I agree. In addition to your theory, I think that even if protests are ineffective in the short term, they can be effective in the long term. That is, the media

I agree. In addition to your theory, I think that even if protests are ineffective in the short term, they can be effective in the long term. That is, the media attention given to protests can gradually change people's thinking. But it is a very slow and subtle shift, and impossible to measure. Of course, one might argue that shifts in the zeitgeist were already happening, and protests are just a symptom. Personally I think it goes both ways, they feed into each other. We can hope that even if the Reddit protests ultimately go nowhere, they will at least have shifted public opinion, if only slightly.