The Reddits

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.