Sunday, July 5, 2015

Reddit CEO Ellen Pao: “The Vast Majority of Reddit Users are Uninterested in” Victoria Taylor, Subreddits Going Private

Speaking a day after multiple default subreddits and dozens of other subreddits shut themselves down to protest Reddit’s handling of Victoria Taylor’s departure, Reddit CEO Ellen Pao claimed “the vast majority of Reddit users are uninterested in what unfolded over the past 48 hours;” the last two days included Ms. Taylor’s dismissal and the above-mentioned parts of Reddit going private.

In an interview with the New York Times, Pao apologized, but said that most users don’t care about what has transpired over the last two days. She further said, according to the Times, that “the most virulent detractors on the site are a vocal minority.”

“I’m sorry we let our community down yesterday,” Ms. Pao said, adding, “We should have informed our community moderators about the transition and worked through it with them.”
Ms. Pao
However, she went on to say that “Redditors” do not care about the departure of Ms. Taylor nor subreddits going “dark.” “Most of the community is made up of thoughtful people, and they can appreciate what we all do, even if we don’t always agree,” she explained.

She further said that calls for her to resign, including a petition that has eclipsed 124,000 supporters, “did not faze her.”

About her job, Ms. Pao concluded, “It’s an exciting job. We’re doing a lot behind the scenes that people have not seen yet.”

In other technology news on the Social Memo: Analyst Calls Google Software “Racist”

57 comments:

  1. I believe that she is wrong…I signed up at voat today, as have many other people. Reddit was interesting and a lot of fun, but it is easily replicated and once the voat servers are up to speed it will be a more than worthy challenger

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How to put a bitch like Ellen Pao in check: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Fj8JkfhP4

      Delete
  2. the vast majority of reddit lurks, produces no content, does not help organizing, and just consumes what the "vocal minority" makes available.
    reddit's CEO not getting that simple truth is rather worrying

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not true. I'm an active user for 4 years and have bought gold, upload contents, upvote posts and regularly comments. I have also participate in reddit gift exchanges and even did rematch – I consider to be a very active user of reddit and I DID NOT care one bit about this whole Victoria fiasco. I know many other similar like me who do not either.

      Delete
    2. And I suppose you consider yourself to be the vast majority of Reddit. Delusions of grandeur?

      Delete
    3. It's probably just a PR rep acting like Pao has people from the Reddit community supporting her, which she doesn't.

      Delete
    4. Wonder how he feels about the creator and manager of the gift exchange being fired for refusing to add more corporate sponsorship to the promotions?

      Delete
    5. I find it full of propaganda articles and advertising for products disguised as news!

      Delete
    6. I think its brilliant that this website doesn't seem to supply any method of recognizing which anon is who.

      For all I know the entire above comment chain is 1 person.

      Delete
    7. I am 1 person.

      Delete
    8. i am legion. expect me

      Delete
    9. I am Spartacus!

      Delete
    10. IM Ellen Pao AMA

      Delete
    11. There can be only one!!

      Delete
    12. I AM VENGEANCE.

      Delete
    13. This is Sparta

      Delete
    14. I am Alpharius. We are Alpharius.

      Delete
    15. I'm a very inactive user, I never comment or post but I was very interested in the goings on, and I fricking hate pao naturally I don't even know why she just seems an utter cu nt

      Delete
    16. How to put a bitch in check: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Fj8JkfhP4

      Ellen Pao's days are numbered. Voat is the new reddit.

      Delete
  3. While the "the vast majority of Reddit users are uninterested in what unfolded over the past 48 hours", and "the most virulent detractors on the site are a vocal minority" may be true, she's most likely basing those percentages off of total user names, not active users.

    The vast majority of active users want her fired.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. While I agree that it seems like a large number of redditors do disagree with her, it's hard to say anything for sure without cited sources and statistics. Keep in mind that this applies to both sides of the arguement.

      Delete
  4. I'm not say what she did was right, but she's spot-on that most redditors don't care or will forget within 48 hrs. Look at reddit right now– relatively back to normal, people posting memes about cute things they did today. Guaranteed reddit will meet their gold goal today as well, just as they did the past two days, as everyone blindly gilded half the 'down-with-reddit' posts. It was just entertainment for them and now they're tired of hearing about it and want to get back to the cute stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The admins are deleting submissions, that's why.

      Delete
    2. I'm sure the admins are deleting submissions as well. A totally 'Big Brother ' situation.

      Delete
    3. yup. front page went from full havoc to quiet normality in a matter of hours.
      that's not the way reddit behaves. this kind of heavy handed regulation is totally new, and it totally stinks.
      i'm really sad, but i truely think it's over. we'll have to find an other ballroom.

      Delete
  5. Of course Our Dear Leader Pao doesn't care that people demand her resignation. She tries to con people just like her husband, with her trying to claim discrimination and extort money from companies.

    As a redditor, I am sad that she will be around long enough to drive reddit into the ground.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. you speak the truth, she's just playing to the masses, saying what she needs to say, and it's evidence enough that she doesn't give a fuck about reddit. She just cares about how she comes off to the media and the masses. She's just another corporate money grubbing, lying whore.

      Delete
    2. you speak the truth, she's just playing to the masses, saying what she needs to say, and it's evidence enough that she doesn't give a fuck about reddit. She just cares about how she comes off to the media and the masses. She's just another corporate money grubbing, lying whore.

      Delete
    3. You can say that again!

      Delete
    4. you will need to understand another level.
      that the changes will remain after she goes and the replacement comes in.
      people will see it as a victory because she is gone.
      reddit sees it as a victory because the changes happen, the blame goes with pao,
      and people are happy with the changes now because the figurehead was replaced.
      redditors are getting played.

      Delete
  6. The problem is that the minority who are angry with her are the mods and active users who moderate and post to the subreddits that the rest of the majority come to gather around. Without those minority, then there's no content, and with no content, the majority goes elsewhere.

    That's the problem here. Don't let this horrible excuse for a human being smooth you over with her PR bullshit.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think she's missed one key point, it's the active users, mods and content creators who are upset and calling for her job, but there's a substantial amount of lurkers who are just consuming the content from these active users.

    When the active users up sticks and move to another site, the lurkers("vast majority") will follow suit because they'll follow the content.

    ReplyDelete
  8. "Most of the community is made up of thoughtful people" – implying that the "virulent detractors" are not thoughtful people? Nice one, Ellen Pao. I've been following the events with interest. I'm not a "virulent detractor", but if you keep going this way I'm going to end up as one. I care about Reddit. I've got 8 creddits still unspent. And today, I wish I could get a refund.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Does that vast majority include the bots and sock puppets?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Does that vast majority include the bots and sock puppets?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Excuse me Mz Pao, but in fact I am interested in Victoria Taylor. Although I have never met her I can see that she is an individual, a real person, and a redditor. Which is more than I can say for you.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm probably one of the people she thinks she's referring to, and she's wrong. Victoria was the closest thing to the public face of Reddit. How anyone in power in that organization could fail to anticipate this response is mind-blowing. Even the lowest level manager understands that firing an employee Hasan impact on others; when it's the most visible employee in your organization, failure to plan for a smooth transition speaks very poorly to the basic management ability and judgment of those in power.
    predict the fallout on this is mind-boggling. As a manager I always prepare for

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oops, shouldn't post so early, where's the edit button when you need it? Obviously ignore the last line.

      Delete
    2. "failure to plan for a smooth transition speaks very poorly to the basic management ability and judgment of those in power."

      Well said!

      Delete
  13. Yeah if i could cash in all my lovely reddit comment karma for voat points that would be great..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. pushdup.com may become is a nice alternative, as well

      Delete
  14. There's a petition out there with 120,000 signatures calling for her removal. Perhaps the reality is that Mrs. Pao is out of touch with the user base?

    ReplyDelete
  15. The person they let go was a very diligent and well-respected member of the community who played a vital role organizing high-profile celebrity interviews which served to bring attention and revenue to the site. For a CEO struggling to make a profit, they really couldn't have made a more idiotic move.

    Mrs. Pao seems content spending her days spouting meaningless platitudes and firing cancer-stricken employees while her company rots from the top-down.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Does this person even know how her own community works? why is she even resorting to blogs and news outlets to explain herself when the community SHE RUNS is direly waiting for a response?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. she talks to shareholders, they are the importanto… not the redditors (who are the 'product').

      Delete
  17. 129,000 Reddit users want Ellen K. Pao to step down as CEO. Https://www.change.org/p/ellen-k-pao-step-down-as-ceo-of-reddit-inc

    ReplyDelete
  18. I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I joined reddit a year ago, lurk mostly, post in one or two subs occasionally, and sincerely don't care about their internal HR situation, including who they hire and fire or why they do it.

    I also don't care about the mods tools or any of the back end stuff. The site looks like something out of the early internet / BBS systems. If that's how it looks on the back end I wouldn't color myself surprised.

    So maybe I am who she is talking about, if he data shows that there are plenty of people like me out there.

    TLDR; I am a redditor and I don't really care about someone getting fired or a "revolt" in the mod ranks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yes, i think she speaks about you, and i think you are representative of the majority.

      what you maybe dont quite understand, is that the reason why you keep coming is the way people make the whole stuff run.

      for instance, if you notice that AMA's start to look like paid for ads, chances are that you'll loose interset in reading them.

      Delete
    2. I agree with that, but I don't really spend much time reading them now. Maybe Bill Murray or Dan Ackroyd, but I'm an American so I am used to advertising being shoved down my throat every minute of every day. I think it's fair to say we have built-in BS detectors at this point.

      As far as this thing goes though, I'm surprised reddit didn't just Admin takeover the revolting subs and permaban the mods. (And it's that kind of draconian thinking that makes me unsuitable for power of any kind 😉 )

      Delete
    3. That would be the death of Reddit. It would be like Digg within 24 hours.

      Delete
  19. My experience of Pao is that she is narcissistic and insouciant. As an active redditor, I feel as though she doesn't give a rat's patoot about the users, and that attitude is going to come around and bite her hard as many migrate to Voat and other competing services. Is there no board of directors here that can fire her ass?

    ReplyDelete
  20. None of my subscribed sub reddits were affected. I have no idea what's been happening, i don't usually look at the front page. To me it seems like she's doing things within her power and rights to do… I think she's right that most users don't give a shit, as i'm one of them.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Ellen Pao's future will be based entirely on company value as determined by Conde Nast.

    What any quantity of the user base (the product) thinks of her is completely irrelevant.

    ReplyDelete
  22. She's technically right (the best kind of right). Most reddit users are lurkers and come to reddit for pics, videos, and entertaining content in general. They are uninterested in Victoria and reddit drama in general. They are the ones who bring Condé Nast the dough, measured in pageviews.

    But! Where do those pics and videos and entertaining content come from? A small minority of redditors who create it and build the community. And among THOSE people, there is a lot of interest in how reddit treats its community builders, and Victoria in particular. They may be a small minority, but they are essential to reddit's success. Make them leave, and the content will leave with them, and the community will follow.

    This is what Ellen Pao needs to understand.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I didn't care much about the drama until I saw this, and now I'm a bit pissed. Her arrogant, dismissive demeanor is exactly the wrong attitude to take in a situation where a substantial portion of her user-base is up in arms. I'd encourage her board of directors to find someone more professional to run their business concerns.

    ReplyDelete
  24. How to put a bitch in check: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Fj8JkfhP4

    ReplyDelete