Apparently reddit has 71 employees. I would really like to know why reddit needs that many employees. It looks to me like an operation of maybe 20 people at most. That includes devops, engineering, social stuff and ads.
What's that quote about when Digg invited them to lunch awhile back? That Digg had a few floors, and were blown away by the fact that Reddit's staff could fit in a car? I'm guessing the old Reddit guys aren't touching this comment section with a 10 ft pole, but they tell it better than what I just wrote. I wish I could find the comment...
Reddit Chief Engineer Quits After Less Than Two Months on the Job
81–90 of 153 posts
Re: Reddit Chief Engineer Quits After Less Than Two Months on the Job
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would guess it's more like "I will be building out the product we needed all along, but now with intense board scrutiny, half the budget I wanted, a quarter the timeline we need, and a new CEO (who I may not like). I'm rich enough that I don't have to put up with this shit. See you guys."
> and a new CEO (who I may not like) Spez isn't just a "New CEO" he's the original programmer, CEO and co-founder of Reddit. He understands the community more than anyone could fathom someone could. Of all choices I think he's the best choice. He's focusing on bringing better mod tools, so being the technical lead, I'd be excited for these bumps coming up, not running away with my tail between my legs.
Honestly, if I were Chief Engineer the idea of the original programmer becoming CEO would be a potential nightmare.
Re: Reddit Chief Engineer Quits After Less Than Two Months on the Job
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't disagree at all, but the AMA format is really a one and done for a single person. For example, there are some hilarious responses from Jose Canseco (US baseball player from 90's) - if he comes out with a new book or something - how will the community come up with questions to ask that will generate interest? Also the fact that the demographic is hard to advertise to leads me to think they may have the PR firm…
Right? That's where I landed, but then realized that there's no enforceable way to do that. Have the moderators/an admin ban all the posts on AMA by people who... what, can pay? Make AMA pay-only to submit there? Nothing feels right for Reddit -- AMAs are such an offshoot of the platform anyway...
I do wonder if Victoria could do a website that is essentially all AmAs? Basically it would be another interview show with a bit of a twist.
Re: Reddit Chief Engineer Quits After Less Than Two Months on the Job
#84A recurring, and not-commented-on theme in each of these communications is that the board wants more growth. Reddit closed a $50MM round in fall of 2014, and has never had a strong monetization story. If the investors came in expecting major growth (since this is not a business with a great monetization story) it's not surprising that there's pressure and turnover right now, almost a year later. And, it may well be t…
Given the ongoing narrative of a push for growth, the sacking of Victoria Taylor seems like even more of a bungle to me. Last I heard the AMA mods are going it alone without admin support. The mods themselves previously said that the subreddit couldn't continue as it was without this support. Even if it somehow does, that leaves probably THE biggest growth tool at their disposal in the hand of unaffiliated volunteers…
It feels like reddit management totally forgot AMA is not operated by them at all. That's worrying - They do not pay the content creators and moderators in any way (and that's fine as long as they can rule their communities), but if there is the possibility of profit, they just assume it belongs to them and not to anyone else. I cannot explain what happened (absolutely no communication with the AMA mods) but with that kind of attitude. They just screw themselves over with that IMHO.
Re: Reddit Chief Engineer Quits After Less Than Two Months on the Job
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right? That's where I landed, but then realized that there's no enforceable way to do that. Have the moderators/an admin ban all the posts on AMA by people who... what, can pay? Make AMA pay-only to submit there? Nothing feels right for Reddit -- AMAs are such an offshoot of the platform anyway...
I do wonder if Victoria could do a website that is essentially all AmAs? Basically it would be another interview show with a bit of a twist.
Probably has a non-compete, among other things.
Re: Reddit Chief Engineer Quits After Less Than Two Months on the Job
#86A recurring, and not-commented-on theme in each of these communications is that the board wants more growth. Reddit closed a $50MM round in fall of 2014, and has never had a strong monetization story. If the investors came in expecting major growth (since this is not a business with a great monetization story) it's not surprising that there's pressure and turnover right now, almost a year later. And, it may well be t…
From the outside it looked more like Ellen was focused on improving the monetization prospects rather than focusing on growth. In particular, placing limits on abusive content and users would make the site more attractive to advertisers. Firing Victoria fit the same motive -- monetize the most popular product (AMAs). Reddit leadership wanted to explore ways to monetize that feature, and for some undisclosed reason Vi…
>In particular, placing limits on abusive content and users would make the site more attractive to advertisers.
I see no problem with this. I purposely avoid recommending or even mentioning reddit to the people in my life because of all the horrible content on the site. I won't promote these subs, but there are many, many popular racist subs and subs that promote violence against women and, hell, one that is dedicated to showing photos of dead women who were attractive in life. There's a creeper sub that shows candid photos of women on the street that pathetically skirts the rules by pretending its about "fashion."
My god, reddit is a mess. I can't ever imagine recommending advertising there. I can imagine videos games, e-cigs, energy drinks, etc advertising there as these things already have a lousy reputation, but reddit is not on the path of being this broad forum with lots of members with disposable income. Growth isn't impressive when its just more of the same, largely unprofitable, "manboy" demographic.
This is why USENET lasted so long and was so prolific amongst techies. It never had to make a profit. You could trivially start new "communities", etc. Reddit is pretty much USENET as web, but the problem is, someone has to pay for all those servers and staff. No one is donating or proving access as part of your shell account like they did back in the USENET days. I find it questionable that such forums would ever be profitable. I suspect the next gen reddit will be something that has more in common with torrent-like tech than old school client-server web tech.
Re: Reddit Chief Engineer Quits After Less Than Two Months on the Job
#87"The company is growing, and we have the opportunity to improve in many areas — including the number of women in leadership positions. I am confident in our ability to recruit women at the executive level, as we have made a point to do so at Hipmunk, where more than half of the executives are women." I don't know about anyone else, but comments like that make a company less desirable as a place to work because factor…
How is it toxic if representation doesn't even equal general populace? Men are clearly getting in no problem. This isn't a case of over correction, it's about seeing if they can look past historical biases towards men and be more open towards hiring for the future.
The study you linked describes current faculty expressing a desire to bring it towards a balance.
I'm not sure where the toxicity is created.
Re: Reddit Chief Engineer Quits After Less Than Two Months on the Job
#88Blount also said she believed Pao’s exit was an indirect consequence of gender discrimination
Sounds like she backed the wrong horse.
Re: Reddit Chief Engineer Quits After Less Than Two Months on the Job
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Given the ongoing narrative of a push for growth, the sacking of Victoria Taylor seems like even more of a bungle to me. Last I heard the AMA mods are going it alone without admin support. The mods themselves previously said that the subreddit couldn't continue as it was without this support. Even if it somehow does, that leaves probably THE biggest growth tool at their disposal in the hand of unaffiliated volunteers…
It feels like reddit management totally forgot AMA is not operated by them at all. That's worrying - They do not pay the content creators and moderators in any way (and that's fine as long as they can rule their communities), but if there is the possibility of profit, they just assume it belongs to them and not to anyone else. I cannot explain what happened (absolutely no communication with the AMA mods) but with tha…
Most likely they thought a community member would pick it up. Of course they are aware that AMA is where the money is coming from, Pao used it as a monetization lead iirc.
Re: Reddit Chief Engineer Quits After Less Than Two Months on the Job
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know, right!? I'll posit Occam's Razor here and say that it is likely just children being children. From what I have seen on the /r/subredditdrama board they really are just sniping each other. It's like Mean Girls and these people really need to get out more. I have not seen this level of immaturity in a long time. However, my BS klaxon is screaming. These are major players in a top 25 website. They should be more…
"These are major players in a top 25 website." This may indicate the business model is dead. top 25 but no ability to monetize because the business model died while no one was looking. Think about it.. Consider a much more lofty position, like US News and World Report in the newsweekly market, they were top 3 at one point, out of business today. Have to face the facts, the reason for lack of execution in the marketpl…
I agree that the biz model is struggling and that monetization is tough here. However, I was more talking to the maturity of the people there when mentioning a top 25 website. One would think the board would have hired people that are not so petty, but alas.