Skip to main content

“We screwed up,” Reddit CEO Ellen Pao admits in an apology post

petition ellen pao return as reddit ceo
Image used with permission by copyright holder
After a petition calling for her resignation garnered nearly 200,000 signatures, Reddit CEO Ellen Pao is offering an abject apology for the series of grievances faithful Reddit users have leveled against her. In a Reddit post of her own, Pao acknowledged, “We screwed up.”

The public outrage and backlash against Pao began this past weekend, when Reddit abruptly cut ties with their director of talent, Victoria Taylor, who was responsible for moderating the online platform’s wildly popular Ask Me Anything (AMA) series. While the petition for Pao’s dismissal first appeared weeks before, accusing her of negatively affecting website traffic and censoring content, the movement gained momentum with Taylor’s departure from the company. The petition references Pao’s contentious gender discrimination lawsuit against former employers Kleiner Perkins, a well-known venture capital firm in Menlo Park, and accuses her of being “a manipulative individual who will sue her way to the top.”

Now, Pao is calling for clemency, writing that the company’s “screw-ups” did not just happen 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.”

In a concerted effort to make actionable change, Pao continues her post with three concrete steps for improvement. She writes:

“Tools: We will improve tools, not just promise improvements, building on work already underway. u/deimorz andu/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.”

Recognizing the cynicism and skepticism with which her post may be met, Pao notes, “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.”

So in true Reddit style, engage in the community discussion that Pao has started. “Please share feedback here,” Pao concludes. “Our team is ready to respond to comments.”

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
How to change your language in Google Chrome on desktop
Chrome OS

Google Chrome supports a wide range of languages. While it'll default to English in most cases, there's nothing stopping you from changing its settings and displaying pages in Spanish, French, or dozens of other languages.

Changing your default language in Chrome takes only a few seconds, and the technique used is the same across Windows and Mac. Aside from changing your language, note that Chrome now gives you the option to automatically translate pages written in another language – making it easy to read content from around the globe.

Read more
23 of the best Netflix hacks, tips, and tricks
The Netflix home screen.

Netflix is one of the most popular streaming platforms for all things movies and TV shows. Home to an immense library of titles, the Netflix archive is constantly changing and evolving, and so are the many ways you can use your Netflix account. 

For instance, did you know you can access region-locked Netflix shows and flicks by using a VPN? Or that you can disable that pesky Autoplay feature? There are tons of Netflix hacks, tips, and tricks out there, so we’ve gone ahead and rounded up all of our favorites! 
Expand your streaming with a VPN

Read more
How to make a GIF from a YouTube video
woman sitting and using laptop

Sometimes, whether you're chatting with friends or posting on social media, words just aren't enough -- you need a GIF to fully convey your feelings. If there's a moment from a YouTube video that you want to snip into a GIF, the good news is that you don't need complex software to so it. There are now a bunch of ways to make a GIF from a YouTube video right in your browser.

If you want to use desktop software like Photoshop to make a GIF, then you'll need to download the YouTube video first before you can start making a GIF. However, if you don't want to go through that bother then there are several ways you can make a GIF right in your browser, without the need to download anything. That's ideal if you're working with a low-specced laptop or on a phone, as all the processing to make the GIF is done in the cloud rather than on your machine. With these options you can make quick and fun GIFs from YouTube videos in just a few minutes.
Use GIFs.com for great customization
Step 1: Find the YouTube video that you want to turn into a GIF (perhaps a NASA archive?) and copy its URL.

Read more