{"id":1950824,"date":"2023-06-19T10:30:04","date_gmt":"2023-06-19T14:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/reddit-ceo-compares-moderators-to-landed-gentry-as-widespread-blackout-rages-on\/"},"modified":"2023-06-19T10:33:06","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T14:33:06","slug":"reddit-ceo-compares-moderators-to-landed-gentry-as-widespread-blackout-rages-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/reddit-ceo-compares-moderators-to-landed-gentry-as-widespread-blackout-rages-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Reddit CEO likens moderators to &#8216;landed gentry&#8217; amidst ongoing blackout."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Freddit-ceo-compares-moderators-to-landed-gentry-as-widespread-blackout-rages-on%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1950824&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>A Co-Founder&#8217;s Disconnect: Reddit CEO Disses Moderators Amidst Blackout<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p>A co-founder of Reddit, which draws more than 50 million readers every day, is proving he doesn\u2019t really get his own site.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The site is a brilliant bit of social engineering <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2014<\/span> enlist regular people with a passion, pay them nothing, and have them moderate subreddits that draw millions of other passionate readers. But Reddit CEO Steve Huffman dissed them hard last week, comparing them to wealthy aristocracy and threatening to figure out a way to oust them with little discourse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019re a politician or a business owner, you are accountable to your constituents. So a politician needs to be elected, and a business owner can be fired by its shareholders,\u201d Huffman told NBC, The Washington Post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/technology\/reddit-ceo-compares-moderators-to-aristocracy-as-blackout-stretches-on\/ar-AA1cDOwM\">reported<\/a>. \u201cAnd I think, on Reddit, the analogy is closer to the landed gentry: The people who get there first get to stay there and pass it down to their descendants, and that is not democratic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Huffman doesn\u2019t get it. Moderators made more than 9,000 subreddits inaccessible last week to protest Reddit\u2019s plan to charge third<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/critics-say-apple-keeps-its-app-store-closed-to-aid-chinese-censorship\/\" title=\"Critics Say Apple Keeps Its App Store Closed to Aid Chinese Censorship\">-party apps<\/a> millions of dollars to access its data. The plan prompted popular third-party apps such as Apollo, Reddit is Fun, and Sync to say they\u2019ll have to shut down on July 1.<\/p>\n<p>Moderators made thousands of subreddits private, cutting off access to general users. But while the protest was set to run for 48 hours, some moderators now say they\u2019ll keep their subreddits dark until the whole mess is sorted out.<\/p>\n<p>Last Monday, Huffman told employees in an internal memo that the blackout \u201cwill pass\u201d like \u201call blowups on Reddit,\u201d the Verge <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2023\/6\/13\/23759559\/reddit-internal-memo-api-pricing-changes-steve-huffman\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of noise with this one. Among the noisiest we\u2019ve seen. Please know that our teams are on it, and like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well,\u201d the memo read. \u201cWe absolutely must ship what we said we would. The only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/seattle-parents-shocked-after-learning-students-will-return-to-schools-with-homeless-encampments\/\" title=\"Seattle Parents Shocked After Learning Students Will Return To Schools With Homeless Encampments\">long term solution<\/a> is improving our product, and in the short term we have a few <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/reddit-ceo-compares-moderators-to-landed-gentry-as-widespread-blackout-rages-on\/\" title=\"Reddit CEO likens moderators to 'landed gentry' amidst ongoing blackout.\">upcoming critical mod tool launches<\/a> we need to nail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the report that Huffman would seek to depose moderators, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chilean-voters-reject-socialist-constitution\/\" title=\"Chilean Voters Reject Socialist Constitution\">cooler heads prevailed<\/a>, and Reddit walked it all back. Reddit spokesman Tim Rathschmidt told The Post that the comment was taken out of context and that \u201cSteve did not confirm we are moving in this direction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are not removing moderators who protest, nor are we taking over subreddits for participating in the blackout,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cRedditors want to reddit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b data-stringify-type=\"bold\"><\/b><\/p>\n<p>But the moderators are digging in. A group that organized the blackout on the r\/ModCoord subreddit said in a statement that Huffman\u2019s comments show Reddit\u2019s communication about the plan to charge for data \u201chas been poor from the very beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey have attempted to gaslight us that they want to keep third-party apps while they set prices and timelines no developer can meet. The blowback that is happening now is largely because Reddit launched this drastic change with only 30 days notice,\u201d Reddit user BuckRowdy, a moderator of the subreddit coordinating the protest, wrote on Thursday. \u201cWe continue to ask Reddit to place these changes on pause and explore a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-try-to-legalize-third-trimester-abortions-in-all-50-states\/\" title=\"Democrats Try To Legalize Third Trimester Abortions In All 50 States\">real path forward<\/a> that strikes a balance that is best for the widest range of Reddit users.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In another tin-ear moment, Huffman has claimed Reddit is not profitable. \u201cReddit needs to be a self-sustaining business, and to do that, we can no longer subsidize commercial entities that require large-scale data use,\u201d Huffman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/reddit-users-plan-blackout-protest-new-pricing-policy-2023-6\">said<\/a> in an \u201cask me anything\u201d post earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll continue to be profit-driven until profits arrive,\u201d Huffman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/reddit-readers-revolt-mods-set-48-hour-blackout-to-protest-new-policy\">wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But Reddit has been valued at $10 billion and hauled in $1 billion in fundraising in August 2021.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re assuming that Huffman understands <em>that<\/em> part of Reddit.<\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Reddit co-founder, despite its massive daily readership of over 50 million, seems to lack understanding of his own creation. The site&#8217;s genius lies in its social engineering approach: engaging unpaid moderators, who are passionate regular users, to oversee subreddits that attract millions of enthusiastic readers. However, this concept eludes the co-founder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":1950825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[16183,3850,29047,13723,5827,22276,4085,5310],"class_list":["post-1950824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire","tag-blackout","tag-ceo","tag-gentry","tag-landed","tag-likens","tag-moderators","tag-ongoing","tag-reddit"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1950824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1950825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1950824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1950824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1950824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}