Digg lost because they changed the website, Reddit has not changed here.
> third-party apps are the only ones that are actually usable
In your opinion. Millions of users just use the site and official app.
> valueless replaceable cogs.
Which they are. Plenty of mods are ready to take care of popular subreddits.
Some users will be lost, but they are the minority.
The only mistake Reddit is making is by waiting too long to reign in the popular subreddits and allowing people to protest on Reddit’s own homepage.