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I can’t wait for Reddit to crash and burn because of this. And no, I don’t feel bad for the workers because they can (and still have time to) unionize and stop
by aaomidi 3y ago
I can’t wait for Reddit to crash and burn because of this.
And no, I don’t feel bad for the workers because they can (and still have time to) unionize and stop the madness.
- parineum 3y agoUnions don't make business decisions.
- wpietri 3y agoUnions can definitely influence them. E.g., that's a big part of the point of the German Betriebsrat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_council#Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_council#Germany
- parineum 3y agoUnions can influence them only while they're in CBA negotiations unless they negotiate a seat at the table, as in your example, which is not something that is at all common in the US.
- wpietri 3y agoFormally, that's true. But as we see in the writer's strike, unions definitely try to influence business decisions, and sometimes they succeed.
- nullindividual 3y agoRan into a user who shared a screenshot of the mobile app (for unrelated reasons to the topic at hand). They admitted the mobile app 'sucked' yet didn't care. Apathy is real, and most users have it. Reddit will be fine.
- andrewxdiamond 3y agoPower users are the most affected here, and power users bring the most value to Reddit. Mods specifically have always been Reddit’s golden goose. Free content moderation by volunteers is Reddit’s only advantage over other social media platforms. FB pays absurd numbers of humans to do what power users do for Reddit for free. When the mods fall, the quality falls.
- nullindividual 3y agoDo you have anything to back up your assertion that power users bring the most value? Mods certainly don't sustain or bring the quality bar up. Reddit content quality has fallen over the years as it has gotten more popular.
- wpietri 3y agoI suspect it's too late to stop much of the madness. Reddit took $1.4 billion in VC money, and like mobsters, VCs like to get paid back without much regard to how it happens. Even if the Reddit workers unionized, I suspect that Reddit's execs would happily fire every union member rather than significantly jeopardize their IPO. After all, Twitter shows how you can fire the great bulk of your staff, treat the remainder horribly, and still have a content site limp along for quite a while without immediately dying.