this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2023
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Agreed. Lots of discussion is still naturally around API pricing etc., but more fundamental is the fact that all of that user/mod-provided community is seen solely as an asset for the company to sell. The actual humans be damned.
CEO aside, I reckon you could replace spez with any other exec chosen by the board and eventually this sort of business decision would be made. The mix of private ownership and profit motive suffices, I think.
100% this final point. It’s not spez, it’s the motivation of all companies geared towards investors and markets. They don’t even care what they actually end up producing, as long as it gives the appearance of profitability and growth. Spez is a largely replaceable part in this equation.
That's not entirely correct. For-profit companies thrive when they serve their customers well. Since Reddit's for-profit and yet its users are not its customers, the result is bad for users. But that doesn't mean companies with better business models are equally bad. The beautiful thing about a free market is that competition drives bad companies out of business.
That might be true if we lived in a world where companies behaved like that. But given that they now answer to shareholders and the admitted priority above all others is to squeeze every possible cent out for those shareholders in the short term and that ignore long-term health, I don't think the principal really applies any longer. Public companies or companies courting IPOs are literally not permitted to behave in the way you describe.
Also the free market is a complete myth. The market is constantly manipulated and distorted by those controlling the capital via methods such as monopoly, monopsony, trusts and vastly disproportionate "influence" over law makers and potential regulatory power.
We agree on the damage caused by short revenue reporting requirements for public companies. Just remember that private companies have share-holders too. The fresh fruit street vendor is a tiny business with one or more share-holders, competing against massive supermarkets.
About free markets being a myth, yes well there's no true Scotsman. The guiding ideals of the concept of a free market are still in effect, despite all of the valid exceptions you listed. Fact is, Reddit can still be driven out of business.