There are plenty of valid criticisms beyond character assassination. It is my understanding that any mod could add any user as a mod of their subreddit.
It's easy to get corrupted by money and success. Has been shown a myriad of times in any stage of human history.
In the beginning, spez might have been "one of us", but he gradually shifted away from that while the goodwill of his community towards his persona was upheld.
while the goodwill of his community towards his persona was upheld.
He probably really was one of us. To be honest, most of Reddit had no idea who tf spez was before this. Anytime he did something terrible, it would be big then disappear in a week.
Then, since he was so removed from a redditor's in the day to day, all would be well and he'd be forgotten. The local mods and reddit admins were who everyone would direct their hate to.
he never was. It was always a business. Do you remember they started the site with faking users? They were always a for-profit company. It's kinda cringe to think he ever was one.