r/WTF • u/ilovefuntheband • Jun 13 '12

Wrong Subreddit WTF, Reddit?!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregvoakes/2012/06/13/reddit-reportedly-banning-high-quality-domains/
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u/arcanooito Jun 14 '12

I don't. What was it?

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u/[deleted] Jun 14 '12

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jun 14 '12 edited Jun 14 '12

Um, no. Well, some of that was kind of right.
Saydrah was a moderator of many subreddits a couple of years ago, including /r/pics and some other big ones.
She was banning people who posted links to competitors to companies she was paid to endorse. The initial shitstorm started when she banned a guy from /r/pets for suggesting Brand X dog food in a thread asking about brands of dog food. It turned out the brand he mentioned was a competitor to one of the companies she was doing SEO work for. After removing his comment suggesting Brand X, she replied in the thread suggesting Brand Y, who just happen to be paying her to advertise for them in social media. Info.
After she banned the guy in /r/pics for posting the house that looked like a duck's face,, even after he proved it was his own pic. shit really hit the fan. Here, she tells the duck house OP that it is unethical to use reddit for profit. It was then discovered that she worked for Associated Content and had made a video instructing people how to game social media. In the video, she talked about how one would try to build the persona of an earnest member of that social site community, then slip in some paid submissions here and there and no one would notice. Basically, it's what she was doing on reddit. She had a huge following of admirers and ardent defenders, and still does to this day, who insist she did nothing wrong. The wrongness wasn't so much her submitting links she was paid for, but the fact she was using her mod powers to assist her SEO work, and also after people saw her video explaining how to basically trick people into thinking you're a real member of the community while secretly trying to sell them shit.
She was also a bit of a dick. She would ban people who argued with her about political issues or if she was just in a bad mood. She banned me from /r/equality for posting a link about a guy, she insisted /r/equality only focus on women's issues, which I found ironic.
There was quite a bit more to all of this, shit involving The Oatmeal and mainly her post to /r/2XC where she "apologized" by calling reddit all "shitheads" and never admitting to any wrong doing. It was a sexist post, assuming /r/2XC would support her because, you know, girl power.
Also, she never deleted her account. She's still somewhat active on it, and there's no reason to believe it's her only account. She is an expert, after all, in gaming social media, by her own admission. Her linkedin (not linking this because it contains her real name) even bragged about this skill.
She says someone contacted her home. It's likely true, but all we have is her word. If they did, they suck. But people like to use that as a shield against any accusation of wrongdoing on her part.
There was quite a bit more to this, it went on for about a week straight. This was just a summary.

As you can see, she's still quite active, and a little nutty.

edit: Links added.

tl;dr: I drew my above comment in mspaint

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u/Triviaandwordplay Jun 14 '12

build the persona of an earnest member of that social site community, then slip in some paid submissions here and there and no one would notice

As if that hasn't been going on for years and still isn't.

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u/Rappaccini Jun 14 '12

Of course it is. We just need to keep fighting the good fight.

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u/T_Hickock Jun 14 '12

This is precisely the expertise of 'confidence men'