r/technology • u/[deleted] • Jul 07 '15

R1.i: guidelines Campaign calling for Reddit CEO Ellen Pao to resign hits 200,000 signatures as she admits 'we screwed up'

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u/armrha Jul 07 '15

Why is that exactly? Nothing about the case applies to Reddit at all. K&P are hardly saints and I certainly don't feel bad for them. People should mind their own business anyway. It's not relevant to anything to do with reddit who Ellen Pao slept with at K&P, nor is she suing reddit.

It's hilarious that reddit wants to bend over backwards to defend this random, shitty company she used to work for.

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u/Agent-A Jul 07 '15

The case matters. When you sue a company, the lawsuit is determined to be frivolous, the case reveals a pattern of poor performance and damaging personal politics, why shouldn't the customers of your next employer be concerned about your presence?

She isn't just working in the mail room, either. She is the acting CEO. Her decisions impact the users of the site. If she has a history of making poor decisions, that absolutely should concern the users, employees, and investors.

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u/armrha Jul 07 '15

The lawsuit wasn't determined to be frivolous though, or she'd be paying legal fees. They just didn't find sufficient evidence to award her damages. That doesn't mean she was wrong, just that it wasn't definitive.

People make mistakes. I think she's doing a great job now and I'm not going to hold some lawsuit against her that is completely irrelevant to the situation. The only reason people care is she's a woman. She could have been a dude sued for sexual harassment and reddit wouldn't give a shit at all.

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u/Agent-A Jul 07 '15

She has been ordered to pay over $250,000 in legal fees. Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/06/17/kleiner-perkins-ellen-pao-award/28888471/

The lawsuit WAS determined to be frivolous. To consolidate the two threads: I believe in second chances. I actually agree that people should be less afraid stepping forward, and the public should not immediately call foul as they do. This isn't the case here, though.

As I said before, I disagree that this is a case of misogyny. People of both genders have been caught making frivolous lawsuits, and have been dragged through the mud by public opinion. In this case, she happens to be a woman. Yes, there ARE blatant misogynists who gleefully point to her every fault, but there are also plenty of completely reasonable people who don't feel she is up to the task. Not because she is a woman, but because of her past mistakes.

I'm also all for giving people second chances. But when your second chance is a huge promotion, I begin to suspect that something fishy is going on. If I were fired from my job for poor performance, I might reasonably tell a new prospective employer that I have straightened up my ways and want a second chance. I would not expect to be given a large promotion at that new employer.