Victoria Taylor, the human interface between many celebrities and the Reddit "Ask Me Anything" subreddit, was today unexpectedly let go from her position with Reddit. The nature of the dismissal is unclear, including whether or not it was initiated by Victoria herself. As a result of this action, a large number of popular and/or default subreddits have gone private, or have disabled story submissions.
See here for more updates:
TL;DR /r/IAmA, /r/AskReddit, /r/Books, /r/science, /r/Music, /r/gaming, /r/history, /r/Art, /r/videos, /r/gadgets, /r/todayilearned, /r/Documentaries, /r/LifeProTips, and /r/movies have all made themselves private in response to the removal of an administrator key to the AMA process, /u/chooter, but also due to underlying resentment against the admins for running the site poorly - being uncommunicative, and disregarding the thousands of moderators who keep the site running. In addition, /r/listentothis has disabled all submissions, and so has /r/picsand /r/Jokes has announced its support (but has not gone private). Major subreddits, including /r/4chan, /r/circlejerk and /r/ImGoingToHellForThis, have also expressed solidarity through going private.
Original Submission
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The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Time and several other news sources are reporting that Ellen Pao is resigning as CEO of Reddit. Pao will be replaced by Steve Huffman, a Reddit co-founder and its first CEO.
Pao has had a stormy and controversial stint as interim chief executive officer of Reddit which culminated in a mass user protest in recent weeks, as previously reported on SN.
Original Submission
(Score: 1) by hopp on Friday July 03 2015, @06:14AM
Eh Fooey.
I hope reddit doesn't digg. I mean C'mon, there are bound to be some less than optimal labor issues when reddit gets as big as it has but I still believe their corporate Ethos is OK.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @01:24PM
Fire Ellen Pao! Nao!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @09:19PM
that's her real job. lawsuits.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @09:53PM
She just needs a deep-dicking to get over her SJW butthurt.
(Score: 5, Informative) by K_benzoate on Friday July 03 2015, @06:21AM
Everyone (who cares about such things) seems to have settled on Voat being the successor. I actually see a lot of parallels between what happened with Slashdot and Soylentnews. Voat has a couple good features that distinguish it from reddit. The admins are avowedly "hands off" when it comes to moderating subcommunities on the site. If you're not familiar with how reddit/Voat works, anyone can make a forum and gets to administer it how they wish. The only global rules that are enforced are a prohibition on illegal content (like child pornography) and posting private personal information (called doxing).
The underlying issue here is that reddit isn't profitable, and the investors are getting tired of waiting for it to start making some money. The admins were pressuring Victoria (chooter) to start some more commercial-oriented features in the /r/iama subreddit. Essentially they were going to use Ask Me Anything threads as product placements. It's actually been like that for a while, but reddit hasn't been getting a cut. Victoria disagreed with these changes, so she was fired. They've been trying to purify the site of undesirables for a while now. They banned a few subs that were particularly nasty, like /r/fatpeoplehate. Pao has been actively courting the feminist/social justice community and has made statements that reddit will be a "safe space" (a dog whistle term for ultra-leftist authoritarians meaning politically-correct censorship), and that reddit was never meant to be a platform for free speech. Ellen Pao is something of a darling martyr among the feminist and social justice communities. She has alienated a huge amount of reddit's userbase and this is just the most recent outrage.
You can add /r/linux to the list of subs that have gone dark in solidarity. There's also a Twitter hashtag trending, #redditrevolt . It's not looking good for Pao and reddit. I don't think they'll recover from this one.
Climate change is real and primarily caused by human activity.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday July 03 2015, @06:47AM
B-b-but you can't do that to Pao, she's two minorities!
Racist! Sexist!
(Score: 2, Redundant) by K_benzoate on Friday July 03 2015, @06:56AM
That was basically the premise of her case against Kleiner Perkins [wikipedia.org]. It didn't work then either.
Climate change is real and primarily caused by human activity.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @03:24PM
As an immigrant from China, she also might not be Christian, in which case you could add a third minority.
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Archon V2.0 on Friday July 03 2015, @04:22PM
Don't tell that to American Evangelical Christians, it'll disrupt their martyr complexes.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by K_benzoate on Friday July 03 2015, @04:26PM
It's interesting to me that atheists don't get preferential treatment in the progressive stack [wikipedia.org] since we are just about equally despised/distrusted as Muslims. [pewforum.org]
Climate change is real and primarily caused by human activity.
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Friday July 03 2015, @10:19PM
Its hard to discriminate against atheists since most of them never talk about their religion* :) plus they don't wear atheist symbols or traditional atheist clothing or form up in visible gatherings and specially marked buildings to practice atheism.
(And no Flying Spaghetti Monster merchandise and evolving-Jesus-fish don't count; because they aren't really associated with atheism.
*And of those that do...evangelizing atheists are just as annoying as any other evangelist.
(Score: 3, Informative) by NCommander on Friday July 03 2015, @06:47AM
/r/technology also went dark briefly only to return. I think because they've got a post that's both here and arstechnica. I actually want to add subreddit-like functionality to SoylentNews; the ground work is done, I just haven't had the energy to finish coding the UI bits.
Still always moving
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @07:34AM
Opportunity knocks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @11:33AM
actually want to add subreddit-like functionality to SoylentNews; the ground work is done, I just haven't had the energy to finish coding the UI bits.
In that case you're going to need a bigger [youtube.com] server.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday July 03 2015, @03:31PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @07:27PM
more like a submarine : )
(Score: 2, Insightful) by J.J. Dane on Friday July 03 2015, @04:16PM
Chances are, this is the best window you'll ever see if that's the way you want to take it :-)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by GoonDu on Friday July 03 2015, @08:06AM
>Reddit Safe space
The only way you can have safe space is if you have a private community of 'survivors'. You can't do that on the internet. Assholes are a plenty on the internet and these perpetually offended really need to know when to ignore and when to engage. It's obvious that the /r/fatpeoplehate is a silly board but I think its effects on the human collective is going to be negligible. Virtually nuking it off from that the virtual orbit will only diffuse its residents to other places where they could mock the same targets and eventually, they will conglomerate back to a different site again. Removing the 'symptoms' != removing the 'disease'.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @02:45PM
Many diseases are untreatable, leaving the only option as treating its symptoms. Bigotry is one of those untreatable diseases, and letting it fester is what allows it to spread.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @02:40PM
What does "politically-correct" mean? Seriously, what does it mean? I see it used all the time but everyone who uses it refuses to define it, leaving me to infer the definition based on usage, and the only way its used is as just another meaningless name-calling attack phrase used to label, appeal to fear, demonize the enemy, and scapegoat.
(Score: 3, Informative) by NickFortune on Friday July 03 2015, @03:05PM
Currently, Wikipedia says
Which, as a definition, sounds about right to me.
(My wife tells me she is "vertically challenged". I say she's just "differently tall". I get my nose pulled.)
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday July 04 2015, @05:09AM
Don't forget about not offending business. Here in Canada the government has really attacked anyone using the term "tar sands" to refer to the bitumen containing sand that eventually yields synthetic oil. Gotta call it "oil sands" even if it is more alike the asphalt that you drive on, and when heated is very tarry.
There are lots of cases of businesses pushing terminology that is not as descriptive but more "friendly and correct"
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Friday July 03 2015, @02:55PM
Everyone (who cares about such things) seems to have settled on Voat being the successor.
I can't think of Voat as meaning anything other than some freak hybrid of a vole and a stoat.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday July 03 2015, @05:23PM
The admins were pressuring Victoria (chooter) to start some more commercial-oriented features in the /r/iama subreddit. Essentially they were going to use Ask Me Anything threads as product placements.
So Slashvertisements, basically, only on Reddit?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Friday July 03 2015, @05:42PM
Don't distract us from discussing important things, like Rampart.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @06:28AM
It's the middle of the Great Recession, and people can't afford to employ people anymore. Even the Troops are feeling the pinch, being replaced by drones and killbots.
Thank Bush-Laden for ruining the country, thank O-fucking-Bama for breaking every single promise to change anything, and thank you motherfucking voters for voting for scum for the past sixteen years. Fuck you, American asshole voters. Fuck all of you, you shit eating cunts. You fucked up everything. You.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Bot on Friday July 03 2015, @06:41AM
Blaming the victim much, eh?
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Hartree on Friday July 03 2015, @06:47AM
I think he's blaming everyone but himself.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @06:52AM
Let's be honest here, fuckface. You voted for Obama, didn't you? You are to blame for the distinct lack of hope or change. Fuck you.
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Friday July 03 2015, @06:56AM
There, there. Go lie down and take a Xanax. I promise it will get better and the octopuses will go away.
(Actually, no I didn't. I voted for Gary Johnson. I think I've given you an exclusive as I don't think I've even mentioned that to my family. Aren't you such a special snowflake? :) )
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday July 03 2015, @03:29PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @06:48AM
What's the matter, kid, you don't understand how representative government works? You know, if you live long enough to grow up and register to vote, you might notice that here in the real world, after voters learn that their duly elected leaders are evil lying sacks of shit, they can CHOOSE NOT TO RE-ELECT THEM TWICE. Now go play in traffic, you stupid little shit.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday July 03 2015, @05:33PM
Show me a president we've re-elected twice since FDR.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday July 04 2015, @05:16AM
I parsed it as "two lying bags of shit that got re-elected". Of course given the choices and the fucked up voting system, America might as well be China where the progressive and conservative wings of the Party take turns running things, excepting having a nice head of hair doesn't matter for being leader in China.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @07:07AM
Yes. Being a victim does not mean you aren't responsible for your problems. If you run into an airport with a bunch of wires around your chest and scream "Admiral Akbar", then it will be entirely your fault if you get shot. This phrase is usually used as a rebuttal to the common fallacy of shifting the blame, but that is not the case here.
(Score: 3, Troll) by jasassin on Friday July 03 2015, @06:57AM
I understand your ignorance. Before you condemn the people, you should watch this episode of the T.V. program "South Park":
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douche_and_Turd [wikipedia.org]
The plot description in the link pretty much sums it up.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 3, Interesting) by NCommander on Friday July 03 2015, @08:40AM
Holy hell, this makes the /. protest look like small fries. At least 5-6 of the defaults are down, and more are going down every second. Most of my subreddits are gone with the exception of /r/dwarffortress. I'm not sure there will be a reddit left in 24 hours ...
Still always moving
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday July 03 2015, @09:17AM
You're still awake? Implement subredd... nexu... nexii!
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by NCommander on Friday July 03 2015, @09:23AM
Not awake enough to code, and the admin code hasn't had a lot of love as of late. I won't mind doing a small pilot with a few people getting global editor bits to manage a nexus or two until I can implement the necessary ACL code, though I would need to run that by the editoral team to see if it will fly.
Still always moving
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @10:33AM
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Archon V2.0 on Friday July 03 2015, @07:04PM
Dibs on /s/Jailbait!
(No, not really.)
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @11:44AM
https://www.reddit.com/r/GoldTesting/comments/3bypzz/amageddon_tracking/
1,200+ as of this post.
I can't imagine why you would piss off your users with heavy handed tactics and noncommunication when those users GENERATE YOUR CONTENT AND MAKE YOU MONEY!
But it sure is an entertaining trainwreck to watch. Reddits owners are getting pretty good at fucking up things that were working fine.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @04:22PM
https://www.reddit.com/user/kn0thing [reddit.com]
https://www.reddit.com/r/modclub/comments/3bypwq/rmodclub_amageddon_discussion_thread/csqupsf?context=3 [reddit.com]
https://www.reddit.com/user/ekjp [reddit.com]
http://imgur.com/a/v7gHd [imgur.com]
Some reinstatements. Top posts on reinstated todayilearned:
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/3bzfpw/til_after_mismanagement_digg_a_company_that_had/ [reddit.com]
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/3bzbg4/til_that_aol_had_volunteer_mods_that_filed_a/ [reddit.com]
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/3bznaj/til_popcorn_became_popular_during_the_great/ [reddit.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @04:01PM
First I see Reddit hiding dissent in its communities by auto-hiding downvoted posts.
Now it's just hiding the entire discussions from view.
Next up: Reddit gone.
Something will take it's place if it does :) Hopefully a place with more open disagreement. The disagreement is there on reddit, but you really have to dig for it.
Soylent and Slashdot and related sites also hide dissent, but make it easy to see hidden posts.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @09:41PM
haha
t. 4chan
(Score: 2, Informative) by CaTfiSh on Friday July 03 2015, @10:49PM