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Comment by ivraatiems | Hacker News Reader

Why isn't this being brought to Reddit's userbase? This seems like something where a lack of transparency will really hurt the company.

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It was, everyone who really cared about it in the slightest knew

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2uadvd/the_real_rea...

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2u4nv4/ryan_x_charl...

http://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/2u4ypn/reddi...

http://www.reddit.com/r/Buttcoin/search?q=ryan+charles&restr...

The only people that cared about this guy were the bitcoin fanatics and the those who where hell bent on making fun of the bitcoin fanatics. No one else on the site talked about it because it didn't affect them.

On Reddit, in my opinion, spin and the degree of transparency matter long after the fact. This is everyone who cares to know right now. What happens when there's a front-page TIL post or relevant blog post in a few months? Reddit and PR can be a time bomb.

What would you have had them do? Make a full blog post for every single employee they hire or layoff? Have the entirety of the site (which is already hypercritical of the admins) mull through and critique every single personnel decision?

They didn't try to hide the fact that he was laid off, and he's now obviously free to come talk here and on twitter about the circumstances surrounding his departure from the company, I really don't see how this is a transparency issue.

That's a good question and point. The thing is, you're right: It's not a transparency issue in the real world and it wouldn't be for any other company. But Reddit's not the real world. Reddit's much angrier and much more conspiratorial, especially when it comes to things that ostensibly are about the "community" and "giving back" on behalf of the admins.

Yes, but that's hardly reason to purposefully feed the flames of reddit conspiracy theorists by making a more high profile announcement. And if there is a /r/TIL post down the road that starts a witch-hunt it's not like they have a ton of fuel, the guy who was fired talks about it in a very calm and non-accusatory manner.

Sorry, but again, what would you have rather had them do? I don't see anything wrong with the admin's choices on this

Yes, agreed. I don't think there is necessarily anything bad or wrong about what happened. Writing a blog post about "we're cancelling cryptocurrency and firing the enginer" would have made it into an even bigger deal than it is. The way it is happening, people who care about it hear about it, and people who don't care don't have to bother.

Another piece of drama that happened last year was that reddit let a former employee go, who made an AMA about it, and then Yishan publicly criticised the former employee. The new leadership is probably very, very hesitant to say anything about anybody who was let go - they don't want to repeat that mistake.

IMO CA employee defamation law should really be changed: http://www.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/2igkke/reddit_ceo_ca...

Why isn't what being brought to the reddit userbase? That they fired me? That reddit notes is now paused? They are probably waiting for the right time to make an announcement I guess. They probably didn't realize that by firing (or letting me go, whatever) that they would draw the interest of the media.

Sorry - it's really all of the above. To be more clear, I will break this into some sub-questions that are hopefully less obsequious.

The "reddit is giving 10% of its shares to its users" thing was very positively received. My understanding was that redditcoin was part of that effort. Is the 10% thing still going to happen in some way? If not, why not?

Regardless of the answer to the question above, hearing that redditcoin is being cancelled would likely lead members to conclude the new leadership doesn't want the community shares system that was so touted previously. Is that the case, if you know?

And then the final, more meta question is: Why would Reddit's staff, of all people, think they could do something involving Reddit quietly?

> The "reddit is giving 10% of its shares to its users" thing was very positively received. My understanding was that redditcoin was part of that effort. Is the 10% thing still going to happen in some way? If not, why not?

I think they intend to make the 10% thing happen eventually, although the project is currently paused. I estimate 1+ year before any aspect of the project resumes. However, I am not privy to the conversations the executives have had about it, so I don't really know.

> Regardless of the answer to the question above, hearing that redditcoin is being cancelled would likely lead members to conclude the new leadership doesn't want the community shares system that was so touted previously. Is that the case, if you know?

I don't know.

> Why would Reddit's staff, of all people, think they could do something involving Reddit quietly?

Ha. No idea.

Interesting. I appreciate your candidness!

I've already seen plenty of discussion about it on r/bitcoin et al. I'm pretty sure most people "in the loop" have already heard about this.

It popped up a couple days ago, but I'm not the sure the userbase as a whole cares much about it.

http://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/2u4ypn/reddi...

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