Reddit going to become the next myspace?
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I've never really been on reddit... Like, ever. At least not intentionally. Nor 4Chan. Just not interesting to me. Maybe I'm just weird.
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I think the bigger issue is what Reddit is versus what it's becoming.
Reddit's trying to move toward an IPO. In order to do that, they need to demonstrate strong quarterly earnings and show potential for growth not just as a viral social media aggregator, but as a potential as a tool for marketing. Unfortunately, a website whose front page is basically a bunch of bullies picking on people who experience the normal force a tad more keenly than the rest of us isn't exactly the type of website that makes a big splash at an IPO. Further, the userbase is as big a liability as it has been a benefit to the website. The recent blackout showed just how much damage to Reddit an angry userbase can do in the span of a few hours. Nobody is going to pay for the privelege of buying a schizophrenic hornet's nest. They are trying to clean up their image and streamline the site to make it less about their users and more about them. They are basically trying to capitalize and cash out based solely on the work of their userbase in that most of their administrators and content-generators tend to do what they do to absolutely no benefit to themselves personally other than satisfaction. I'm sure you feel the opposite end of this problem keenly, Lummox, in that your current revenue model entirely depends on users generating interest in the secondary product made with the product of your work, and the money you make (which should frankly be a hell of a lot more) isn't actually tied directly to the work you've been doing. Some users resent you for making any money at all. Others want nothing more than to cut off your revenue stream because of the inconvenience of ads. Meanwhile, the people who are actually generating what little you make have little useful input on the product at all. Most of your input comes from a core of power users who (in my case especially) don't have frankly a good history of generating any income for you. (Chance, Silk, SS13 community notably excluded). Let's face it, the <$400 I've contributed over 15 years of activity is frankly much less than it should be. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that unfortunately, what Reddit is trying to do is going to harm the user experience. At this point, the current market in e-commerce and game development are both based on an invasive, user-alienating model. What is proven and profitable is also simultaneously bad for the end consumer. It's a real problem that I don't see them digging (lol, get it? DIGGing? No? Okay. Sorry.) their way out of. I think the best that reddit.com can hope for is to keep ramping up what they are doing, manage dissent with good PR, and go IPO as soon as the offer is sweet enough so that everyone involved at a technical level can leave at the crest of Reddit's popularity with a stack of cash in their pocket while the investors ultimately ride the website's downfall. Where does this leave the users? Well, I guess we'll all be migrating to Voat. | |
In my opinion, Voat is to reddit as 8chan is to 4chan. Voat is experiencing an influx of new users, but I doubt it will last. Back when Digg murdered itself, reddit already existed as its own thing which kind of just absorbed the drifting user base. I'd like for Voat to be successful, but I just can't see it happening on the same scale as the Digg migration.
As for the reddit drama, AMAs drive a lot of traffic, making them a primary target for marketers to get their hands on and ruin. Victoria, the reddit employee responsible for managing AMAs, allegedly didn't want to play ball and was fired by some other staff member. I'd say cleaning house, utilizing the community's hard work for profit, and using an interim CEO to make all the necessary changes fits pretty darn snuggly with Ter13's speculation on an IPO. To make matters worse, it looks like reddit's chief engineer jumped ship. This is pretty bad news when half of the community outrage was over how terrible the moderation tools were. | |
To make matters worse, it looks like reddit's chief engineer jumped ship. This is pretty bad news when half of the community outrage was over how terrible the moderation tools were. Reportedly they have been firing almost all of the technical staff and hiring people with backgrounds in marketing and PR management exclusively. It's actually looking like the powers that be want to get reddit out of their wallet and into someone else's. | |
Uh-oh. Round 3 incoming: Hold on to yer butts:
https://np.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3dautm/ content_policy_update_ama_thursday_july_16th_1pm/ct3eflt | |
Former CEO has fired back a salvo and basically shit all over everyone:
http://gawker.com/former-reddit-ceo-youre-all-screwed-171790 1652 TL;DR: Yishan (co-founder of reddit, former CEO) just did an interview with Gawker claiming that Pao was the only one fighting to protect the racist subreddits, and that basically reddit has shot itself in the foot by removing their one advocate for free speech. This is getting interesting, and I fully expect the shit to hit the fan really soon. This is amusing, but really not how you manage a userbase. At all. EDIT: Article seems fishy. Source is gawker... So... Take that how you will. | |
I think shite already hit the fan ter :P.
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i like how reddit is such a cesspool of mental illness that not only the userbase but the staff are drama whores as well.
that place is worse than twitch. never really got into reddit for this exact reason, one of the first posts involving me on that site, i had a bunch of 40 year olds threatening to hack me and have me arrested for "cyber bullying". won't be going to this new "voat" thing either, anyone who wants to take reddit and emulate this steaming pile of fecal matter has got to be crazy. | |
From what I've been reading about Reddit, the whole situation sounds like a lot of corporate tone-deafness to me. Pao is allegedly extremely petty, to the point of keeping an enemies list--which even I don't do, and I'm on record as wanting to become a supervillain someday. The whole censorship thing I can understand Reddit possibly wanting to change, and I get why that would be the sort of unpopular thing they'd need to force the issue on. What I don't get is why they'd fire the one person who was basically their liaison to the moderators, without any plan at all for anyone to take over her duties after she left. That reeks of the managerial style Pao has been reputed for.