The Reddits
Reddit’s IPO and Paul Graham’s nostalgic essay about its founders prompt a sharp reassessment of the platform’s trajectory from beloved link-sharing community to ad-driven, mobile‑app‑centric business. Commenters recount how the 2023 API pricing changes, aggressive deprecation of third‑party clients, and heavy‑handed moderation and UX choices have driven away many long‑time contributors, even as headline user and revenue numbers grow. Many see Reddit as “almost unkillable” thanks to network effects and its role in search results, but argue its quality, authenticity, and community culture have been significantly degraded by monetization pressures and bot‑driven content.
Perception of the article & IPO timing
- Many see the blog post as an IPO‑timed puff piece or “revisionist history” meant to market the stock.
- Others say it can be both genuine reminiscence and effective marketing, given the forum and investor ties.
- Some note a pattern: essays praising founders right as their companies go public.
Reddit’s business model and CEO compensation
- Thread cites Reddit’s large losses (~$90M in 2023, cumulative >$700M) and ~$900M revenue.
- Heavy criticism of the CEO’s headline “$193M” package; closer reading shows most as conditional stock/options, ~$1M cash and bonus.
- Debate over whether such pay is justified for a still‑unprofitable forum‑like business.
API changes, third‑party apps, and LLM data
- Widely discussed “API fiasco”: huge price hikes effectively killed popular third‑party clients (Apollo, RIF, etc.).
- One side: this was mainly about monetizing data and controlling the official app; another argues it was to stop free LLM training and recoup infra costs.
- Many describe: protests, subreddit blackouts, replacement of dissenting moderators, and users quitting or drastically reducing usage.
- Later data‑licensing deal with Google is cited as confirming the LLM‑monetization motive.
Quality of content, bots, and moderation
- Numerous comments say niche/technical subs are quieter, shallower, or “shells” of former selves; more rage‑bait, relationship drama, and low‑effort memes on /r/all.
- Others claim not to observe much change, or cite company stats showing continued MAU growth.
- Strong sense that high‑quality “power users” and volunteer mods have disengaged, while bots, repost farms, and astroturfing have exploded; one commenter estimates majority‑spam in their own measurements.
- Mods are simultaneously described as essential unpaid labor and power‑tripping gatekeepers; some argue mod problems, not management, “destroyed” communities.
User experience: old vs new Reddit and mobile
- New web UI and official app are widely called slow, ad‑heavy, and hostile (pop‑ups, dark patterns, broken navigation).
- Many rely on
old.reddit.com; some say they’ll quit entirely if it’s removed. - Killing third‑party apps is credited with curing addictions—but also with eliminating a major source of user value creation.
Migration, alternatives, and “unkillable” debate
- Comparisons to Digg’s collapse: Reddit once was the refuge; now no single successor exists.
- People mention Lemmy, Mastodon, Discord, old‑school forums, and bespoke communities; all seen as fragmented, smaller, often more ideological or toxic, and harder to discover.
- Some argue Reddit’s network effects and breadth of small communities make it “almost unkillable”; others predict a slow zombie‑state of enshittified, bot‑heavy engagement.
Governance, censorship, and trust
- Long list of trust‑eroding episodes is recalled: admin editing user comments, opaque shadowbans, silent account suspensions, politicized subreddit bans, and heavy alignment with advertiser‑friendly norms.
- Several users report permanent or cross‑account bans for relatively mild or contrarian posts, with little recourse.
- Concerns that Reddit is becoming a platform optimized for advertisers, propaganda, and AI training, not for genuine user discussion.