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Reddit’s About page doesn't include Aaron Swartz as a founder

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Re: Reddit’s About page doesn't include Aaron Swartz as a founder

#21

Post by abdullahkhalids »

losvedir wrote: post #6

I thought it really was founded by those two, and written in Lisp at that. Then YC hooked them up with Swartz and his big thing was rewriting in python. (And maybe there was some contention about this? I forget, but I seem to recall some drama at the time about his contributions.) It was a long time ago, though, so I might be misremembering. In any case, I'm fairly certain Swartz did join after the fact, but I'm not…

In Aaron Swartz's own words from May 2007

> One of the points of the merger was that we would all call ourselves co-founders, so that's what I've been doing. I'd be happy to stop if that's what Steve and Alexis wanted, though.

https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_co...

This comment by spez is also interesting https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/d2njs/til_th...

It seems AS was given the title of co-founder by contract, but perhaps, the language was vague enough or they didn't fear retaliation so Steve and Alexis decided they didn't want to acknowledge him as co-founder.

Edit: here are some more details: https://observer.com/2011/07/rumors-acquisitions-did-reddit-... including comments by PG.

Re: Reddit’s About page doesn't include Aaron Swartz as a founder

#23

Post by sebmellen »

mard wrote: post #14
sebmellen wrote: post #4

Reddit is very clearly not in favour of free speech: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/reddit-bans-thedonald-and-... . Aaron Swartz was very clearly in favour of free speech: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/becausewecan . I think the reasons for this are self-evident.

Free speech stands against the financial interests of social media. Reddit is the real estate for ads, and the best value for top global advertisers are safe spaces that are free of controversy. In the end, it's the advertisers that decide what is allowed to be published there.

I have no doubt their investors play a role as well. Though some argue the Tencent investment is good for Reddit [0], I can't help but wonder what the nudging looks like behind the scenes.

[0]: https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/12/tencent-reddit-nononono/

Re: Reddit’s About page doesn't include Aaron Swartz as a founder

#24

Post by sebmellen »

agumonkey wrote: post #18
sebmellen wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shutting down platforms for discussion is quite literally restricting free speech. If you want to argue Reddit has a right to do that, sure. But that's not the argument.

was it discussion ? or more ?

If you're asking this question, you don't understand the principles of freedom of speech. Read the Aaron Swartz essay linked above, and while you're at it, watch this, from Noam Chomsky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-oV42OMQoE.

Re: Reddit’s About page doesn't include Aaron Swartz as a founder

#25

Post by kchr »

gonzo41 wrote: post #13
brodouevencode wrote: post #3

Can we all agree reddit is effectively run from the top down, that moderation at the subreddit level is a joke, that they are even more two faced than Twitter, and that (worse) they’re doing a terrible job of covering it up?

Yet they have a lot of content. It works if you don't try and build up a profile and just talk crap on the internet.

I don't believe GP is debating whether Reddit is popular. People will put their "content" on whatever platform appears "free" and easy to use.

Re: Reddit’s About page doesn't include Aaron Swartz as a founder

#26

Post by squarefoot »

Just the one question: alternatives?

Not necessarily already established and crowded platform, but also free and open, privacy friendly ones that can be slowly brought to self sustaining levels by enthusiasts, so that they can attract normal users.

Re: Reddit’s About page doesn't include Aaron Swartz as a founder

#28

Post by ceilingcorner »

Reddit today is the opposite of what it was in the beginning. Unsurprising that they’d write out Swartz in their quest to be a friendly corporate face.

Alas, a new competitor will replace it soon. Virtually no one has brand loyalty to Reddit and their audience is becoming narrower and narrower.

Re: Reddit’s About page doesn't include Aaron Swartz as a founder

#30

Post by cryptica »

losvedir wrote: post #6

I thought it really was founded by those two, and written in Lisp at that. Then YC hooked them up with Swartz and his big thing was rewriting in python. (And maybe there was some contention about this? I forget, but I seem to recall some drama at the time about his contributions.) It was a long time ago, though, so I might be misremembering. In any case, I'm fairly certain Swartz did join after the fact, but I'm not…

They were more than happy to call him a cofounder until now. Clearly they always throught of him as the 'diversity' hire. Now they want to pretend that he never existed. It makes me wonder if Alexis Ohanian also married Serena Williams to get diversity PR. I wouldn't be surprised at this stage.

It's a direct attack against everything that's good in the world.

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