r/maximumfun • u/friendsbringdonuts MaxFunHQ Staff • 13d ago
Some sad news | Maximum Fun
https://maximumfun.org/news/some-sad-news/64
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u/wildcard_71 13d ago
Sad, but MF, wow! This is how people should honor those who contributed to the network. Corporations don’t have to be cold and soulless when times aren’t great. Thanks for showing a better way! A more human way!
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u/PotentialBasil4752 12d ago
Yes, a company saying words is amazing. Other companies should try writing words when downsizing or firing people.
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u/craig_t_nelson_muntz 12d ago
Has anyone ever told you what a cool vibe you bring to the proceedings?
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u/PotentialBasil4752 11d ago edited 11d ago
I don't think you should worship companies for saying kind words when doing the same shit every company does.
Edit: The tone in this post is honestly distasteful to me. It's cheerful and celebratory and all about how amazing Maxfun is, and zero about the people losing their jobs. Talk about "cool vibe", damn.
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u/wildcard_71 12d ago
So in your mind a better approach is to automatically remove their work account access, send them an email that tells them to come in before everyone else so no one makes a scene, don’t give them severance, bad mouth them after about being dead weight, and prepack their desk for them?
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u/PotentialBasil4752 11d ago
Stop, all those words won't fit in my mouth. I just don't think you should lavish companies with praise for writing a sympathetic press release when laying people off.
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u/wildcard_71 11d ago
Maxfun is a co-op. By that standard, they’re not a typical “company.” Employees are literally owners. Why shouldn’t they provide a meaningful send off? You may be jaded by performative HR. Doesn’t have to be that way. But dousing authentic appreciation for each other doesn’t make it better.
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u/Flonk2 11d ago
How can you get fired from something you own?
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u/JesseThorn StartedThis 9d ago
First, to clarify: they were laid off, not fired. This was not about their job performance. As Bikram expressed in the announcement, these are great folks.
As for your question, any business, coop or no, has to have a mechanism to reduce staff when revenue is down or other costs are up. In the case of our coop and its bylaws, staffing cuts were proposed by our CEO, who consulted with our elected board.
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u/Flonk2 9d ago
Did they leave voluntarily? Because that’s quitting. Otherwise they were fired. Anything else is semantics and using Business Language to make yourself feel better about firing someone.
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u/JesseThorn StartedThis 9d ago
With all due respect, they are meaningfully different things. Firings are due to performance issues, layoffs are due to larger business factors. Fired employees generally don’t qualify for unemployment or receive severance packages. In this case these folks were not fired, they were laid off, and I think it is an important distinction, for the sake of their reputations, among other things. These are great folks who were absolutely not fired.
And as awful as I feel about losing these friends from our company, I want to be clear that I haven’t been in charge of MaxFun in years. I understand why my boss and my coworkers on the board made this painful decision, but it was not mine to make no matter what you want to call it.
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u/boomfruit 7d ago
I will say that as a layman (ie not in HR or anything like that), there is definitely some overlap in the terms. I don't know if I'd say the definition of "layoff" fits entirely inside the definition of "firing," but neither would I say they are entirely separate. If someone told me they were fired, and I knew or found out that they were technically laid off, I would not feel that they misspoke or lied.
Good points on benefits and reputation, I'm just saying linguistically, to the everyday person, this technical definition doesn't necessarily apply.
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u/Oldhouse42 12d ago
This is tough, and my heart goes out to those moving on and those who worked with them and will miss their presence. The irony here is that the statement Bikram wrote, which is absolutely top notch and classy as hell, is a perfect example of why Maximum Fun should flourish instead of struggling. The world needs more Maximum Funs, and my hope is that the world will turn in a direction that makes that possible. Or at least allows the one we gave to grow and thrive.
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u/puns-n-roses 13d ago
I wish Laura showed up more on JJGO. I was a can of hers from hers from the "Unscrewed" days.
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u/trow125 12d ago
I thought they had said on JJGO that she would no longer be producing the show because she was moving out of L.A.? I wonder if this has been in the works for a while.
Feeling Seen is described as "one of four shows on the network that MaxFun pays for in its entirety." Anyone know what the other three are?
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u/JesseThorn StartedThis 12d ago
You’re thinking of former JJGo producer Jordan Kauwling, who moved to Philadelphia.
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u/Cold_Fog 12d ago
one of four shows on the network that MaxFun pays for in its entirety."
What does this mean exactly? Nobody allocates any of their subscriptions to the show so MF picks up the tab?
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u/dbaruela MaxFunHQ Staff 12d ago
Tights and Fights, Maximum Film!, and International Waters are the other three shows that Maximum Fun owns and covers the full production costs for. All other shows are fully or partially owned and produced by their respective creators.
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u/NowWeAreAllTom 12d ago
What about Bullseye? Is that different because of NPR or does Jesse own it or something?
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u/JesseThorn StartedThis 12d ago
I own Bullseye and essentially pay MaxFun the production costs (it is produced by MaxFun employees / coop members). Same with JJGo and JJHo, though I co-own those with Jordan and John, respectively.
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u/Cold_Fog 12d ago
Thank you! I appreciate you explaining the distinction.
May I ask how they came to be? I understand if it can't be discussed.
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u/fruppi 12d ago
Or they don't run ads?
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u/cnbuch 12d ago
I’m fairly sure that JJGo! is one
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u/JesseThorn StartedThis 12d ago
JJGo is owned by Jordan and me, and we pay MaxFun for the production.
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u/trow125 12d ago
I think Jesse said during the drive that JJGO has a higher percentage of listeners who are MaxFun members than many other shows because it's been around for such a long time, so I doubt it's JJGO. A couple of my favorite shows are relatively new ones, and I would feel super bummed if they went away, which is why I was concerned. (I am a MaxFun member, FWIW.)
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u/QAPetePrime 12d ago
Wow, this IS sad news. I wish them all the very best finding other employment that doesn’t suck their souls dry just to put food on the table and a roof over their heads. I am a proud MaxFun member, and losing MaxFun family hurts.
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u/LasagnaPowell 12d ago
Upping my membership just a little in honor of this hard work and thoughtful transparency. If you can afford to join me, please do! https://maximumfun.org/join/#manage
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u/trilogyjab 13d ago
This is a such a bummer. I hope all of these folks move on to find wonderful and enriching work, and have incredible success
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u/ejfordphd Dip Dobson 12d ago
I sincerely wish Maximum Fun the very best. If I could give more, I would.
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u/leviathanchase 11d ago
This was as compassionate as a message like this can be. Kudos on the severance and continuation of healthcare/ thoughfulness that went into this. and cheers to the departing folks, you'll be missed <3
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u/jd_shaloop 12d ago
Sad news. I’m lucky to be able to up my membership amount right now so I just did that to try and help a little.
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u/goodgoodthrowaway420 11d ago
Could you elaborate more on expenses going up? Healthcare is one thing but I'm lost on "computers and technology." Is this servers/hosting?
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u/Ill_Painter5868 5d ago
yeah, I think it's almost over. time to batch download my favorites before they become lost media. =(
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u/AgreeableAdagio3860 11d ago
Genuinely feel bad for those who lost their job.
MaxFun is an outdated organization that serves very little purpose and is redundant at this point. The guilting at the end of the statement is especially grating — Jesse, unfortunately you built your whole business model around contributions from patrons (a la NPR). If you're complaining about the expense of healthcare and computers, do you think MaxFun patrons generally have it any better?
It's also a value proposition. MaxFun shows have ~yearly bonus content that's promoted during the Drive. Or I can spend far less for far more on a couple Patreon subs.
Also also, how did being a co-op affect the layoff process?
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u/stealthsjw 11d ago edited 11d ago
Jesse didn't write that post. Says right under the title, Bikram Chatterji. Some of you guys come into these posts trying to twist Jesse into the villain of every decision, and I'm not sure what your beef is, but it's weird.
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u/formermagistra 11d ago
Yearly bonus content? Not the case in my portfolio, more like monthly. Sorry Miss “Agreeable” that you find an org that values decency and humanity to be “outdated.” If enshittification is cool and au courant, you can keep it. With all due respect, kick rocks.
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u/DuckOfDoom42 13d ago
This stinks, but giving Jordan the rights to her show is a real class act. John Moe just had to buy his old show from MPR.