4 ms·

he's literally doing exactly what the board wants. reddit's investors are more than happy to sacrifices users and the user experience for profitability.

ramraj07 3y ago
This is not the path to profitability. This is how you lose the mods and power users who provide and moderate the content of the site leading to it's downfall. That's not profitable.
- yanderekko 3y ago
  Mods can be replaced. Do the actual valuable users rely heavily on Reddit's API or 3rd party apps? I doubt they'd leave over pure moral outrage on this issue, although a large amount of generic brand damage could cause some attrition.
  - aaomidi 3y ago
    The valuable users are the mods that rely on third party apps lol. I don’t think yall realize how much free labor the mods are doing.
    - yanderekko 3y ago
      There will still be mods doing free labor after whatever purges. Less effectively, sure. But I think Reddit clearly believes that they can be replaced with nearly zero negative impact, or even a positive impact if some particularly toxic powermods can be erased.
      - genmud 3y ago
        I don't think you realize how much mods/power users, who act like a funnel for a lot of content, rely on third party apps and api access. The built in mod tools are hot garbage, with critical features going years without development or progress. I have heard numbers in the realm of 10% of users make content and only 1% ever submit things. What happens when your users aren't getting that constant dopamine drip of new content when a decent portion the people submitting stuff use third party apps stop submitting content. Or even worse, they head to another platform and submit stuff there, which is how Reddit got its big start from digg. For folks who were around during that time, things like lemmy or the fediverse are in a similar state that Reddit was in when the digg exodus happened. Reddit needs to realize they aren't just losing users, but adding users to a competing platform, which is arguably a worse sin.
  - x86x87 3y ago
    Lol. People will definetly leave. Once I cannot use my fav 3rd party app I'm done. That's the end of reddit for me. We'll see if after the purge reddit will still have enough critical mass to keep going but acting like this before an ipo is nuts.
    - myspy 3y ago
      I left when Twitter killed off Tweetbot and I‘m happy I did it. Colleagues of mine don‘t want to go without their dev bubble though. It‘s time for a better tool to catch-up to the newest stuff.
      - anonred 3y ago
        I also left Twitter when Tweetbot died, but only because I can’t use Twitter without a chronological timeline and keyword filtering. My impression is that third party Reddit apps had some nice quality of life features, but their main purpose wasn’t to literally alter the underlying content. Happy to be proven wrong though.
    - satvikpendem 3y ago
      People who use third party apps are power users, most users simply don't care. I also highly doubt power users will leave, they say that but they're the ones that use Reddit the most, so it's very likely they might take a break for a while but begrudgingly come back in a month or so.
      - x86x87 3y ago
        I guess we'll see. Anecdotally, I will stop using it and have been using it since the beginnings. Same sentiment from all long term users. We'll juat see
    - yanderekko 3y ago
      Yes, more than zero people will leave. I'm sure Reddit has already factored this in to their analysis.
  - Tyrubias 3y ago
    The (relatively small) percentage of people that generate the bulk of the content on Reddit do rely on third party apps (and therefore indirectly on the API). A lot of the mods crucial to the site also rely heavily on the API or tools which are built on the API. Reddit has shown no signs of improving the mod tools, and without the ability to moderate NSFW content using the new API, Reddit will get objectively worse. It doesn’t matter if leadership remods subreddits and forces them open; mods and content creators now objectively have a worse experience and will produce worse content/decisions.
    - goykasi 3y ago
      > The (relatively small) percentage of people that generate the bulk of the content on Reddit do rely on third party apps Is that published somewhere? I would find those kind of usage stats really interesting to see.
      - sofal 3y ago
        There's no evidence for that whatsoever, it's just bullshit conjecture stemming from hope and a tenuous idea that third party app users are "power users" and therefore must be eminently important.
    - anonred 3y ago
      I’d love to see a source for “people that generate the bulk of the content on Reddit do rely on third party apps” because that seems categorically impossible when you consider the number of users able to post (i.e. subscribed) using these third party apps.
  - matkoniecz 3y ago
    > Do the actual valuable users rely heavily on Reddit's API or 3rd party apps? For start: unpaid moderators.
hinkley 3y ago
Doesn’t Reddit have a track record of getting the CEO to do something unpopular and then replacing them?
- pcurve 3y ago
  Spez... then Yishan Wong... then Ellen Pao... Then Spez. Not sure if I recall Wong or Pao did things that seemed overtly business / investor motivated? I know there was the controversial firing of Victoria Taylor by Pao that eventually led to her demise.
  - MattGaiser 3y ago
    A former Reddit CEO alleges that Pao wasn't the one who ordered Victoria to be fired. https://old.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/3d2hv3/kn0thing_says_he_was_responsible_for_the_change/ct1ecxv/ https://old.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/3d2hv3/kn0t...
    - runlevel1 3y ago
      That's correct. In a comment earlier that day, Alexis said it was his decision. Source: https://old.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3cucye/an_old_team_at_reddit/csz2p3i/ https://old.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3cucye/an_ol...
kiba 3y ago
Until there are no users and reddit is a dead husk.
- forgotmysn 3y ago
  agreed. but as long as the investors are to move their shares during the IPO before a complete exodus occurs, they are perfectly happy with that outcome.
seydor 3y ago
Debateable whether any users will be sacrificed? If anything this has given reddit more visibility, and more engagement within its website too. All publicity is good publicity

ramraj07 3y ago

This is not the path to profitability. This is how you lose the mods and power users who provide and moderate the content of the site leading to it's downfall. That's not profitable.

yanderekko 3y ago
Mods can be replaced. Do the actual valuable users rely heavily on Reddit's API or 3rd party apps? I doubt they'd leave over pure moral outrage on this issue, although a large amount of generic brand damage could cause some attrition.
- aaomidi 3y ago
  The valuable users are the mods that rely on third party apps lol. I don’t think yall realize how much free labor the mods are doing.
  - yanderekko 3y ago
    There will still be mods doing free labor after whatever purges. Less effectively, sure. But I think Reddit clearly believes that they can be replaced with nearly zero negative impact, or even a positive impact if some particularly toxic powermods can be erased.
    - genmud 3y ago
      I don't think you realize how much mods/power users, who act like a funnel for a lot of content, rely on third party apps and api access. The built in mod tools are hot garbage, with critical features going years without development or progress. I have heard numbers in the realm of 10% of users make content and only 1% ever submit things. What happens when your users aren't getting that constant dopamine drip of new content when a decent portion the people submitting stuff use third party apps stop submitting content. Or even worse, they head to another platform and submit stuff there, which is how Reddit got its big start from digg. For folks who were around during that time, things like lemmy or the fediverse are in a similar state that Reddit was in when the digg exodus happened. Reddit needs to realize they aren't just losing users, but adding users to a competing platform, which is arguably a worse sin.
- x86x87 3y ago
  Lol. People will definetly leave. Once I cannot use my fav 3rd party app I'm done. That's the end of reddit for me. We'll see if after the purge reddit will still have enough critical mass to keep going but acting like this before an ipo is nuts.
  - myspy 3y ago
    I left when Twitter killed off Tweetbot and I‘m happy I did it. Colleagues of mine don‘t want to go without their dev bubble though. It‘s time for a better tool to catch-up to the newest stuff.
    - anonred 3y ago
      I also left Twitter when Tweetbot died, but only because I can’t use Twitter without a chronological timeline and keyword filtering. My impression is that third party Reddit apps had some nice quality of life features, but their main purpose wasn’t to literally alter the underlying content. Happy to be proven wrong though.
  - satvikpendem 3y ago
    People who use third party apps are power users, most users simply don't care. I also highly doubt power users will leave, they say that but they're the ones that use Reddit the most, so it's very likely they might take a break for a while but begrudgingly come back in a month or so.
    - x86x87 3y ago
      I guess we'll see. Anecdotally, I will stop using it and have been using it since the beginnings. Same sentiment from all long term users. We'll juat see
  - yanderekko 3y ago
    Yes, more than zero people will leave. I'm sure Reddit has already factored this in to their analysis.
- Tyrubias 3y ago
  The (relatively small) percentage of people that generate the bulk of the content on Reddit do rely on third party apps (and therefore indirectly on the API). A lot of the mods crucial to the site also rely heavily on the API or tools which are built on the API. Reddit has shown no signs of improving the mod tools, and without the ability to moderate NSFW content using the new API, Reddit will get objectively worse. It doesn’t matter if leadership remods subreddits and forces them open; mods and content creators now objectively have a worse experience and will produce worse content/decisions.
  - goykasi 3y ago
    > The (relatively small) percentage of people that generate the bulk of the content on Reddit do rely on third party apps Is that published somewhere? I would find those kind of usage stats really interesting to see.
    - sofal 3y ago
      There's no evidence for that whatsoever, it's just bullshit conjecture stemming from hope and a tenuous idea that third party app users are "power users" and therefore must be eminently important.
  - anonred 3y ago
    I’d love to see a source for “people that generate the bulk of the content on Reddit do rely on third party apps” because that seems categorically impossible when you consider the number of users able to post (i.e. subscribed) using these third party apps.
- matkoniecz 3y ago
  > Do the actual valuable users rely heavily on Reddit's API or 3rd party apps? For start: unpaid moderators.

hinkley 3y ago

Doesn’t Reddit have a track record of getting the CEO to do something unpopular and then replacing them?

pcurve 3y ago
Spez... then Yishan Wong... then Ellen Pao... Then Spez. Not sure if I recall Wong or Pao did things that seemed overtly business / investor motivated? I know there was the controversial firing of Victoria Taylor by Pao that eventually led to her demise.
- MattGaiser 3y ago
  A former Reddit CEO alleges that Pao wasn't the one who ordered Victoria to be fired. https://old.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/3d2hv3/kn0thing_says_he_was_responsible_for_the_change/ct1ecxv/ https://old.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/3d2hv3/kn0t...
  - runlevel1 3y ago
    That's correct. In a comment earlier that day, Alexis said it was his decision. Source: https://old.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3cucye/an_old_team_at_reddit/csz2p3i/ https://old.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3cucye/an_ol...

kiba 3y ago

Until there are no users and reddit is a dead husk.

forgotmysn 3y ago
agreed. but as long as the investors are to move their shares during the IPO before a complete exodus occurs, they are perfectly happy with that outcome.

seydor 3y ago

Debateable whether any users will be sacrificed? If anything this has given reddit more visibility, and more engagement within its website too. All publicity is good publicity