Congratulations, assholes of Reddit! You’ve driven another woman away from your internet clubhouse.
This time the woman in question was the site’s now ex-CEO Ellen Pao, who resigned today after a week of “Reddit Revolt” that included racist and misogynistic abuse aimed at “Chairman Pao” as well as the occasional death threat.
Indeed, the abuse was so bad that Pao felt the need to address it in her resignation note:
I just want to remind everyone that I am just another human; I have a family, and I have feelings. Everyone attacked on reddit is just another person like you and me. When people make something up to attack me or someone else, it spreads, and we eventually will see it. And we will feel bad, not just about what was said. Also because it undercuts the authenticity of reddit and shakes our faith in humanity.
Reddit board member Sam Altman, in his announcement of Pao’s replacement, described the attacks on Pao as “sickening,” and declared that “[i]f the reddit community cannot learn to balance authenticity and compassion, it may be a great website but it will never be a truly great community.”
This latest “Reddit Revolt” was triggered by the firing of a popular admin who worked with the site’s’ often beleaguered and ignored subreddit moderators.
But what really drove the revolt was the resentment many Redditors feel every time the site admins make any efforts at all to rein in the worst tendencies of Reddit’s regulars — the most recent “outrage” being Reddit’s banning of the FatPeopleHate subreddit and an assortment of others because they were encouraging real world harassment.
It certainly didn’t help, as far as Redditors were concerned, that she was a woman. The very thought of being bossed around by a woman is anathema to a shockingly large number of Redditors. Naturally, she’s being replaced by a dude, Reddit cofounder Steve Huffman, who promises to continue many of the same policies as Pao, but who will presumably be more palatable to the site’s fragile male userbase.
The abuse against Pao continued even after her resignation. In the thread announcing her replacement, this obnoxious comment at one point sported more than 1500 upvotes:
Only after someone pointed out that the commenter, who named himself after the racist Charleston church shooter, was in fact an unironically racist moderator of Reddit’s outrageously racist CoonTown subreddit did the comment end up with more downvotes than upvotes.
Stay classy, Reddit!
EDIT: Added links and a bit about her replacement.
Yup. A bunch of guys calling her a c*nt and demanding her resignation had nothing to do with gender. It was all about ethics in forum moderation.
For a second there, Alan, for a second there…
I mean, she was there for less than 8 months. I doubt most CEOs could inact monumental change in that time, let alone the CEO of REDDIT. 90% of the shit on here is from there. You expect that shit to be easily cleaned up?
And using fire doesn’t count.
Goddamnit. It’s hard formatting on a cellphone.
I just want to add that I commented because I expect better of you, Alan. [Disapproving mother gif]
@pandapool – *pat*pat*
I feel you.
*looks at typos on own posts*
@ Pandapool
Sorry. Hands up to mansplaining, not being clear and acting on duff intel anyway.
I am stupid and you *should* throw rocks at me.
Note to all viewers: What Alan just did is basically the gold standard for what to do when someone points out that you’re mansplaining.
@Alan
Throwing rocks is a little extreme, dontcha think? XD
We can throw grapes at him instead. That way they’re delicious, so if he catches one in his mouth he can eat them.
@ Pandapool
Nah, I deserve them; and I’m bound to do something stupid in future so you may as well have a few on credit now.
@ EJ
I’d eat them whilst making cute little noises; like that raccoon.
Reddit still has a free speech absolutist policy. The subreddits were banned specifically because mods continually failed to prevent off-subreddit harassment. Pao probably didn’t have the power to ban hate speech because the CEO is usually an administrator who has to follow the policies established by the board and shareholders. The board seems to still be free speech absolutists, they just banned some of the worst harassers.
@Alan
Eh, no worries, nobody’s perfect and everybody has off days. =) I think tensions are just high all around thanks to the Nolan thread and Mad Cow.
Exactly. To steal two quotes:
“You can’t be neutral on a moving train.”
and
“When you are kind to the cruel you are cruel to the kind.”
@Jane
You explained that a million times better than I ever could. Have you picked up your welcome package yet?
Mmmmm…grapes.
@Alan
I’ll throw your favorite salty treat, like pretzels or peanuts. You’ll get thirsty eating them.
THAT’LL TEACH YA! MUAHAHAHABAHFSHDHHSHAKJA!!
Stole one ages ago, long before I ever commented 🙂 . With the way you all just leave them on the sidebar there for anyone to take, I couldn’t help myself!
Though I’m not ~really~ new; I commented a bit six months or so ago, on a couple of topics related to GamerGate, Putin, and Webcomics, before I ended up getting wrapped up in a few unrelated matters.
That said, I just hope I had all of the details about the situation on Reddit correct; pretty much everything I know about it comes from skimming Subreddit Drama over the last month or so, which doesn’t really feel like the most well-rounded of sources.
@ Pandapool
It’s no more than I deserve.
Mind you, I bet a woman would have low salt snacks thrown at her so she didn’t get as thirsty. You know, disparity in sentencing and all that 😉
HAH. Okay, now that was funny. =P
@Alan
[Ooooooooh! gif]
More from The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/11/reddit-ellen-pao-resignation-reaction
There’s a time line on Gawker if anyone is interested
http://gawker.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-reddits-ellen-pao-timeline-of-a-t-1717201369
@WWTH:
Thanks for the time line, because I was completely confused. (And I regret reading the comments on that link.)
Also, I know that I was away from this site for a while (thanks, power outage and a freezer on the fritz), but *something* in my mind told me to get back over here once I heard about the resignation. Unfortunately, I shouldn’t be surprised about the reactions to said resignation. Criminy.
It’s already been addressed but a lot of people are saying Pao deserved this for letting hate fester on reddit. But the thing is she was driven off because she was trying to remove the hate. If your paying attention to the situation you should know that, and if you coming in ill informed you should be asking questions or for someone to clarify, before spouting nonsense that has been proved wrong along time ago 🙁
@AltoFronto – Spot on. I agree with every word of your comment.
@Chie Satonaka – I was the one who brought up Pao’s legal history, but you didn’t read my comments very carefully if you think I’m a ‘Reddit defender’. Most of Reddit is a toxic cesspool and every comment I made referred to the racism and sexism there. And yes, Pao’s legal history is filing a sexual discrimination lawsuit. As I wrote in my first comment, that legal history is a major reason why so many Redditors hate her. Many of them are misogynists who can’t stand that women have any legal recourse against prejudice in the workplace.
Finally, on the topic of Pao’s culpability or otherwise for the state of Reddit, I agree that she made a lot of welcome changes and seemed to be moving some things in the right direction. On the other hand see her (ejkp) here: http://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/39bpam/removing_harassing_subreddits/cs21aj4?context=1