Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit • Hacker News Board

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#131

Post by penprog » Mon, Oct 06, 2014, 7:48 PM UTC

opendais wrote: post #68

penprog wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Ok, I agree with you then that the company should have released a response. I think what the root comment was discussing was not the fact that they released a response but how they released it and the content of that response.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#132

Post by waterlesscloud » Mon, Oct 06, 2014, 7:50 PM UTC

Karunamon wrote: post #79

penprog wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Maybe it's not "professional", where that word has the common meaning of avoiding saying hard truths on the grounds that someone's feelings and/or political position might be hurt. This significantly elevates Reddit, IMO. Their CEO acts like a fucking human being instead of a politicized, sanitized, pretentious, weasel-wording sock puppet like so many other CEOs. You have no idea how much respect I have for this.

And you have no idea how little respect I have for it.

It's a move that hurts more than it helps.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#133

Post by smileysteve » Mon, Oct 06, 2014, 7:50 PM UTC

opendais wrote: post #29

[deleted] wrote: post #13

[deleted]

I suspect you don't use Reddit. Every time Reddit Admins delete a thread, it leads to a shitstorm. EDIT: If people publicly drag you through the mud, you have the right to respond.

> If people publicly drag you through the mud, you have the right to respond.

You always have the 'right' to comment about people, you always have legal liability in [anything resembling] an official statement.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#134

Post by dreamweapon » Mon, Oct 06, 2014, 7:52 PM UTC

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?

No. If anything it's up to the company leadership to be tactful, level-headed, and importantly, magnanimous in the face of petty slights and provocations -- like those of the severed employee, in this case.

And that's what's so tragically stupid about this whole thing -- what happened at the outset (the employee's remarks in a public forum) was a very little thing. And what did Yishan do? He want out of his way to make it a big thing. It's like he sees a fire in the wastebasket, and his natural instinct is to throw more oil on it.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#135

Post by vegabook » Mon, Oct 06, 2014, 7:52 PM UTC

TheOsiris wrote: post #110

trevorcreech wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you read the rest of the thread, he was doing a fair bit of trashing the company, management, etc

I don't know, even still it's not really sitting well with me how the CEO handled it

This is an ugly affair, like firings always are. Perhaps an "official" response was necessary to "manage the narrative" as someone above commented, but I can't help but agree that the mud is rubbing off on the CEO here, mainly because of the tone. Badly handled.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#136

Post by CamperBob2 » Mon, Oct 06, 2014, 7:54 PM UTC

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?

In the sense that he seems to have successfully trolled a CEO, yes, he "forced" the issue.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#137

Post by jackmaney » Mon, Oct 06, 2014, 7:55 PM UTC

Wow, that was incredibly unprofessional on Yishan Wong's part. I can only imagine how rotten and horrible Reddit's work culture must be. No one could possibly pay me enough to work there.

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#138

Post by opendais » Mon, Oct 06, 2014, 7:55 PM UTC

smileysteve wrote: post #133

opendais wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect you don't use Reddit. Every time Reddit Admins delete a thread, it leads to a shitstorm. EDIT: If people publicly drag you through the mud, you have the right to respond.

> If people publicly drag you through the mud, you have the right to respond. You always have the 'right' to comment about people, you always have legal liability in [anything resembling] an official statement.

If you make a demonstrably false statement, yes.

Simply because you shouldn't go around lying about people isn't really relevant tho...

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#139

Post by vegabook » Mon, Oct 06, 2014, 7:56 PM UTC

wvenable wrote: post #124

vegabook wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

yes I can see the need to manage the narrative. But this is bad management of the narrative, because a clearly emotional CEO is letting his anger show, instead of, as you clearly point out, being dignified and making a concise statement of the facts. The statement is not concise (in itself showing a tendency towards a rant), nor does it display the necessary humility towards an employee, who, no matter his faults, no longer has a job (unlike the CEO).

Re: Reddit CEO Calls Out Former Reddit Employee on Reddit

#140

Post by rosser » Mon, Oct 06, 2014, 7:58 PM UTC

Karunamon wrote: post #79

penprog wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Maybe it's not "professional", where that word has the common meaning of avoiding saying hard truths on the grounds that someone's feelings and/or political position might be hurt. This significantly elevates Reddit, IMO. Their CEO acts like a fucking human being instead of a politicized, sanitized, pretentious, weasel-wording sock puppet like so many other CEOs. You have no idea how much respect I have for this.

A CEO's job isn't to be "a fucking human being". It's to be the public face of the company, and represent its interests in all of his/her professional (and often personal) interactions.

To get stroppy like this abrogates that responsibility in such a way, and to such a degree, that it may well be actionable.