this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2024
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Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has hinted that in future some subreddits could be paywalled, as the company seeks to devise new sources of income.

He suggested that the company might experiment with paywalled subreddits as it looks to monetize new features. “I think the existing, altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way it has,” Huffman said. “But now we will unlock the door for new use cases, new types of subreddits that can be built that may have exclusive content or private areas, things of that nature.”

This is another move likely to anger Redditors. While the platform is a commercial enterprise, its value derives almost entirely from freely offered user content. That means Redditors feel at least some sense of ownership in a community endeavour, so the company needs to tread carefully when it comes to monetization at user expense.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 3 months ago (6 children)

I bet it’s for the porn. I bet you he’s going to paywall the porn.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 3 months ago

That's why I'm here testing Lemmy.

Sad if it ruins reddit since I like that place.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 3 months ago (5 children)

This post on Reddit reminded me that I made a Lemmy account long ago.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Welcome. I came here, when they disabled RIF. Was it a year already?

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 months ago (1 children)

....He does realize this isn't going to work on a platform that bans you for breathing the wrong way right?

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Yeah. 4 accounts getting randomly banned was enough for me. This will just prey on the clueless who don't know your account can get shadow banned for any reason (or no reason).

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 months ago

Posts like this remind me just how grateful I am for the Fediverse.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 months ago (6 children)

I don't even get how this would work. If you paywalled, say, /r/gaming, could you just make a new community called /r/freegaming? And do the moderators get paid for the communities they created?

It all feels really half-baked and a desperate plea for money from investors when the money well is drying up.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Medium's paywall gets lots of hatred, but at least they use it to pay the authors of the paywalled posts, so it kind of makes sense - you pay to consume content and get payed to create content. But Reddit is a forum, not a blogging platform - the separation between content creators and content consumers is much more blurred. If a subreddit gets paywalled, then the Redditors who create the content there - both the posts and the comments - will need to pay. Which will instantly ruin these subreddits when most of the posters will just take their posts elsewhere.

Did Reddit decide to imitate the business model of academic journals?

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago

Lets see what this app is about

[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It’s pretty crazy to watch enshittification play out in real time.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 3 months ago (12 children)

While I look forward to the continuing demise of Reddit, I'm not looking forward to the influx of even more Redditors.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago

Do it. Fucking do it, man, I WANT it to happen. Mash that self-destruct like there's no tomorrow, Spez, see how low you can go!

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago

Hey! I just read this on Reddit before I made this account! 🥲

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I got offered a chance to buy into reddit's IPO. Im glad i didn't

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 months ago

"How DARE you take your subreddit private? Then Google can't index it and people can't access it! I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN DO THAT!" - spez

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago

Lol glad to move to lemmy

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago

that's why i'm here

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago (7 children)

Woo! Paywalled porn subreddits! Commodify everything!! :D

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

wait, let me catch my breath, turning purple over here

.

.

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hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago (1 children)

They already are. They put all nsfw content behind a privacy paywall (pay with email and browsing habits). Luckily it can still be subverted through old.reddit.com - but the question is for how long.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago (3 children)

They had that, you get enough gold you get access to the lounge where people with internet money just talk about how to spend their points in other people.

Funny, you get enough virtual gold folks just want to share it. Real money, not so much

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago

And that’s one of the reasons that brought me here.

Maybe it was the permanent banning for creating another account trying to talk to a mod that had banned me in a way I thought was harsh, and muted me before I could even speak.

Regardless, Reddit is starting to remind me of when Digg took a massive shit like 15 years ago. And saying that makes me feel old.

As long as I’m not dealing with AI chatbots spamming these communities, I think I’ll like it here.

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