Wow. Talk about eating my words. I just replied to this thread with my astonishment that Ellen Pao had still not addressed the community. I am glad she made the announcement, there will still be hurt feelings and resentment but this should calm things down significantly. Honestly, I am quite surprised she did that, it had to be difficult to make that post with all of the hatred being spewed at her and the personal attacks.
You may be right-
I think a lot of people will still harbor resentment and distrust but I think this is the first step to repairing the relationship between the company and the user-base. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens.
However, the personal attacks on Ellen Pao are terrible. I don't think she is the right person to run Reddit either, but damn, everyone made her out to be the rebirth of Hitler and it was really sad. If I had to wake up everyday and face the comments about me similar to the ones bade about Ellen Pao on Reddit... I don't know that I could have ever written that apology post, to say the least.
I'm probably going to have some resentment and distrust for a long while. That apology reminded me too much a politician's. There wasn't enough substance. I hope I eat those words one day, but I'm not that optimistic at the moment.
I can't speak to the comments though, I just saw the memes and stuff.
The attacks people aimed at her over there were truly sickening - and I'm among those who think she is a bad fit for reddit. She gets points from me for facing up to that. But reddit's response (mostly entitlement, presumptuousness, smugness, and more attacks) and her replies, which are mostly damage-control PR jargon and vague promises of improvement, just underscore what I think is the real problem: Reddit will never be what its users thinks it is/should be, and it will never be what Ellen Pao and its stakeholders want it to be either. I don't envy anyone that tries to find a balance between those things - but making your users feel left out of that fraught conversation is a big step in the wrong direction. I'm not sure she's corrected that feeling with her post today.
Ellen Pao has just released this apology https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3cbo4m/we_apologize
Wow. Talk about eating my words. I just replied to this thread with my astonishment that Ellen Pao had still not addressed the community. I am glad she made the announcement, there will still be hurt feelings and resentment but this should calm things down significantly. Honestly, I am quite surprised she did that, it had to be difficult to make that post with all of the hatred being spewed at her and the personal attacks.
Don't be fooled. This is just a pathetic attempt at damage control:
1. She was several days too late.
2. She replied to everybody in the media before addressing Reddit themselves, which was an extreme disservice.
3. Her excuse for being so late was so paper thin that it clearly exposed how little she understands Reddit. Or just shows how bad she is at lying.
4. She calls for technological solutions, while ignoring the real problems of a better rapport and lines of communication.
5. These are all words. History has shown that nothing will come of this.
(No idea why I can't do standard markdown bullet points...)
You may be right- I think a lot of people will still harbor resentment and distrust but I think this is the first step to repairing the relationship between the company and the user-base. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens.
However, the personal attacks on Ellen Pao are terrible. I don't think she is the right person to run Reddit either, but damn, everyone made her out to be the rebirth of Hitler and it was really sad. If I had to wake up everyday and face the comments about me similar to the ones bade about Ellen Pao on Reddit... I don't know that I could have ever written that apology post, to say the least.
I'm probably going to have some resentment and distrust for a long while. That apology reminded me too much a politician's. There wasn't enough substance. I hope I eat those words one day, but I'm not that optimistic at the moment.
I can't speak to the comments though, I just saw the memes and stuff.
The attacks people aimed at her over there were truly sickening - and I'm among those who think she is a bad fit for reddit. She gets points from me for facing up to that. But reddit's response (mostly entitlement, presumptuousness, smugness, and more attacks) and her replies, which are mostly damage-control PR jargon and vague promises of improvement, just underscore what I think is the real problem: Reddit will never be what its users thinks it is/should be, and it will never be what Ellen Pao and its stakeholders want it to be either. I don't envy anyone that tries to find a balance between those things - but making your users feel left out of that fraught conversation is a big step in the wrong direction. I'm not sure she's corrected that feeling with her post today.