[afavour]

I agree. I think that this is a turning point for Reddit but not towards failure: they’re ditching the hardcore nerd audience that made them. But they’ve long since outgrown that audience and will likely (as a company) do just fine without them. As a community there will be a notable loss.

[predictabl3]

They better get their buck quick before investors realize what that means for the future of content on reddit.

Because much as some folks here seem to believe, there IS actually more to reddit, reddit as it exists today, than just ad impression counts. I'm not some social media genius but the way that this being talked about by some people, who I guess haven't been a part of reddit over 17+ years, I am flabbergasted at how y'all think these things grow and thrive.

What's the market value of 9gag? iFunny?

Digg?

[afavour]

> how y'all think these things grow and thrive

Reddit has grown and has thrived, now the company is prioritising turning on the money tap. They’re prepared to lose X users if it means they can monetise the remaining users by Y amount.

I’m not saying this as a defence, I’ve also been using Reddit for 15+ years and I’m disappointed by what I see. I’m just clear eyed about the game plan.

[predictabl3]

I totally agree. I just think the mental calculations some folks are doing don't even come close to accounting for power users, mods, and the amount that some of those pissed off users made reddit what it is.

I guess I just find it baffling that people think that the site will have the same value it had today (to users and advertisers) if it is loses its soul. I don't even think I'm being idealistic. I've been through this before. Reddit is more than a view count, or else people wouldn't care they way we do. Did? Something.

[jojobas]

How do you monetize what's more than ad impression counts? Also apart from various types of nerds it appears to be mostly outrage echo chambers.

[predictabl3]

My name's not Steve and I don't think anyone would hire me to consult, but oh I dunno, this sure wouldn't be the way I'd go about it. I've actually read some horrifying hypotheticals on how reddit could've boiled this frog a lot slower, probably quiet silently.

In some sense, as a non-share holder who wants to see people build these communities in the open, I appreciate this approach.

[scubadude]

I think that started with the redesign. It's so weird looking at some of the default subs, just pure trash imo, yet there are still the incredibly diverse, bespoke communities ranging from knitting to woodworking. Users in those subs are the real losers out of this.

[whywhywouldyou]

Those "incredibly bespoke communities" are almost entirely people posting images of a professional/elaborate project, and then asking for feedback in the form of "hey you guys this is the first thing I've ever made please give me some feedback but go easy on me OK?"

It's a massive circle jerk and echo chamber of regurgitated opinions. So in other words: exactly like the rest of Reddit.

[piva00]

And it's also people posting reviews of some tool, or long tutorials on some technique, or answering questions from beginners, or collecting a FAQ with the basics/intermediate level of learning of a hobby which becomes an intro manual of what you probably need to learn as a foundation.

It can be also a massive circle jerk but if that's the only thing you can see from niche subreddits you are coming into this with a massive bias and ignoring the good parts, and these good parts are missing from most of the rest of the web.

I feel that your opinion is the same, just an attempt at a massive circle jerk about how terrible reddit is. It is, but it's also not and if you sincerely can't see how useful reddit is for a wide range of hobbies it's probably because you're a little myopic.

[illiac786]

If that's your definition of circle jerk then basically you can't have a conversation with anyone, on any medium.

A conversation is always at some level about voicing your opinion or showing something you've done or bought and basically ask for feedback/reactions.

[raincole]

> they’re ditching the hardcore nerd audience that made them

If it's just the nerd audience I'll bet Reddit win without thinking. But it's more than that: they're ditching some mods who rely on 3rd party apps, and some users who stay on Reddit for NSFW content.

So yeah, I still think Reddit will be fine, but I'll be happy to be proven wrong.

[tlear]

Who is going to mod it.. couple reddits that I follow daily are public again, however there are no new posts as mods stopped accepting anything.

I am genuinely curious how this is going to work going forward.

[goykasi]

Reddit (the company) controls the platform. They can just install new mods if the current mods arent doing their job. I doubt most users would even notice that the mod names have changed.

[futhey]

Facebook spends $500m annual on moderation. That's a top-down estimate of moderation costs for a large website.

You can try to do a bottom-up estimate, but how much do you think it costs to moderate the (8th?) largest domain on earth? More or less than that? More or less than what Reddit's current operating income is?

[tlear]

They will then need to find an pay those mods.