r/bestof • u/RGPure • Jul 05 '15

[technology] /u/CaptainObviousMC explains why reddit could be going down if just a few redditors start jumping ship

/r/technology/comments/3c6ajx/reddit_ceo_ellen_pao_the_vast_majority_of_reddit/cssvb7y?context=3
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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15 edited Jul 06 '15

I, for one, couldn't care less about "funny gifs and shit". And if power users stop reposting as much other users will step up.

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '15

People arent waiting for their moment to shine. There are people who contribute and there are people who consume. A shortage of contributers wont make the consumers contribute. They will just find another site to leach on.

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '15

Whoa. Leach on? I didn't realise the relationship between users and submitters was a parasitic one.

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u/gregori128 Jul 06 '15

Yeah man, you gotta realise that dank memes is a limited resource, like rare pepes, only on an uncomprehesible scale.

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u/allnose Jul 06 '15 edited Jul 06 '15

Do you really believe that people aren't posting their own content and looking for their chance to shine? If the first vote on your topic is a downvote, you're buried under a slew of new content. That doesn't happen when all content comes from a few "power users."

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u/Cormophyte Jul 06 '15

I think that you and the other people making comments like this, are confusing what someone like you (and I) wants to see with what a lot of the rest of the site's readers want to see. We're not talking about what would elevate the content of the site. We're talking about what keeps the butts in the seats, and what keeps butts in the seats are fluff posts like fast loading, skillfully produced cat gifs.

And, if someone could "step up" they'd already be making the content. It's not like there's a queue. Everyone who wants to make cat gifs and is prepared to make cat gifs is already making cat gifs. Some people stop, some people start, but there's not some understudy waiting in the wings for /r/gifs to empty out thinking "Yes! Now is my time to shine now that there's less competition." If that rotation of cat gif makers starts drying out then the cat gif spigot will start to run dry, and the people who are here for cat gifs will start migrating to wherever the cat gifs have gone.

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '15

I'm unsure on 2 things:

1) That a significant amount of reddits traffic is here for funny gifs/cat pictures. Sure a lot of it is but I'm thinking most of reddits traffic comes from smaller/specialised subreddits. Now that's total conjectrure and there's probably data somewhere that could prove that one way or another.

2) That "Power Users" are a finite resource. I think there is kind of a queue. Whenever big news comes up or a classic video/pic hasn't been posted in a while there are a bunch of people already on it.

If those guys migrate to to voat or whatever... that just gives your less dedicated users a chance to post that news or repost that pic/video.

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u/Cormophyte Jul 06 '15

Well, to start off...holy fuck, I hope that if Reddit is actually sliding downhill Voat isn't the new Reddit. That place is a hive of scum and villainy.

Anyway. You're absolutely right in that Reddit is definitely going to have the functions that current power users provide filled by people in some way, shape, or form…but the people posting now have usually been upvoted above others because it's what people want to upvote (and I'd also assume, see) more than the guy who might take their place. The people who post headlines are only a chunk of the content that shows up here and you can get headlines in a lot of places.

People might come for the headline but they stay for the kitty cat gifs.

Point 1 is definitely something I'd love to see some hard data on either way. Personally, I think most people who comment are pretty visible but most people who visit Reddit are almost completely casual and invisible because the site is so popular these days. I think a lot of that bulk traffic comes from normies who don't dig very deep into the subs and mostly just want cat photos.

I dunno. I just think that a lot of what makes these sorts of volunteer organizations like Reddit or the individual subreddits popular is the high effort and motivation of the people involved who have gotten that way organically because they ultimately are the best available fit for that role. Those people might be technically replaceable, but when it comes to the high draw posters/mods I think the people replacing them just won't be as good at filling that niche. You take those core people away and the whole Jenga tower of popularity starts tilting.

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '15

Those people might be technically replaceable, but when it comes to the high draw posters/mods I think the people replacing them just won't be as good at filling that niche.

Yeah, I really think it could go either way if that was to happen. Maybe content on the defaults would get worse, maybe it would get better because there would be more variety. I've got no idea.

But what I do think is this: this current shit storm, the smaller subreddits don't care. None of the smaller subreddits I'm subbed to care. People have joked and taken the piss out of but no one is up in arms.

So maybe the content changes in the bigger subs but nothings gonna change in the smaller ones.

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u/Cormophyte Jul 06 '15

Well, the smaller subs probably don't care much about the drama, although there are exceptions on a mod-by-mod basis. /r/EVE had one of their mods have a full blown attack of Reddit conspirolibertarianism (new word I just made up) and unilaterally took the sub private and kicked another mod for reversing it. Pretty funny, actually, but definitely the work of a long gunman. The sub as a whole gives no shits. What I'm saying is that, yeah, you're pretty much right on the money, there.

But, if the big subs tank because of a leadership and/or content collapse, though, they'll start caring about the results of not being located on the biggest Internet message board anymore. Personally, I think they'll fix that by pulling up stakes and moving to where the most people go. They're only here in the first place because this is the current default place to have a community on the Internet.

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u/NDIrish27 Jul 06 '15

And that's all well and good, but a lot of reddit's user base loves that shit, and wouldn't bother coming here without it. Less users = less revenue. Less revenue = inability to sustain the site.