Reddit when the CEO slaps people around in public (whether they deserve it or not). Sometimes you need to be the bigger man and move on instead of quarreling in public.

Agreed, this post only makes reddit look like a very unprofessional workplace.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#64

Post by opendais »

TheOsiris wrote: post #57
arram wrote: post #24

Umm. It was pretty clearly not done for vindictive reasons. The guy lied about why he was let go and put Reddit in the awkward position of either saying nothing and letting people believe they're a shitty workplace that fires people for disagreeing with management, or telling the truth about why the guy was fired (not laid off.) Frankly, he brought this on himself by forcing Reddit into choosing between two sucky opt…

this is not how I read it at all. This seems very vindictive to me. The employee's comment was not as bad as the response from the CEO. He was just guessing as to why he was laid off. For the CEO to jump in and respond himself shows a very thin skin. Also, the tone of the response is a little too angry. This could've have been handled by the employee's direct manager, not the CEO.

Replying to public statements about yourself or your company isn't "vindictive".

Things like this have a real business impact. I've cancelled interviewing at companies based on conversations with former employees that the company didn't have a satisfactory answer for.

If I saw this in a public forum and Reddit failed to point out that the former employee was fired (and was aware he was fired) in a public setting (which would make them liable for being sued, if Reddit lied) holds alot more weight than "Oh, ya, that guy. He was full of shit" told to me privately would.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#65

Post by nknighthb »

opendais wrote: post #38
dreamweapon wrote: post #10

Sounds like a toxic environment. Whatever the employee may have done to deserve separation, it is profoundly weird and troubling (and also, implicitly threatening to all employees, whatever their rank or standing) to see a CEO discuss those reasons in public.

No. If you make accusations in a public forum (as that employee did) the company is going to respond. That is a given and perfectly normal. The guy basically said he was "laid off" followed by "because I pissed off management with my feedback". Claiming it was a retaliatory firing forces a response.

Management being averse to criticism is not unusual, nor is it unusual for someone to believe that is why they were fired, nor is it unusual for someone to say that is why they were fired even if they know otherwise.

Until the CEO responded, this was just an ex-employee with limited credibility saying pretty mild and unremarkable things few people would ever see. Now it's a CEO obviously feeling threatened and bringing wide attention to it.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#66

Post by shostack »

nknighthb wrote: post #53
exelius wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. They never forced anyone to sign it; but in general it's a stupid idea to talk poorly about a former employer in public. This guy was doing a fucking AMA on reddit about his time being employed at reddit. He knew he had been fired; and he had to know the truth was going to come out. 2. That's not what he said. The former employee speculated that he was laid off in retaliation for something or other; and the compan…

The "speculation" was pretty mild. Most of it was vague, the most specific bits were either implausible (fired for being insufficiently charitable) or have been said by almost every employee of every company in history (management doesn't like criticism). I see no reason a rational executive would feel compelled to raise the profile of the issue by responding at all, much less in this dramatic fashion.

Not arguing one way or another, but I personally would categorize the implied allegation (Reddit is being unwise in how it manages its finances, on the heels of a large investment round being announced) as a bit more than "mild."

Was this the best way to respond? Probably not. Did it warrant some kind of response? Probably.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#67

Post by minimaxir »

shostack wrote: post #59
sama wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

obviously not going to take it down, but it has 6 flags in 36 minutes (a very high number), and with a few more it will fall off the front page.

This is an interesting phenomenon. Given that the story is arguably fairly relevant to the recent investment by Sam, what safeguards are in place to ensure that content like this can't be taken out of the public light by a "reporting brigade?"

> what safeguards are in place to ensure that content like this can't be taken out of the public light by a "reporting brigade?"

There are no safeguards against reporting, which is why certain types of threads (gender, diversity) rarely hit the front page, unfortunately.

Many users associate Reddit content with low-quality content, so flagging would not be surprising. Almost every HN submission I've seen linking to reddit.com has been flagged down.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#68

Post by opendais »

penprog wrote: post #60
opendais wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. If you make accusations in a public forum (as that employee did) the company is going to respond. That is a given and perfectly normal. The guy basically said he was "laid off" followed by "because I pissed off management with my feedback". Claiming it was a retaliatory firing forces a response.

The company should have had a long discussion with legal and posted a public statement. The CEO shouldn't have gone on his website and posted a comment as a response that sounds like a 5 year old having a temper tantrum.

I never said I was happy with the quality of yishan's response. I just disagree with:

"Whatever the employee may have done to deserve separation, it is profoundly weird and troubling (and also, implicitly threatening to all employees, whatever their rank or standing) to see a CEO discuss those reasons in public."

Going through legal and posting a public statement is still discussing those reasons in public under the psuedonym of the CEO with the words benig ghostwritten by legal.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#69

Post by slantedview »

opendais wrote: post #64
TheOsiris wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is not how I read it at all. This seems very vindictive to me. The employee's comment was not as bad as the response from the CEO. He was just guessing as to why he was laid off. For the CEO to jump in and respond himself shows a very thin skin. Also, the tone of the response is a little too angry. This could've have been handled by the employee's direct manager, not the CEO.

Replying to public statements about yourself or your company isn't "vindictive". Things like this have a real business impact. I've cancelled interviewing at companies based on conversations with former employees that the company didn't have a satisfactory answer for. If I saw this in a public forum and Reddit failed to point out that the former employee was fired (and was aware he was fired) in a public setting (whi…

"public, false statements"

What false statement?

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#70

Post by gkmoyn »

e40 wrote: post #35
dreamweapon wrote: post #10

Sounds like a toxic environment. Whatever the employee may have done to deserve separation, it is profoundly weird and troubling (and also, implicitly threatening to all employees, whatever their rank or standing) to see a CEO discuss those reasons in public.

Seems the employee forced the issue, yes?

He could have also been professional and only stated that the employees statements are generally false, and left it at that.
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