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I don't understand why reddit didn't respond to the initial criticism by decreasing the pricing/demands and just slowly implementing what they want over time. D

I don't understand why reddit didn't respond to the initial criticism by decreasing the pricing/demands and just slowly implementing what they want over time. Doing it all at once seemed like a silly move.

graypegg 3y ago
I think they would’ve done that if they wanted to build Reddit more, but it seems like they’re betting on going public so the people that want to can take their exit.
HDThoreaun 3y ago
They want to IPO very soon. Don't have the luxury of rolling this out over a year plus.
- willis936 3y ago
  Were they surprised by the news that they will IPO very soon? I suppose there was nothing they could have done to avert this issue 2-3 years ago.
smsm42 3y ago
Not so silly if they are sure they'll crush the opposition. If they are convinced the boycotts are powerless, then the sooner they demonstrate it, the better.
- crznp 3y ago
  Reddit's main asset is its community, so it is odd to cast the community as their opposition.
  - smsm42 3y ago
    Looks like they either don't see the community as an asset, or don't see the protestors as part of the community. In either case, they do not think the opinion of the people protesting matters enough to change anything.
AustinDev 3y ago
What I don't understand is why they simply don't do what spotify does. Free acounts have to use the official spotify apps but paid accounts can use third party apps and apis as part of their subscription benefits. I would gladly pay for reddit gold monthly if I got to keep using my ad-free 3rd party client of my choice.
- Nathanba 3y ago
  hm yeah that seems like an obvious possible win for reddit, they would convert all the 3rd party app users into paid users. Maybe they simply didn't have that idea
  - xcjs 3y ago
    That was brought up in a lot of discussions as something the users would be willing to do, but leadership so far has not been interested in engaging with those suggestions.
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 3y ago
  They want everyone to use the official app so they can advertise to paid users in the future. It's the cable TV model: get people to start paying for subscriptions by offering to remove ads, then slowly trickle the ads back in. A paid tier lets you easily identify which of your users have disposable income, and then you can sell the ability to advertise to them at a huge premium. Spotify's advertisements are quite different because they're basically worthless. Nobody wants to pay money to advertise to broke people. Their free tier exists merely as a funnel; the advertisements function as intentional annoyances to nudge people into paying for a subscription.
  - danaris 3y ago
    In other words: Because they think they can get 500% the revenue by abusing their users even more, they're unwilling to accept the 450% revenue they could get by making a reasonable compromise. And now they're running the risk of getting 5% the revenue. * No actual numbers were harmed in the making of this post.
xyst 3y ago
Probably VCs or board pushing CEO to make hasty decisions. Profit over everything else.
wvenable 3y ago
It wasn't until they announced this that all the issues with accessibility came up either. They literally didn't think about it until now (because they didn't have to). Also running a paid API service actually requires providing services to the third parties that are using them (like billing dashboards, etc). I'm pretty sure they didn't really think this through entirely when they proposed it. Now that they kind of have a better idea of what they're getting into doubling down is just hubris.

graypegg 3y ago

I think they would’ve done that if they wanted to build Reddit more, but it seems like they’re betting on going public so the people that want to can take their exit.

HDThoreaun 3y ago

They want to IPO very soon. Don't have the luxury of rolling this out over a year plus.

willis936 3y ago
Were they surprised by the news that they will IPO very soon? I suppose there was nothing they could have done to avert this issue 2-3 years ago.

smsm42 3y ago

Not so silly if they are sure they'll crush the opposition. If they are convinced the boycotts are powerless, then the sooner they demonstrate it, the better.

crznp 3y ago
Reddit's main asset is its community, so it is odd to cast the community as their opposition.
- smsm42 3y ago
  Looks like they either don't see the community as an asset, or don't see the protestors as part of the community. In either case, they do not think the opinion of the people protesting matters enough to change anything.

AustinDev 3y ago

What I don't understand is why they simply don't do what spotify does. Free acounts have to use the official spotify apps but paid accounts can use third party apps and apis as part of their subscription benefits. I would gladly pay for reddit gold monthly if I got to keep using my ad-free 3rd party client of my choice.

Nathanba 3y ago
hm yeah that seems like an obvious possible win for reddit, they would convert all the 3rd party app users into paid users. Maybe they simply didn't have that idea
- xcjs 3y ago
  That was brought up in a lot of discussions as something the users would be willing to do, but leadership so far has not been interested in engaging with those suggestions.
rrrrrrrrrrrryan 3y ago
They want everyone to use the official app so they can advertise to paid users in the future. It's the cable TV model: get people to start paying for subscriptions by offering to remove ads, then slowly trickle the ads back in. A paid tier lets you easily identify which of your users have disposable income, and then you can sell the ability to advertise to them at a huge premium. Spotify's advertisements are quite different because they're basically worthless. Nobody wants to pay money to advertise to broke people. Their free tier exists merely as a funnel; the advertisements function as intentional annoyances to nudge people into paying for a subscription.
- danaris 3y ago
  In other words: Because they think they can get 500% the revenue by abusing their users even more, they're unwilling to accept the 450% revenue they could get by making a reasonable compromise. And now they're running the risk of getting 5% the revenue. * No actual numbers were harmed in the making of this post.

xyst 3y ago

Probably VCs or board pushing CEO to make hasty decisions. Profit over everything else.

wvenable 3y ago

It wasn't until they announced this that all the issues with accessibility came up either. They literally didn't think about it until now (because they didn't have to). Also running a paid API service actually requires providing services to the third parties that are using them (like billing dashboards, etc). I'm pretty sure they didn't really think this through entirely when they proposed it. Now that they kind of have a better idea of what they're getting into doubling down is just hubris.