Staff memo: Reddit's CEO says “like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass”, new moderation tools are vital, wearing Reddit gear in public is risky, and more
Programming note: Barring big news, Platformer will be off Thursday as I take a personal day. Matt Binder / Mashable : Reddit Blackout: CEO downplays protest. Subreddits vow to keep fighting. Emre Çitak / gHacks Technology News : Reddit CEO says everything is fine Mike Masnick / Techdirt : Reddit Blackout Crashes The Site As Reddit Users Realize They're In The Power Position Rory Mir / Electronic Frontier Foundation : What Reddit Got Wrong Derek Kessler / CrackBerry : Reddit CEO says blackout protest “will pass”, pissed-off moderators pledge indefinite shutdowns Brad Norton / Dexerto : Reddit CEO unphased by historic Blackout, assures staff it “will pass” Neha Saini / Livemint : Reddit blackout: Read internal memo shared by CEO Steve Huffman addressing the issue Lauren Beeler-Beistad / Game Rant : Reddit CEO Comments on Subreddit Blackout, Tells Employees It ‘Will Pass’ Juli Clover / WRAL TechWire : Reddit CEO: Protests are a ‘lot of noise’ that ‘will pass’ Nadeem Sarwar / SlashGear : Top Reddit Communities Make Blackout Indefinite Following Leaked Memo Martin Peers / The Information : New Revelations About Shopify's Deliverr Sale Spotlights CEO Nick Heer / Pixel Envy : Reddit CEO Steve Huffman Is Confident the Current Sitewide Protest Is No Big Deal Taylor Lyles / IGN : Reddit CEO Tells Employees in a Memo the Blackout ‘Will Pass’ The Verge : Q&A with Apollo developer Christian Selig on Reddit's API pricing changes, the company refusing to negotiate, why he can't simply charge users more, and more Oliver Haslam / iMore : Reddit's CEO doesn't seem worried his social network is on pause Tom McKay / IT Brew : Reddit's top boards are shutting down for 48 hours to protest API prices Levi Winslow / Kotaku : Reddit CEO Says Blackout Hasn't Really Cost Them Money Yet And ‘Will Pass’ Joe Wituschek / BGR : Subreddits respond to CEO's comments by extending blackouts indefinitely Bluesky: Richard MacManus / @ricmac.bsky.social : Do the Reddit leadership team remember what happened with Digg? Different circumstances of course, but the users are the same... @mick.bsky.social : Reddit blackout a bit pointless when there's no clear alternative for the community to flock to. Now if they kept Digg v4 intact, full circle. Mastodon: Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life@mas.to : Reddit's CEO is so bad at this. Writing an internal email describing moderators shutting down the most popular subreddits as “noise” that will “pass as well” as other internet blowups just escalates the situation. — Many subreddits that would have ended the boycott today now won't. … William Gunn / @williamgunn@mastodon.social : @Techmeme Yikes! I know the last thing you want to be seen saying publicly in a crisis is that things will blow over. This is a devastating leak from someone on the inside. Christian Selig / @christianselig@mastodon.social : No one is asking Reddit for the moon and the stars, just to listen to small changes. — Even Twitch, which made horrendous moves this month, recognized that the community is what gives their company any value at all, and responded in some capacity to make their users feel heard. Chance Miller / @ChanceHMiller@mastodon.social : Unlike Twitter, Reddit is a decent source of traffic for 9to5Mac and other sites. Destroying the Reddit experience and knee-capping third-party apps will have a domino effect in online publishing, especially indies. — But that's not all. People rely on Reddit for all sorts of things: news, support groups, and so much more. … @paul@tapbots.social : And as many noted the entire memo was really a press release. From the no impact on revenue (you think after 1 day?) to the attempt to get sympathy by acting like the employees are in danger. But still not a dumb move. Aaron / @Aaron@social.aaroncrocco.com : **THIS** is why the #redditblackout must remain in place for longer than 48-hours. Huffman knows it'll “blow over” after today because it has a planned end time. I'm glad many subs decided to blackout indefinitely. … Dan Seifert / @dcseifert@mastodon.social : my usage of reddit shall too pass https://www.theverge.com/... Tweets: Ryan Jones / @rjonesy : Reddit CEO Spez just put their IPO and his job on deathwatch. 1. email company “no revenue impact, this will pass”🤦♂️ 2. email leaks, duh 3. 25-50% of Mods extend blackout indefinitely, duh 4. revenue drops 25-50% 5. investors lose CEO faith 6. no IPO He has ~48h to save it. https://twitter.com/... Christian Selig / @christianselig : It's a real shame that Reddit seems to care this little about the community that rather than making an effort to talk to developers and moderators and apologize for how this was handled, they'd rather just wall themselves off and and dare users to keep going. https://twitter.com/... Casey Newton / @caseynewton : Steve Huffman's comments to Reddit employees yesterday seem likely to exacerbate the furor the company now finds itself caught in https://www.platformer.news/ ... [image] Nikita Bier / @nikitabier : There is nothing more heinous than reddit wanting to be a sustainable business. @zaktalkstech : He's not wrong. If the subreddits want to make a REAL impact then they should go dark indefinitely. 2-days is nothing and accomplishes what? I don't agree with the API changes. I'm definitely on the side of the subreddits. But 2-days dark... for what? It's a joke. #Reddit https://twitter.com/... @tainkirrahe : Woof, this is a horrendous memo. Zero fucks for users who have to use third party apps because Reddit has no internal accessibility tools and no plans to add them. I guess sites don't understand it's their user base that makes 100% of their content 🙄 https://www.theverge.com/... Giles Goddard / @giles : If there's one way to get Redditors to burn their own site down, it's to dare them to do it.. good job Spez 😕 https://www.theverge.com/... Tiago Dias / @tiagodf : “I am sorry to say this, but please be mindful of wearing Reddit gear in public,” CEO Steve Huffman says in an internal memo. “Some folks are really upset” https://www.theverge.com/... @2ndartbook : I feel like reddit doesn't seem to understand that... the people doing the blackout have way less to lose here than reddit does https://twitter.com/... @nash076 : Any CEO who sees a massive, unprecedented user revolt and then sends this out as a staff memo has no fucking business being CEO. Stay dark, Reddit. Fuck 'em up. https://www.theverge.com/... [image] @slazsandwich : I think he forgets just how hive-mindey and virtue-flaggy Redditors are https://twitter.com/... @mootzilla : this seems like a great way to absolutely ensure it will never pass https://twitter.com/... Karri Saarinen / @karrisaarinen : @rjonesy Feel like the IPO was never going to happen anyway. Taking a company public at one of the worst tech markets in a decade. Company which is 17y old, sold back and forth a few times and the main product is mostly free social website. This is some kind of performance art Tom Warren / @tomwarren : “like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well” not sure Redditors will let this one pass easily 🤔 https://twitter.com/... Forums: Hacker News : The end of Reddit? Why the blackout is still going - and what happens next r/technology : Apollo's Christian Selig explains his fight with Reddit — and why users revolted | 'Reddit has plugged its ears and refuses to listen to anybody but themselves. … r/AnotherEdenGlobal : “Huffman says the blackout hasn't had “significant revenue impact” and [...] anticipates that many of the subreddits will come back online by Wednesday. ” … r/LinusTechTips : Article: Reddit CEO tells employees that subreddit blackout ‘will pass’. r/JoeRogan : Good job proving him right r/FreeSpeech : Reddit CEO tells employees that subreddit blackout “will pass” r/Destiny : In news that might shock some of you: Reddit doesn't care about the blackout and “hasn't had a significant impact on revenue”. r/france : Reddit CEO tells employees that subreddit blackout “will pass” r/Basketball : It's crazy that r/nba joined the blackout on what could be the day the Nuggets win the finals and the Heat get eliminated /r/TrueUnpopularOpinion : The Reddit blackout has improved the overall state of Reddit and should remain permanent r/ModCoord : “Huffman says the blackout hasn't had “significant revenue impact” and [...] anticipates that many of the subreddits will come back online by Wednesday. ” … r/RedditAlternatives : Reddit CEO tells employees that subreddit blackout ‘will pass’ r/TrueAnon : Reddit CEO is not negotiating with the hostage takers lmao what will the nerds do now? r/inthenews : Reddit CEO tells employees that subreddit blackout “will pass” Msmash / Slashdot : Reddit CEO Tells Employees That Subreddit Blackout ‘Will Pass’ Ars OpenForum : Reddit CEO assures employees that API protests haven't hurt revenue MacRumors Forums : Reddit CEO: Apollo-Related Subreddit Blackouts ‘Will Pass,’ No Significant Revenue Impact So Far See also Mediagazer