What to do when you lose an ally. Updated for new Reddit CEO!
The picture above is Victoria Taylor. She was a former Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) coordinator who is capable, intelligent and entirely wonderful. When she was unexpectedly let go last week, a good portion of Reddit went with her.
Victoria was a great help organizing an IBM Watson AMA with me. I needed help getting consumable data to feed into a Watson corpus. Victoria connected me with a member of the database team. We, with Victoria as a guide, passed requirements and inquiries back and forth. Now that she is no longer with Reddit, the conversation has gone dead.
RIP AMA Team?
Victoria did much more than manage the AMA's. She helped write the newsletters about the good that Reddit does. She was the face of a responsive and helpful Reddit corp. That face was contrary to what is left. Current CEO Ellen Pao has a history of exploring not what was good for the community, but good for Reddit (and by proxy herself). Reddit has reacted to this dismissal.
Interim Reddit CEO Ellen Pao is stuck in the crosshairs of hundreds of thousands of users who want her to step down from the community-curated news site.
The flash point: The abrupt firing last week of Victoria Taylor, the director of talent who oversaw Reddit's popular Ask Me Anything "subreddit," or forum, that lets users interact, in real time, with industry and national leaders, including Bill Gates and President Obama. Taylor also acted as liaison of sorts between the company's executives and the volunteer moderators who oversee virtually all of the site's forums.
-Published on 7/9/2015 @ https://www.cnet.com/news/how-revolting-reddit-users-are-determined-to-oust-interim-ceo-ellen-pao/
Breaking news, shortly after this article was published, Ellen Pao Stepped down as CEO.
Ellen Pao has stepped down and will be succeeded by former Reddit CEO Steve Huffman.
Victoria may have gotten in trouble for overstepping her role, but that is exactly why she was a great benefit to Reddit.
A lot of good work is on hold. I hope to re-engage with Victoria's replacement, but I suspect there is no one who could fill her shoes. The best bet for me is to explore how to revive these projects and hopefully discover or inspire another Victoria somewhere inside reddit.
If anyone has any advice on how to move forward when one loses an ally, please let me know.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dugandaniel
Thank you and have a great weekend!
Compliance Training Specialist at Virginia Energy
9 年I can't believe people still think that this fiasco killed Reddit. It hardly put a dent in their traffic. Even the people who are ranting about leaving and going to some other website will be browsing in a couple of days like nothing ever happened.
Senior Technical Business Analyst - Data Specialist
9 年When you lose an ally you start a mourning phase. It would be filled with sorrow (when no one is at fault) or anger (when there is betrayal), still it is a period of mourning and you just have to keep it together and move on. Personally, I suggest you to review your priorities and goals in both your current job and your career. Put some in the back burner (those that relied heavily on your faithful ally) and embrace the ones you can complete on your own. Keep your eyes open for new allies and try to develop those new relationship and do not forget that Reddit is just one of the millions of companies that are around.
Gyobutsuji Zen Temple Social Media Manager and Board of Directors Member. Activist.
9 年????????????????
Exactly what I hate about the industry...