Finally found a decent analysis of why Reddit should care very much about the blackout. Reddit CEO forgot how much money those pesky tire party apps saved him in free labor by mods and redditors. Time to go somewhere no one is looking just for his own pockets.
I’m convinced spez is almost in too deep at this point. No doubt he has extreme VC pressure on him for a successful IPO, and the worst thing that can happen to him if reddit suffers is a few million dollars and some extra free time.
Meanwhile, there could be actual money he misses out on making if he admits he’s screwing over his users. Money like that is difficult to resist, especially with the kind of executive power over reddit’s direction he has.
He is running on ego at this point. And he let things get to the point of no return. People are moving away from Reddit, and even if the Spez guy undoes everything, third party apps won’t return, because they know they are one hissy fit, one stock offering, one bad CEO away from having to shut down again.
It may have started this way, but now we’ll have o see what Reddit will become. I have my Lemmy account and my popcorn ready.