July 10, 2015

Reddit’s Faction of Racist Trolls Celebrates CEO Ellen Pao’s Resignation

Former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cmichel67/18330449416/in/photolist-6EwHQ-tVNkZj-67aNkf-tFy2Eu-67aN2s-tFwMTw-tVMPzS-67aMCN-fQ9B9o-cc4823-bUFX2H-cQEN6h-an27UX-an4RAm-an4Nbd-cc4dAQ-bUFYSH-cc4dkW-cc4d4s-bUFXSB-cc4ccU-cc4czo-cQEKhu-cQEAV3-cQEGkG-cQEQC9-cQEW7Y-cQETc7-cQEyPC-cQEHuf">Christopher Michael</a>/Flickr

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In the minutes following today’s announcement that Ellen Pao, Reddit’s embattled interim CEO, would be stepping down, users of the site responded with glee. Pao has been widely criticized by many of the site’s unpaid moderators for her recent tone-deaf firing of a popular employee—see here for more on what really happened with that—and for ignoring the moderators’ needs and contributions to running the platform. Yet beneath the celebration lurked a disturbing undercurrent of racism. As of 2:45 p.m. PST, the second most “upvoted” comment beneath the announcement was this:

 

 

The biggest problem with the comment isn’t the mocking of Pao’s Asian name. It’s the commenter’s handle, “DylanStormRoof.” Dylann Roof, of course, is the young man accused of massacring nine people at South Carolina’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church last month.

Other Redditors quickly alleged that DylannStormRoof moderates a notoriously racist subreddit:

Reddit’s trolls have been out to get Pao ever since she shut down five toxic subreddits last month, including one called r/shitniggerssay. They also aren’t psyched that she called out Silicon Valley’s misogynistic culture. That’s not to say that Pao’s handling of Reddit’s most controversial communities is the only reason she’s unpopular with users of the site, which is, after all, the 10th most trafficked on the internet. But today’s reaction illustrates the challenges her replacement, Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman, will face if he wants to rein in the site’s most offensive tendencies.

Update, July 10, 2015, 5 p.m. PT: Cooler heads on Reddit have since taken over, as they often do, burying “DylannStormRoof”‘s comment and up-voting a reply pointing out its racist connotations.

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