3 ms·

If 20m is paid, they'll double it next year. Reddit is just a landlord raising rents to unaffordable rates rather than evicting tenants. And they don't produce

If 20m is paid, they'll double it next year. Reddit is just a landlord raising rents to unaffordable rates rather than evicting tenants. And they don't produce or moderate content. Rent-seeking middlemen. Fediverse socials are very nice once they're up and running, we need better default settings and easier inter-instance interaction for less technical users, but I'm optimistic they're a vast improvement on a centralized model. If you don't like your instance, you can pack up and leave.

chii 3y ago
> And they don't produce or moderate content. Rent-seeking middlemen. But they do pay for the physical infrastructure required to run reddit. I would consider that as part of production of the "content", even tho it's indirect.
- ummonk 3y ago
  The prices they're charging for API access are wildly disproportionate to the cost of the physical infrastructure required to run the services.
  - chii 3y ago
    oh i'm sure they are charging up the wazoo, because they aim to make a profit off it, rather than to just sustain operations. I'm just refuting the fact that they're merely middlemen and is charging rent for no value delivered.
    - Timon3 3y ago
      But that's not accurate. If they wanted to profit off of it, they would have chosen a more reasonable price, which would still keep 3P clients alive, but paying a bit more than they earn through ads. They chose to set the price so high that it's not possible to run a 3P client anymore. It's not a profit motive, it's only about consolidation.
      - predictabl3 3y ago
        I honestly can't believe the good faith people are willing to afford spez at this point. I can see it, it's the "temporarily disenfranchised millionaire" effect in front of us. Some here have said as much: "But surely he has a plan/knows what he's doing/it's all calculated". Or you know, he's a narcissistic liar. For fucks sake. (Insert the article about his doomsday prep and how he won't be a slave. You can't make this crap up.) Idk, I have a nose for bullshit and it went off a long time ago.
        Timon3 3y ago
        Me neither, but at this point I think it's an unavoidable fact of our industry. It's very similar to pick-me behavior ("look, I see that this is a necessary business decision, please pick me!"). The frustrating part is: people like spez or Elon show us time and time again who they are and what they want, and yet people try to gaslight you into believing in that distorted reality.
  - Seattle3503 3y ago
    Reddit is charing the opportunity cost per user, not infrastructure cost.

chii 3y ago

> And they don't produce or moderate content. Rent-seeking middlemen. But they do pay for the physical infrastructure required to run reddit. I would consider that as part of production of the "content", even tho it's indirect.

ummonk 3y ago
The prices they're charging for API access are wildly disproportionate to the cost of the physical infrastructure required to run the services.
- chii 3y ago
  oh i'm sure they are charging up the wazoo, because they aim to make a profit off it, rather than to just sustain operations. I'm just refuting the fact that they're merely middlemen and is charging rent for no value delivered.
  - Timon3 3y ago
    But that's not accurate. If they wanted to profit off of it, they would have chosen a more reasonable price, which would still keep 3P clients alive, but paying a bit more than they earn through ads. They chose to set the price so high that it's not possible to run a 3P client anymore. It's not a profit motive, it's only about consolidation.
    - predictabl3 3y ago
      I honestly can't believe the good faith people are willing to afford spez at this point. I can see it, it's the "temporarily disenfranchised millionaire" effect in front of us. Some here have said as much: "But surely he has a plan/knows what he's doing/it's all calculated". Or you know, he's a narcissistic liar. For fucks sake. (Insert the article about his doomsday prep and how he won't be a slave. You can't make this crap up.) Idk, I have a nose for bullshit and it went off a long time ago.
      - Timon3 3y ago
        Me neither, but at this point I think it's an unavoidable fact of our industry. It's very similar to pick-me behavior ("look, I see that this is a necessary business decision, please pick me!"). The frustrating part is: people like spez or Elon show us time and time again who they are and what they want, and yet people try to gaslight you into believing in that distorted reality.
- Seattle3503 3y ago
  Reddit is charing the opportunity cost per user, not infrastructure cost.