Is there any chance that we as users can destroy their value before they go public? I don’t mind private businesses, but the moment they go public, I’m very happy to boycot them, especially if they’re online social networks and similar businesses. Them going public always means destroying their communities and screwing over their users.
I’d want to say yes, but I think it depends on how you were using reddit in the first place.
90-9-1-rule states that in a collaborative website, 90% of the participants of a community only consume content, 9% of the participants change or update content, and 1% of the participants add content.
If the content creators and participants act together, with at least a semi-unified front, I believe there’s potential for lots of damage. Creators have their audiences as leverage. Mods can stop doing unpaid work for reddit and open the spam floodgates. Participants can participate on other platforms, which in turn drives lurker traffic further from reddit. If we could get a larger movement going on, reddit would eventually wither away.
Digg lost half of it’s userbase in three months due to redesigns and venture capital meddling. I’m not sure if reddit’s API changes are a similarily powerful motivator for the masses by themselves. In reddit’s case, I think it would require the majority of content creators and participators to move the OC elsewhere.
Is there any chance that we as users can destroy their value before they go public? I don’t mind private businesses, but the moment they go public, I’m very happy to boycot them, especially if they’re online social networks and similar businesses. Them going public always means destroying their communities and screwing over their users.
I’d want to say yes, but I think it depends on how you were using reddit in the first place.
If the content creators and participants act together, with at least a semi-unified front, I believe there’s potential for lots of damage. Creators have their audiences as leverage. Mods can stop doing unpaid work for reddit and open the spam floodgates. Participants can participate on other platforms, which in turn drives lurker traffic further from reddit. If we could get a larger movement going on, reddit would eventually wither away.
Digg lost half of it’s userbase in three months due to redesigns and venture capital meddling. I’m not sure if reddit’s API changes are a similarily powerful motivator for the masses by themselves. In reddit’s case, I think it would require the majority of content creators and participators to move the OC elsewhere.