Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

np.reddit.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 320 posts

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#121

Post by smileysteve »

tedivm wrote: post #33
jyxent wrote: post #6

Is this legal? Where I live, I'm pretty sure this kind of public disclosure isn't allowed due to privacy laws.

Yes, it's legal (and I just looked this up to confirm). Many companies will avoid commenting on these things because if they are not 100% accurate they raise the risk of a slander/libel case against them. For instance, if it turns out that Yishan here misspoke about something he could land the company in a bit of trouble. Whether legal or not, it's certainly childish. The fact is anyone could have seen that this was…

> For instance, if it turns out that Yishan here misspoke about something he could land the company in a bit of trouble.

This is where the post goes horribly wrong, too much detail. If the former employee wants to start a lawsuit, any detail that can not be defined, was not measured, or is not written down is a liability. For example "not getting much work done"

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#122

Post by penprog »

slipperyp wrote: post #90
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.

He wasn't laid off - he was fired. This is the first point the CEO makes and it's an important distinction that the poster seemed to not own up to at all. Not knowing the difference between being fired and being laid off is bad - there's a pretty remote possibility that the poster's direct manager didn't own the message well and told the guy "we're letting you go" and he didn't understand he was being fired, but even…

You are taking the CEOs words as fact when the reality of the situation is, we don't know what the truth is right now. Judging from the fact that the CEO responded in such a childish manner I really have no reason to believe anyone in this situation. What if the CEO just posted what he thought was the reason why this employee was fired. What if there is no documentation backing up the CEOs statements.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#123

Post by penprog »

vegabook wrote: post #113
uncoder0 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed the response is too much. As a CEO getting involved in a dispute like this seems to be all downside with very little upside. If I had to draft a response in his position It'd go something like this: > Reddit is not laying anyone off, you were fired. > Your comments about our revenue had no effect on this decision. This type of criticism is welcome and even encouraged at our company. > I don't believe it is in…

Most importantly, none of these statements should be made in public. The company stands to gain much more with a dignified silence and a personal explanation to the hapless individual, than by wringing the dirty laundry out in public. That an individual employee is immature / causes a stink, happens every second of every day. That a company CEO does the same is unacceptably poor management, and poor PR.

I disagree, when statements like that are made in such a public area it will possibly negatively affect who decides to apply for a position at reddit. A dignified response on the reddit blog would have been the right move imo

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#124

Post by wvenable »

vegabook wrote: post #113
uncoder0 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed the response is too much. As a CEO getting involved in a dispute like this seems to be all downside with very little upside. If I had to draft a response in his position It'd go something like this: > Reddit is not laying anyone off, you were fired. > Your comments about our revenue had no effect on this decision. This type of criticism is welcome and even encouraged at our company. > I don't believe it is in…

Most importantly, none of these statements should be made in public. The company stands to gain much more with a dignified silence and a personal explanation to the hapless individual, than by wringing the dirty laundry out in public. That an individual employee is immature / causes a stink, happens every second of every day. That a company CEO does the same is unacceptably poor management, and poor PR.

I disagree. "Dignified silence" is effectively what doomed Brendon Eich as Mozilla's CEO. If you say nothing, you let other people define the narrative. I agree with uncoder0, a single simple dignified response would have easily deflated this whole thing.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#125

Post by dreamweapon »

slipperyp wrote: post #90
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.

He wasn't laid off - he was fired. This is the first point the CEO makes and it's an important distinction that the poster seemed to not own up to at all. Not knowing the difference between being fired and being laid off is bad - there's a pretty remote possibility that the poster's direct manager didn't own the message well and told the guy "we're letting you go" and he didn't understand he was being fired, but even…

He wasn't laid off - he was fired.

Laid off? Fired? I'm not sure we even know which it was.

Both the CEO or the employee can be misrepresenting things, or (more likely) be simply misinformed about the technical nature of the separation. In any case, I see no special reason to take the CEO's word over that of the employee in this situation.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#126

Post by tekromancr »

blazespin wrote: post #81
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…

He said he had a theory. You need to look up the word "Theory" in a dictionary. He did not say he had proof.

Theory, n. a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that is acquired through the scientific method and repeatedly tested and confirmed through observation and experimentation.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#127

Post by orky56 »

sama wrote: post #26
thebiglebrewski wrote: post #2

Aw man. This is totally gonna get taken down by YC management/altman...

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.

Assuming sufficient admin intervention, I personally believe controversial stories should have a place on HN. Sure, some of them will result in flame wars in the comments but for the most part it allows us to discover content that is worth discussing in the first place.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#128

Post by differentView »

krigi wrote: post #120
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…

It may have not been done for vindictive reasons, but it was definitely done for the wrong reason. This shows a clear lack of leadership abilities on the part of Yishan. I know people love a Jobsian dick in charge of tech companies (I use that loosely with reddit; they're an entertainment company), but that era is over. Show some professionalism even if someone is unprofessional toward you and your company.

What should Yishan have said?

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#129

Post by exelius »

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.

No, the thread in question was pretty mild, but the guy basically ran an AMA to get revenge at reddit for firing him. It seemed like he didn't understand why he was fired, or he's trying to provoke them into giving him ammunition for a lawsuit.

Moral of the story is that if you just got fired from reddit, you probably shouldn't go on reddit to do an AMA about it.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#130

Post by moogleii »

kazinator wrote: post #88
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…

Fallacy of the excluded middle: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fallacy_of_the_exc... The choice is not between saying nothing, and completely devastating that person. Surely there is a third (or even fourth, fifth) alternative. Also, saying nothing doesn't lead to the belief it is a shitty workplace. Just because someone posting in a forum that he's been fired from Company X for a reason he doesn't underst…

Not everyone does, but many do. Also, if he had left it at, "I don't understand why" then he would have successfully maintained the fog of possibilities and both parties could continue playing the vague game. Instead he posited a theory about management disliking his charity ideas. Though the CEO's response was a bit much.
Post reply on HN