Why We Shut Down Reddit’s ‘Ask Me Anything’ Forum

Post by mxfh » Wed, Jul 08, 2015, 4:29 PM UTC

Zikes wrote: post #24

paulhauggis wrote: post #11

This article makes it seems like the moderators actually work for Reddit, which isn't the case. This is the problem, actually. Because it's not a paid position, the company can't use that as leverage in situations like this. The moderators essentially have nothing to lose. Even in the article, it states that it was shutdown because of the abrupt termination of Ms. Taylor. Anybody that makes these sort of emotional de…

Those moderators are the content creators that make Reddit run, and Reddit runs only because those people have "the power". The average Reddit user doesn't know or care where the content comes from or how it's moderated, and they similarly have no loyalty to Reddit. If those moderators get upset enough with the way the site is run and go elsewhere, the rest of Reddit's users will likely follow suit, just like they di…

Post by Retra » Wed, Jul 08, 2015, 4:31 PM UTC

deciplex wrote: post #45

paulhauggis wrote: post #11

This article makes it seems like the moderators actually work for Reddit, which isn't the case. This is the problem, actually. Because it's not a paid position, the company can't use that as leverage in situations like this. The moderators essentially have nothing to lose. Even in the article, it states that it was shutdown because of the abrupt termination of Ms. Taylor. Anybody that makes these sort of emotional de…

You think they should begin paying moderators? Any suggestions where that money should come from? Any thoughts on whether it will lead to conflicts of interest on the larger subreddits which could harm the site (such as, and especially, IAmA)?

Post by zxcvcxz » Wed, Jul 08, 2015, 4:32 PM UTC

slg wrote: post #81

embik wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The shutdowns of the other subreddits were petulant moves by power mods to treat their users as pawns and hockey pucks. They were punishing their users because they were in a power struggle with the admins. That's wrong. That's not how I observed the situation honestly. A lot of subreddit mods got flooded with "shut down"-requests and some decided against it, some followed the mass. It wasn't really a hostage-takin…

>The shutdowns of the other subreddits were petulant moves by power users to treat the majority of users as pawns and hockey pucks. They were punishing the majority of users because they were in a power struggle with the admins. That's wrong. Does that fix the problems with the above sentences? Regardless of who was ultimately behind it, the shutdowns were a "I'm taking my ball and going home" move at the expense of…

Post by ChargingWookie » Wed, Jul 08, 2015, 4:32 PM UTC

amyjess wrote: post #88

mason240 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They shut downs of other subs was overwhelmingly supported by the users.

No, it was supported by a loud and vocal minority of witch-hunters. Most people just want to use reddit normally.

Post by jonlucc » Wed, Jul 08, 2015, 4:33 PM UTC

nanny wrote: post #34

joosters wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the article explains, the issues aren't to do with Victoria herself. In that respect, why she was fired doesn't matter. Note that the story is not a campaign to bring her back personally. Corporate Reddit should have had a plan in place when they got rid of her, but as it became clear, they hadn't thought about it at all. That's what the mods were complaining about.

>Corporate Reddit should have had a plan in place when they got rid of her, but as it became clear, they hadn't thought about it at all. What if she did something really bad and was fired on the spot? How could they "have a plan in place" for a situation like that?