Yeah, but what’s Reddit without mods and users?

Not much. OTOH, from the financial perspective, reddit is nothing now. In all its years of operation, it’s been relying on founding rounds to keep its head above water, yet to show a profit :\

But he can’t expect the mods and the users to stay

I doubt he does, hence this shitstorm

undefined> mods are bad, because they aren’t chosen democratically

Why do you think a guy who started/runs the company should be held to the same standards as its users? I open a cake shop, I get to make the rules, even though I’m not ‘democratically elected’ by my customers. The very idea that someone has to vote me in is hilarious to me. If, in my shop, I let you run a lemonade stand, you won’t have the same rights as I. How is this not obvious?

hypocrite

Literally founded the place; chosen by co-founders/people with stakes in the company to be their CEO. That’s how businesses work, OP, stop being silly.