Reddit Users Call for CEO Resignation

The online revolt evolves, with over 150,000 Reddit users signing an online petition that calls for Ellen Pao, the site’s interim CEO, to resign. The petition was launched after Victoria Taylor, the director of talent managing the popular Ask Me Anything subreddit, was fired.

After Victoria Taylor left Reddit last week, about 300 Reddit subforums on various topics including gaming, science, history and cinema were closed by moderators. However, by the end of the week, most of the subforums were back up, while the online petition has reached 150,000 signatures.

In respond, Ellen Pao published an official statement, where she apologized for how they handled the transition. She admitted they should have informed the moderators in advance and provided more detail. The Reddit CEO claimed the company was working to make improvements and create the best experience for its users. However, this apology didn’t satisfy Reddit users, because they were published in press, not on the site, where the users could feel Pao would have been communicating directly with them.

A few months ago, Ellen Pao lost a landmark sex discrimination lawsuit against her previous employer, the venture capital firm. She argued that the firm was a boys’ club and that she was fired because she was female. However, the jury sided with the company, which managed to prove that Ellen Pao was fired because she was bad at her job, was divisive and not a team player.

Pao joined Reddit more than two years ago and 8 months ago was appointed interim CEO. The matter is that when Reddit looked to hire a CEO, the company had a major requirement to the applicant: they had to understand the community and be passionate about serving its needs. Now the petition says that Pao doesn’t meet these demands.

When the petition reached 100,000 signatures, it was updated to note that Ellen Pao and chairman and site co-founder had issued apologies via news outlets. This didn’t help though.