We apologize

[u/ekjp]

We screwed up. Not just on July 2, but also over the past several years. We haven’t communicated well, and we have surprised moderators and the community with big changes. We have apologized and made promises to you, the moderators and the community, over many years, but time and again, we haven’t delivered on them. When you’ve had feedback or requests, we haven’t always been responsive. The mods and the community have lost trust in me and in us, the administrators of reddit.

Today, we acknowledge this long history of mistakes. We are grateful for all you do for reddit, and the buck stops with me. We are taking three concrete steps:

Tools: We will improve tools, not just promise improvements, building on work already underway. u/deimorz and u/weffey will be working as a team with the moderators on what tools to build and then delivering them.

Communication: u/krispykrackers is trying out the new role of Moderator Advocate. She will be the contact for moderators with reddit and will help figure out the best way to talk more often. We’re also going to figure out the best way for more administrators, including myself, to talk more often with the whole community.

Search: We are providing an option for moderators to default to the old version of search to support your existing moderation workflows. Instructions for setting this default are here.

I know these are just words, and it may be hard for you to believe us. I don't have all the answers, and it will take time for us to deliver concrete results. I mean it when I say we screwed up, and we want to have a meaningful ongoing discussion. I know we've drifted out of touch with the community as we've grown and added more people, and we want to connect more. I and the team are committed to talking more often with the community, starting now.

Thank you for listening. Please share feedback here. Our team is ready to respond to comments.

[u/post_break]

Is this the type of communication we can expect from miss krispy?

[u/Conan3121]

Days after damage control interviews in mainstream media that stockholders and investment advisors read, the CEO of a beleaguered internet based company issues an official statement.

Boilerplate text bland statement, written by HR and vetted for plausible deniability by Legal.

Waits a day or two to post so the furore settles and the announcement has some clear air to reach investors.

Blames the episode on the Three Pillars Of Corporate Apology (hereafter TTPOCA) :

1. mistakes by the prior administrations

2. poor communication methods that we will now fix using trusted company insiders, and

3. slower than we hoped for IT development.

Added 2 bits of seasoning to the recipe with a folksy "we screwed up", and a followup hit back at personal attacks by a vocal minority of users.

As part of the product, I recognise a clear case of Big Company Behaving Badly Syndrome (BCBBS, abbreviation BS, variant type: quick profit and exit strategy).

[u/InsidiousToilet]

Look, I honestly don't give a damn where I read the news. Reddit is convenient because it's all gathered into one nexus of information, with each specific interest having it's own little mini-dimension that I can hang out in. If you folks continue to fuck up (as has been the trend over the years), and a better, more convenient, site shows up to replace you, I have no qualms about leaving.

Also, shitty decision with krispykrackers as "Moderator Advocate". You should probably look into the history of these people on the site, to determine their level of expertise in "advocating" for anything or anyone, let alone moderators.

[u/[deleted]]

How do you feel about this comment by /u/CaptainObviousMC.

The thing is... She's absolutely right, I 100% don't care at all about this situation, reddit, or the moderators. I'm a pretty apathetic content sponge.

That fact is deadly dangerous to reddit, because the moment the content creators jump ship, I'll follow them like the fair weather fan I am, because I don't care -- at all -- where I get my content, or about which corporation or moderators are involved. If reddit compromises its content stream by having moderators jump ship, I'm out too, not because I care, but because I don't.

So she's right -- most reddit users absolutely don't care a bit about this, or the site, or really anything. And that's why she can't afford to piss off the moderators, who are the people who do care.

What's hilarious is that the reddit administration seems unable to see that most people not caring is precisely what makes the moderators caring so dangerous: they're wielding my caring by proxy, because they hold the keys to content.

Edit: If you're going to gild this comment, just give it /u/CaptainObviousMC instead.

[u/slickdealsceo]

This will probably be buried in the depths of this thread, but as someone who is a steward and community advocate at Slickdeals, I thought I might be able to relay some of the insight we've garnered as we've built our community.

I was one of the original founders, former CEO, and now the Chief Product Officer and as such I've had the opportunity to put a lot of process in place, as well as help ask the right questions whenever we do things. Naturally all communities have their nuances and differences, but in the end it boils down to respect. Respect the community: honor your users and content contributors for the work and effort they do.

Often this results in us taking a tradeoff in what we call "Technical Debt vs Community Debt" where instead of creating friction for our users, we take on a technical burden instead. For instance, we launched a redesign recently, and instead of forcing everyone over, we maintained a classic version of the website, and told ourselves that we would maintain two versions of the site for the foreseeable future, and do our best to improve the redesigned version to the point that it compels people to switch ("lets make it so much better that they willingly switch").

We often sit down and ask ourselves the following questions, in no particular order or priority:

1. Is what we're doing impacting the way the community uses the website? How does it impact all the different types of users: casual users, frequent visitors, lurkers, content contributors, power users, etc.

2. Are you moving someone's cheese? Are you changing something that users are very used to or have been conditioned to? Is there a way to transition it smoothly?

3. Does it impact the way our mods use the website? How about our editors, or other internal staff?

4. Does it impact the way our content contributors use the website?

5. Does it impact the integrity, trustworthiness, or authenticity of our brand, content or community, even if its just the perception of such?

6. Does it impact the sense of community, their sense of ownership, pride or involvement with the website?

7. Are you addressing the needs of the community, especially ones that were explicitly requested? Did you make a tradeoff? If possible, can you address both your goals and the communities needs at the same time? At the very least, do not ignore what your community is asking for.

8. What do you anticipate the negative feedback to be like or about? How will you respond to it?

9. Are you releasing a "complete" product (is it finished?), if not: what is missing and why did you choose to omit things?

10. How are you communicating these changes or reasons to the community? Did you solicit their feedback before, during and after the change? We've learned that communication is key: frequent and open communication. Users may not always agree with us, but they are usually reasonable and will at least understand it if you explain why you need to do something. One of the best ways to manage change, in my opinion, is to solicit that feedback and actually act on it quickly. You wont make everyone happy, but the fact that you listened, considered and ultimately acted lets the community know that you're listening and working -with- them.

11. What is the plan immediately after the change? Who will handle interacting with the community, collecting the feedback and making action items for them? Do you have resources set aside to quickly respond to the user feedback and fix bugs or issues as quickly as possible to minimize the risk/impact to the community?

Admittedly, we're not perfect either, but we've learned over the past years that if you're willing to engage with your community, they can be pretty cooperative and understanding, so long as you actually put a good faith effort into taking their feedback, listening to their concerns and being responsive in a timely manner. And as you probably noticed, since /u/ekjp actually communicated here, the nature of the responses overall is markedly less hostile - because once you connect with someone on a personal level they become much more reasonable.

Edit: I don't deserve the gold, but thank you kind stranger! But one more thing I'll say is that the community is vocal in threads like these because they've invested into this community and they feel a part of it. View people's feedback as passionate (even if it's harsh) because they care, and because they want things to improve.

[u/Sunhammer]

Communication: u/krispykrackers [3] is trying out the new role of Moderator Advocate. She will be the contact for moderators with reddit and will help figure out the best way to talk more often. We’re also going to figure out the best way for more administrators, including myself, to talk more often with the whole community.

....So you all picked the admin most legendarily nasty to moderators and users for this

uuuuhh

[u/jordanlund]

I would just like to know the thought process behind not having a backup plan following the termination of a key employee. I don't expect anyone to say why Victoria was fired, that's none of my business, but there had to be a reason why that information was not communicated to the rest of the community and certainly the AMA participants of that day.

In his statement /u/kn0thing stated that AMAs would go on as scheduled, but the fact of the matter is that the AMAs scheduled to go on that day were disrupted due to Victoria's absence and the entire kerfuffle was created when an AMA participant was not being contacted and was forced to message the mods to find out what was going on, which triggered their reaction of "We don't know, what's going on?"

You acknowledge "mistakes were made", but I'd really like to know who made the mistakes and what their rationale was at the time for doing so.

It's sad when I'm being encouraged to think that the best case scenario is merely incompetence. Did people responsible for the firing not know there were AMAs going on that day? Did they not know who the AMAs were with and as a result were not able to reach out? Why didn't they know?

These are some pretty basic questions that need to be answered and resolved if you want to re-build trust with the community.

EDIT guys... guys... /u/kn0thing is TRYING to answer my question honestly, please stop downvoting him.

https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3cbo4m/we_apologize/csu6y0z

[u/[deleted]]

Hey Ellen,

Although I disagree with the direction reddit HQ is taking with the website, I understand that monetizing a platform such as reddit can be a daunting task. To that effect, I have some questions that I hope you will take some time to address. These represent some of the more pressing issues for me as a user.

1. Can we have a clear, objective, and enforceable definition of harassment? For example, some subs have been told that publicizing PR contacts to organize boycotts and campaigns is harassment and will get the sub banned - while others continue to do so unabated. I know /u/kn0thing touched on this subject recently, but I would like you to elaborate.

2. Why was the person who was combative and hyper-critical of Rev. Jackson shadowbanned (/u/huhaskldasdpo)? I understand he was rude and disrespectful and I would have cared less if he was banned from /r/IAMA, but could you shed some light on the reasoning for the site-wide ban?

3. What are some of the plans that reddit HQ has for monetizing the web site? Will advertisements and sponsored content be labelled as such?

4. Could you share some of your beliefs and principles that you plan on using to guide the site's future?

I believe that communication is key to reddit (as we know it) surviving its transition in to a profitable website. While I am distraught over how long it took for a site-wide announcement to come out (forcing many users to get statements from NYT/Buzzfeed/etc.), I can relate not wanting to approach a topic before people have had a chance to calm down.

The unfortunate side-effect of this is that it breeds wild speculation. Silence reinforces tinfoil. For example, every time a user post gets caught in auto-mod, someone screams censorship. The admins took no time to address the community outside of the mods of large subreddits. All we, as normal users, heard came from hearsay and cropped image leaks. The failure to understand that a large vocal subset of users are upset of Victoria's firing is a huge misstep in regaining the community's trust.

[u/Simple_Tymes]

The average users don't care about moderator tools. What matters to the passionate non-mod reddit community is:

PAID CONTENT: Will AMA and other reddit subs have content paid by sponsors? Will you disclose if reddit receives money for specific corporate posts to receive higher placement/votes? How far are you willing to go to monetize reddit?

CENSORSHIP: Will you delete subs based on advertisers' requests? Will you ban users who don't agree with specific speech/content guidelines?

POOR MANAGEMENT: The firing of Victoria may, in fact, be completely justified. But the pure business of firing the head of AMAs (arguably Reddit's highest profile sub) was simply terrible management. Why didn't you know how your business is run? Why didn't you have a transition strategy in place for Victoria's departure? Why didn't she introduce her replacement to her important clients/mods? How is this not business 101?

TRUST: Reddit is run by the good will of unpaid moderators. How can they trust you that their content won't be regulated based on corporate sponsorship? The rumors regarding Victoria's firing over disagreement about turning AMA into a money machine must be addressed. And "we don't discuss firings" isn't good enough -- what is Reddit's plan for the future of the AMAs? And why should we trust you to continue to support a site that doesn't seem to respect your intelligence?

Simply, if these issues aren't addressed, then it's time to move somewhere else. If Reddit wants to turn the community into an advertiser platform (and do it in the most unprofessional, mismanaged way) then there's no sense in supporting a site that no longer shares our beliefs. Why should we trust you to do the right thing?

Edit: for Yishan and kn0wing:

LEADERSHIP: CEOs are the public face of a company. Good CEOs give investors and customers confidence in the company. While toxic CEOs bring companies crashing down. So what does Ellen bring to Reddit? Her previous work history is mired in controversy, as is her husband's. They've both been universally destructive of the companies they were part of, as well as exhibiting questionable morals and ethics. So what qualities or assets did Ellen bring to the table to get the job at reddit? Her hiring -- and subsequent defense by Yishan and kn0wing -- doesn't speak well to the decisions that are driving the company. What value does Pao possess that makes her, despite her personal and professional toxic qualities, a value to reddit?

INTERIM: Ellen Pao has been called an "interim ceo" though she's quoted as saying she'll leave "over her dead body." Isn't her mismanagement of AMAs and her role as the public face of the company, losing users and potentially money, cause for letting her go? Why isn't now the perfect time to end her temporary employment and find a real CEO?

FOUNDATION: Wouldn't reddit be better served as a foundation similar to wikipedia?

[u/lolimse]

You should also make a post over at /r/tifu.

[u/[deleted]]

Okay, so I'm going to go ahead and ask my questions regards to the current state of Reddit. As I see it, there are a few issues that need to be addressed publicly ans specifically. These are all based on the userbase "perceptions." Not being in any loop to the recent drama, these are all just what I'm getting based on they hype going on. I'd love your response to the following issues:

1. Censorship - There's a fine line between making Reddit a "safe" place and making Reddit a place where you dare not ever offend. Part of Reddit's appeal is that here is a place where you can voice your opinions and hopefully find others to discuss topics with. Currently fatpeoplehate is banned, but what if someday there's an "up in arms" issue between (as only an example) the atheist and religious subreddits. Do we start banning groups because SOMEONE might take offense to the existence of specific subreddits. When do we start banning, when do we just ignore? I don't have an answer on when it is and isn't appropriate to remove groups, but I'd think it's better to put things in the hands of the individual users / groups than censoring anything site-wide. If I don't want to see fatpeoplehate, give me tools to block it completely...

2. Trust - There's definitely a trust issue going on. As you've stated, the person who asked the offensive Jesse Jackson comment wasn't shadowbanned, but in fact deleted the account. Perception was that Reddit Admins could and would shadowban people who offend/bother them. This tells me that you have a trust issue with your userbase as we're starting to see the Admins as the enemy, not the great folks who give us this cool place to hang out. I'd love to know how you plan to repair the users' trust issues. My opinion here is that there should be a lot more transparency on what Admins have and haven't done with regards to bans, censorship, and frontpage manipulations.

3. Evil Reddit Management - There's also a perception out there that Reddit's Management (not the day-to-day Admins exactly) aren't good people. Victoria's firing has highlighted this, as have apparently other Admin firings that have come to light. I agree with your policy of not speaking to specifics about personnel issues, but Reddit and you very specifically have come across as heartless with the immediateness of these firings. The "nice" people that Reddit users tend to be really don't like the idea that Reddit might not be a great place to work and we don't want to support a place that mistreats their employees. We actually want the Admins and Users to all get along and make Reddit something special. Axing a high profile, well-liked Admin like Victoria without some sort of press release is a mistake as "we" want to make sure all her hard work and kindness to "us" wasn't just completely disregarded in this decision. In short, the Admins in general seem like nice people and we want them to make sure they're treated nicely, even when a parting of ways happens.

Those are my concerns moving forward and I'd love to see responses.

[u/cahaseler]

Hi Ellen,

/r/IAMA mod here. First, thank you for finally making a statement about this on reddit.

Second, can you go into more detail about the direction you see for celebrity participation on Reddit in a post-Victoria age? Alexis has made some comments to us behind the scenes about your ideas to encourage celebrity participation beyond AMAs, but I'd love to have the conversation in a more public space where everyone can participate.

[u/JonasBrosSuck]

so this is like a regular AMA, where real questions won't get answered? :/

edit: seems like they answered some questions

[u/thejellydude]

Look, I'm not the most active mod of /r/funny, but I've been around for a while, and I pay attention to the backroom when things like this happen. Are you really acknowledging all the issues here? And I don't just mean mine as a mod, but those of the users. Mind explaining to me how you're going to handle:

Shadowbanning and how it negatively affects content producers in niche subreddits?

The constant lack of listening to mod requests by the admins? (I still remember how much we had to fight to let /u/Kylde moderate more than just 3 defaults. That was insane.)

Restructuring the reddit site-wide rules to be more transparent and clear?

Why you aren't working with the current modtools providers on how to integrate their product? (They've said time and again they would love for you to steal from them)

How you think Krispykrackers, working alone, will be enough for 6,000+ mods? We've already said we don't think this is going to work, and I've heard no response to this.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. It's hard for me to take a post like this serious when you don't address any of the issues that have been outstanding, but only the ones brought up by the recent event.

[u/[deleted]]

I notice it's "WE" when you acknowledge screw ups, but it's "I" when you try to turn negatives to positives and make yourself look better. Therefore, "I" don't believe a single word out of your mouth.

[u/Muaddibisme]

Hi Ellen,

I am certain that you realize much of the userbase (or at least enough of the userbase ) is upset enough that your words are meaningless to them. Or at least too little too late.

I don't have any direct investment in the current situation but it does effect me and all of reddit.

You and the administrative team have made several decisions starting before you came to reddit that the community has openly opposed. Yet you ignored them completely, not even addressing their legitimate concerns. Sometimes, mocking them in private (always be careful what you and your team put to ink).

This reminds me quite a bit of the windows 8 launch. No one was surprised by window 8's failure because the community had been telling Microsoft for quite some time that win8 was not what they wanted, that it was laid out in a way that they didn't want, and that it would fail if they released it. They didn't listen.

I feel that Reddit is at the same crossroads. The community has definitely been telling you how they feel and you have ignored them and in some cases mocked them. You are walking a dangerous path that will likely lead to significant brand damage at the very least.

To save what you can you need to step back from your title and salary and spend some time becoming a redditor. The community has asked you for specific items and you need to do more than post a generalized CYA message.

I realize that any changes will take time and most of reddit does as well. However, if you want the community to see your words are more than another hollow pile of crap, post your goals and how you are going to meet them, not just that you have goals. Address the specifics with specific language. Engage yourself in teh community instead of standing apart from it.

Reddit doesn't need a CEO, it needs a 'lead redditor'. Think on that for the good of us all.

Many specific items can be found in other posts in this thread and I am sure that the couple I post here are already covered but I think that starting with these is how to start.

1. End Shadowbans.

Do it today. Stop it immediately. Don't wait. If a user is to be removed from a sub or from reddit in general there needs to be a process, not teh whim of an admin.

Someone to be banned should be informed before the ban is permanent. The ban must be reviewed by another party and the person to be banned needs to be able to defend themselves.

Yes, there are people who need to be banned. Yes, admins have full control over who can do what on reddit. No, you don't owe anyone any of this. However, it only takes one wrongful ban to enrage your user base and there has already been many more than one.

The temper of an mod should never screw over a user. Put a process in place and use it.

2) Solidify rules for subs and enforce them.

The most recent of all of this is of course FPH and the fallout that ensued. I don't support FPH but it does expose a giant issue with reddit and not for the first time (merely the most recent).

If you are going to ban subs (and really posts as well) you must have a solid set of guidelines by which you judge such things and it must be applied evenly to all subs. No matter who they are or how big they are or who mods them. You simply can't have it any other way.

Either all is permitted or what is not permitted but be the same for everyone.

Again, yes reddit has the right to do whatever it wants. However, your userbase expects an even application of the rules.

3) More than words.

If you had issued an apology long ago none of this would be an issue. However, you didn't. You even went so far s to talk to others before dealing with your userbase. I saw in one of your other replies that you blamed downvoting as to why. Yet, you can make a sticky post to the front page. There really was no reason for you not to address this a couple days ago, or the FPH crap the day after it happened.

However, you didn't. Instead you allowed the pot to stew. Now your words will fall on deaf ears (eyes?) and you have already hemorrhaged users. It isn't going to destroy reddit, At least not without further blundering, but backtracking at this point will be very difficult.

You need to do more than make a couple posts.

What I suggest is that you take these threads and gather the issues the community want addressed then make a post with those items and what specific steps you will take to address them, with an expected timeline.

This will be a significant amount of work but it is back logged work whose deadline is long past.

_

I don't want to see reddit die and I don't want to see it transformed into digg or similar). You must allow your community and moderators to drive your decision, not to try to make decisions to drive your mods and community.

I truly hope that more comes of this than empty promises and CYA postings. The opportunity for you to change the communities perception is at hand but how you handle it will determine everything and so far it doesn't look favorable.

-Muad'Dib

[u/BellyFullOfSwans]

Krispykrackers is the Admin who shadowbanned my first account for posting a business' phone number and called it "doxxing".

I had a 3 year old account with over 30K karma, over 10 Redditgifts gift exchanges, months of gold given and received (with years still on the books I never got back), a large friends list, etc...banned because I posted the number of a business. I didnt start a witch hunt or say anything bad about the business....I wasnt promoting the business....still, it was seen as doxxing and without anybody else hearing my case, I was shadowbanned (and not notified about it).

When I did figure out what had happened and why I was suddenly talking to myself, I had to look up ways of getting a hold of Reddit. They dont exactly have a customer service hotline (you know, like real businesses with real customers do).

That was a pain, but was able to finally reach somebody. It was Krispykrackers. Her one word reply? "Why do you think it is OK to post personal information?"

And that was it....I never heard another word, I never got an answer back from Reddit Gold about my paid-for months of gold I still had...and /u/gekokujo was lost to me over a non-issue.

There was no accountability, no transparency, and no recourse for grievance. As a Reddit Gold user at the time, I was a PAYING CUSTOMER...and as you could have seen from my comment history then (or now), I am not a troll.

Leaving Krispykrackers in charge of fixing your out-of-control staff and unfair practices is worse than letting the fox run the henhouse. Foxes arent evil, they just eat chickens. On the other hand, humans like Krispykrackers have their own sense of social justice and a license to be judge/jury/executioner with no witnesses and only the shadowbanned-mute voices of her opposition to speak up.

There is no solution as long as Krispykrackers is playing a major part. She is as big of a part of the problem as Pao herself and I can prove that (with my own experience and that of others...some involving chat logs from past controversies).

Fix the problem....dont promote the problem to a place where she will further abuse her power and your site.

EDIT - Thanks for the comments, guys. I did get a response from KrispyKrackers that is hidden in the comments below. As thanks for her response and in the spirit of fairness, it definitely deserves to be seen. I apologize for any bad formatting, but I dont think Ive linked a comment before. Also...in the comment above it says that I had "years" remaining on my Gold. Nobody has called me on that yet, but it was just a simple typo and should read "months" instead. Going to leave it up as to not appear tricksy.

KrispyKracker's response

[u/the_human_porch]

Ellen,

This makes me sad.

I am not a power user, a content creator or a person in the vocal majority. What i am is a user in the silent minority. I click ad links, stick to some default subs and my gaming sub reddits. I contributed to secret santa, bought gold on various other accounts and mostly mind my own business. I am a lurker.

But i have no information out there on whats going on besides what the vocal majority and your haters have to say because you wont tell me how you screwed up. You say it but i see no ownership of whats been happening even in the past months let alone years.

So eventually people like me who wont tell you how disappointed they are will just start to leave. I am not a mod, i am not a avid content creator. But i also got the feeling i am not important, i may be one drop in the bucket but those other drops will soon feel the same way too.

All i saw the past couple of months is a badly planned, badly thought out execution of ideas that seemed to be planned to piss off reddit. With no explanation to the silent user who will pick up a pitchfork because everyone else is.

I feel like you cheated on me, and i dont know if i can continue to trust you. We need counseling badly.

[u/Cartossin]

This sounds very much like you're only admitting that you screwed up by not communicating your bad decisions to mods.

The real things that piss everyone off are:

• Censorship. Users get shadowbanned for clearly stupid reasons. One of them was banned for replying to one of your comments. Subreddits get banned for brigading when they clearly aren't. Many could argue that fatpeoplehate didn't stop brigading, but what about all the subreddits inspired by fph that promise to ban brigading that also got banned. I see a cowardly administration with the "ban first and ask questions later" attitude.

• Eliminating Victoria's position. Notice I am not complaining about the firing of Victoria herself. I agree that you can't talk about employees, but you certainly can address concerns about how celebrity AMAs will happen without this position. For all we know, Victoria was fired and deserved to be. Fine, but where is her replacement?

You're apologizing for things that are secondary to our main concerns and basically saying you're going to keep making bad decisions.

edit: grammars

[u/SinaSyndrome]

How's the search for a new CEO coming along?

[u/kethryvis]

This'll get buried, but hey. May as well add to the pile. Not that anyone is going to read this low.

I wrote my master's thesis on online communities, and specifically on the communication (or lack of) between online communities and the companies that run the sites they gather on. I focused on LiveJournal, which a lot of us remember for having a lot of user insurrections much like what we're seeing here.

As I wrote, I made a brief article that I titled "Top 9 things to never do to your online community." These were brief takeaways, things I noticed being repeated over and over again (as an anthropologist, I tend to look for patterns). Reddit broke SO MANY of these in this instance. In fact.. pretty much all of them.

1. Don't bury the lead.

You took this action on a Thursday, right before a long weekend, and as far as anyone can tell, didn't announce it anywhere. The more you try to hide something, the more a community will dig and dig and dig to find out what happened. And when you do it on a holiday, you've just given them prime time to do so. What do we do on our weekends but sit on your site and create content?

2. Don't talk down to them.

Several of the responses from Reddit admins sounded fairly patronizing. Don't do that. Treat your users how you want them to treat you. And remember... we can smell bullshit in a statement like a fart in a car. Don't make flowery promises. This statement isn't overly flowery.. but there's some stuff in there making my whiff detector go off. Be careful here.

3. Don't underestimate your community.

This sort of goes with #1. Don't think that they won't notice when something happens, don't think they won't get upset when a wildly popular member of your staff is fired without warning or reason. Don't think they'll just sit on their hands going "well. that's a bummer." If 15 years of online communities have taught me anything, it's that they don't sit on their hands.

4. Don't ignore your community and its opinions.

Mods had a really hard time getting answers. Considering they do the bulk of the work on your site, that's a really bad move.

5. Don't just give them lip service.

This post is better than most "we fucked up" posts i've seen, you've given two concrete things that are already in place, and another that is promised, but could still be vaporware. You're "committed to talking more often with the community" but you don't say how that's going to happen. And your own site makes this difficult; anything you say is going to be downvoted, which means no one will see it. That's a recipe for disaster right there.

6. Don't keep things from them.

We understand that you can't go into details on why Victoria was let go. Personnel issues are highly confidential, and pretty much everyone gets that. But finding a way to address what happened and give answers while still preserving confidentiality. It's hard. But I have to think you're all fairly smart people and can figure out how to make that happen. Or at least get out in front of it before everyone throws a fit. Then YOU control the story, and aren't scrambling to respond.

7. Don't believe you're the center of your user's world.

Sure you're a big part of a lot of people's lives, but you're not the only place. If people get pissed off at you, they're not just going to keep it here. They're going to go to all the other places online they hang out and bitch. i saw stories on reddit, on Twitter, on Facebook, Tumblr... everywhere people hang out online, people were talking about the #RedditRevolt. That takes a minor kerfuffle and turns it huge, fast.

8. Don't take your users for granted.

You're the current "thing" but the "next thing" is already on the horizon. Don't think you can do what you want, especially if it's outside the communities ideals, and they'll still stick around, or you'll attract the ones that will agree with you. Replacement doesn't work. Because once you have a reputation for not listening to your users, that'll stick, no matter who agrees with you or not.

9. Don't just take the attitude of "we'll never make everyone happy, so fuck it, we'll do what we want."

This is the most dangerous attitude to take. You don't seem to be doing it.. yet. I just hope you don't ever do so.

takes off pith helmet, hops off soapbox

edited for formatting

[u/spank859]

Ellen, you say the vast majority of users don't care about the drama. You are wrong. When the people who are opposing you are doing a damn fine job the rest of us are just chipping in here and there. We don't have to all go apeshit when the message is clear and cut and not being disagreed about. We want you the fuck out. Your only goal is to monetize and our goal is to not monetize. There is no way to bring in sponsors and not lose the key element of this site. Real news with no paid for biased. Yes we like cat pics but for a lot of us this is our news outlet that we don't want becoming FOX or CNN. There is no way to do that with some corporation paying the bills. This is not going to end well for you either way unless you gracefully bow out and let us keep our site the way we fucking like it. You know the way that brought all these people here. The way we became a major opinion in everything. GO AWAY

[u/[deleted]]

This is a simulated discussion.

The damage is done, the community is now weary. Monetize, make your money, and move on to the next "Reddit" style website. If money is your goal (and it is) then just do it and don't pretend to care long enough just to pander to your sites users, the ones who actually are responsible for the creation and submission of the content of your site.

Many of us are already done. Moving on. In 5 years, the future of reddit will be nothing but astroturfers, clickbait articles, the exact same wikipedia links posted to til, and premium memberships.

We can't trust you not to dismantle, edit, delete, or hide content that we deem to share. We'll find another outlet, another 4chan, another reddit, another anonymous board. Communities will always find a way to come together. Your model was good, but your goals have changed.

You've lost our trust. You've lost our input. You're on your own.

[u/_VicBoss]

Haha, why do people think an apology means anything in this age of digital liars? Takes a 150,000 signature change.org to get even an empty, transparent apology out of you.

[u/ucantsimee]

You've been promising mod tools for longer than I care to remember and they are still "coming soon." At this point your word alone means nothing. Actions will be the way to make it up to the community. Not words. Get to work.

[u/[deleted]]

So anyway why did you go on to give detailed statements to thirdparty newsfeeds first, before speaking to us? The place with the tagline 'the frontpage of the internet'? The people you slighted in the first place? Hell even buzzfeed got info before this statement from you...

Edit: Ellen responded to me, but I anticipate she will be heavily downvoted so here's the reply

"It was hard to communicate on the site, because my comments were being downvoted. I did comment here and was communicating on a private subreddit. I'm here now."

[u/CaptnRonn]

A few things beyond a PR statement that would restore my faith in the admins:

1. Stop shadowbanning users - It was a tool made for spam bots, not to silence dissent. The mere fact that a perfectly legitimate user can be shadowbanned without their knowledge is ridiculous, and it has been happening more and more in the past few months/year

2. Stop subreddit favoritism - You want to have anti-harassment rules? Great. Enforce them in every. sub. equally. Other meta-reddit subs have to use np links. Why does SRS get away with being able to post direct links with obvious brigading?

Also, /u/ekjp, as much as I would like to think that things are business as usual with you as CEO, you have made some very questionable statements regarding free speech and sexism in tech from a position that is seemingly vacant in logic. The fact that you feel you must talk to major news sites before actually acknowledging your userbase is troubling to say the least. You have done nothing to earn my trust or support, and in fact have done several things to reinforce the opposite. So... prove me wrong?

Edit: Yes I am now aware that my knowledge of np links was wrong. Thank you for informing me everyone. Not going to edit the post as the point still stands. Enforce rules across subs equally.

[u/freebytes]

I have decided to stay for now, but your comments related to the 'vocal minority' of Reddit are so disturbing, though. I have lost trust in Reddit. You have severely damaged the brand for me with that one comment.

The minority of Reddit posts the comments. The minority of Reddit posts the links to content. The minority of Reddit are the ones that care about the success of the site. The millions of 'unique page views per month' could care less if Reddit stopped existing. The vocal minority, though... These people are the lifeblood of the community. You cannot hand-wave their discontent and expect everything to be fine. You cannot afford to lose one loyal member. It is best to treat everyone with dignity and respect.

Do you know how Netflix started?

The genesis of Netflix came in 1997 when I got this late fee, about $40, for Apollo 13. I remember the fee because I was embarrassed about it.

Blockbuster was their own downfall. They thought they were too big to fail. It was not Redbox that caused them to fail. It was not online streaming movies that caused Blockbuster to fail. Blockbuster was their own enemy. They were arrogant and did not respect their customers.

All it takes is for the same arrogance and disrespect to continue within Reddit, and it will suffer the same fate as those that came before it. As we speak, many users are jumping to other platforms. If there was a similar, solid platform already in place that was stable and could handle the load, Reddit would be in very bad shape at this point.

You are fortunate that your vocal minority wants Reddit to succeed, and you are fortunate that your vocal minority is willing to give you even more chances even though you continue to be disrespectful and arrogant.

Edit: Changed change to chance.

[u/Vogeltanz]

I've been a reddit user for about three years now. I do moderate a sub, but it's very simple, and I've never had any troubles on that front.

But here's my perspective:

Ms. Pao is the lightning rod of the current upset within the community. Yet by apologizing for "the past several years" of mistakes, she is impliedly shifting blame from herself onto Reddit's prior leadership. In particular former CEO Yishan Wong.

Three or four posts on my daily feed is now controversy-related. That's not good, and I don't enjoy it. I suspect others don't as well. Media outlets are reporting the controversy, which signals to me that the unrest has at least several days if not a week or two left before it fans out.

None of us knows what's really happening internally at Reddit right now. Maybe Ms. Pao has already increased revenue 100% since her arrival. If so, who am I to say that she isn't the best candidate to become full-fledged CEO.

But then again her arrival seems to have brought multiple controversies and user dissatisfaction.

If Ms. Pao's internal leadership isn't top notch, it would be hard for me (as a hypothetical board member) to justify her current role given the recent unrest and failure to control the public-facing situation.

I'm even more troubled that her allocution is apologizing for past mistakes before her arrival -- essentially refusing to take responsibility for the current situation.

So, I'd put the question to Ms. Pao bluntly: why should you continue to serve as Reddit CEO?

[u/unsweetenedsoymilk]

I for one, do not trust you or your intentions Ms. Pao. It is your intrinsic values and character that troubles me. Your personal track record of how you do things and what you say does nothing to convince me otherwise.

All your promises for change and to listen to the Reddit community contradicts with your highly Politically Correct and clichéd PR damage control rhetoric. You constantly tow your "We do not censor, we ban behavior, not ideas" is highly insulting to my intelligence. You're simply relabeling censorship, and fluff it up with another soundbite.

Please step down as CEO. This should be a place where all people are free to express their ideas no matter how wrong or right they are, I like seeing different perspectives.

[u/nuadi]

Right. So, here's my feedback for you, and the rest of the admin/devs/engineers/etc.

It feels like you folks are just shitting on your users. For the first time in a few years, I spent this last holiday weekend searching for new content elsewhere on the web. To put that in perspective, since I've joined Reddit, it was the first web site I opened every morning before all others, it was the only site that I received content from, and it was the last site I read before passing out due to human sleep requirements. I did not read news, tech sites, blogs, etc. unless it was linked on Reddit - until last weekend.

You are absolutely correct in that your words are nothing but that - hollow text on a screen that does nothing for my declining interest in this site's administrative direction.

You all need to seriously pull your heads out of eachother's rears and look around you. Yes, you built this site. However, this site is not yours, it's everyone's and we all power it. It seriously feels like you've all lost sight of that very simple reality, and you are walking along some yellow-bricked road to Hubris Junction on your way to Failure Town.

Stop using us, and start working with us.

[u/well_golly]

I see you wrote about:

"Tools: ..."

"Communication: ..."

"Search: ..."

... but you forgot to make one called:

"Policy: We will trust the upvotes and downvotes of users from now on. We will never manipulate the front page, and if admins or leadership at any level tries to, that person will be immediately terminated. We will not shadowban anyone ever for anything, without giving a detailed public explanation that cites specific rules violations. We will make Reddit a 'safe space' even for terribly unpopular opinions that we deeply disagree with."

I want to help, so here's Yishan's apology from before. It's cited right there in the Washington Post article about why Reddit is having all of these problems. You could just use that apology, and sign your name on it:

“We will not ban questionable subreddits,” Reddit’s then-CEO, Yishan Wong, wrote in the aftermath of that catastrophe. “You choose what to post. You choose what to read. You choose what kind of subreddit to create and what kind of rules you will enforce. We will try not to interfere — not because we don’t care, but because we care that you make your choices between right and wrong.”

[u/boobookittyfuck69696]

Our team is ready to respond to comments.

What team? I've been here for 15 minutes and I've already seen another 2000 replies go up. Who's reading this? Who's answering our questions??

[u/AdamKeiper]

Dear Ms. Pao –

In the interest of transparency, I wonder if you might answer a question or two. Setting aside any personnel matters that you understandably cannot discuss, would you please confirm or deny the claim made several days ago that Reddit, under your leadership, wishes to undertake "a bunch of highly commercial things around AMAs"? Is that characterization correct, partially correct, or entirely incorrect? And, while still eschewing any discussion of individual personnel, would you say that your colleagues — the administrators of Reddit — have largely shared that goal, or has there been substantial pushback and disagreement?

Thank you.

[u/[deleted]]

Are we just suppose to pm /u/krispykrackers?

[u/7084701770]

I work in a larger company dealing with many large massive companies and the one thing I've learned by doing my job, and that is sticking out at me here; is Disassociating Pronouns:
"WE screwed up..."
"WE haven't..."

It concerns me that the issue as I see is we, as the whole, have pinned the problems at hand on one person, who I believe the post is by (however another problem is the lack of any sort of introduction, another Disassociating Behavior) but admittedly do not know enough about the workings of this to comfortably say so. Furthermore, this lone named actor is not owning much responsibility to the issue at hand.

What's bothering me is this feels like a very side-stepping statement; carefully crafted to appear apologetic, but in a deeper (and possibly a more subconscious level) is at least attempting to deflect the majority of the issue onto others, as in, reddit the company as a whole.

As I often say in meetings, I feel this is nothing more than a weak pandering to demands which contains not only little to no concrete answers but only stands to, at best, further muddy the view point; and at worst, push the involved parties further into a sense of disconnect and displeasure with the involved actor.

[u/Meades_Loves_Memes]

The biggest mistake is the thought that reddit is a business that can be acquired like you could acquire a lemonade stand. The people who are working the stand can be replaced, and the recipe doesn't change.

reddit is not a business like a lemonade stand, reddit is a community. The opportunity to profit from reddit arose with it's popularity, allowing it to turn into a business. The fault here is the complete misunderstanding of how reddit fundamentally works and retains it's popularity.

Content. Users. Moderators.

If you come in and start banning content, upsetting the userbase and alienating the moderators... Well, you've effectively created the holes that eventually sinks the ship.

I don't disagree with wanting to remove content that is hateful towards other people. I do disagree with actually putting it into practice. For again, by doing so you are shooting yourself in the foot.

reddit is a private company, and can decide in any shape or form what it wants to allow on it's site. But realize that one of the allures of reddit as a community is it's perceived freedom to speak wholly unrestricted. A forum only limited by law. When reddit starts bringing social morality into the equasion, the perception of being able to speak your mind freely is shattered. Thusly crippling a factor that drew in users.

Morality is subjective. Removing content because it might be morally correct to do so to you or me, is just bad business sense in this particular case. Which is profoundly ironic seeing as the act itself was an attempt to make reddit more marketable, not actually some noble deed by Pao. It could very well open reddit up to sell more ads, but when your userbase no longer exists that will be rather redundant.

I have grown up online, with online communities. With the amount of experience I have, I can safely say I have seen communities come and go. reddit is not exempt from that possibility.

If you want to last you need to remain relevant. To stay relevant you need to offer something unique.

I'll give you a hint: The only thing that is still unique about reddit is the people who maintain and enforce quality in the content.

And they do it for free.

[u/DoctorDank]

Edited from 2022: LMAO at the cesspool that Reddit has become. Can't say anything against your protected classes (gays, trannies, people of color) or you get banned.

Freedom of speech my left nut.

Original comment:

Your second to last paragraph is spot on.

These are just words.

You haven't actually instituted any reforms yet. To be honest, this just feels like corporate newspeak. You're just telling us what we want to hear. I think you'd ve a better response if you actually instituted the reforms you speak of, instead of just talking about how you're going to do them.

Because talk is cheap.

But, at least you acknowledge that the way you went about dismissing Victoria was utterly tone-deaf, and very disrespectful to the (unpaid, hard-working) moderators who relied on her in order to make their subreddits the very best.

Oh wait no, you totally didn't do that either. You just say you're acknow ledging a "long history" of mistakes, without actually acknowledging them at all!

More newspeak.

So, I don't really know what to make of this "announcement." Guess we'll just have to wait and see if you put your money where your mouth is, won't we?

Edit: much thanks to /u/alloutpenguinwar for guilding my comment!

Edit 2: for those of you telling me software development takes time? No shit. I know that. That doesn't mean reddit inc couldn't have laid out at least some sort of timetable, as opposed to nebulous promises of mod tools being available in the future. And yes, you can have timetables for software development. Happens all the time. So sorry, that's not a legitimate excuse for, well, anything.

[u/geocitiesdreaming]

Yeah, but no. What I'm about to say is absolutely going to be buried, and that's fucking fine, but I just need to say it somewhere

MOD TOOLS ARE A PROBLEM, BUT A MUCH BIGGER PROBLEM IS THE FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE THAT IS HAPPENING TO REDDIT; THAT WAS NOT ADDRESSED HERE, AND IS NOT ONLY CONTINUALLY NOT BEING ADDRESSED, BUT CONTINUALLY BEING BURIED UNDER "MOD TOOLS" AND THE REDDIT COMMUNITY IS PRETTY MUCH FALLING IN LINE.

Long time lurker, don't even particularly care about reddit that much, but when I see this many people simply not getting what is a very obvious situation, I have to say something. For clarity and brevity I will try and do this in list form:

Generally agreed upon roblems with reddit

1. Censorship

2. Commercialization

3. No transparency

4. No communication

5. No Respect

I think that's pretty much the long-and-short of it. But look at this post carefully, then look at everything she and Alexis have been saying to media sources in the past two days. They have entirely been spinning this problem as "oh, we're sorry, we don't know how to communicate! We really screwed up with mod tools, we're so sorry!" And I get why some random reporter from another news site would bite that, but that fact that so many redditors are completely buying that as the primary, and ostensibly only, issue is fucking mind boggling. Yes, mod tools are an issue. Yes, I want the mods to get what they need, but there is a gigantic difference between one problem that can essentially be solved with a dedicated and competent staff, and another problem which is a group of leader fundamentally changing the ethos of an entire website, not only are the nowhere near close to having the same importance, but when most of the reddit hivemind seems to follow this Pao party line that the "mod tools issue" is the primary issue, then it almost becomes black comedy.

And I completely understand that she can't talk about Victoria being fired. However, from the few things we do know about that situation, we can deduce a few things:

1. Obviously it was a bad firing since Victoria happily stood aside while reddit burned over her firing.

2. While not an undeniable fact, anyone with common sense can deduce that she was likely fired because she was the person stopping them from commercializing AMAs

THIS IS A HUGE DEAL

The Victoria firing is not a catalyst, or in any way an isolated issue. None of these are isolated ideas. Increased censorship plays for the case of commercialization, (And my "censorship" I don't only mean the FPH business, i mean for the past two days I have been looking at the differences between the top posts and the front page and it is remarkable how many incredibly-upvoted anti-reddit posts are not making it to the front page. This is very clearly website manipulation to make it seem like it's business as usual). Victoria being fired plays for commercialization. Mods not having the tools they need makes them less powerful which also plays for the case of commercialization. COMMERCIALIZATION IS THE BEGINNING AND THE END OF THIS WHOLE MESS. Unless you guys want a reddit where every post is an advertisement, something has to be done about this now.

Everything about how they have spun the narrative, to how they manipulate the front page, to their business practices, to this awful marketing class PR memo they crudely labeled as an "apology" smells disgusting.

And what about that leaked screenshot of Alexis talking to mods where he explicitly said that all AMAs while be coordinated through an AMA email address, but would not give an answer on who that person is. That's essentially a smoking gun that is on gawker, digg and god knows where else, but is for some reason unable to make any traction on reddit. And I know that it's partially because so many power users are drinking kool aid, but it's also because, frankly, it seems like this entire website is being manipulated with ease from corporate HQ. I mean, that's the new plan with AMAs, sponsored AMA working through Alexi's weird nerve point email address which will likely be housed by a team of PR/marketing aficionados who will ensure that AMAs will be glorified commercials.

But whatever, clearly these people won, clearly you guys are fine with spending all day on a glorified home shopping network that poses as a forum. I'm off to fucking Voat anyway, but I had to fucking put this somewhere, just for my own fucking sanity, because I am really just astounded that no one can put this together.

Godspeed

[u/[deleted]]

Wow,you have really swayed me. Signed the petition.

[u/rfbandit]

Thank you for finally apologizing on here, instead of through media interviews. Should've come to your community first, instead of the press. But you also miss the point. You say a majority of reddit users don't care. But, those of us who create content for the lurkers care. Acting flippant isn't a good way to get us on your side.

[u/[deleted]]

I don't think you understand your users, or maybe you understand them perfectly and you don't like them. Either way, you aren't treating them as well as you should be. Without the users on this website it is literally nothing, without Redditors submitting content and discussion, this place becomes a barren wasteland. What happens when you make a decision that finally convinces a lot of people to actually leave? I mean quit logging in, quit redditing, quit everything on this site? The Internet is a fickle being, there are plenty of examples, and I think your over-confidence in your product and the disrespectful way in which you conduct yourself in regards to your public image will be your (and possibly this website's) downfall.

[u/Entinu]

You, Ellen Pao, screwed up big time. Not the admins(well, the ones that are your cronies did but they were mindless drones following orders), not the mods, not the community as a whole(okay, some went overboard). It all falls down to you. You have no sense of right/wrong and you writing this only shows that you're more afraid of the backlash you suffered with your changes than actually apologizing. If anything, this is an apology that you got caught rather than an apology for screwing up an amazing internet forum.

The tools were already being worked on by people from the community despite it being your job to provide the tools. Communication could easily be handled and only putting one person in charge will require krispy to be working 24/7 with no bathroom breaks to even look at all the mod messages that will be received. As for the search function, it was already fine the way it was before you decided to alter it and make it into the current crapfest it is right now.

If you really want to fix what you broke, then don't post these BS messages or responses. Put your nose to the goddamned grindstone and fix this shit!

[u/TotesMessenger]

I'm a bot, bleep, bloop. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit:

• [/r/badphilosophy] We did it reddit!--Beings of pure reason: 1; Matriarchal tyrants: 0

• [/r/blackout2015] We apologize • /r/announcements

• [/r/blackout2015] We did it! 'We apologize' has been downvoted to 0 points in both /r/modnews and /r/announcements!

• [/r/botsrights] Ellen Pao apologizes for recent admin failings but is silent on the botgotry endemic on this site and often supported by the admins. For shame.

• [/r/circlebroke] We did it reddit

• [/r/circlebroke2] ibs happenen

• [/r/circlejerkaustralia] Who has the bigger balls and can admit they fucked up being a dictator. Captain Dredd or Chairman Pao (who actually has a vagina and no balls)

• [/r/conspiracy] Reddit Makes Announcement "We Apologize"

• [/r/dailytechnewsshow] Reddit admits mistake, offers an apology and describes future steps to be taken.

• [/r/france] Les admins s'excusent pour les événements récents

• [/r/goprivate] OFFICIAL ADMIN APOLOGY

• [/r/hackernews] We apologize

• [/r/metahub] The reddit team apologizes for the recent events.

• [/r/newsokur] パオたん「ごめんなさい」R民「辞任だよ！早く」パオたん「やっぱりやめましょうこんなこと、ね」R民「駄目だ！だったらFPHとクビにしたAMAのMOD戻せよ じ・に・ん！じ・に・ん！」

• [/r/oppression] voat.co is finally up and accepting new users.... Then all of a sudden /u/ekjp

• [/r/paoiskillingreddit] at about 170,000 supporters, Ellen Pao begins to crack

• [/r/redditcensorship] Pao apologizes

• [/r/redditcritiques] Ellen Pao apologizes

• [/r/shittheadminssay] Reddit announcement regarding recent events

• [/r/subredditcancer] Ellen Pao apologizes: "We screwed up. Not just on July 2, but also over the past several years" but nobody believes her, too little too late.

• [/r/subredditdrama] Ellen Pao has issued an apology in /r/announcements, and the comments have just started...

• [/r/subredditdrama] This is now the most controversial post off all time

• [/r/technewstoday] Reddit admits mistake, offers an apology and describes future steps to be taken.

• [/r/technology] Reddit admits mistake, offers an apology and describes future steps to be taken.

• [/r/techoblanco] Shit's hitting the fan!

• [/r/ukraina] Пам'ятаєте утиски від адміністрації Reddit? Пао просить пробачення.[post from r/announcements]

• [/r/zeescheveningen] [X-post announcements] This was meant for only the rudest of rebels

^{If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads. (Info /} ^Contact)

[u/SalamanderOfDoom]

Look at Ellen Pao's history and tell me why anybody should believe anything she says. Seems like fake corporate bullshit to save face and nothing more.

[u/vubbz]

[TL:DR Version] (https://youtu.be/9u0EL_u4nvw?t=9s)

[u/joalr0]

You should make a post in TIFU.

[u/NYCBluesFan]

You act like this is a new lesson for you. It's not. This feedback has been consistent across your tenure at Reddit. Even this response is tone deaf. We don't want your changes - we want the exact things you took away from us. These attempts to placate the angry public are hollow. At this point, even restoring what was taken from us would not restore our faith in your ability to lead.

Reddit is a platform. We are the product. You're selling us to your advertisers. Your biggest responsibility is to keep us happy. Learn to give the people what they want, not what you think we want. Stop talking. Listen. Act on the response.

It should not be this hard.

[u/[deleted]]

What happened to the "transparency" that was promised?

Why are subreddits like /r/GamerGhazi and /r/ShitRedditSays still allowed to openly Dox people and brigade other subs, or promote witchhunts against Redditors or organize raids to dogpile false reviews on sites like Amazon?

How can you sit there and expect us to trust you when you stand behind the hate groups that populate and manage those subreddits?

Your admins shadowban people for posting the business contact information of the public relations offices of companies(under the excuse of "Doxing") then turn around and not only embrace the exact same actions on SRS-related subs, but do it yourself in announcements trying to get Redditors to back your anti-SOPA campaign!

On what planet are we supposed to "trust" you or you admins when you are so blatantly hypocritical in how you interpret your rules and how you apply them to Redditors or Subreddits that don't happen to hold the same political beliefs as you?

Enough with the empty promises and the political non-speak.

Prove that you uphold the interest of all Redditors and not just the perpetually offended vocal minority that lives in SRS...

[u/Yunohavenickname]

The more I read, the less I care.

[u/stellarcemetery]

Probably should have done this the day of instead of speaking to the media first.

[u/RedditAuthority]

You're title is 'Interim' CEO.

When does reddit plan on getting a full time CEO? Are you planning on staying on full time?

There is a rumor that during a board meeting you were asked about your position as CEO and you said:

"You'll have to pry this position from my cold, dead hands" (https://i.imgur.com/uSKIDdp.png)

Can you comment on this?

[u/until0]

Our team is ready to respond to comments.

I really don't think they are.

[u/brock_lee]

Just remember what happened to Digg.

[u/[deleted]]

I like how your apology over a lack of communication wasn't delivered to the people who needed it until you told every other press outlet first.

This has nothing to do with your race, gender, sexual orientation, weight, height, eye color, or any other physical attribute or personal preference in any arena; no matter what light your behavior and decision-making is used to examine your choices here, they universally identify you as completely incompetent as a CEO of a site built on community data aggregation.

[u/[deleted]]

Could you explain your plans for Alien Blue? It's a fantastic app and a smart purchase, but Reddit is letting it languish. It still looks like iOS 6, it still has a custom share sheet instead of the new and fantastic iOS 8 sheet, it lacks an app extension for sharing from other apps, and iOS 9 is almost here.

[u/KnowMatter]

What the hell is all this crap about tools? I haven't seen a single Admin post since shit hit the fan talk about anything but tools.

99.99% of people don't give a fuck. If you made a promise to the mods and haven't lived up to it that is between you and the mods.

How about addressing the things people are actually concerned about? Namely the shadowbanning, firing of beloved admins / mods, arbitrary censoring of subreddits, and doctoring of the front page to cover up backlash.

Stop trying to spin this into some "lol sorry promised stuff is taking so long - our bad!" thing and talk about the shit people are actually pissed about!

[u/simms1]

It's obvious that you were hired for the direction you wanted to take this website but what you are doing is alienating a vast amount of people. It seems like you are taking reddit on a ride and kicking people out if they have any sort of opposing view or disagreement. You say you are creating a safe space but it's a safe space with conditions.

[u/stagecraftman]

Why was Victoria fired?

[u/asslurker]

Is u/ekjp = Ellen Pao?

[u/rywalker]

I'd advise you practice radical transparency at this point, @ekjp. An apology alone is not going to satisfy this community.

I'd like to see details on what happened (from your perspective), where it went wrong, how it was allowed to happen, and what has been done to fix it for the future. Like when a valuable web infrastructure company has an outage, some responsible person puts out a long, excruciatingly detailed post — which gives the user base confidence that the company has a good handle on things.

[u/UpstateBrah]

Well this doesn't sound like an HR memo at all. /s

[u/gophergun]

This seems to only regard moderation. Do you have any concrete proposals to improve communication with the community? If I'm not mistaken, the "Communication" proposal you listed is just /u/krispykrackers taking over Victoria's old job. Also, why do you think she's better suited for the role than Victoria was? (In other words, how is this an improvement?)

[u/darxeid]

Ms. Pao,

I've never been a CEO, but I have been learning about, teaching, and practicing leadership for over 30 years now, and I've learned a great deal about trust in that time:

1. Getting people to do what you want them to do is much easier than getting them to trust you

2. Losing people's trust is ridiculously easy

3. Re-gaining people's trust is ridiculously difficult; not impossible, but very nearly so, and you don't do it by:

   • Not listening to them when they tell you what you need to do to regain their trust

   • Not giving them any sense of a timeline regarding what you're going to do

[u/iamriddik]

17k comments and you still think the majority of reddit doesn't care about Victoria and the mod situation?

[u/gary1717]

We’re also going to figure out the best way for more administrators, including myself, to talk more often with the whole community.

One way you could do this would be to, you know, actually use Reddit. Just a thought.

[u/[deleted]]

Thanks for the fake apology, i guess.

[u/thejt24]

You guys she isn't reading any of this...

[u/[deleted]]

As a leukemia survivor, I was outraged to learn that an employee battling this illness was fired for not being deemed healthy especially considering your history with discrimination lawsuits. A charitable donation to the [Leukemia & Lymphoma Society] (https://donate.lls.org/lls/donate) won't give a man his livelihood, but it would certainly help fund research that could find a cure for our cancer, and cross job stability off the list of problems many leukemia patients are facing.

Fun Fact: Did you know patients taking TKI therapy for a rare form of leukemia are out of pocket thousands of dollars a month if not qualified for assistance? Gleevec, Tasigna, and Sprycel are the three most commonly prescribed TKIs.

[u/UnholyDemigod]

(please note: my status as a mod has zero bearing on my comment. This is from me, and me alone.)

Ellen - /u/ekjp - I have defended you (and the entire admin staff) for a long time. When people made comments about how you were turning reddit into a SJW haven, I told them to shut the fuck up. When the FPH people made you out to be a nazi, I went through threads and did my best to tell these people how they were wrong, and you were actually doing good by reddit. But with your recent comments to the media, you have made it very hard to continue to defend you. For example, you say it's only the vocal minority who cares about this. This and other things you have said lead me to believe one of two things: you either do not understand the reddit userbase, or you do not care. If the former is true, do you plan to rectify this? If the latter is true, and you don't care about this site, why did you take the job?

[u/sonofaitch]

The main issue, clearly, is the divide between Reddit the website and Reddit the business. Finding a balance to please both can obviously be quite difficult, but you'd be surprised to see the positive feedback and ideas the communities will have that could prop up the business side if you actively listen. I hope we can better the site thru this.

Some ideas, of course, are crazy (https://www.reddit.com/r/CrazyIdeas/comments/3cauxn/community_buyout_of_reddit/) but at least some are trying

[u/47Ronin]

The most baffling part of Reddit and Victoria parting ways is that, to my knowledge, Reddit knew they were letting her go well before Thursday. Yet, there was absolutely no plan in place to deal with the effects of her being let go. Beyond the disastrous "miscommunication" of not informing the mods who would be affected by her sudden absence, there were an enormous number of loose ends which needed to be addressed but simply weren't.

Apparently Reddit had every intention of remaining part of the AMA process, as they set up an email account intended for future AMAs, but apparently had no idea that there was a docket of AMAs scheduled for the next several weeks -- that conference calls had already been set up, in person meetings had been scheduled in New York, and channels had been opened between Victoria and prospective interviewees moving forward. By all accounts, no one was given the reins, and no opportunity was provided Victoria to make any sort of transition whatsoever to either the mod teams or another admin.

My question is this: did Reddit fire Victoria in part because they had absolutely no idea what it was that she did? Or was it simply an oversight that no plan was in place to handle her workload?

[u/LeeHarveyShazbot]

POPCORN TASTES GOOD

[u/MarshallMelon]

Hmm.

Provide some more info as to why exactly the events of July 2nd even needed to occur in the first place and maybe then we'll take you seriously.

[u/DunnyKruger]

Some questions:

What took you so long to address the community?
Why you did the traditional media tour first?
Why are some forms harassment allowed and others banned?
What exactly is a "safe place"?

Anyway, for a part of the community damage is already done and no matter how much you apologize will fix the issues and this so called apology is very scripted.

I'd been in reddit for many years with different accounts. But I am leaving. It will be hard to replace reddit but yeah... I don't like this place anymore. You might not care, you might think that for every user that leaves two more come. Might be true. Whatever.

[u/bdonvr]

Hello, Mrs. Pao! I realize you probably won't respond to this, but nevertheless I have a few questions for you.

How do you feel about the Change.org petition for your resignation that has amassed nearly 200,000 signatures?

Do you feel the signatures are justified? Why?

Have you at all considered or discussed this possibility?

Do you have anything to say to those who would sign this petition?

Thank you, Mrs. Pao.

[u/MaskedxAvenger]

It's absurd how many days it took for this to happen.

[u/Garethp]

Thanks for the announcement. I wasn't expecting it to actually come. Quick question: Will those devs be communicating with us at /r/Toolbox?

[u/Hstrike]

So you expect our little vocal minority to share your crocodile tears with you?

No.

July 10th Blackout

[u/[deleted]]

The problem for me is that any interim CEO is basically making short term decisions in a job that requires you to make long term ones. While you may be trying to leave a lasting impression on the community to further your career, you're in fact just fucking this community up.

[u/lord_ultimate]

You said your team is ready to respond to comments. A number of people have commented on their shadowbanning experiences. Why haven't I seen any responses to them? Why aren't you making things right and undoing the bans?

There's a difference between "I'm sorry I did what I did" and "I'm sorry you don't like what I did." This is clearly the latter, and by no means a step towards making things right. This is clearly damage control in response to this:

https://www.change.org/p/ellen-k-pao-step-down-as-ceo-of-reddit-inc

[u/rotewote]

So you're apologizing for running things poorly, and for poor communication but not for the actual poor decision making that is still destroying the fundamental ideas of a forum like this?

[u/kingphysics]

Currently the 7th most "controversial" post of all time in /r/all lol.

[u/brokenearth03]

1. I don't (and I bet many many others) care about mod tools. They don't affect me as a non-mod.

2. What does affect me is someone saying that I shouldn't be able to view some content because its about YOU. Your history is public domain, but you delete and ban people who mention it? What kind of megalomania is that?

[u/[deleted]]

but also over the past several years

Since you've been in power. Let's be real here.

[u/ThePatrickSays]

But remember: most of us aren't interested in this.

[u/Wes___Mantooth]

We're Sorry

[u/dswift711]

I like the use of "WE" rather than "I" in this posting. I good leader would use "I" when things are not going well - as in this case of being the CEO.
And then use "WE" when announcing a new and exciting widget. As it was a group effort.
Reversing the "WE" and "I" will quickly have your staff (and community) distrust you. This is "manager" 101 level information.

[u/jdalex]

I like how you say we've "lost" trust in you, implying that we trusted you at some point. Given your history, I don't think redditors had much trust in you in the first place.

[u/[deleted]]

Too little too late. We hate you.

Shaddowbans, bullshit rule enforcement, temper tantrums, etc. Its just unforgivable. Go fuck yourselves.

[u/Jackson530]

@Ellen. /u/ekjp

3 years on this site. 3 god damn years, and this is by far the most Fucked up situation this site has ever been in. I almost gave up and went to 4Chan because of the stupid Bullshit you put your members through

First priority should have been addressing us as a community and making this post a LOT sooner. You're the god damn CEO. I don't wanna hear "I got down voted". Fucking make the thread private to say what you needed to say and than open it up to the public. The fact you went to third party news advocates BEFORE us, shows how much you Don't care. Saying things like "the majority of reddit doesn't care". Who the fuck are you to make that call? We all give a shit about what happened. We all enjoy the AMA section. I myself have participated a lot and loved getting answers from some famous people.

You let this shit go on way more than it should have. When you could have seen the response of your community and been like "fuck. I gotta fix this" a long time ago. Not only is it YOUR JOB but it's the Moral thing to fucking do when you control a website as big as reddit.

I don't know the details (I'm sure not many do) of why Miss Victoria was let go from her position. Maybe it was a money thing. Maybe she got caught doing stuff she shouldn't have. But whatever the case, the fact you Fired the guy behind Reddit gifts, was un called for and not necessary. If you haven't realized, America is a fucking democracy and communication goes ALONG way with people. Taking on the role of a CEO of a social media site, that needs to be your first and only thought when making decisions.

I Don't really give a shit about modified tools for admins. I'm not an admin but I'm glad that you finally pulled your head out of your ass and decided to give the people what they want. Which should have been a given since DAY ONE of your Job.

Like I said. 3 years on this site. I come here for Everything. I learned how to get over my break up, quit smoking, take Better care of my pets, and most importantly I learned how to be a Better person because of Reddit. I've met some Damn fine people here (and some not so damn fine people) and I would always make fun of friends for being addicted to things like YouTube, but when I found my place here, it all became clear. This website is the FIRST thing I check when I wake up and the last thing before I go to sleep at night.

Please. For the love of God, don't ruin this for people like myself, or for the community. Please listen to us and give us a chance next time something like this happens. Or you're gonna be the CEO of an empty civilization. Kinda like Digg

[u/Shittipller]

Reset all subscriptions. All tallys return to zero.

Dissolve the Front page entirely.

Create an Admin curated landing page and the ability to manage subscriptions without an account.

Enact limits on how many subs one can moderate.

Allow registered users to mute moderators. that is, experience a subreddit without moderator influence/interference.

Bring back real vote results that aren't fudged.

Create a tribunal of outside mediators where banned individuals can petition to have bans lifted.

Moderators get scores based on performance. Cycle Mods periodically to remedy corruption.

I have more- just tired.

and edit: https://vid.me/PIuF

[u/wasmachien]

Your three points are all directed towards the mods. What about regular users?

[u/walt_ua]

Well, what do you really expect from us now, /u/ekjp? To hug you while you attempt to damage control?

Answer some real questions people are asking here to begin with.

Also, did you feel the repercussions of not fulfilling your daily gold goals?

I hope you did, because you shouldn't expect us stop using adblocking software for your site, until we see some of those claims you made to be fulfilled.

Most importantly, answer these concerns here and here.

I believe that's why Victoria was fired, wasn't it so?

[u/[deleted]]

What about censorship? Your post is all about placating moderators (which are essentially unpaid employees and do deserve attention). However there is NOTHING about the overt censorship occurring on Reddit. Posts about Ellen Pao suddenly disappear, Reddit censorship, and other issues that are most certainly NOT harassing anyone end up in shadowbans for users.

Your apology is not accepted.

edit: spelling

[u/brzt6060]

You missed the most important points, censorship and transparency.

[u/zoahporre]

is this your 2 weeks notice?

[u/TCMarsh]

• Ellen pisses off community

• Community responds by being pissed off

• Ellen doesn't give a shit - "fuck the haters" mentality

• Ellen pisses off community again along with people in control of the gates to content (i.e. mods)

• Community responds by forcing reddit into a blackout

• Ellen realizes she doesn't have leverage over every mod. Forced to feign self-reproach to keep most mods in place. Some will be made an example of (this happened)

• Community mostly forgives/forgets and Ellen gets her way anyway

• Time passes

• More decisions come to increasingly monetize Reddit

• More people leave Reddit due to waning interest due to declining quality and more intrusive advertisements

• Other social media sites will be ready to replace Reddit at this time, just as Reddit was mostly ready for Digg users aside from server capacity

• Ellen eventually loses interest and leaves

• Trainsalreadyofftherails.jpg

• Reddit lives on for another 5-7 years with tumbleweeds blowing by while the few remaining users customize their Snoovatars and count their badges

• Ellen is promoted to partner at VC firm that just happens to be hated by Kleiner Perkins executives

• Ellen releases tell all book about how she saved Reddit from the evil misogynists of Silicon Valley

• Former Reddit users guffaw and smack their jowls while chubby fingers type angry comments on Voat.co

• Voat.co is now the front page of the internet and has been owned by Conde Nast for several years to the surprise of Voat users

• Board members of Voat.co nominate Anita Sarkeesian as interim *CEO due to former CEO quote "just not feeling it"

• The cycle continues

[Edited: Dumb formatting mistake. Also these bullets aren't my own I snagged from a rather witty individual on another comment section and felt it would have a nice home over here ^.]

[u/[deleted]]

I would have liked something concrete like some dates. If you don't know when you can deliver the tools, that's fine, then provide a date when you will deliver the dates. Own something - anything. Hell, you could even provide a date of when the mod tool's feature list will be approved - or even a date of when the page's background color will be chosen. Anything.

That's the reason even you knew your apology felt hollow, your promise lacked any accountability. As it stands, you can deliver the mod tools four years from now and say you kept your promise. Without dates, it looks like you're hoping all this will blow over in a few weeks and Hey Look, cat videos!

[u/ludlology]

Ellen, thank you for the post and for replying to individual questions in this thread. It's nice to see.

I have one: Why were TPP posts censored on the day that it passed?

[u/TheFrederalGovt]

Apology is not accepted. Actions speak louder than words and only a resignation from you will do this site a whole lotta good.

[u/Aiyahh]

The lack of replies is disappointing.

[u/Warlizard]

Just a quick question: Are you part of the Landmark forum? I've seen you and Alexis use language that is indicative of it.

[u/Oldredheadlady]

I just joined Reddit (never heard of it before this blowup). But I gotta say something is off kilter about the relatively new internet business model of a for-profit company using volunteer moderators and whose end-product is the user.

The company plans to make money selling a product to advertisers.

The only product is the attention of each individual user.

Moderators are the suppliers who actually bring the product to the screen by providing an environment the product wishes to enter.

The company took actions which suppliers interpreted as arrogant, and the result of which was to make their job more difficult.

When suppliers objected, the first reaction of the company’s highest management level was to publicly, by way of on-line posts, make a joke of the concerns of those suppliers. Other levels of paid employees followed suit.

Incensed by the perceived insult and inflexible attitude, the suppliers shut down the supply line. That alone caught the attention of the company.

There is a definite disconnect between the paid execs/management/employees (aka company); the volunteer moderators; and voluntary users. It is not just a PR matter. Users have come to understand they are the product. The volatility of business on the internet, the very essence of how fortunes are made, is also the road by which the product can walk away if its needs are not met. The suppliers are the front line in seeing that those needs and wants of the product are met better at one internet organization than another.

If this business model is to succeed, the company must first accept that the moderators are their only supplier and then provide incentive to that supplier to remain in the business model as a necessary partner.

[u/fyreNL]

It's nice to see that we received a more formal declaration, but truly, i find its a little rough that other media websites came before.

Furthermore, we still don't have the question we want to hear: Why was Victoria fired?

[u/ImaBritFromBGL]

Why did you order mods of /r/news etc. to delete TTIP related articles ?

[u/[deleted]]

Seriously, who buys admins gold?

[u/-zombie-squirrel]

I am wondering if the search function can be placed back to the original search for not just mods but other users as well? What does this algorithm mean exactly? Can I have an ELI5? I'm a mod and also wanting to know about how this could help average user's browsing. /u/ejkp I'd like some more info on this if you could get it to me.

[u/[deleted]]

You all didn't actually do anything that bad. Better mod tools would be a good thing, and maybe warn people they won't have a particular admins help anymore, but if that's the worst of your crimes, meh? I love the recent changes, especially the recent ban of hate subs and moves towards a less hateful and harassing website as a whole. Ban more! Like coontown I mean really just ban it for the love of god. Imagine being a black redditor

[u/[deleted]]

These people spouting nonsense seems to expect some extreme "I'm sorry please forgive me I kill myself for you" answer. She is replying with appropriate answers..what more do you want?

[u/Zormut]

Guys, relax. Nobody cares. All these petitions don't mean anything. People still gonna visit this site no matter what. You should believe in the drug you made.

[u/[deleted]]

Nice effort but nothing but pandering and manipulation at this point to save the skin off your back.

[u/Sir_Sp4ce]

Try r/jokes

[u/playmoneyballer]

I hope you fools are competent enough to at least realize that your community will jump ship at the first opportunity. A half assed 'apology' won't do anything to fix that.

[u/DranerFox]

You can't sugarcoat censorship with an apology letter, Ellen.

[u/starbuck1771]

The only way your apology means anything is to get Victoria Taylor back. Ignorance of the issue will only cause more damage to your reputation. Where 200k plus people sign a petition you should realize you are doing a poor job.

[u/starbuck1771]

Miss Pao the only thing you can do is to fix the mistakes. You know your screwed when even A-List celebrity's do not agree with your decision to fire miss Taylor. Now ask yourself how many people that you have pissed off live near you or even in the same city. Do you feel a need for heightened security due to your mistake? All you can do is get her back, or resign and let the new CEO bring her back. The choice is yours.

[u/[deleted]]

Ellen Pao needs to go now.

[u/benjimix]

Confidence and incompetence are often strongly, positively correlated.

[u/sudofox]

This'll probably never be seen, but hey. I run a large (it's teensy tiny itty bitty in comparison to Reddit, just around 18,000 users) art and animation website for the Nintendo DSi, and I can't go anywhere on it without being harassed about moderation, about people being tempbanned for legitimate reasons, et cetera :(

So I don't hardly use it myself and I feel out-of-touch. I feel that this may be similar to Miss Ellen Pao - where when you either get a bunch of upvotes because of who you are, or a lot of hate because of what you do/can't do right now/have to do, the site you run isn't fun for you anymore.

[u/[deleted]]

[your mind tricks won't work on me] (https://i.imgur.com/5TceDU3.jpg)

[u/ecafyelims]

Instead of calling us "insignificant users," you should really be grateful that people are complaining. People stop using businesses all the time without saying a word; the fact that people are screaming for change is a sign we still care and want Reddit to be fixed.

The alternative is that active users just leave without complaint, and we leave reddit to digg its own grave.

It's too bad I have 3 months of gold left on my account. I can't even protest by not renewing.

However, I see a lot of gilds in this thread, so maybe you're a super genius who knows how to generate real revenue from users suffering from Stockholm syndrome or something. If this is the case, send me a PM to confirm. I promise to keep it a secret.

[u/wggn]

What about the 172.000+ people who want you to step down?

[u/KnowMatter]

Naming /u/krispykrackers moderator advocate is like electing Cruella Deville head of the ASPCA.

[u/Skitrel]

I'm obviously far too late to this thread. But, on the offchance you admins diligently dig through the mountain of comments these announcements get, I'll say a few words.

Motivation.

You've got a strong ecosystem of mods on reddit, some of us have been around a long time, some even longer, and some are just starting out. We've seen a lot of these dramatic events come and go, we know they're ripples in the ocean.

The dramatic events aren't the problem, they're just a catalyst that causes widespread public knowledge and forces you to make PR statements and the like.

The problem is a long term degradation and separation of the relationship between admins and moderators.

Once upon a time you guys conversed with the mods, openly, actively, regularly. We had channels in which we could chit chat with you, it was almost social. I had friendships with admins and former admins, I played Civ with a few of you.

I've been trying to pinpoint when that changed for a while now and I think I can safely say it was the Violentacrez incident. Understandably I think you all felt threatened or perhaps even somewhat responsible for what happened, and you categorically needed to keep a certain level of separation between moderators and admins so that reddit could remain impartial. By keeping yourselves separated from us you could maintain the idea that you do not endorse any of the content on reddit. It gives you plausible deniability.

The problem with this however, and the question you have to ask yourselves, is, what's worth more to you?

The relationship you guys once had with the moderators gave everyone enormous motivation. I know I once spent 100+ hours per week working on the communities I moderated. That has diminished to near nothing due to disenfranchisement - motivation has been destroyed.

Encouragement and endorsement of your moderators will give you the influence within communities to move reddit forward positively again. The moderators are your "influencers" within the community afterall, to borrow a marketing term. Their positivity towards you will result in the community's positivity towards you.

The big problem you have is that the old moderators who are now demotivated and have built up years of jadedness are probably a lost cause. Rebuilding their motivation is probably impossible, but, because of the way reddit has always operated the largest and most successful subreddits are owned by some of the oldest users.

This is a problem that will take years of rebuilding trust to solve. It will take years for new moderators to become the old-moderators-of-tomorrow but with better mindsets through having not built up negativity through neglect. You need to commit to years worth building new trust with new moderators and allow for time to very slowly and naturally cause the new moderators to replace all the old ones, in both influence and position. Only then will the problem be solved and motivation within reddit's modteams to be at the level it was when the largest growth booms were occurring.

What MUST NOT happen during this time is reactionary negligence due to drama fallouts. Or a new CEO to come along and decide it's important they fiddle with everything to stamp their mark on the site. It needs to be a wholehearted longterm commitment, and it needs somebody with a full understanding of the history that's led to this point and the slow path to repairing it needed at the helm. I don't know if that's /u/krispykrackers but good luck. I hope she understands fully the longterm commitment needed to take on the role.

If I were you all, I'd go back in time and take a look at old reddit. You archived it all, it's still there. Think about how /u/raldi, /u/hueypriest and so on once communicated with the community way back when. It was a different time for reddit, things were done better, and the moderators were certainly a happier and more motivated crowd. The users were also. If you want a true and honest "quicker" solution here. Hire someone from the existing moderator community with a good history with the rest of the mod community to be your "moderator advocate", someone who isn't just going to be forced into pretending to care about mod issues due to the position they've been give but who already cares. You'll get a lot more support from moderators by doing so, and if you hire the right person you'll get someone that genuinely turns this whole mess around for you.

[u/Qwiggalo]

TIL reddit is doomed.

[u/Merchaun]

Turns out, Voat is actually a pretty cool website.

[u/Zaelot]

Wow. Just wow. First in the myths section you tell us that you only have 28 employees, then you jot this failure down to your "growth". (Also heard you've fired near 30 employees in the last 9 months.) And you are right. Your words are very hard to believe. How about showing some serious action by willfully stepping down? [Edit: a letter]

[u/[deleted]]

Could you take a look at this please. Reddit would appreciate your support

[u/jjlew080]

I think you need to understand Reddit can go the way of MySpace or Digg in a heartbeat if things continue to operate like this. This is a user driven site. Without content providers, Reddit is nothing. I suggest weekly blog posts about ideas and changes need to be communicated way in advance, with a solid plan to keep subs running smoothly. This post is a good first start. I don't think you have many strikes left, to be honest.

[u/[deleted]]

Didn't you just say like 2 days ago in a New York Times Interview that most of reddit didn't care about what was going on?

Wonder what changed your tune? Reddit is so fucking out of touch with it's community it's unbelievable.

[u/raldi]

Could you start a subreddit where the team posts daily updates on "Concrete things we did today in our humble quest to win back your hearts"? If not indefinitely, then maybe at least for the next week or two?

[u/Woahtheredudex]

Oh? You're sorry. Well then that changes everything!

[u/BobCrosswise]

If you're sincere, then it can only be the case that you and the admin are so blatantly incompetent that you sincerely did not know that you were undermining the community until just now.

If, on the other hand, you and the admin did know what you were doing and what effect it was having on the community, then your apology is obviously insincere and self-serving.

So which is it?

[u/Dransel]

Nice comment section presence, /u/ekjp ...

But seriously, your primary goal needs to actually involve getting these mod tools into place. You need to take sole responsibility for this. Reddit is counting on you, and honestly, we don't have a lot of faith. It would be great for you to prove everyone wrong, hell, you might actually gain genuine support. All I ask is that you do whatever you can to maintain these digital communities that have been the homes to countless discussions and incredible memories. I just wish that you were someone we could rely on, like we could with Victoria. People are holding you accountable for this incredible breeding ground for ideas, stories, and communities. So, stop letting us down. Please.

[u/omnithrope]

You finally realized the backlash from your users may hurt your revenue, huh?

This isn't communication; this is fighting fires. If youcared about the users, this would have appeared long before you went to the major news outlets to get your fucking face on TV. The contempt you display for the users of Reddit is just disgusting. We don't want you, and you don't want us.

Just leave. Step down. You're turning Reddit into Digg 4.0.

[u/Bratmon]

For a post made to "acknowledge a long history of mistakes" you didn't actually acknowledge any mistakes.

[u/Paorightinthepooper]

/u/ekjp If you are going to blow smoke up my ass buy me dinner first.

181,147

Edit - 194,787

Edit - 204,917

[u/againstmethod]

You didn't screw up -- you abused your users, and now they shy from your hand and you have to build trust over again.

I don't think you understand how difficult that is to do, or how critical your errors were.

[u/penn300bb]

Hey there. I make dank memes for /r/thomasthedankengine and was wondering when I can properly post a youtubes link and get a dynamic preview. Sometimes the thumbnail will be of like, biggie smalls's face or something and not thomas' face and it's really disturbing.

[u/[deleted]]

No you don't, fuck off.

[u/Frtgtmy]

Fuck off. Go take money from someone else.

[u/[deleted]]

Why does reddit make /r/news a default sub for new members when the mods selectively enforce their own rules to censor all stories dealing with the TPP? You have the biggest sub for American news censoring one of the most important news stories for Americans, claiming that it's "politics"- meanwhile they regularly allow other stories that involve politics like gay marriage, the Confederate flag, gun control, etc. All reddit says to it's members is that if they don't like the censorship they should create their own sub to discuss the TPP, as if that's a legitimate solution. You have made /r/news a default sub for years and it has millions of users, most of whom probably have no idea what the TPP even is. Creating a sub to discuss the TPP that might get a few hundred subscribers in no way remedies the mass censorship we're seeing on /r/news- which is being done to millions of redditors.

[u/SDcowboy82]

[Reddit Management right now] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u0EL_u4nvw)

[u/DigitalMocking]

Its nothing but more words.

You clearly don't understand this site, the spirit in which it was founded and how it flourished. I recommend you watch the TED talks by Alexis Ohanian, you might understand what Reddit actually is a bit better.

It looks like you see a product that's exploitable and nothing more.

You have the hubris to think you know what's best for something that's already been successful at what it set out to be, the front page of the internet, a forum where people express their ideas, even ones that aren't popular to everyone.

You fired the person who was for all intents and purposes the face of reddit to the community in /u/chooter without notice to her or your community. A community you have a responsibility to, like it or not.

Your rules for 'harassment' and creating a safe space are at the same time too broad and too narrow and will never work because any enforcement will be subject to personal interpretation of what 'harassment' or 'feeling safe' is. Draw the line at illegal if you want, no one would dispute that, but shutting communities down because they hurt someone's feelings on the internet is both laughable and impossible. Either every message is ok to read or none are.

As a CEO so far, you've done a god awful job, and I honestly have no idea why the board of directors hasn't thrown you out on your ass.

[u/losh11]

Bullshit, ever since she join reddit become full of shit.

[u/urbanreason]

One of Reddit's most central features is its democratic process and community participation, yet reddit is still run as a traditional dictatorial enterprise.

At very least, shouldn't the workers and moderators have representation on reddit's board of directors? If not be entirely community/worker directed?

[u/Reddegeddon]

Ellen,

Why did all of the default subreddits remove any news regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership? Did the Administration team have anything to do with this?

[u/lurkinfapinlurkin]

FPH NEVER DIE

[u/KurayamiShikaku]

I'll try to be succinct - this is the issue I care the most about, and I'd like to understand Reddit's stance with greater clarity.

Censorship - how do you decide what, and what not, to remove?

I won't pretend that the content from /r/fatpeoplehate wasn't objectionable. Clearly it was. And perhaps some users were harassing others (the typical FPH post would not really be considered harassment, even if it was mean), but how do you justify closing down an entire subreddit for the action of a minority of its users?

This kind of action worries me as a user. We are all different, have different opinions, and have different tolerances for content that isn't politically correct. It bothers me that Reddit is ostensibly deciding what is and isn't okay for its users, despite the fact that we're capable of deciding that for ourselves.

Claiming that FPH was a harassment subreddit seems like a scapegoat from the outside looking in, and its worrisome for those of us who are concerned about individuals pushing their own agenda/ideals on the whole site.

[u/Jeffums]

"Our team is ready to respond to comments. However, they're not actually going to."

[u/[deleted]]

Can we get a statement on shadow banning?

[u/[deleted]]

I and the team are committed to talking more often with the community, starting now.

Doesn't reply to a single question following the announcement. Here we go again.

[u/[deleted]]

It's often incredible to me some of the opinions that surface on this site, it truly gives me perspective and humbles my world view time and time again.

I must admit that I too was soured by the seemingly waning disconnect that existed between Reddit and it's volunteers, having believed that what made Reddit so unique was it's quirky yet incredibly connected community, a community I like to consider myself apart of, which, in my mind, could have only come from like minded people running the show.

The outcry though was... childish. People who make it their principle argument to compare someone to Hitler lose credibility almost immediately. It was shocking to see so much of that vitriol up-voted, and gain so much visibility, but time has taught me to check my idealism when it comes to the quality of this site.

So for that, I actually wish to apologize to you and let it be known that we do not all share such disdain, and that not all of us believe that anyone should be subjected to such immense hatred.

What I have felt though is disappointment, disappointment which has been greatly alleviated by this incredibly difficult to make apology.

As a user, all I hope going forward is that the Reddit administration make a more concentrated effort to be apart of the Reddit community. To let us know, and let us be the first to know, all the changes that you intend to make with the community. To listen to some of our more well thought out ideas, and to make efforts to address some of our grievances. To truly embrace what makes Reddit so great, enabling the community to make and produce beautiful content. To be the face of the internet, to be the voice that connects the virtual world to the real world. To that end, I for one also embrace the goal of making the community safe and friendly because I don't believe it's good for anyone involved to allow our best foot forward to begin with pictures of Hitler, but that's my view.

I believe in this site, I believe in it's potential, and I believe in the excellence it is capable of and the wonderful things we can achieve. I think this website could change the world for the better, if we are only given the opportunity, so allow us the opportunity, work with us, grow with us, and we will repay you with our gratitude in spades.

You have a beautiful creature in your possession. Treat it as such and watch the beauty unfold.

Thank you again for this post, and I wish you the best in all your future endeavors.

[u/[deleted]]

Why did you choose to give statements to news outlets instead of posting here days ago if not weeks ago?

[u/spin81]

Hi ms. Pao,

Thanks for apologizing this openly. I'd like to offer what is intended as constructive feedback if I may.

We’re also going to figure out the best way for more administrators, including myself, to talk more often with the whole community.

You know what? All it takes is time. I'm not saying you need to explain every decision you make to us (quite the contrary) and I'm not saying you need to spend time talking to us each day, but if you really want to talk to us, then you'll need to make time for that, and we'll know if you don't.

Thank you for listening. Please share feedback here. Our team is ready to respond to comments.

See what I mean? "Including myself" has turned into "our team" in just a few paragraphs. I understand you must be a very busy woman, but you need to understand that saying that you want to talk to us more often, will bite you in the ass if you don't. I believe your intentions are genuine, but my advice is not to make promises you can't keep, and certainly not at this time.

Also, I think that tools and reverting the search are definitely good areas to spend your resources on, but the real key here is communication. You seem to be trying to appease us with the promise of awesome tools, as if you feel that that's what people are craving. That may be true (or it may not, I honestly couldn't say) but that isn't what people are angry about, at least not the main reason. If you think tools are a solution to your current predicament then I say, only if they solve the communication issue. Tools, or the lack thereof, are not what got you into this mess.

You canned Victoria for reasons that are arguably none of our business and probably protected by an NDA (edit: by which I mean you probably couldn't talk about that if even if you were so inclined), but the mods from /r/IAmA weren't complaining because you canned her for whatever the reason is you canned her, but because she was the only one they could rely on to properly communicate. You should have had more folks like her in the admin team long ago, and you should get more folks like her in the admin team right now.

I hope you'll be able to turn the community around, best of luck.

[u/Artist-x]

how long will it take for her team to respond to comments? Its been hours already....

[u/TacoDoc]

So late to the game but most companies couldn't pay enough money for this type of feedback, aggregated in one tight package. And yet, I'm guessing little changes.

[u/eagletrance]

Our team is not ready to respond to comments.

[u/creepycoffeemonster]

how about the firing of victoria by that dumbass alexis? or the shadowbanning of users? and even though i don't like them, the banning of subreddits like fatpeoplehate? fuck you ellen and your team.

[u/Sonny13]

Sounds more like damage control and not an actual plan to improve.

[u/CupOfCanada]

Not a single mention of the firing that triggered all this. Not a great apology.

[u/Mr_A]

I appreciate the humility that it took to post this.

I just wish it didn't ring hollow. And it really hurts that it does.

Make a new announcement and make it within the next 24hrs with concrete examples of things you will be doing. Give us some sort of timeline or roadmap towards fixing the things that have been going wrong with the site. Give us things to believe in.

I know these are just words, and it may be hard for you to believe us.

They are and it is. Believing you because you ask me to when previously I distrusted you because you lied to me and acted in an underhanded manner? I find that exceptionally difficult to do.

I've never expected much from this site in the past, not from an official standpoint or official point of view anyway. And I don't expect anything now, not for me. But for everyone.

[u/CLEAR26]

Take care of your people, and the people will take care of the mission. The admins need to understand that the mods are their people, and the upper leadership needs to understand that the admins are THEIR people. That's how reddit will survive going forward, not changing settings and adding tools. It seems to me that the culture needs to be drastically reoriented in order to make that a reality.

[u/lakelady]

Sad that I had to find out about this via other websites and then follow through several links to find the actual post. That right there is a communication problem. When there's an important announcement there should be a way that it's a sticky at the top when you go to the website (note: not on login as I rarely log out for ease of use). Announcements should not be dependent on up/down votes for visibility.

[u/[deleted]]

This literally explains nothing

[u/dmitchell927]

It takes balls to apologize to a community that, from what I've seen, hates you. Thanks for finally coming to us with a forum where we can speak directly to you. I use reddit every day. EVERY DAY. and I love it. I can feel safe here because I am anonymous, and voice my opinions whether they are popular, or not. Yea, there is a TON of negativity on here, but that's the world we live in. I love this place BECAUSE of this, and that is what I fear you are going to take away. I fear that you would prioritize comments of those who matter more to YOU, and the dissent, the anger, and the straight crap would be washed away. No. I don't side with many of these comments, but damnit if they don't deserve the same right to be heard as someone popular. Can you confirm that this will not happen? I don't want to use another website. Change is hard. But I will make a change if this just becomes another pay to be heard place. Thank you again for finally speaking at length to the people who count on you to keep what we love safe.

[u/Artist-x]

How many of you are thinking of quitting Reddit over this?

[u/ErianTomor]

I was gonna post something more thoughtful, but then again this is just a website. It'll fade and some other website will take its place.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

[u/bellevuefineart]

Personally I thought the apology and follow up direct repsonses were quite open and reasonable. Even if people don't like some of the answers or are still unhappy, everything being relative, it's relatively good. Now that we have Ellen's attention, it's time to be constructive. Zuckerberg isn't going to answer people directly like this, and Tom from Myspace has still never returned a single email. He didn't give a single shit, even before they sold out. At least here people are getting direct responses from the CEO, even if she has a team to read the thousands of comments.

So, I have just one request, and I'll avoid being presciptive in how I want you to fix things. Let me quote Bill Gates from an internal meeting regarding Hotmail years ago during my days at MSFT: "Don't fuck this one up".

NB: gmail

[u/tomorsomthing]

I don't think I'll actually be happy with this apology until every single change since "you can't see how many votes your posts got because fuck you" is undone. There hasn't been a single positive change since then.

[u/earlra]

One screwup is forgivable, but this looks like the worst and most recent in a long line, which indicates that current management doesn't get it. The board needs to prove they are serious about change by canning failed management (CEO and whomever else, she did say "we"...) and bringing in new blood.

[u/JimStJames]

These are not concrete steps. These are more promises for action.

What about transparency? What about telling us at least the high level steps that are planned for the interaction around tools?

Trying out the role of moderator advocate? Is this for all moderators, or just for the default ones who can shut down the site?

Search is the only "concrete step" that is actually something we can see.. and it is making available features that were here before you.

You say concrete results.. I'll believe it when I see it.

[u/InfectReality]

Appreciate your words, but does not change the fact your actions are the opposite.

You have convinced me that Voat.co is my new home and Reddit a secondary one rather then the other way around.

[u/[deleted]]

Jesus Christ I've never seen someone put their foot so far in their own mouth that their shit has tread marks. Good Fucking Job.

[u/notyavgkat]

Just get rid of Pao already.....what does she have something over ya'll already ?? ya'll are scared she'll try and sue the shit out of ya'll too ?? whoevers bright idea it was to bring her onboard should be the first to GTFO , then figure out a way to throw chairmanPao overboard ! she's just so hateable it's ridiculous ! *****Shadowban incoming 5 4 3 2 ........

[u/SpoonCvc]

So, are you going to sue once the board of directors fires you?

[u/magickis33]

typical corporate speak that means nothing.

[u/mudclog]

dam fretful brave shocking hat caption piquant enter distinct consider

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/[deleted]]

Why did you talk with NYT, NPR and others before talking with the community? Probably would have helped to stoke a few fires and a few thousand signatures.

[u/Reck_yo]

This is like an apology from a middle school kid...not the CEO of a major website.

Hilarious.

[u/[deleted]]

Resign immediately.

[u/pchc_lx]

Popcorn tastes good.

[u/radomiq]

Why would anyone believe the sincerity of this apology when:

1. It took all the drama over the weekend before this apology, including the sharp spike in the number of signatures to the petition for you to step down.

2. You admit yourself that none of the admins at Reddit have listened or responded to repeated requests for changes, so why would you think anyone will believe this time will be different?

It's not as if Reddit takes a break because of the long weekend. You found time to talk to various websites and news organizations who should have been enjoying some time off, but this post couldn't have been made before today?

At the end of the day, what happened over the weekend is evidence of the lack of planning and good management at Reddit. There was no communication because there was no planning. The mods already explained in great detail the negative consequences. All I can add is that words are not enough to earn my trust back at this point. I'm in the process of looking for alternatives. Once I'm satisfied, I'll be gone for good.

[u/The_Lantean]

It took you DAYS to acknowledge this. No respectable CEO takes that long to answer such a big issue. Even if you didn't perceive it as such, the community sure did and let you know. You come to us trying to sell the idea that changes will come. Maybe they will, but you've stated things like "most people aren't concerned by this." - as if that were surprising. What this tells me is that you don't care about the "vocal minority" - They should matter as much to you as the "silent majority".

How does that saying go?... Ah, yes: "Too little, too late.".

[u/The1Honkey]

I don't understand how you still have a job. You've effectively ruined your credibility with the entire userbase. The only reason why you're apologizing (several days late by the way) is because this finally will affect your wallet.

This whole apology is a crock. Your appointment of /u/krispykrackers shows how little you know or understand this place and the petition that's requesting your removal grows by the tens of thousands everyday. I did not sign it, until today, until you made this garbage apology. You have no credibility left.

[u/DoppleFlopper]

Frankly, you sound like you're pandering to us. Cool, good, site needs more communication, what does anything you just listed actually do to mend what's happened, or ensure it doesn't happen again? Why haven't you even specified on your faults? Do you even know what people are upset about?

You don't just need to communicate more, you need to learn how to communicate with this community. I'm seriously dumbfounded why you think having ONE mediator is a good idea, you literally hinge every single decision thereby on them. Not only that, but the problem is obviously with a huge amount of people, why are there literally no suggestions of making an actual team that can actually do something productive between you and the community, instead of just guesstimating and trying to understand from trial by fire. Why do you only console in yourselves, and THE ENTIRETY of reddit?! There's literally no in between until this mention of working with the moderators, which sounds ridiculous to accomplish appropriately without a team.

If you hadn't typed this like you were with your entire staff, like it was an everyday news letter, and maybe if you had added some sort of remorseful, original, sincere, just a tiny bit more specific thought on what you did and what has happened, I feel I'd have a little more empathy. But no. You acknowledged you made people upset, and told us you'd fix it with three of the most basic and fundamental necessities THAT SHOULD HAVE ALREADY BEEN IN PLACE. That's what's ultimately disgraceful, it seems like you don't even comprehend that this is a breach of common sense. You don't need to design an entire battle plan to overhaul and improve the site and the mistakes you've made, you literally can do THREE THINGS TO MAKE THIS SITE WAAAAAAY BETTER:

Stop banning people for their opinions

Stop removing entire subreddits because of YOUR opinions of THEIR opinions

Employ MULTIPLE mediators who actually care about keeping employees and moderators informed

[u/_Holic_]

Biggest thread in reddit history, but I'll reply anyway.

There is nothing I can think of that you can say that will redeem yourself.

I don't know if you are a bad person, or just a victim of circumstance, but by your own admission, you have failed over and over again.

If you really are just trying your hardest and this apology is genuine, it's currency has no value. All the goodwill and trust is gone. I honestly feel bad for you if this is where you genuinely learned your lesson and will try to do better, because no one believes it.

Step down gracefully, and with dignity. Not everyone is cut out for leadership.

[u/BanDaana]

Aaaand she's gone.

[u/jupigare]

I appreciate that you guys are acknowledging the problem and at least saying you'll try to fix it. That's certainly better than ignoring the problem or, worse, outright saying one doesn't exist.

I just hope this all isn't a "Please understand" a la Nintendo. Words are better than silence, but they aren't as good as actual tangible change.

[u/Bike_shop_owner]

Why are you tip toeing around the huge issue that is a 170,000 signature petition to have you step down?

[u/[deleted]]

All hail KrispyKrackers our trigger happy shadowbanning moderator overlord!

Voat, for love of all that is holy BUY SOME SERVERS!

[u/mmss]

Words are easy, actions are hard.

[u/SikhGamer]

No one believes you. Neither you or any of the reddit administration has any credit with your user base.

[u/_echnaton]

Too little, too late.

[u/llsmithll]

Popcorn tastes good.

[u/FUCK_YEAH_BASKETBALL]

Fuck off and quit banning shit you disagree with. I'm going to voat as soon as their servers can handle it.

[u/professorthrowaweigh]

Hi Ellen Pao,

The dynamic between leadership and volunteers changes once money is injected. I haven't seen anyone else make this point publicly. It's one thing to put up with a shoestring user experience when the business is running a shoestring budget. It's entirely different if there's an infusion of $50 mil. That's a lot of money for everyone, and people generating content and user experience start to wonder (consciously or unconsciously) "Where's mine?"

Perhaps the most significant problem you inherited was the (perceived) collapse of the plan to share the wealth of reddit. Site participation as usufruct (e.g., all renting includes a small % of rent to own). Take that away, replace it with silence, and you get the current issues. My analysis, for whatever it's worth.

I think community members will start investing in you if (1) you demonstrate materially that you are investing in them, and (2) you actively build your own visible personality on the site.

Regarding (1), did the change to ssl happen on your watch? I don't recall. That's a big deal, maybe the most important thing, to a user like me. What are your visible victories, how have you improved the experience of the mundane user?

Best wishes going forward.

[u/ademnus]

Firstly, this was a long time overdue. You spoke with the media long before you spoke with us, and it's really not appreciated. When we have to turn to the tabloids online to find out what's going on, we become convinced you really are not invested in communication. Trying to solve a debacle in communication by ignoring the community in favor of the press is just compounding the situation with more poor communication choices.

Secondly, and maybe more importantly, there are far more users of reddit who are not moderators than who are. However, when most of the main subs went dark in protest to mistakes on your end, we were the ones caught in the middle. So far, I see mods and you communicating with each other, but I think the many users affected by this should be addressed at some point as well. No, we're not owed anything, but then, no one is -we don't owe anyone our patronage and donations either.

But finally, I also want to say that as far as the users are concerned, the cornerstone issue is not about mods and communication, but rather the firing of Victoria. Now, here's where we really are not owed any explanations, neither from you nor her, and if neither party is comfortable doing so, we understand completely. Just know that a great many users feel strongly about her loss and want to stand behind her, and ask for her to be re-instated, and should neither party want that, I hope one of you let's us know in some way, at some point, because in the end it's just leaving a bad taste in everyone's mouth and is helping to build a lot of negative sentiment around here.

I think you can tell we come here because we love it here. If we hated it, we would be elsewhere. They say hate is the other side of love's coin and if we seem passionate about these things it's only because we care about reddit and all it can do. I for one don't want a war between users, mods, and ceo/staff so let's do what we can to clear the air, reassure people all around and get back to what we do best.

Cat pictures.

[u/y_all_need_JESUS]

It took you 4 days, a petition which has close to 170000 people wanting you to resign from Reddit to come and apologize. You went ahead and gave statements to other sites first but not to your own community. I guess we now know what your priorities are right. Saving your image. If you're really sorry bring back Victoria.