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0 pointsshagie2y ago0 comments

That would have required negotiating image hosting, having a significant amount of server power and storage space, dealing with laws about who can see what, and active moderation until volunteers can be found to moderate the content. Having someone to deal with DMCA requests and age verification laws.

If it wasn't a subscription service (that had to front load a lot of its costs), it also involves getting advertisers for people who are demonstrably hostile to advertisements on board.

This requires hiring more than a few people and investing a bit into the infrastructure needed. It isn't just "hey, gonna spin up a server that is API compatible with reddit and switch everyone over."

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predictabl32y ago

So, are we just pretending like reddit has any of that when it started out?

shagieOP2y ago

It was a single page link farm with votes that competed with Digg in a much simpler regulatory time.

https://web.archive.org/web/20051124035428/http://reddit.com... (edit: upon reflection, I am nostalgic for the time when that the top link there was to "The Truth About Web 2.0" at paulgraham.com shared by a user named AaronSw)

If you were to try to build something today that competed with Reddit and wasn't just a "here's a bunch of links - vote on what you like (without even comments)", it would take quite a bit more investment.

If you were to build reddit c. 2005 you wouldn't even need a device local app.

paxys2y ago

Apollo is not competing with Reddit when it started out but Reddit today.

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