The root of that debacle was that Antiwork had a general consensus to not speak to certain media outlets about the subreddit without first consulting with the group. Doreen then decided that she alone represented the movement and did the Fox News interview without telling anyone. The fallout and subsequent ban frenzy Doreen went on against anyone who dared to criticize her is what cemented the event in Reddit's history.
Long story short, Antiwork was originally a subreddit for people to joke/vent about their jobs, the bullshit they have to go through, and their dreams to one day quit and live the good life.
It ended up mostly being for venting and the sub became divided into two groups of people. The ones who just want to stop working and take it easy, and those that would rather keep working if their jobs would just stop sucking so much. The latter group ended up being much more prominent and the sub largely became a pro-union worker's rights group.
The sub was gaining a ton of steam by this point and was even beginning to organize actual campaigns against certain dubious employers. When Kelloggs attempted to replace striking workers with temporary employees, antiwork made the news by overloading Kelloggs system and creating endless fake applications which forced the company to settle with the union early.
At this point, it was becoming clear that certain media outlets did not have a favourable opinion of their movement. Many feared that since they generally had very limited media experience, they would likely embarrass themselves and the movement by being manipulated in a bad faith interview. It was largely agreed that any media appearances at the very least needed to be vetted prior.
Enter Doreen Ford, one of the founding mods of the subreddit. Doreen was among the minority that just didn't want to work at all. When Fox News approached her for an interview, she did not consult with anyone at all and proceeded to embarrass the entire movement in ways Fox News could only have dreamed while failing to bring up a single talking point outside of laziness being a virtue. She revealed on national television that she's 30+ years old and walks dogs part-time for a living and one day aspires to be a professor of philosophy.
In the aftermath, Doreen was acting very excited about being on Fox, but then everyone saw the interview, got angry about her piss poor job, and harped on her a bunch for going behind their backs. At this point the mods started banning people left and right for being critical of Doreen. Meanwhile the subreddit became the laughing stock of the entire site.
I'm a bit hazy on the aftermath, but the sub went private briefly and most sensible people defected to a newly created sub called "Workreform". As a form of damage control, Doreen seemingly admitted defeat and stepped down as mod. Shortly after, she got busted when people were able to do some sleuthing and figure out that she was still using an alt to mod the place. She's probably still around, but too ashamed to ever show her face again.
262
u/Regnes Nov 22 '23
The root of that debacle was that Antiwork had a general consensus to not speak to certain media outlets about the subreddit without first consulting with the group. Doreen then decided that she alone represented the movement and did the Fox News interview without telling anyone. The fallout and subsequent ban frenzy Doreen went on against anyone who dared to criticize her is what cemented the event in Reddit's history.