As the Reddit Turns: Ex-CEO says Ellen Pao not to blame for firing of key exec

From CNET: Former CEO Yishan Wong is accusing the site's co-founder Alexis Ohanian of instigating a firing that led to backlash from users and eventually to the resignation of interim CEO Ellen Pao.

Wong said in a post on Reddit (of course) late Sunday that Ohanian wanted changes to the site's popular "Ask Me Anything" forum that lets users interact with people such as Bill Gates and President Barack Obama. The feature was run by Victoria Taylor, Reddit's well respected director of talent, who also helped numerous volunteer moderators run the message boards that make up the site. Taylor was fired on July 2, and moderators soon revolted -- shutting down dozens of subreddits, each with millions of users. They said Taylor was among the few Reddit executives who helped them run a site read by millions.

Reddit is one of the most trafficked sites on the Web, with nearly 164 million visitors. But the decade-old company has struggled to bridge a divide between Reddit the company and Reddit's community for years.

Regarded as "the front page of the Internet," the online message board sees itself as a community devoted to free speech. That stance has allowed some of the worst aspects of the Internet to fester on Reddit's site, including the publishing of private photos taken by celebrities, the growth of racist and homophobic groups, and coordination of misogynistic campaigns against prominent women on the Internet.

Now, the company's struggling to find its footing after its CEO, Pao, abruptly stepped down Friday. The site has had three CEOs within a nine-month span.

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