I think the majority of people here understand the new issues with Reddit, but today it struck me that there must be a bigger plan. Almost everyone has a “not sure why I was banned” story. Then there’s the severely limited new user journey that needs to be followed in order to eventually become able to “freely” use Reddit. Eg. You can only post in these groups or can’t comment on this etc. All in the name of spam prevention, apparently.
But what if it was more about something else, eg. At some point they l announce that paying for a Reddit premium account allows you to be unbanned and free to do whatever you want.
What other reasons or ideas can you think of, that mass banning users, (some with years of age and contributions, some of them mods.) could be the first step in a plan to capitalize. It might be very obvious to some , I’d like to hear what you think.
It just seems like actively killing your brand is too stupid of an idea for the Reddit creators.
Also… think of how many new users are sent to post on a selected list of sub Reddits , because they have no restrictions. Why would anyone looking to grow their sub Reddit not want to be on that list, yet it’s so limited. Who decided the list? Why?
There is always a bigger plan.
I’m pretty sure they’re just going after advertising on the front and data sales/AI on the back end. It’s inherently difficult to monetize an old-school internet forum, especially one like Reddit where the incumbent user base is vehemently opposed to adverts and in strong favor of privacy. I don’t think they’re too big to fail (cough Digg), they’re just popular and people dislike change. But I do think they’re barking up the wrong tree with their userbase.
The current account I have dates to 2015 before they required email, and they’ll get a throwaway before I give them one of my real ones. But even then, whatever, I’ve really only gone back there maybe once a week for the past few years.