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The best of Alexis Ohanian’s all-haiku Q&A

Could you tell people / About your time on Reddit / Using a haiku?

 

Mike Fenn

Tech

Posted on Jun 7, 2013   Updated on Jun 1, 2021, 1:56 pm CDT

Could you tell people

About your time on Reddit

Using a haiku?

The website’s cofounder Alexis Ohanian decided to give it a try.

On June 6, Ohanian hosted an AMA in r/books. The session was not only meant to mark the site’s upcoming 8th birthday, but also to raise interest in Ohanian’s new book, Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed, scheduled to be published in October.

To keep the session interesting, Ohanian answered all questions lobbed at him in the form of a haiku.

How did you and Steve first draw users to the site? (preggit)

’05 was harder

no social media growth

begged friends, PG post

What do you think will cause Reddit’s eventual downfall? (rezinball)

We won’t pull a digg

At least we’re open source but

Upstarts may drink ‘shake

Hello Alexis—How much did hosting cost for this site 8 years ago? (Dr_Frederick)

“Great question, doctor.

Not sure, but I know it was

Cheaper than our rent”

Of course, several redditors didn’t want Ohanian to have all the fun. Some of them posed their questions as haikus, with Ohanian responding in kind.

alfredbester:

Time proceeds space

What new reddit do you see

Rising in its place?

Ohanian:

We are open source

I don’t know what’s past reddit

‘Long as it’s progress

DrWinstonOBoogie:

I have no question

Just dreams of acknowledgement

From the creator

Ohanian:

That can be arranged

Like a crappy Make A Wish?

Upvote for you, sir

Finally, some redditors took the opportunity to ask their beloved site’s co-founder about—what else?—haiku.

How do you feel about haikubot? (Afrp-Dano)

Stealing my mojo

But that’s OK as long as

No kittens are harmed

What are your 5 favorite longest words? (flarpy59)

“Why do you hate me?

Arteriosclerosis

Go count that, buddy”


The Daily Dot’s subreddit, r/dailydot, highlights the most interesting and important discussions from around the social news site every day.

Read more here.

Photo via Matt DiGirolamo/Flickr

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*First Published: Jun 7, 2013, 9:25 am CDT