This is what capitalism does. A constant battle of finding the lowest quality to price ratio. Everything will naturally gravitate to the shitiest cheapest version of itself.

Getting rid of the previous versions just makes it harder for unity to enforce any terms on previously signed agreements.

He detached from reality not too much later in so it’s probably for the best.

I think the missing element for fed sites is creating a level of experience that works seamlessly for users that are not tech savvy at all. The really big genuine innovation that Reddit made was bridging the gap between “the internet” and “regular people”, which granted access to an enormous wealth of information that more tech focused sites aren’t ever going to be able to achieve because those totally non technical users DO have a shit ton of other knowledge and value to bring.