Alexis Ohanian is very good at Reddit.
Sure, you’d expect as much, considering he’s the site’s cofounder and all. But that was seven years ago. Shouldn’t he be itching for something new?
Nope.
Ohanian—who you may also know as the eternall smiling and imperiously tall mayor of the Internet—hasn’t lost an ounce of enthusiasm for Reddit. Just check out his bravura AMA (“ask me anything”) session from earlier today. Over the space of 6 hours, he answered more than 130 questions from his pseudonymous Reddit brethren. That kind of earnestness is something you might expect from a Reddit newbie—not the grizzliest of grizzly old veterans (and this wasn’t even his first AMA).
We’ve collected seven highlights below.
1) He’s damn proud of his mascots. And also Reddit.
Sirealparadox asked, “What do you feel is your greatest accomplishment?”
Ohanian replied: Drawing the reddit alien?…. Or maybe the breadpig?… Or maybe the hipmunk chipmunk?…
“I’m very proud of having started something with Steve that we never expected could positively affect so many people’s lives. That’s pretty rad. Even if it ruins a few GPAs in the process.”
2) He gives great Reddit advice.
Nazdaq asked, “Any advice for people who are new to Reddit?”
“Subscribe to subreddits you like (and unsubscribe from ones you don’t), please! Customize your front-page and get the proper experience.”
3) Reddit is working on better subreddit discovery.
Really! Expect it sometime soon. When exactly? You know—sometime soon.
4) Reddit would be much better if humanity were much better.
Spaky6 asked, “What is something you don’t like about reddit?”
“Technologically, there’s always something to improve about reddit, but I can see progress, yet humans will always end up being the reason why we can’t have nice things. But because of that fallibility, when humans do do the right thing (using reddit), it’s so much more awesome.
“So what I don’t like about reddit is humans and what I also love about reddit is humans.”
5) Don’t yell at him! He doesn’t mean to be a Reddit hipster.
He was just the first person to know about Reddit because, you know, he created it.
6) He coined the term “redditors.”
Enough said.
7) Ohanian never touched the Reddit code.
That was all cofounder Steve Huffman.
“Steve’s the programming genius,” Ohanian wrote. “I draw logos.”
Photo via @AlexisOhanian/Twitter
