[pnt12]

All companies depend on their customers, that's not a reddit only thing. If Coca-Cola pisses of their customers, they'll go to Pepsi in the blink of an eye.

[seydor]

sure, but they won't break all the vending machines

[yadingus]

The analogy breaks down here because the users made their own vending machines.

For example I made this comment, and I am allowed to edit it or even remove it.

Imagine now for a second if hacker news was allowed to manipulate or modify user comments directly for profit.

[jonathankoren]

It’s more like the users are the vending machines, and the cans, and the soda.

When your whole value is provided by the unpaid labor of the users, you don’t get to say, “How dare they!”, when you’re the leach.