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Sometimes the best thing to do is to do nothing at all. Reddit is OK already, but the new management seems to want to change it more and more. These new CEO's w

by keithy 11y ago

Sometimes the best thing to do is to do nothing at all. Reddit is OK already, but the new management seems to want to change it more and more. These new CEO's want to always push their "vision" for what reddit should be despite what the userbase wants and the backlash for that is already showing. The thing is, the power doesn't rest on the CEO or the company, it rests on the user base. Redditors can migrate to any other website they choose to, just like Digg users migrated to reddit some years ago. The people have the power in the end.

arprocter 11y ago
Think it's a coincidence that now the legal case is pretty much over there are suddenly a lot of 'adjustments' being made?
- spiralpolitik 11y ago
  More likely investors are getting restless and want to see some return. In these cases management feels it needs to have things under its control and starts removing power bases from lower down the org chart so that everything stays on message. AMA is Reddit's only viable asset so having it under control of someone who isn't part of the management clique is unthinkable. Usually these attempts fail and the company is dead within 24 months having burned the village in an attempt to save the village.
  - _red 11y ago
    I agree. However a counter-point is that its quite possible that they are trying to pivot reddit into a mainstream site, and thus are more than willing to burn most of the current user base. They don't need/want hard-hitting questions during AMA's, nor do they want freaky fetish subreddits, nor long winded post describing the intricacies of the Federal Reserve. They want cat pictures, pictures of freshly baked cakes, celebrity soundbites, and lots of comments that go "that cake looks delish!" and "Love you Miley!" In short, an internet version of "The View". Regardless, I think it will fail, if thats even the case. However, ideas such as these are the exact type that tone-deaf MBA types think up lots of times.
    - chatmasta 11y ago
      This is a very good thought. The sense I get among most of my friends "in real life" is that they read reddit but would never post to reddit. A driving force behind that is the fear of being seen as a "redditor," which is an image generally associated with neckbeards (ironically a term popularized by themselves). It could certainly follow an 80/20 rule, i.e. 20% of users post 80% of content, but 20% of users also cause 80% of the disruption. I mean ultimately, normal people are outside living their lives, not fussing over reddit drama. Much of the controversy is definitely stirred up by a "vocal minority." But are they necessary? That's the question. If the upvote economy is zero sum, why would you want to waste so much of it on loud muckrakers? You might very well be right. Perhaps the reddit leadership realized they have an aggressive vocal minority that is actively damaging their reputation, so they don't mind culling it from their ranks. That would explain Alexis' overt willingness to sit and watch. He literally doesn't care, because why would he? It's all part of the plan to get more cats on the front page, and money in his pocket. (I don't blame him in the slightest.)
    - NhanH 11y ago
      Reddit is already mainstream by any sense of the words. The reason it's full of hateful, annoying etc. people is because that's how anonymous human behave. Reddit is not a super secret group that only hateful bad apple knows about. You can try to clamp down the bad content, but alienate the user base will end up badly because there will be no one left to join.
      - saint_fiasco 11y ago
        >because that's how anonymous human behave You mean pseudonymous humans? Reddit has a karma system, people can see your comment history and so on.
        Crito 11y ago
        Are websites that are known for being more anonymous than reddit known for being more or less abrasiveness than reddit? In my personal opinion, they are less abrasive. But I think I am definitely in the minority there. I think that anonymous sites are popularly known as more abrasive.
  - quadrature 11y ago
    Why is it unthinkable ?, you hire PR people to do PR.
x0x0 11y ago
Reddit is a pretty terrible business. Discussion boards in general are a terrible business. Redditors can migrate anywhere they want, but the question is where are they welcome, particularly in volume? voat is begging for money, fighting with paypal, and being forced to kill wannabe kiddy porn / jailbait. I'm sure reddit would be super tore up if the fat haters, racists, and jailbait traders left :rolleyes:
- rblatz 11y ago
  Which is why it's a big deal that this has spread into the mainstream subs.
- darkmighty 11y ago
  A terrible business that I think could be sold in a heartbeat for a few hundred million dollars to the big players, so is it really that bad?
  - keithy 11y ago
    The community would be in an uproar if such a sale happened. Reddit's only monetization schemes right now are 1) reddit gold 2) ads and 3) the gift shop. These are things that the community can completely boycott. Any sane person would know not to buy out something like reddit.
    - darkmighty 11y ago
      Reddit is really poorly managed. If Google bought it and gave it an overhaul I'm sure it would be welcome over the current administration. Plus, the "non-vocal users" simply don't care. I would start with rewarding administrators with payment (akin to youtube, somewhat proportionally to views -- this creates a strong incentive towards fidelity), revamp post priority algorithms, and add some basic functionality that you need to install an add on (!), RES, to get (what other top 100 website needs this?).
      - throwaway2048 11y ago
nota_bene 11y ago
> Redditors can migrate to any other website they choose to, just like Digg users migrated to reddit some years ago. The people have the power in the end. Word. You can create/boost the movement with https://www.iWouldDo.it https://www.iWouldDo.it

by keithy 11y ago

arprocter 11y ago

Think it's a coincidence that now the legal case is pretty much over there are suddenly a lot of 'adjustments' being made?

spiralpolitik 11y ago
More likely investors are getting restless and want to see some return. In these cases management feels it needs to have things under its control and starts removing power bases from lower down the org chart so that everything stays on message. AMA is Reddit's only viable asset so having it under control of someone who isn't part of the management clique is unthinkable. Usually these attempts fail and the company is dead within 24 months having burned the village in an attempt to save the village.
- _red 11y ago
  I agree. However a counter-point is that its quite possible that they are trying to pivot reddit into a mainstream site, and thus are more than willing to burn most of the current user base. They don't need/want hard-hitting questions during AMA's, nor do they want freaky fetish subreddits, nor long winded post describing the intricacies of the Federal Reserve. They want cat pictures, pictures of freshly baked cakes, celebrity soundbites, and lots of comments that go "that cake looks delish!" and "Love you Miley!" In short, an internet version of "The View". Regardless, I think it will fail, if thats even the case. However, ideas such as these are the exact type that tone-deaf MBA types think up lots of times.
  - chatmasta 11y ago
    This is a very good thought. The sense I get among most of my friends "in real life" is that they read reddit but would never post to reddit. A driving force behind that is the fear of being seen as a "redditor," which is an image generally associated with neckbeards (ironically a term popularized by themselves). It could certainly follow an 80/20 rule, i.e. 20% of users post 80% of content, but 20% of users also cause 80% of the disruption. I mean ultimately, normal people are outside living their lives, not fussing over reddit drama. Much of the controversy is definitely stirred up by a "vocal minority." But are they necessary? That's the question. If the upvote economy is zero sum, why would you want to waste so much of it on loud muckrakers? You might very well be right. Perhaps the reddit leadership realized they have an aggressive vocal minority that is actively damaging their reputation, so they don't mind culling it from their ranks. That would explain Alexis' overt willingness to sit and watch. He literally doesn't care, because why would he? It's all part of the plan to get more cats on the front page, and money in his pocket. (I don't blame him in the slightest.)
  - NhanH 11y ago
    Reddit is already mainstream by any sense of the words. The reason it's full of hateful, annoying etc. people is because that's how anonymous human behave. Reddit is not a super secret group that only hateful bad apple knows about. You can try to clamp down the bad content, but alienate the user base will end up badly because there will be no one left to join.
    - saint_fiasco 11y ago
      >because that's how anonymous human behave You mean pseudonymous humans? Reddit has a karma system, people can see your comment history and so on.
      - Crito 11y ago
        Are websites that are known for being more anonymous than reddit known for being more or less abrasiveness than reddit? In my personal opinion, they are less abrasive. But I think I am definitely in the minority there. I think that anonymous sites are popularly known as more abrasive.
- quadrature 11y ago
  Why is it unthinkable ?, you hire PR people to do PR.

x0x0 11y ago

Reddit is a pretty terrible business. Discussion boards in general are a terrible business. Redditors can migrate anywhere they want, but the question is where are they welcome, particularly in volume? voat is begging for money, fighting with paypal, and being forced to kill wannabe kiddy porn / jailbait. I'm sure reddit would be super tore up if the fat haters, racists, and jailbait traders left :rolleyes:

rblatz 11y ago
Which is why it's a big deal that this has spread into the mainstream subs.
darkmighty 11y ago
A terrible business that I think could be sold in a heartbeat for a few hundred million dollars to the big players, so is it really that bad?
- keithy 11y ago
  The community would be in an uproar if such a sale happened. Reddit's only monetization schemes right now are 1) reddit gold 2) ads and 3) the gift shop. These are things that the community can completely boycott. Any sane person would know not to buy out something like reddit.
  - darkmighty 11y ago
    Reddit is really poorly managed. If Google bought it and gave it an overhaul I'm sure it would be welcome over the current administration. Plus, the "non-vocal users" simply don't care. I would start with rewarding administrators with payment (akin to youtube, somewhat proportionally to views -- this creates a strong incentive towards fidelity), revamp post priority algorithms, and add some basic functionality that you need to install an add on (!), RES, to get (what other top 100 website needs this?).
    - throwaway2048 11y ago

nota_bene 11y ago

> Redditors can migrate to any other website they choose to, just like Digg users migrated to reddit some years ago. The people have the power in the end. Word. You can create/boost the movement with https://www.iWouldDo.it https://www.iWouldDo.it