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Perhaps it's dying and they are trying to cut it loose first.

cryptoz 15y ago
I can't tell if you're serious or not. In case you are...what makes you think reddit is dying? All indications point to continued explosive growth. I've been on reddit for about 5 or 6 years and it's pretty clear the site goes through growing pains but consistently gets over them. Overall it is better and better every day, with more lively intelligent discussion than even in the beginning days.
- philwelch 15y ago
  There might be a really cool cafe on my block, and I might go in there and have lively discussions with intelligent people, and there might be more and more people in that cafe every day, but if the cafe doesn't sell any coffee it goes out of business.
  - cryptoz 15y ago
    Sure. But to suggest that the site might be dying at the (so far) height of its popularity seems odd, which is why I was asking for clarification. Would you describe Twitter as dying? Or YouTube? Or any other sites that have been infamously unprofitable for years and years before eventually turning it around?
    - philwelch 15y ago
      Twitter is well funded and big enough that there would be signs of collapse before it started to die. YouTube is owned by Google and has tons of advertising. I'm not worried about either of them. Reddit is owned by a publishing company that's lost interest in keeping it around, it's not nearly as big as Twitter or YouTube yet, and it has one of the worst audiences imaginable for monetization. I wouldn't say it's dying per se, but they have to start thinking about how they're going to pay for all those new servers and all that new staff.
gigantor 15y ago
They're currently experiencing explosive growth: http://soshable.com/reddit-traffic-has-exploded-in-12-months/ http://soshable.com/reddit-traffic-has-exploded-in-12-months... They have also, in my opinion, implemented mainstream and niche news so well (via subreddits) that they're not in immediate danger of being replaced by another aggregate news and/or niche site.
- evan_ 15y ago
  >They're currently experiencing explosive growth so was Digg, and Fark before it, and Slashdot before that. Am I wrong? History shows that these sites are basically popular for a certain amount of time, and then they lose huge market share when they inevitably do something to sour the community-at-large (like trying to monetize).
  - nir 15y ago
    Appropriately for a discussion about Reddit, downvoted for having a minority opinion :)
  - emmett 15y ago
    The thing is, Reddit started at the same time Digg did. It's been growing slowly and consistently ever since. Their growth rate actually hasn't changed much over time. Reddit figured out how to support subcommunities in a way that those other sites never did. In my opinion that's what's different. See also: social networks. Every social network was a passing fad...until Facebook wasn't.
    - corin_ 15y ago
      facebook wasn't You meant it hasn't so far. That's not a dig at Facebook, or a prediction of death, but on the short timescale we're looking at (a few years really) it's much to soon to know whether they've stopped the cycle, or made it slower. And therefore you can extent that to Reddit, the fact that they've gone longer without decline doesn't mean they won't start their decline tomorrow, or the next day.
dchuk 15y ago
In terms of traffic and user base, they're killing it. In terms of revenue (and most importantly, profit), I'm sure they've been a massive let down for Conde Nast. Now they spun them out so other people can finance it without it being their sole burden.
- pointyhat 15y ago
  That summarises my point perfectly.

I can't tell if you're serious or not. In case you are...what makes you think reddit is dying? All indications point to continued explosive growth. I've been on reddit for about 5 or 6 years and it's pretty clear the site goes through growing pains but consistently gets over them. Overall it is better and better every day, with more lively intelligent discussion than even in the beginning days.

philwelch 15y ago
There might be a really cool cafe on my block, and I might go in there and have lively discussions with intelligent people, and there might be more and more people in that cafe every day, but if the cafe doesn't sell any coffee it goes out of business.
- cryptoz 15y ago
  Sure. But to suggest that the site might be dying at the (so far) height of its popularity seems odd, which is why I was asking for clarification. Would you describe Twitter as dying? Or YouTube? Or any other sites that have been infamously unprofitable for years and years before eventually turning it around?
  - philwelch 15y ago
    Twitter is well funded and big enough that there would be signs of collapse before it started to die. YouTube is owned by Google and has tons of advertising. I'm not worried about either of them. Reddit is owned by a publishing company that's lost interest in keeping it around, it's not nearly as big as Twitter or YouTube yet, and it has one of the worst audiences imaginable for monetization. I wouldn't say it's dying per se, but they have to start thinking about how they're going to pay for all those new servers and all that new staff.

gigantor 15y ago

They're currently experiencing explosive growth: http://soshable.com/reddit-traffic-has-exploded-in-12-months/ http://soshable.com/reddit-traffic-has-exploded-in-12-months... They have also, in my opinion, implemented mainstream and niche news so well (via subreddits) that they're not in immediate danger of being replaced by another aggregate news and/or niche site.

evan_ 15y ago
>They're currently experiencing explosive growth so was Digg, and Fark before it, and Slashdot before that. Am I wrong? History shows that these sites are basically popular for a certain amount of time, and then they lose huge market share when they inevitably do something to sour the community-at-large (like trying to monetize).
- nir 15y ago
  Appropriately for a discussion about Reddit, downvoted for having a minority opinion :)
- emmett 15y ago
  The thing is, Reddit started at the same time Digg did. It's been growing slowly and consistently ever since. Their growth rate actually hasn't changed much over time. Reddit figured out how to support subcommunities in a way that those other sites never did. In my opinion that's what's different. See also: social networks. Every social network was a passing fad...until Facebook wasn't.
  - corin_ 15y ago
    facebook wasn't You meant it hasn't so far. That's not a dig at Facebook, or a prediction of death, but on the short timescale we're looking at (a few years really) it's much to soon to know whether they've stopped the cycle, or made it slower. And therefore you can extent that to Reddit, the fact that they've gone longer without decline doesn't mean they won't start their decline tomorrow, or the next day.

dchuk 15y ago

In terms of traffic and user base, they're killing it. In terms of revenue (and most importantly, profit), I'm sure they've been a massive let down for Conde Nast. Now they spun them out so other people can finance it without it being their sole burden.

pointyhat 15y ago
That summarises my point perfectly.