• Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I know some people left reddit, but are we sure they actually lost more users than they gained from all the noise?

    I haven’t used reddit or even visited the site since the policy change, which was the last drop for me. So I only know what I hear and read from other people, and I never see any solid data.

    • MysticKetchup@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Just from casually checking traffic stats on various websites it doesn’t seem to have changed much, though I have no idea how accurate those sites are. This is more likely just Spez copying Elon’s dumb ideas in an effort to increase monetization

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Spez copying more of Elons dumb ideas can only make it worse. but I’m not surprised if they have traffic about as usual, although IMO reddit has become steadily worse since Ellen Pao was fired in 2015, after banning revenge porn.

        I’m guessing that is the shitstorm Spez was referring to, when he claimed those blow over. The difference obviously being that the shitstorm against Pao was lead by crazies, and the shitstorm now is way more legitimate.

    • foggy@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It doesn’t matter if they had a net gain, they lost their power mod squad and a ton of regular contributors and they’re trying to make up for it with bots and crypto.

      Anyone else smell a corpse?

      Reddit will persist, but it will be a shell of its former self.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I absolutely agree on your logic, reddit has lost a lot of valuable contributors, and should therefore lose in the long run. But sometimes reality is weird, and doesn’t behave according to even the best theories.

        No doubt reddit has become worse, but to really suck apparently doesn’t preclude success. Let’s for arguments sake say reddit is now full of people with a certain level of intelligence. But maybe people of that like to stick together? And there are a lot of them!

        • foggy@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Depends on what we call success. Is Facebook a success? If yes, the I agree, reddit could “succeed,” but personally I’d call Facebooks track record a huge failure if we compare it’s social standing circa 2010 vs now.

          • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Good point, I guess I meant success financially as in surviving. From a content quality standpoint I think reddit had already been declining for years when the API debacle started.

            Debates are generally better here on Lemmy despite being probably only 1% the size of reddit.

    • TheGreatFox@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Overall users? Probably not. The casual lurker does not know or care what an API is.

      But the vast majority of content is made by a tiny fraction of the user base, and that fraction are the ones they pissed off. The quality of posts on large subs very much went down, with repost bots becoming even more prominent than before.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        But the vast majority of content is made by a tiny fraction of the user base

        Yes, I agree that’s a crucial point, question is if there are enough left to allow reddit to stay relevant. They are still a huge forum, that is valuable to have an influence on.

        As long as they can maintain traffic, they may still recover.