Reddit CEO says the mods leading a punishing blackout are too powerful and he will change the site's rules to weaken them

AllonzeeLV@vlemmy.net to World News@beehaw.org – 300 points –
Reddit CEO says the mods leading a punishing blackout are too powerful and he will change the site's rules to weaken them
businessinsider.com
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I've seen some here openly despair that leaving reddit didn't do anything.

Spez, CEO of Reddit and former mod of the r/jailbait subreddit losing his shit very publically for days proves otherwise.

...And it's also a reminder that the reddit community we loved has already been destroyed by ownership, anyone returning would be returning to a shadow that disdains its own users and works to disempower them with every update. They're even undeleting user's deleted posts. If they can't respect users enough to be able to delete their own content, why enrich them?

Holy shit was he seriously a mod of that subreddit? Good lord...

Back in the olden days of reddit, mods didn't need to accept their position. So, it was a troll tactic to promote people to moderator of a controversial sub and then take a screenshot. I have no knowledge of spez's moderating history, but I imagine this is the most likely scenario.

If I let a bunch of crackheads live in my house and endlessly defended their presence until I was forced by public pressure to reluctantly send them away the shit they got up to in the interim was at least partially my fault in my opinion.

The real crime was how he didn't do anything about it once he knew about it. Same with many other questionable subs, perhaps he enjoyed them or maybe he didn't, but he sure tolerated them being around polluting the waters. They brought in traffic, aka money, and that's all he cares about.

That may be what happened but Reddit management definitely knew about what was going on because they created a special "Pimp Daddy" trophy just for that one mod as a kind of public reward for his work. Reddit was complicit to some degree.

he participated pretty heavily in the sub either way.

Oh wow, that's one of those quirks that in hindsight feels like a major oversight lol

It was hilarious the first couple times it came up - but it absolutely was a massive oversight, especially in light of how wild-west the subreddit space was in that same era.

Maybe. On the other hand, Reddit wouldn't be the first major social media platform that got its start focusing on sexualization and sexual harassment if he was...

He still was the mod there... Thats enough to make a fuss about it against him :)

They don't either right now here in Lemmy. But you can only promote users to moderator in Lemmy if they have posted something or commented on something in the same community.

I'm sure restoring deleted data will go over really well in Europe.

Already sent my GDPR request for my data and complete data deletion. In a few month, I will just have to look for my posts and comments, kindly provided by reddit, and denounce/sue them if they didn’t comply. That should sit well with investors ;-)

Where do you request GDPR data deletion to them? Did the data request already, still waiting, but haven't found anything about deletion yet

They were playing dumb when I asked, but it only needs to be in the initial email or comments on the form

Yes, but I only know of the form to request data, not of one to delete it, where did you send the request?

it took them less then a week to go from "were a community" to "shut up and do as your told". fuck that and them. whether kbin or lemmy works out only the future knows so far but im done with reddit.

Reminds me of leaving my ex. Went from "baby I love you, don't leave 🥺" to "fuck you, you're nothing without me, you're a crazy bitch" in the span of minutes.

Lol, this encapsulates it so well. But I am also out of that “community” now. Still debating whether to delete my account.

Even if the protest fails to produce capitulation from Reddit, it still effectively drove a fuckton of traffic into the Fediverse, which is a goal worth pursuing in itself. If corporations won't comply, then building workable alternatives is option 2.

Was he really a mod of r/jailbait?

Man, what a pathetic creep. Fuck u/spez.

In view of comments about restoration of deleted data, I had a look at the user agreement for NON EEU and it says "When Your Content is created with or submitted to the Services, you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable, and sublicensable license to use, copy, modify, adapt, prepare derivative works of, distribute, store, perform, and display Your Content and any name, username, voice, or likeness provided in connection with Your Content in all media formats and channels now known or later developed anywhere in the world. This license includes the right for us to make Your Content available for syndication, broadcast, distribution, or publication by other companies, organizations, or individuals who partner with Reddit. You also agree that we may remove metadata associated with Your Content, and you irrevocably waive any claims and assertions of moral rights or attribution with respect to Your Content. tldr; they do not have to honor content deletion in the US. But I feel better that I deleted it, maybe it will be a little bit of pain to restore it. I will go back occasionally and re-delete if neeeded.