[simonswords82]

I totally agree, I feel like this is the beginning of the end for Reddit. There's also a bunch of other recent changes that make me feel like Reddit is starting to work hard on monetisation but will struggle to do this and maintain the 'vibe' they've had to date. For the record it's right that they seek to make money...they're not a charity.

Having said that I think comparing Reddit to HN is a bit unfair. The HN forums are is a happy byproduct of a successful VC firm. Hacker News forums could be switched off tomorrow and Y Combinator would almost certainly continue successfully. As far as I'm aware they generate zero revenue from the forums, in fact, it's probably impossible (or at least very hard) to measure any ROI on the forums.