There's something else odd going on. I think the easiest answer is the company is just poorly run but considering everything we've seen from both sides of the issue:
- Reddit believes costs to maintain their API are on the level of charging 3rd party apps upwards of $20MM each. A small handful of 3rd party apps between iOS/Android would be netting them $100MM annually? Does it really cost them that much to run the API? There's a lot of questions regarding those figures by themselves
- Reluctance to come up with alternative offerings. If this is about 3rd party apps not serving ads, why is the most obvious solution not just "3rd party app usage must be through premium accounts"?
- An absolute refusal to recognize how their site operates and the value of the free labour given to them through moderation and content generation. This one is where I'm most in the dark. They must've run the metrics to see that even if losing a sizable portion of the 3rd party users they won't be in a bad place. I'm assuming they're prepared to rework their moderation structure in its entirety? But at the same time, they seem unable to devlop/publish meaningful features that have been requested by those who know the site best
My gut reaction is the IPO is coming. They want short term numbers bump to justify these actions and damn the long term. A mindset of solve the immediate problem, ignore the rest and figure it out later. Most people see this as a bad strategy, they seem to believe in it...but have they had a good track record to date showing they're capable of making these measured decisions? I think not.
- Reddit believes costs to maintain their API are on the level of charging 3rd party apps upwards of $20MM each. A small handful of 3rd party apps between iOS/Android would be netting them $100MM annually? Does it really cost them that much to run the API? There's a lot of questions regarding those figures by themselves
- Reluctance to come up with alternative offerings. If this is about 3rd party apps not serving ads, why is the most obvious solution not just "3rd party app usage must be through premium accounts"?
- An absolute refusal to recognize how their site operates and the value of the free labour given to them through moderation and content generation. This one is where I'm most in the dark. They must've run the metrics to see that even if losing a sizable portion of the 3rd party users they won't be in a bad place. I'm assuming they're prepared to rework their moderation structure in its entirety? But at the same time, they seem unable to devlop/publish meaningful features that have been requested by those who know the site best
My gut reaction is the IPO is coming. They want short term numbers bump to justify these actions and damn the long term. A mindset of solve the immediate problem, ignore the rest and figure it out later. Most people see this as a bad strategy, they seem to believe in it...but have they had a good track record to date showing they're capable of making these measured decisions? I think not.
It's interesting to watch & experience at least.