[bcostlow]

Not sure if you are saying it's stupid on Reddit's part, or the users'. For Reddit it's smart.

Licensing doesn't just mean making an exact copy.

Let's say Reddit was the one that packaged up a story posted on /r/nosleep/ and sold film rights—the user who posted that stuff would have an uphill battle to get anything from Reddit's profits on the arrangement.

But, as a user, you can still make your own deals (you still own and can license the content yourself to others), and you probably can only make that deal because of Reddit exposure.

[lingben]

exactly, /r/romesweetrome comes to mind among many others