IMHO you and the parent post are both right: this is all around bad behavior by all parties involved.
I was let go once. I've told the story, but I have never mentioned the name of the company and I won't tell you if asked. I also had a horrible experience with a co-founder in my first startup to the point that I consider the guy a con man, but likewise I will only tell the story with all names and identifying details omitted. Calling people out in a public forum -- even if you are in the right -- just makes you look like an asshole.
But this response is also a terrible response from a CEO. He descends rapidly into the same muck as the original "AMA" poster. I agree that he was presented with two sucky options, but he should have taken the high road with his response and simply said something like "all I can say is that this individual was terminated for different reasons than the ones he states." In public at least, leave it at that.
Reddit in general is an increasingly toxic community. There was a great writeup a while back theorizing about various reasons that social networks select for snark, cynicism, and obnoxiousness over deeper and more thought-out content. If someone recalled it I'd love a link.
Agreed the response is too much. As a CEO getting involved in a dispute like this seems to be all downside with very little upside. If I had to draft a response in his position It'd go something like this:
> Reddit is not laying anyone off, you were fired.
> Your comments about our revenue had no effect on this decision. This type of criticism is welcome and even encouraged at our company.
> I don't believe it is in good taste to publicly discuss the reasoning for any termination unless it is absolutely necessary.
> If you'd like some additional clarification on our decision to fire you please contact me or (Someone in HR) directly.
Most importantly, none of these statements should be made in public. The company stands to gain much more with a dignified silence and a personal explanation to the hapless individual, than by wringing the dirty laundry out in public. That an individual employee is immature / causes a stink, happens every second of every day. That a company CEO does the same is unacceptably poor management, and poor PR.
I disagree. "Dignified silence" is effectively what doomed Brendon Eich as Mozilla's CEO. If you say nothing, you let other people define the narrative. I agree with uncoder0, a single simple dignified response would have easily deflated this whole thing.
yes I can see the need to manage the narrative. But this is bad management of the narrative, because a clearly emotional CEO is letting his anger show, instead of, as you clearly point out, being dignified and making a concise statement of the facts. The statement is not concise (in itself showing a tendency towards a rant), nor does it display the necessary humility towards an employee, who, no matter his faults, no longer has a job (unlike the CEO).
I disagree, when statements like that are made in such a public area it will possibly negatively affect who decides to apply for a position at reddit. A dignified response on the reddit blog would have been the right move imo
I came started reading this thread with the thought that the CEO was in the right. After reading many of the comments, I have to believe that both were in the wrong and this is the right way to go.
It's hard to stay completely rational when you're angry. I'm not perfect, and occasionally say inflammatory things.
But at the same time I realize this is something you need to try to do, especially when you're dealing in the realm of personal business relationships where it matters most.
I was let go once. I've told the story, but I have never mentioned the name of the company and I won't tell you if asked. I also had a horrible experience with a co-founder in my first startup to the point that I consider the guy a con man, but likewise I will only tell the story with all names and identifying details omitted. Calling people out in a public forum -- even if you are in the right -- just makes you look like an asshole.
But this response is also a terrible response from a CEO. He descends rapidly into the same muck as the original "AMA" poster. I agree that he was presented with two sucky options, but he should have taken the high road with his response and simply said something like "all I can say is that this individual was terminated for different reasons than the ones he states." In public at least, leave it at that.
Reddit in general is an increasingly toxic community. There was a great writeup a while back theorizing about various reasons that social networks select for snark, cynicism, and obnoxiousness over deeper and more thought-out content. If someone recalled it I'd love a link.