Simon and Garfunkel: The Boxer

For many (hi /u/spez) it’s more like “We’ll burn that bridge when we get there”.

We’ll be telling our grandchildren that we remember the time /u/spez did an AMA…

I used to worry about us over here in the UK being judged badly over Brexit, but you guys have, er, trumped us. This is fun to watch from 5000 miles away, but I’d hate to be there.

What’s the betting he’ll back down in some way (which was the plan all along)? That way they’ll get what they originally wanted but will look as if they’ve “listened”.

I’m not sure I believe that will happen though, tbh.

Heardle. Like Wordle but for music.

The blackouts will make no difference to Reddit’s plans. The API charge will come in. The content creators and moderators will leave. The content will go stale. The smart shareholders will cash in early; the dumb ones will hang on for the prospect of a greater return which won’t materialise. Once the content is stale, the readers and lurkers will leave. Reddit will become a has-been, a memorable item of internet history like so many other sites.

It’s inevitable and won’t be stopped. See Cory Doctorow’s article on the future (and current state of) TikTok, Amazon, Facebook, etc. Reddit is the same. Reddit as we knew it is gone: move on.

Reddit is determined to “go commercial”. It’ll be successful at first because there’s a wealth of good data in Reddit. However, those who contribute rather than just consume will drift away. The content becomes stale (who wants recommendations for great Bluetooth headsets from 2015?).

Cory Doctorow wrote an excellent article on how TikTok, Facebook, Amazon and more have become worse, and why. It was written in January before Reddit’s API announcement, but it applies to Reddit every bit as much as the others. It’s worth a read: Tiktok’s enshittification