$X is the fallout from the new Reddit policies w.r.t. third-party apps, and the power struggle with moderators. $Y is the additional amount of money that Reddi

$X is the fallout from the new Reddit policies w.r.t. third-party apps, and the power struggle with moderators. $Y is the additional amount of money that Reddit gets from improving their advertising metrics before an IPO. Reddit is betting that $Y > $X. And they can stop counting $X when the IPO happens. As far as I can tell, there's just not enough community presence elsewhere, for most communities, except a few places like Discord. And Discord sucks even worse than Reddit, in a lot of ways.