I agree that reddit's future looks weak. The API change was horrible. Spez's approach to the whole thing was even worse: condescending, disingenuous, and hostile.

And the more I think about it, the less I see any hope for reddit as a place I want to spend time. This isn't just one bad episode. Once the company goes public, there's going to be more shit like this. The site will slowly gut itself for perceived short-term gains, over and over again.

No thanks.

[–] sombrero@lemm.ee 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

the problem with shareholders is that they always and forever need to see a chart that's in a growing trend. That line is getting kind of stagnant there mate how you gonna please us? What makes this problematic is that there will be a finite number of users for this infinitely growing service, sooner or later growth will have to slow and this does NOT please the shareholder. Where are the gains bro? I was promised gains.

[–] gundog48@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Not always, but it is when you go public. I work a lot at small businesses, lots of them have shareholders who are mostly hands-off, or would prefer a more conservative approach to protect their investment.

People who invest in non-public businesses are usually in for the long haul, and come with much greater risk.

But when you go public, your business just comes a commodity, nothing but a vehicle for a fund manager to use to try and get a higher return for their clients so they get more business and commission.

In theory, it's a really democratic system, but the reality is that we've lost track of what an investment is meant to be, and the number of private individuals actually holding shares in a company directly is very low, it's mostly fund managers who literally just want to pump their numbers for a few years, because long term, they never really beat the market.

[–] Mohkia@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Agreed. I have seen time and time again companies going public and turning I to a steaming pile of crap. I have no doubt the ads are going to get worse and they are going to continue to make bad decisions. It's all about exponential profit now.

One good thing about the blackout is it brought this place to my attention. Made quitting reddit so much easier.

[–] Nightingale@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Do you know if old.reddit is going to be vanquished as well?

When I talked to my Discord group, they asked for a source. Ironically, I can't access the threads with all the logistical explanations of why old.reddit would be eliminated (because... they've gone private), and while yes, an official source/confirmation would actually give them cause to be angry (I totally get it - no one wants to think they can't use old.reddit any longer), it's frustrating to see they're not accepting it.

[–] lemann@lemmy.one 6 points 1 year ago

I can imagine one reason being no support for in-line video ads, when scrolling down a subreddit or the homepage

Right now the ads are limited to a tiny image and a title on old.reddit. There was also a traditional squarish ad space on the right hand side IIRC but I've never seen an ad in there...

[–] mcpheeandme@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I really don't know. I definitely recall Spez saying it's safe. But it seems like we'd be wise to not trust a word he says.