The Reddit Problem

Here is the correction for the second:

http://www.chuqui.com/2015/07/the-death-of-reddit/

but I wasn't able to figure out what to do with the first.

Among the problem he cites is that the moderators were not require to align with the company. He suggests that they should have been paid as consultants, which would enable Reddit to force compliance with company policy.

My take is that the problem is that Reddit did not align with the moderators.

A very common problem, not just with community-driven websites, but any enterprise which is largely driven by volunteers, is that the volunteers really do have a legitimate equity stake in the company. Terms of Service, Privacy Policies, copyright licenses or even assignments have no bearing on that.

Piss off your volunteers and they will all walk away.

Sun's Open Source Diva was hired specifically to explain Open Source to Sun's own staff, after the public outcries that resulted from such blunders as granting new employee commit privileges without them having proved their chops to the volunteer developers by submitting patches via email or by attaching them to bugs.

In my own case I was very excited to subscribe to a feral cat political activism newsletter. But I quickly unsubscribed when I found no way to contact the people who wrote the newsletter. While I think they mean well they were soliciting donations but they were not even permitting me to give them suggestions as to how to save the lives of cats.

It's not just for-profit corporations; IMHO nonprofits are commonly far worse. It is the result of cognitive dissonance. Because the nonprofit is predicated on doing right by others when they do wrong they regard those they harm of deserving of their unjust punishment.

When deciding whether to donate money to or volunteer for a nonprofit, visit their offices. Do they have a nice view out the window? Aeron chairs? Lamborghinis in the parking lot?

Hookers and blow?

That's why I intend to donate to the Portland Rescue Mission, Blanchet House of Hospitality, Salvation Army, Union Gospel Mission and some of the churches around here but I will be damned if the Central City Concern ever manages to pry a contribution from my cold dead hands.