4 ms·

Why is the NYT this wholy grail, that no company ever can aspire to be worth more than? For me personally Reddit is much more important than the NYT will ever

Why is the NYT this wholy grail, that no company ever can aspire to be worth more than? For me personally Reddit is much more important than the NYT will ever be. If the NYT disappears tomorrow I couldn't care less. There's other publications that will fill its place. Reddit has allowed me to meet great people, have in-depth conversations on topics that no one in my near vicinity cares about and expand my knowledge into fields I never knew possible. It's a great place.

loganfrederick 14y ago
NYT is one of the very if, possibly only, newspaper media companies with a worldwide brand recognition to actually have value/goodwill in its own right. That is why it is considered to be worth more than other media companies; it is due to its brand and reputation. Not to say this couldn't or won't change at some point.
- clobber 14y ago
  And now Mark Thompson, who is tied to the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal at the BBC, is CEO of NYT. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/11/mark-thompson-ceo-new-york-times_n_2115399.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/11/mark-thompson-ceo-n...
  - chimeracoder 14y ago
    I'm sorry, what does that have to do with their value as a news organization? Furthermore, Jill Abramson is a far more relevant figure than Thompson in this context.
markdown 14y ago
> For me personally Reddit is much more important than the NYT will ever be. Honey Boo Boo is much more important to me than NatGeo and NPR.
- kami8845 14y ago
  Why? I'd love to know what value Honey Boo Boo provides you that's unique and can't be filled by others.
  - rdl 14y ago
    100% of US RDA of feeling of superiority, no matter who you are or how much you've fucked up your own life.
  - thaumaturgy 14y ago
    I'm pretty sure he was lampooning you. Your reply here makes it hilarious. :-)
majormajor 14y ago
If "impact of it disappearing" is your metric, I don't think it would take long for new Reddits to pop up if it disappeared tomorrow.
- kami8845 14y ago
  Reddit has a unique and incredibly community. If you take the time and actually explore all of the amazing small subreddits that have developed their own cultures & rulesets and the content they've created, I doubt you would make this statement. There are great people in the specialist subreddits. Reddit is only worth as much as its community and that is _incredibly_ hard to reproduct and immensely valuable. Just look at HN. Dozens of people have come up with way better web apps to clone its functionality or have proposed redesigns. Nothing sticks and no one cares. The community is what makes sites like reddit & HN.
  - majormajor 14y ago
    I'm a part of other great non-Reddit communities, some pre-dating Reddit, some that came later. Some of them have moved across forum software changes, URL changes, and ownership changes. What is it that makes you think Reddit communities are a different animal? Were Reddit to disappear, I'm sure those communities would find new homes. From where I'm sitting, the problem with basing Reddit's valuation on those communities is that Reddit doesn't own those communities. You can't always tell a community what to do (like how one can't build an HN replacement and expect the community to simply follow you there). If the steps Reddit takes to try to make a big return on investment anger those communities, the communities are free to leave. My view is that the network effects of Reddit are not nearly as strong as those of a Facebook or Instagram, and even those appear to be having some difficulty getting as much value out of their communities as they want.
    - kami8845 14y ago
      >If the steps Reddit takes to try to make a big return on investment anger those communities, Yes, but that won't happen. They've been incredibly hands-off for the past 7 years. They basically worked their asses off on too few engineers for years, and during all that time kept showing almost no ads, and if they did they did it on the far right where almost no one notices. Just because they're raising capital now, doesn't mean they'll go out and fuck it up. Whatever outside money they take on, they'll be extremely conscientious about retaining control or their future stakeholders sharing their values.

loganfrederick 14y ago

NYT is one of the very if, possibly only, newspaper media companies with a worldwide brand recognition to actually have value/goodwill in its own right. That is why it is considered to be worth more than other media companies; it is due to its brand and reputation. Not to say this couldn't or won't change at some point.

clobber 14y ago
And now Mark Thompson, who is tied to the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal at the BBC, is CEO of NYT. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/11/mark-thompson-ceo-new-york-times_n_2115399.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/11/mark-thompson-ceo-n...
- chimeracoder 14y ago
  I'm sorry, what does that have to do with their value as a news organization? Furthermore, Jill Abramson is a far more relevant figure than Thompson in this context.

markdown 14y ago

> For me personally Reddit is much more important than the NYT will ever be. Honey Boo Boo is much more important to me than NatGeo and NPR.

kami8845 14y ago
Why? I'd love to know what value Honey Boo Boo provides you that's unique and can't be filled by others.
- rdl 14y ago
  100% of US RDA of feeling of superiority, no matter who you are or how much you've fucked up your own life.
- thaumaturgy 14y ago
  I'm pretty sure he was lampooning you. Your reply here makes it hilarious. :-)

majormajor 14y ago

If "impact of it disappearing" is your metric, I don't think it would take long for new Reddits to pop up if it disappeared tomorrow.

kami8845 14y ago
Reddit has a unique and incredibly community. If you take the time and actually explore all of the amazing small subreddits that have developed their own cultures & rulesets and the content they've created, I doubt you would make this statement. There are great people in the specialist subreddits. Reddit is only worth as much as its community and that is _incredibly_ hard to reproduct and immensely valuable. Just look at HN. Dozens of people have come up with way better web apps to clone its functionality or have proposed redesigns. Nothing sticks and no one cares. The community is what makes sites like reddit & HN.
- majormajor 14y ago
  I'm a part of other great non-Reddit communities, some pre-dating Reddit, some that came later. Some of them have moved across forum software changes, URL changes, and ownership changes. What is it that makes you think Reddit communities are a different animal? Were Reddit to disappear, I'm sure those communities would find new homes. From where I'm sitting, the problem with basing Reddit's valuation on those communities is that Reddit doesn't own those communities. You can't always tell a community what to do (like how one can't build an HN replacement and expect the community to simply follow you there). If the steps Reddit takes to try to make a big return on investment anger those communities, the communities are free to leave. My view is that the network effects of Reddit are not nearly as strong as those of a Facebook or Instagram, and even those appear to be having some difficulty getting as much value out of their communities as they want.
  - kami8845 14y ago
    >If the steps Reddit takes to try to make a big return on investment anger those communities, Yes, but that won't happen. They've been incredibly hands-off for the past 7 years. They basically worked their asses off on too few engineers for years, and during all that time kept showing almost no ads, and if they did they did it on the far right where almost no one notices. Just because they're raising capital now, doesn't mean they'll go out and fuck it up. Whatever outside money they take on, they'll be extremely conscientious about retaining control or their future stakeholders sharing their values.