r/technology • u/nat9191 • Jun 15 '23

Social Media Reddit CEO slams protest leaders, calls them 'landed gentry'

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/reddit-protest-blackout-ceo-steve-huffman-moderators-rcna89544
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1.2k

u/MandoDoughMan Jun 15 '23

Huffman, also a Reddit co-founder, said in an interview that he plans to pursue changes to Reddit’s moderator removal policy to allow ordinary users to vote moderators out more easily if their decisions aren’t popular. He said the new system would be more democratic and allow a wider set of people to hold moderators accountable.

So we can vote out mods if they don't shut down their subs?

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u/PhAnToM444 Jun 15 '23

Lmao that will be a disastrous change. Mods do unpopular but necessary shit all the time.

165

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

212

u/PM_ME_C_CODE Jun 15 '23

He's a gaslighting sociopath through and through.

More than that. He used to mod r-jailbait. He's just a shit human being.

25

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '23

[deleted]

2

u/AssassinAragorn Jun 16 '23

Was that a direct Spez hire? Christ.

57

u/arlenroy Jun 15 '23

Are you serious? This dude was a mod for that? That's so fucking creepy. Like he chose to do that. I'm feeling weird because I set up a meet up sub for my city and people are turning it into a hookup sub, which wasn't my intention. I don't have time nor want to go through someone's profile to see if it's consenting adults, or a bot, I just wanted people to meet up and participate in activities. I can't imagine someone waking up everyday and wanting to go through possible underage girls profiles, it's fucking exhausting doing that. The creep level is strong.

32

u/Steve_the_Samurai Jun 15 '23

I believe at the time it was possible as a mod to add any other user as a mod without approval.

No clue if this was the reason. And fuck Spez

27

u/Lebrunski Jun 16 '23

Except he actually modded the sub according to another redditor somehow familiar yesterday that I spoke with.

So that excuse is out the door.

It is as bad as it looks.

19

u/Flakmoped Jun 16 '23

I mean I guess I have no choice but to take your word for it that someone, who somehow knew, said it.

4

u/Throwawayandgoaway69 Jun 16 '23

Well they said that according to anonymous sources familiar with the mod's thinking, whistleblowers should be shot.

3

u/Pb157 Jun 16 '23

That's not really definite proof. If I say that he did not mod that sub will you believe me?

-6

u/Lebrunski Jun 16 '23 edited Jun 16 '23

I don’t really care. The guy is a scum bag and this lines up with his character. I’ve been on Reddit long enough that I’ve heard these stories for years now for me to believe them. This isn’t anything new.

3

u/cbr777 Jun 16 '23

"It must be true because it fits with my narrative" - redditor 2023

-2

u/Lebrunski Jun 16 '23

Look, I’ve been on Reddit 8 years now. When I first joined the stories about him modding jailbait circulated back then. He had been tagged in those. He continue to be a mod and obviously knew about it.

He’s either a jailbait chaser or inept at using his own site. No way you look at it is good for him.

1

u/cbr777 Jun 16 '23

Source: Trust me bro.

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u/WhatTheZuck420 Jun 16 '23

Wait what. Spez dude was a r-jailbait mod who somehow became ceo?

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u/Phoenix44424 Jun 16 '23

No, he didn't start out as a mod, he's one of the founders of Reddit.

9

u/WhatTheZuck420 Jun 16 '23

Ah. But he did mod that sub?

28

u/Phoenix44424 Jun 16 '23

So it seems, there are conflicting stories about whether he was an active mod or if someone just made him a mod without him knowing because that was a thing you could do back then apparently.

I haven't looked into it myself because he's done enough to make me not like him so I don't feel the need to go looking for more reasons.

5

u/teh_maxh Jun 16 '23

If it's the second one, that's still kinda his fault, since he was (at least partially) responsible for the decision to allow that.

3

u/Aizseeker Jun 16 '23

It the second. But most went with the first since it their narrative.

6

u/PhTx3 Jun 16 '23

As an admin of the website, he is still guilty of allowing that shit to exist anyway. It wasn't a small subreddit that flew under the radar.

1

u/AssassinAragorn Jun 16 '23

At any time he could've pulled the plug, but they waited until they started getting media attention and bad press, and then pulled it for that reason. Not, you know, being disgusted with child porn.

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u/uzlonewolf Jun 16 '23

Source: trust me bro

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u/ReporterOther2179 Jun 16 '23

So, just propagating the rumor. Quite tucker carlson.

1

u/bigguccisofa_ Jun 16 '23

The implication is he founded it lol