this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2023
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Elon Musk's buyout of Twitter seemed more like an extremely elaborate shitpost that went horribly wrong. It's like Musk never intended to buy them in the first place but was legally forced to do so (he tried to back out of the deal beforehand.)
As for Reddit, that place has been going down the shitter since around 2016. Power users have ruined that site, especially the handful of moderators that control hundreds of subreddits between themselves. Spez is a blithering idiot who has done more to censor and subvert the site than Ellen Pao ever did (ironically, everyone accepted it and didn't revolt against him because he wasn't a woman.)
That being said, I really hope Steve Huffman doubles down on the API changes and kills Reddit as a platform. Nothing would make me happier.
Twitch and YouTube literally think they're too big to fall and work actively to fuck over the content creator, when decent competitors like Rumble and Kick are coming along. Mixer could have been decent but Microsoft's strategy was literally to offer two streamers nine-figure contracts and somehow think this would drive people to their Twitch-clone. At least Rumble and Kick are competently run.
I think this all depends on their reaction to the blackout planned for the 12th. If Reddit starts taking over the default/large subs that shut down it's 100% going to crash and burn. Not backing down on their API changes I think is an optimistic 60/40 in favor of Reddit chugging along albeit just a bit crappier for it all. (The 40% being a Digg situation that hopefully blows up their IPO plans and VC funding.)
I can certainly see Reddit's admins staging a hostile takeover of all large subreddits, banhammering any moderator who takes part in the blackout, and installing their own yes-men.
But can you imagine the PR shitshow that would occur if Reddit suddenly deposed its most powerful users? Imagine if a major content creator like Linus Tech Tips, SomeOrdinaryGamers, Penguinz0 or Asmongold jumped on the 'fuck Reddit' bandwagon. It would be a major PR boost for any competitor.
Maybe I'm pessimistic but I have little to no faith that the blackout, especially if only 2 days for some subreddits, will have any impact at all. Most likely what will happen is everyone will just scroll like normal, get bored with no content and do something else. They'll come back a few days later and everything will be normal. Most people probably really don't even care, unfortunately. :/
For reddit itself, I think they're going with game plan of throwing this shit out there and then going radio silent knowing that nothing is really going to happen. For them, no PR is probably the best move really.
I think a lot of the old core group will actually end up leaving by the end of this business. The question is will it matter. Can the site be successful as it transform itself into an also-ran tiktok-clone?
The good news is that those of us who move on won't have to worry about it anymore.
I'll drink to that!
I know that as soon as baconreader dies, my 14 year stint on reddit is over. I'm guessing I'm not alone and those using RIF and Apollo are also going away.
I hope lemmy is ready :D
You and me, brother. I've used Baconreader for over a decade and it was a great experience, but it's time to move on.
I'm treating reddit like an ex. Good luck, but not my problem anymore. If it succeeds, good for them. If it doesn't, I probably won't find out. I've got other things I rather focus on.
Spez is going to do an AMA tomorrow. That's definitely going to be interesting...
It might be interesting to read about it on here because I'm not going back there.
I see that as a good thing. I don't want all of reddit coming here and ruinng the atmosphere of this place.
I'm from reddit exodus, I was on fedi before. just moderate those evil and ban em from our nice communities.
If I remember he said no once he had a closer look at the financials and cybersecurity reports under NDA, but at that point in a merger and non-compete it's basically telling you "good, you've bought it, here's what to plan for" - it's not something a competitor can just peek in and then back out of.
Thanks for Rumble and Kick, first time I hear about them
Rumble is "that place which welcomed Andrew Tate and Sneako" after they both got banned from mainstream social media. They're the right-wing free-speech platform.
Kick was formed by a former Twitch streamer (TrainwrecksTV) cause he thought that Twitch went too far in banning gambling streams. Plus he got the backing of Stake, a cryptocurrency-fuelled slot machine website, who are the main investors bankrolling his company.
Thanks for the context, doesn't seem as appealing anymore ha ha