Ellen Pao Resigns As reddit CEO Following Recent Mod Revolt
Ellen Pao, interim CEO of reddit, today relinquished her role as boss of the popular website. Stepping into her shoes is Steve Huffman, reddit's co-founder and the site's original CEO. The decision for Pao to resign is being described as a "mutual agreement" after more than a week of heavy criticism, both from the site's moderators and community at large, over the lack of communication from management.
Tensions between management and moderators came to a boil when reddit abruptly dismissed AMA coordinator Victoria Taylor and terminated her position altogether. Shortly after, moderators of several of reddit's sub-forums protested by marking their sections as private, thereby denying access to the public and reddit of tens of millions of hits.
At the same time, a petition on Change.org demanding that Pao resign began gaining considerable traction. At the time of her resignation, over 213,000 Internet users had virtually signed the petition. While such petitions are not legally binding, there's a good chance it played a role in the current state of affairs.
Though reddit's mods essentially rejected Pao's apology over the lack of communication between management and the site's volunteer staff, there were no shots fired on her way out. Instead, reddit board member Sam Altman expressed gratitude for her time at the helm.
"We are thankful for Ellen’s many contributions to reddit and the technology industry generally. She brought focus to chaos, recruited a world-class team of executives, and drove growth," Altman said. "She brought a face to reddit that changed perceptions, and is a pioneer for women in the tech industry. She will remain as an adviser to the board through the end of 2015. I look forward to seeing the great things she does beyond that."
Altman also used the opportunity to thank the site's mods while also acknowledging that they "deserve better moderation tools and better communication from the admins." His message, along with Pao's dismissal and Huffman taking the reins, is the beginning of a healing process for reddit, which has clearly seen better days.
As for why Taylor was fired in the first place, that's a question that remains unanswered.
Tensions between management and moderators came to a boil when reddit abruptly dismissed AMA coordinator Victoria Taylor and terminated her position altogether. Shortly after, moderators of several of reddit's sub-forums protested by marking their sections as private, thereby denying access to the public and reddit of tens of millions of hits.
At the same time, a petition on Change.org demanding that Pao resign began gaining considerable traction. At the time of her resignation, over 213,000 Internet users had virtually signed the petition. While such petitions are not legally binding, there's a good chance it played a role in the current state of affairs.
Though reddit's mods essentially rejected Pao's apology over the lack of communication between management and the site's volunteer staff, there were no shots fired on her way out. Instead, reddit board member Sam Altman expressed gratitude for her time at the helm.
"We are thankful for Ellen’s many contributions to reddit and the technology industry generally. She brought focus to chaos, recruited a world-class team of executives, and drove growth," Altman said. "She brought a face to reddit that changed perceptions, and is a pioneer for women in the tech industry. She will remain as an adviser to the board through the end of 2015. I look forward to seeing the great things she does beyond that."
Altman also used the opportunity to thank the site's mods while also acknowledging that they "deserve better moderation tools and better communication from the admins." His message, along with Pao's dismissal and Huffman taking the reins, is the beginning of a healing process for reddit, which has clearly seen better days.
As for why Taylor was fired in the first place, that's a question that remains unanswered.
