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Comment by return0 | Hacker News Reader

People keep focusing on Pao's gender, but IMHO the main reason Pao was not liked in reddit is not her gender or race, but rather that she was too old for the role. Plus her business background was not really exciting. She could barely inspire the rebelious youngsters that frequent reddit. I believe a younger asian hipster girl would be a much easier sell for the changes she wanted to bring about.

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Pao had a rough time because she was labeled as an SJW by many people and other weren't happy with her management practices. We're in a turbulent time regarding gender relations with angry and militant people on both sides of the equation and Pao was an easy target by trolls and others caught in the mob mentality of events like gamergate. Pao was treated horribly but it's not something I'm suprised to see.

The way women are treated online is horrific but Pao gave people ammunition and stoked the fires and the worst time to do so. You don't beat people with a stick when they're angry and expect to remain unscathed.

In other words, she deserved it, in your opinion?

I'm not sure if I agree with the other poster's point. But just the same, your logic is: So if I get into a fight with a drunk concealed carry holder, I deserve to get shot? Of course not. Would it have been wise of me to consider that some of the possible outcomes go beyond a few fists thrown at the pub? Absolutely.

The massive leap you're making to bait the other commenter is tacky.

> People keep focusing on Pao's gender, but IMHO the main reason Pao was not liked in reddit is not her gender or race, but rather that she was too old for the role. Plus her business background was not really exciting.

Grasping at straws. She was met with a massive, organised campaign of hatred. This isn't explained by being "old" or having a "poor business background".

But being a 1) female, 2) asian person who had 3) recently lost a highly-publicised gender discrimination lawsuit and 4) enacted an anti-harassment policy would explain the hatred. There is a large number of people who are misogynist, racist and/or openly hostile to what they view as "political correctness". And a much larger number of people who will listen to and possibly be pursuaded their lies.

That's one way to see it , but one's truth is somebody else's lie. Pao was particularly bad at communicating her intentions - even a white male would be met with rage in this case. She made her position worse by bringing identity politics into it and playing the victim card. I think if she had used a better style of communication she could have stayed. Also, i m not convinced from what i read that there was some global conspiracy against her. Herd mentality is not organized.

> Also, i m not convinced from what i read that there was some global conspiracy against her.

The word "organised" was a poor choice on my part. "Mass" might be more accurate.

Though I know it wasn't an entirely disorganised thing.

Pedantic, but: while 1, 3, and 4 may have had much to do with it, I think her being Asian was completely irrelevant. Reddit isn't exactly anti-Asian.

The previous (interim) CEO, Yishan, was also Asian and did not receive any kind of negative sentiment due to it or even any mention of it.

#3 and #4, yeah. A lot of people (myself included) felt she was the wrong person for the job. Not everyone is receptive to the constant speech policing that invariably results when you put an SJW in charge.

>IMHO the main reason Pao was not liked in reddit is not her gender or race, but rather that she was too old

You think that's any better?

Having followed the whole situation fairly closely, this is literally the first time I've heard anyone suggest that it was about her age. Meanwhile, reddit's top posts were filled with racist and sexist insults for days.

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