Most of the content on reddit is created by power users who are more likely to use 3rd party tools. Most people who use the official app only consume content.

It’s an ads business, so the game is always “giving away a huge number of requests for free to monetize an extremely tiny portion of those requests.” So as soon as bean counters look at the books, it’s easy to be tempted to just identify cohorts of those requests that are unlikely to convert and cut off those users.

It takes someone who is more than just a bean counter to realize that maybe, just maybe, the only reason people are interested in those free requests in the first place is because of the communities on Reddit that bring all the actual value.

And who knows, maybe one day everyone will realize that the “free social media monetized by ads” business just totally sucks and can only ever lead to situations like this.

Others are saying "power users", but... I agree with you. It is just an assumption that the "power users" make the product better, although a reasonable one. However, Reddit was pretty awesome, arguably much better, before there were semi-professional power users and moderators.

Power users who generate the content that makes Reddit valuable to begin with.

That's the thing, to use an overused adage: it's a feature not a bug. They want these people gone. They calculated their contributions and decided it won't hurt, or hurt badly enough, for them to care. They'll all make millions on the IPO, step away, and sell. None of this makes a difference to that master plan. The sooner everyone accepts this the less time will get wasted on trying to convince Reddit this is a mistake. It's not a bug.

Reddit is a shell of what it was when I started on the platform 14+ years ago.

Reddit's whole value proposition is user generated content (and moderation).

Labeling that as "only costs" is extremely shortsighted.

I'm sure Digg had the same line of thinking. Worked out great for them.

The opportunity to stand out from other enshittified platforms. But I guess now we need to find a new thing for VCs to fund for us. Maybe an app that pretends to use AI to create memes or something.

Those users generate content. They’re literally the ones creating value, reddit doesn’t have a product without them.

Not being able to understand indirect value as a business is seriously why so many businesses fail.

Mods. People working for free running the site.

Mods and other power users.