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Comment by GeneralTspoon | Hacker News Reader

Off-topic, but isn't Alexis the guy behind firing Victoria and setting Ellen Pao up for taking the wrap? Not once did he come forward and say it was him.

I've heard he's an intelligent guy, but I have a particular disgust for sly people. Just bear that in mind when listening to advice from him.

(Didn't actually listen to the Podcast, maybe this was mentioned?)

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All this is speculation.

For good reason, it is not public information who fired Victoria or why. I doubt it was a one-person decision though.

Uh, unless you consider Yishan Wong (former reddit CEO) publicly stating it[1], and Alexis himself admitting it[2] 'speculation', then I think the evidence is solid enough.

[1]: https://np.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/3d2hv3/kn0th...

[2]:https://np.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3cucye/an_old...

You're contradicting yourself, you say that "Not once did he come forward and say it was him" and then you say Alexis publicly admitted it himself.

My point is that we don't really know why she was fired (and why should we?). If Victoria wants to come forward and explain what happened then we can discuss the merits, until then it's speculation.

What I should have said was, "not once did he come forward and say it was him, while Ellen Pao was taking the heat". Of course, once Ellen stepped down and Yishan already exposed Alexis, he admitted it.

For the sake of this discussion, I personally don't care why Victoria was fired - that's not the point. The point is that Alexis purposefully let someone else take the blame for a decision he made. Either it was a shifty business strategy, or he's a shitty person. In both cases, it doesn't reflect well on him.

I'm not here to defend the guy but it seems we know nothing (spot the pun) about why Victoria was fired. It may have been completely reasonable, it may not. It may have been a unilateral decision by Alexis but I honestly doubt it, these things still have to be okayed by the CEO.

Pao was in the Reddit community's firing line long before Victoria was fired, they were looking for a reason to pounce.

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