And saw a bunch of posts about the third party apps closing down, and lots of negativity about that whole fiasco.
… And I realized I hadn’t been there for a week… And frankly didn’t miss it. I am really loving the beehaw (and Lemmy as a whole) community. Thanks for being open, welcoming, responsive, engaging, and just generally nice people. I’m happy to be here. :)
You overestimate how many people use third-party apps. They are the (very) vocal minority. They may represent a majority of the content submitted, but there’s an arbitrary number of web users who don’t have an account (hi) in addition to all the casual users who just use the app.
I don’t think this is the death of Reddit, but I do think it’s the dumbing down of Reddit. A lot of the power users that spend all day interacting and posting are going to be the ones leaving. Reddit will turn from a social community back into a simple link aggregator with people posting articles and having the same discussions over and over again in the comments.
That’s basically what it is already on many of the largest subs. Hell they even recycle/repost the same content every 6 months or so
I swear askreddit’s questions are automated at this point.
You are not wrong, but Reddit will never be the same. This whole IPO business is effectively the death of Reddit as we know it, to be replaced with a mediocre TikTok clone. It takes strong leadership among execs and ownership for profit-driven corporation to stay the course and remain successful.
Reddit has neither. Just a legacy and incumbency.
I think the key thing that will screw them is violating the trust of the volunteer moderator force that basically makes reddit what it is. I don’t think reddit appreciates how much of their business relies on a completely volunteer, unpaid workforce.
If the mods decide to quit en masse and and either stop moderating or turn subreddits private on their way out then reddit is done for.