156 upvotes, 6 direct replies (showing 6)
I think you've made the understandable error of assuming that the people currently operating Reddit are rational people interested in Reddit as a Community rather than Reddit as a Platform.
Unfortunately they don't seem to share your insight that the Platform is only as valuable as the Community.
The founders of Reddit were successful because they had a Community focus, but were limited by their inability to transition to a financially self-sustaining model. It now seems that the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction and the efforts at monetizing the Platform could kill off the very thing that gives it value.
I was there when Digg (sorta) died, and this has a similar feel. It will be interesting if there's another place that can generate the critical mass necessary for such a migration, or if that's even possible given the logistical problem Reddit's traffic volume represents.
Part of me wonders if we'd even still be here having this conversation if Voat had been able to stand up to the load.
Comment by eagletrance at 06/07/2015 at 23:46 UTC
11 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I still think a large number of people will move over to Voat. It will be a long slow migration of users and Reddit will still be here for years to come but I can see Voat or a similar site, setup with the correct principles becoming.
The influx of users will give them a much larger user base and also hopefully a platform to build on their reliability.
Comment by Accujack at 06/07/2015 at 23:30 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
or if that's even possible given the logistical problem Reddit's traffic volume represents.
Remember though that the percentage of content creators (core users) is small compared to the overall user base.
That's a good thing for the "rise" of a new site, because making it good/fast enough to attract the core users is much easier than making it able to handle a full scale slashdotting/farking/reddit hug.
Comment by WatNxt at 07/07/2015 at 00:07 UTC
4 upvotes, 3 direct replies
Where are ppl going? I'm interested
Comment by [deleted] at 07/07/2015 at 02:59 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
See here is where I would say something like "Ellens mom could take the load". But now I'm scared to get banned for being offensive..
Comment by gologologolo at 07/07/2015 at 17:37 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I think you've made the understandable error of assuming that the people currently operating Reddit are rational people interested in Reddit as a Community rather than Reddit as a Platform.
Unfortunately they don't seem to share your insight that the Platform is only as valuable as the Community.
Why do you say this? And why are you of the conviction that this isn't changing? I think we should discuss both sides.
Comment by Fkald at 07/07/2015 at 06:47 UTC
0 upvotes, 0 direct replies
There is only one leader different from the founders, who is demonstrating the failure more of the classic mistake of hiring management from outside he company. Most of the employees are from the original culture.