• duncesplayed@lemmy.one
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I don’t think “greed” is quite the right word. “Greed” would be the right word if they were trying to make themselves more profitable. But they’re not: they’re trying to make themselves profitable at all. That’s not about greed, but about surviving. You can’t survive unless you stop hemorrhaging money at some point.

        Maybe the question is “Why do investors invest so many hundred of billions of dollars into companies that cannot be profitable without becoming super-shitty? And why do users join them knowing that they’re going to become super-shitty one day?”

      • epicspongee [they/them or he/him]@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        To expand on this, it’s not just capitalism - it’s greed.

        No it’s just capitalism lol. Every company has to continue reaping in profits for capitalists or else it dies. This is just Reddit’s way of doing that.

    • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      But first be not as terrible to the users to attract them, then hope they’re lazy enough to not go anywhere when you treat them terribly later while they squeeze value from them

      • infotainment@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Exactly – this is almost certainly bad for Reddit’s business at this point. The problem here isn’t necessarily capitalism so much as it is a egocentric CEO gone mad with power.

        • SpaceToast@mander.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          I don’t even think it’s a bad business decision.

          Most people didn’t use 3rd party apps to begin with. I’d guess about 75% of the vocal minority who protested, will continue to use Reddit.

          And a very small % of people will quit Reddit in favor of Lemmy.

          • Spaceman Spiff@lemmy.fmhy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            1 year ago

            Doesn’t have to be Lemmy, they just have to stop using Reddit. If the power users (posters, content creators, mods, etc) really do leave, then the regular users will likely lose interest and leave as well. It doesn’t matter if they go to Lemmy, TikTok, or start spending time with their loved ones again.

            There are rumors that Reddit will start using (more) bots and AI to generate content, which is certainly not beneath them at this point. The tech equivalent of a lava lamp.

            • SpaceToast@mander.xyz
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              1 year ago

              I suspect that power users, like mods, are more interested in the “power” they have on Reddit than standing up for anything.

              I’d love to be wrong though. Reddit can’t die fast enough.

              • Spaceman Spiff@lemmy.fmhy.ml
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                Some definitely are. They’re the ones that folded as soon as Reddit threatened them. Others are holding strong, knowing they will be removed. Others, like the ones posting John Oliver memes, are really just trying to feel like they’re in power. They won’t do anything to actually get in trouble

          • infotainment@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            I’d argue it is, because of the damage they’re doing to their brand.

            I’ve said it in a couple other threads, but Reddit has other ways they can monetize their 3rd party app users, such as requiring subscriptions to use third party apps, or even by simply giving third party app devs a longer lead time to change to a paid model. Instead of doing either of those things, the CEO had a tantrum and alienated a bunch of people.

        • applejacks@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          Yea, I am not a capitalism enjoyer, but it’s comical watching people insert their favorite pet politics as the sole reason for everything that’s happening.

      • zombiepete@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        What’s good for making more money is not always or even often good for what we would think of as customer-friendly business. If you can wring more money out of a few whales at the expense of pissing off customers who don’t create as much revenue, then in our current system that’s what shareholders apparently want.

        Reddit wants more users in their official app where they can target them for ads, sell NFTs, and whatever other bullshit they want to sell. It doesn’t matter if the experience is worse, and it probably doesn’t really matter if a couple thousand 3PA users split for good. As long as they can tell investors that the official app use is growing and that they can target a greater percentage of users with ads and data, they feel like they won.