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Ellen Pao Leaves Reddit; Site Founder Steve Huffman Makes a Triumphant Return

Posted by timothy on from the to-spend-time-with-family dept.

Deathspawner writes: To say that it's been a tumultuous month for reddit is an understatement. While multiple events have occurred in recent months that have caused an uproar, such as the banning of popular "hate" subreddits, nothing impacted the site quite like the out-of-nowhere firing of "Ask Me Anything" admin Victoria Taylor last week. Following that, other minor revelations surfaced, and finally, this past Monday, reddit CEO Ellen Pao came out from hiding to issue an apology. While her message instilled a bit more confidence in the future of the site, it wasn't enough. Today, it's been announced that Ellen Pao has left the company she joined last fall, and will be superseded by someone who knows what he's getting into: founder Steve Huffman.

4 of 467 comments (clear)

  1. Well, she was an interim. by gcnaddict · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ellen made all the hard changes, like clamping down on offensive speech. She was then canned as a scapegoat, the desired person was brought in for the long term role, and all of Ellen's changes stick.

    All the while, Reddit looks like it acquiesced to the masses. Brilliantly played.

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    1. Re:Well, she was an interim. by Anonymous+Psychopath · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Ellen made all the hard changes, like clamping down on offensive speech.

      "Offense is never given, it's only ever taken."

      -Unknown

      "He who takes offense when no offense is intended is a fool, and he who takes offense when offense is intended is a greater fool."

      Brigham Young

      WTF happened to the basic American principle of dying for the right of the offensive to be offensive... not just when we don't agree but especially when we don't agree??

      4chan is what happened. Who needs another shitty cesspool of Internet assholes?

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    2. Re:Well, she was an interim. by rogoshen1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In one of Malcolm Gladwell's books (forget which one, also take with a grain of salt) The reason that Rosa Parks set things off the way she did wasn't so much about her, but who she knew.

      Namely, she had a rather large network of social contacts that could be used to rally to her cause. Had she been the exact same person, but a shut in -- it wouldn't have happened the same way.

  2. Re:redditers will flip out. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Strangely, even us SJW's recognize that not every firing of a woman is discriminatory. It's almost as if you've scarecrowed yourself up an enemy who doesn't exist.

    I think firing Taylor was a terrible decision. But we have no evidence - or even allegations - that it was motivated by gender bias. Men and women get fired all the time - and contrary to what your bubble has told you, very few of those firings ever end up in lawsuits.