Most of the decisions Ellen Pao made, especially the banning of the FPH subreddit, was genuinely for the better. She bent over backwards, IMO, to avoid the hate - and should not have.
Ehh, given that reddit doubled down on pretty much every decision they made post Pao, I'm inclined with hindsight to think she was indeed scapegoated. Not necessarily for sexism reasons (try would happily do the same thing with Hitler as a CEO) but that's just a semi-common strategy with big business, especially towards an unpopular board member when the opportunity arises.
Really taught me not to celebrate these "CEO steps down" stories. Short of an entire board replacing itself it's just a new shade of black coming in to lead the change they want all along.
No sympathy for someone who can retire off their "resignation" regardless of how undeserved.
I'm just saying that I care a lot more about actions than playing the blame game. And it's clear Reddit took the bait here, hook, line, and sinker. Should have been the best time to work on an alternative and it would have been ready for the API schism if they invested those 6 years in to polishing the experience and fostering a community.
1. Imgur blocked its images from being shown on FPH, essentially crippling the subreddit
2. In response, the FPH mods put a collage of Imgur's overweight staff in the subreddit sidebar
3. Reddit will have had to ban the subreddit to maintain their relationship with Imgur (who they ended up buying).