"To balance things out, Farhad invited Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, but he dropped out, so it was just the three of us."

False. On 8/13/12, I got a Google News Alert showing my name listed on a panel on the SXSW Panel Picker that I had never even heard of, let alone agreed to.

The way SXSW works, people submit panel concepts (presumably with the knowledge of everyone involved) in order to get 'votes' that help the SXSW team decide which panels to approve. I have no idea how long that post was getting 'votes' with my name falsely associated with it.

I immediately emailed Farhad, who was listed as the organizer:

> my email to Farhad

I wasn't even planning on being at Sxsw interactive this year.

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt but this appears to be remarkably unprofessional.

Please have my name removed from this immediately: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/3709

Let me know when it's done.

Thanks Alexis

> Farhad's reply (Jason, reddit's PR, CCed)

Hey Alexis,

I'm sorry, I guess there's been a misunderstanding. I asked Jason Bellinger at Reddit PR -- CCd here -- a couple months ago if you would do it; he said that either you or Erik Martin likely would be able to.

I thought that we were submitting a generic "Reddit representative" for the event, but apparently we put in your name. (This entry was being coordinated by Slate's PR company -- I didn't create it.) I'll contact them to get your name removed ASAP.

Jason, do you know if Erik will be able to take part -- should we switch his name in there?

> Jason (reddit PR)

Hey Farhad -

I had said that I'd get back to you if they were interested, and as they aren't going this year, I didn't confirm it with you. I'm sorry if there was a misunderstanding here.

> Farhad

Ah, it's my mistake, then; I understood that to be either/or. I do apologize and will get it taken care of.

---

I do believe there's a discussion to be had about promoting civility (and curbing bigotry, assholish behavior, etc) on social media -- these ills exist on wordpress, on youtube, on twitter, and yes, on reddit -- but when one can't even honestly invite participants, let alone frame the debate, we all miss an opportunity.

I've had & heard frank & thorough discussions on the subject with friends like Latoya Peterson (www.racialicious.com) and Christina Xu (www.awesomefoundation.org) so I know it's possible, but my concern is that there are people engaged who'd prefer pageviews over progress.