I think you're right that the best response is no response, but the protests do have an effect beside driving traffic. Investors won't want to be involved in a company at war with its userbase, so if protests are loud and long enough it could mess us reddits IPO plans. So for the users who just aren't ready to give up reddit, spamming protest comments is probably their best bet.

And if people DO start being problematic, reddit mods will just start erasing things by hand. They were spotted doing it last year.

Honestly, the correct way to protest would be to just spam KBIN and Lemmy everywhere in /r/place.

All the protests will do nothing but drive traffic.

Which is the EXACT reason they're doing it again all of sudden. This was not scheduled by any means but the dumpster fire for the past weeks causes them to grasp for straws. It's a pathetic attempt to get users back that their psychopathic methods drove away.

If we can drive traffic away from Reddit afterwards then isn't that a better response?

Yup. The whole premise of a social media platform is to stay relevant. Ignoring it altogether is the best method to kill it off.

Is there somewhere I can watch it without giving Reddit any traffic, I wonder?

Which is exactly what I’ll probably check the evolution of artwork on YT when it’s done.

It’s only for a few days so not a big deal if anyone wants to go protest over there. I never really participated in it so I’ll probably pass.