Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief • Hacker News Board

Re: Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief

#341

Post by andrepd » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 11:09 PM UTC

buckbova wrote: post #130

nhf wrote: post #10

I think this was the right thing to do from a PR perspective. Having Steve back as the new CEO will definitely be good for the community. I also applaud Reddit's announcement for calling the community out on their childish BS: > As a closing note, it was sickening to see some of the things redditors wrote about Ellen. [1] The reduction in compassion that happens when we’re all behind computer screens is not good for…

> The reduction in compassion that happens when we’re all behind computer screens is not good for the world. People are still people even if there is Internet between you. That is humanity. People are narcissistic assholes. If the average person wasn't scared of what would happen or how they're perceived they'd punch you right in the face for looking in their direction. That's what internet anonymity does. Brings out…

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." -- Oscar Wilde

Relevant as always.

Re: Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief

#342

Post by noir_lord » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 11:10 PM UTC

InclinedPlane wrote: post #318

jerf wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly believe causality runs the other way... becoming a default reddit puts you into an Eternal September that no community could possibly survive. But in the end, the result is the same.

AskScience is a default sub, I think, and they've survived alright. Interestingly, AskHistorians asked to not be a default sub-reddit for precisely the reasons you've given.

They have something like 500 moderators though so there is that.

Re: Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief

#343

Post by monksy » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 11:10 PM UTC

paulhodge wrote: post #144

revelation wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You applaud them on a PR strategy that is akin to dictatorships all over the world denouncing opposition as "terrorists" and criminals? The community is not a coherent block. To give the impression that the criticism stems from an organized group of people that applaud and tolerate death threats is the equivalent of binding it to a strawman and lighting it on fire with gasoline.

Most of the individuals that do death threats are doing it because they think that their peers would approve. The community effect is very powerful and sometimes the community deserves blame.

I don't think that the community at large supports those individuals who did those death threats.

Re: Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief

#344

Post by Anderkent » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 11:10 PM UTC

eli wrote: post #335

Nadya wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pick a topic with many shades of gray. Paint it black and white - preferably around a modern controversial issue (this day and age it's sexism/racism). Frame the narrative to fit the controversy ("50 white male racist misogynist neck beards' who want to chase women out of tech again!") Ignore the 199,950 shades of gray and all other motivation behind the users and everything else. Zoom in to these 50 people. Cast the…

You think "the media" is intentionally causing confrontation as part of some collusion with Reddit to make money? Neither Reddit nor journalism generally is particularly profitable. And isn't painting all of the media in the same cynical light for the actions of, at most, a small minority pretty much exactly what you claim they did to you? I saw racist and sexist posts personally, so I know that's not a complete fabr…

> And isn't painting all of the media in the same cynical light for the actions of, at most, a small minority pretty much exactly what you claim they did to you?

Of course. No one's evil, everything's broken. The reason offensive and controversial discussions are so common throughout the interent is that they self-perpetuate; something makes you angry and you make a post 'debunking' it, that makes someone else angry and they reply; the more efficient posts at making people angry get more replies, and so are brought into prominence.

Thus the virus spreads.

Re: Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief

#345

Post by revelation » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 11:11 PM UTC

sama wrote: post #256

pkorzeniewski wrote: post #32

“Ellen has done a phenomenal job, especially in the last few months,” he said. What exactly "phenomenal" has she done? Reddit works pretty much the same as it worked several years ago, but in the meantime she managed to piss off the majority of community, which is the only reason Reddit exists

She walked in to a hot mess of a situation after the previous CEO resigned on the spot and kept the company from falling apart (which I thought was a live concern at the time). You try doing that some day.

It's hard to ignore the external circumstances that lead to the previous CEO resigning on the spot. Maybe not everyone needs to work in the most expensive city of all to keep a favorite pet startup in startup mode.

Re: Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief

#346

Post by jodah » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 11:12 PM UTC

otterley wrote: post #277

jodah wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the vitriol which I kept seeing peripherally... was absolutely appalling. I'm not a Reddit user, but the vitriol seemed pretty commensurate with what motivated it, which among other things included the despicable (and possibly illegal) firing of an employee for having leukemia (more or less).

Do you have a primary source for this information?

Not sure what the downvoting is all about - let's hope you never get cancer. The source is the employee himself who did an AMA that was partially censored by Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3c0idl/i_am_dacvak_fo...

It was on HN a while back.

Re: Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief

#347

Post by j_lev » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 11:12 PM UTC

Nadya wrote: post #150

dimino wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I came this close to not even knowing about this, until someone posted something in /r/dataisbeautiful about Ellen Pao's comment karma over time. Just like Facebook, it's almost entirely related to what you subscribe to/follow. /r/chess was entirely mum on the situation, for example.

This? https://i.imgur.com/nrYiK5M.png I find it telling it was negative a majority of the time. Usually "mods" get +1'd just for being mods (common on many forums). It shows, to me at least, that what she said rarely was supported by the community.

Wow.

Am I the only one that sees this as possibly the greatest potential "turnaround" story ever created?

Re: Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief

#348

Post by fredkbloggs » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 11:12 PM UTC

zxcvcxz wrote: post #279

morbius wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> now predictable narrative of '50 white male racist misogynist neck beards' who want to chase women out of tech again This is a pretty accurate narrative. You may not agree, but casual misogyny is incredibly pervasive on most defaults, and it's fairly prevalent within the smaller, community-based subs as well. > small group of militant activists trying to silence people who they disagree with If you're referring to…

Didn't Ellen Pao her self claim that the racists and misogynists are a small minority?

Her actual claim was that the people who are critical of her and the changes Reddit made are a minority. For example, http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/reddit-users-turn-... and http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/04/technology/reddit-moderato... for example.

Being a racist or mysogynist is unrelated to being critical of or disagreeing with how she was managing Reddit as a business.

Re: Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief

#349

Post by yegor256a » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 11:13 PM UTC

Who is Ellen Pao?

Re: Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief

#350

Post by axlprose » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 11:14 PM UTC

eli wrote: post #340

axlprose wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically, the nature of the internet and how it enables individuals to have much louder voices, has significant implications for the integrity and expectations of what we used to consider "news". The point being that the old idea of 'news' as many of us are used to, as being something that's even semi reliable, needs some serious rethinking, because 'news' undergoes significantly less curation now that outlets are c…

So... news sites are getting less reliable. Ok. What does that have to do with Ellen Pao or the new CEO?

You do realize you're commenting on a HN thread for a New York Times piece, right?

A piece that casually included terms such as "racist" and "misogynistic" as if they were describing the weather. If those terms do sound natural enough to use in something as casual as describing the weather, then congratulations, you've discovered the dangers that this book tried to highlight.