With this whole debacle brewing, I was browsing /r/ModSupport (since all the good subs I know went private). There I saw a post from someone saying that Reddit admins are affecting discourse from the shadows and pushing their left-wing agenda with little accountability.
I agree with that except for the left-wing part. Turns out that Reddit thinks that mentioning the name of the new employee, who is a public figure, amounts to doxxing. I don’t condone doxxing but I don’t understand how admins are allowed to remain anonymous considering how much power they have.
Thoughts on this?
I like this question because it gets at a deeper issue: what is reddit? They have changed their mission and business structure and privacy rules several different times.
Let’s face it, they are no different than Facebook or Twitter at this point. So to answer your question, no, they are under no obligation to reveal any of the employees that work there any more than they are legally required to.
Lemmy, federated platforms, and any other non-profit-esque platform DOES need transparency around their moderation. It’s really about good will towards the users, and there are different requirements based on the mission of your platform.
I don’t think I care to consider reddit as some kind of open, free speech, or transparent environment. Once the greater user base finds out that they don’t embody those beliefs, they will start losing their more dedicated users. It’s all down hill from here.
They would essentially have to pull a 180 and reverse course on their business model if suddenly transparency and openness mattered to them.