If you go to Reddit, you will still see their ads, be they obvious or hidden through disguising as user interaction (bots are more or less obvious, AI is at the stage where they can fake users). You drive engagement and site traffic. The only way to do anything disadvantegous to Reddit is to stop going to Reddit (if you also delete all your content they have less things to put inbetween ads for the remaining users). You are the product they offer to advertisers, be it through being the buyer for advertised things or providing content to put between the ads so the users who may buy those things don't only see ads. Your enjoyment of the platform is largely if not completely irrelevant from the corporate standpoint. If anything, your disgruntlement can make you engage more providing them with more content to put between ads.
I'm seeing a lot of subreddits try to """"" protest""""" by changing the type of content they allow. Like /r/WellThatSucks only allowing vaccuums. It completely misses the point because it does nothing to reduce Reddit's traffic.
Maybe not in the short term. Lots of the users who don't give a shit about the protests are just getting aggravated by that stuff, based on the comments. Casual users getting pissed off are more likely to seek out somewhere else for their non-vacuum entertainment.
There is no other way to protest for big subreddits currently. If you completely private your sub, reddit admins will replace you with mods that will keep it online.
The only real way to do it is to keep moderating, but make the content of the sub extremely boring, like just pictures of vacuums
What if we go after the advertisers? Hit spez right in the wallet.
I think that's somewhat what this trolling is doing. Advertisers don't want their ads to be next to a ton of "fuck Spez" or unmoderated comments. Similarly, they target ads at specific subs and changing what the sub is about subverts that targeting.
It actually does, because it leaves lurkers with nothing to look at and they start using mother social media sites. How many pictures of vacuums or John Olver is someone going to be amused by while on the toilet before they just go somewhere else?
Social media follows a 90-9-1 rule. 90% of users are lurkers, 9% are commenters, and 1% are content creators.
If you cut down on the amount of time that 90% spends on the site, it has a huge impact on ad revenue. These acts of malicious compliance are a totally legitimate way for the 1% group to continue their strike while making it much harder for Reddit to bring in scabs and forcibly end it.
Indeed. If anything, it may cause more traffic.