Ellen Pao CEO of Reddit could not resist the revolt of users

The dismissal of an employee of the company prompted a chorus of protest, hate speech and insults against the chief executive Ellen Pao. His departure has rekindled the debate on the limits of online comments and gender equality.

They called it the "Reddit Revolt". Various forums and sub-categories of forums American site Reddit - where users can write or publish links that are voted by the community - were closed by the moderators in protest against the dismissal of an employee. Victoria Taylor was in charge of coordinating a series entitled Ask Me Anything / AMA  (Ask Me Anything), a forum with great success among users. When Victoria was fired without prior notice or explanation, users and Reddit community moderators "attacked" not only the site as the chief executive (CEO), Ellen Pao in particular.

"The attacks were the worst in the case of Ellen because she is woman," said Sam Altman, Reddit board member. "And that's a shame for humanity."

During the last week, more than 200,000 people signed a petition demanding the resignation of Ellen Pao. And to nothing the reasons for the chief executive in a letter published on the site after the first protests, apologized for this and other communication failures with the community over the years and have "surprised moderators with major changes." But the chorus of the revolt was too high. After Pao output was announced, users celebrated: "The great demon was killed."

In an interview with Wired , Sam Altman refused Pao had been dismissed, stating that they have reached an agreement. "She brought a face that changed perceptions, is a pioneer for women in the technology industry," he said.

Ellen Pao joined the Reddit team two years ago and in November 2014 was named CEO. In March this year lost a gender discrimination lawsuit against one of the largest venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, Kleiner Perkins. The trial has generated an intense debate on gender equality within the technology industry discussion around emerging now with sexist and racist comments that were published last week demanding the resignation of Ellen Pao.

Sam Altman condemned the personal attacks: "It was sickening to see what some users wrote about Ellen. Reducing the compassion that happens when we are all behind a computer screen is not good for the world. People are still people even if the Internet is in the middle, "he argued.

Ellen Pao justified output, however, with the fact that fail to meet the company's growth targets over the next six months without harm Reddit values. One of the biggest fights of Pao within the company have been the effort to update policies barrassem harassment and online hate, which led to many forums with topics racist or bullying were banned.

In the farewell letter , Ellen Pao said that throughout the process the more touched were stories of others: "Some talked about people they knew who had committed suicide for being transgender or their intimate images have been exposed." "I'm just a woman, she has family and feelings," he wrote.

In an opinion article published in the New York Times , two moderators of forums coordinated by Victoria Taylor, the dismissed employee, explained that the boycott of the site served to show the importance of the Reddit community of volunteers: "We are concerned about the significance of a decision in these businesses that rely on volunteer work - and if they really understand what makes a vibrant online community. "  

Reddit, which calls itself "the Internet homepage" monthly records 164 million active users and has been trying to grow without alienating the community that supports it.  With the limits to be tested, the direction of Reddit announced that it will not tolerate "death threats" and offenses, and said that without a balance between "authenticity and compassion" Reddit can be "a great site but never a large community."

Maran resigns

Pushed to the wall after CBI named him in the 2G spectrum allocation case, high-profile Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran today resigned from the Union Cabinet, becoming the second DMK casualty in the scam.

44-year-old Maran met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh after a Cabinet meeting and tendered his resignation following a word from DMK chief M Karunanidhi, highly-placed sources said.

Maran’s continuance in the Cabinet became untenable after the CBI in its status report on the 2G scam case yesterday, charged him with "forcing" a Chennai-based telecom promoter C Sivasankaran to sell his stakes in Aircel to a Malaysian firm in 2006 during his tenure as Telecom Minister in UPA-I.

The Prime Minister is believed to have had a word with DMK Parliamentary Party chief T R Baalu this morning and conveyed to him that the DMK leadership should be apprised of the position that Maran cannot continue in the Cabinet.

Baalu, who is in Delhi, is understood to have conveyed this to Karunanidhi who later asked Maran to put in his papers.

It was business as usual for Maran in the morning as he attended the Cabinet meeting during which he abstained himself for a brief while when the issue of licence for FM channels came up.

He kept himself away on account of conflict of interest because his brother Kalanidhi Maran runs a media empire that includes FM channels in various languages.

Maran went back home from the Cabinet meeting and returned later to give his resignation to the Prime Minister on the DMK chief’s direction.

Machail Yatra arrangements in Kishtwar

DDC reviews Machail Yatra arrangements in Kishtwar

District Development Commissioner Kishtwar M. H. Malik convened a meeting of the district and sectoral officers to review the arrangements for the forthcoming Machail Yatra 2011 to the Sapphire Valley Padder.

It was revealed in the meeting that the Machail Yatra 2011 shall commence from 1st of August 2011 while as the holy Chari Mubarak will reach Kishtwar on 18th of August and depart from Kishtwar to Padder on 19th of August 2011.The meeting discussed various issues which included security, medicare, accommodation of yatries, construction of temporary shelters enroute the holy shrine, drinking water facility besides other necessary services were also discussed for smooth and peaceful conduct of the annual yatra.

Ashton started the journey in Israel

The head of European diplomacy, Catherine Ashton, started Thursday its Middle East tour, which on Friday will bring Israel and the Palestinian territories to try to boost the stalled Middle East peace , as reported Wednesday by the Commission Europe.

The High Representative of the European Union will arrive in Israel and the Palestinian territories from Jordan , where he will meet today with the Jordanian Foreign Minister, Nasser Judeh .

Several meetings

On Friday and Sunday hold meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders .

Specifically, Ashton will meet Friday with Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, and the opposition leader, Tzipi Livni, and with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayad.

Saturday will be moved to Egypt , where he held at the headquarters of the Arab League meeting in Cairo of the Group, which includes organizations that support a democratic transition in Libya .

Ashton will address the international community's response to the conflict in Libya with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the president of the Commission of the African Union (AU), Jean Ping, and representatives of the Organization of Islamic Conference.

Will meet Sunday in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Arab Spring

His visit to the Middle East comes six months after the outbreak of the Arab spring and a " key moment "for the peace process , according to the EC.

In a statement, Ashton announced that in his meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders will encourage them to "seize the opportunity for negotiation."

"With the momentous events taking place in North Africa and after the speech of the president (Barack) Obama last month, is more urgent than ever to relaunch the peace process in the Middle East," he said.

Ashton's trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories takes place after he sent a letter to Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov and Ban Ki Moon.

In the letter, Ashton calls for a "strong signal" and a "gesture before the summer" by the Middle East Quartet (U.S., Russia, the EU and the UN) to encourage Israelis and Palestinians to resume peace talks.

The High Representative also considers that "it is time for unilateral action."

Dialogue between Israel and Palestine

The leadership of the Palestinian territories want to ask the UN in September to "acceptance" as a full member based on the 1967 borders , ie between Gaza and the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

"I think what is needed now is (send) a clear signal to the parties and a framework that should allow them to return to the negotiating table," he explains.

Considers that the Quartet should decide as soon as possible, taking advantage of Obama's speech on May 19, in which his vision of peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and proposed that negotiations be resumed based on the 1967 but with modifications are agreed, but Israel has flatly rejected .

"I believe that as heads of the Quartet should meet to adopt a declaration to strengthen these elements and thus provide the parties to a framework," said Ashton.

"It is critical that we make a gesture before the summer because we have to help calm a volatile situation that promises to go further as the years pass," the letter concludes.