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Reddit needs help

blog.reddit.com

21–30 of 258 posts

Re: Reddit needs help

#23
post #6

280 million page views a month and they aren't breaking even to support 4 engineers? wtf

It sounds like they are profiting. They just aren't having high enough profits that Conde Nast is willing to cut into said profits to either spend more on servers to speed it up or hire another engineer.

companies invest in their business units and let them run at an operating loss for long term viability all the time. I call bullshit. The reddit guys need to do a better job selling their plans to their bosses.

Re: Reddit needs help

#24
post #12

I think if any site could pull this off, Reddit could. Somehow, somewhere, someway, Reddit became a social news site that has a strong sense of community to it. Redditors feel good being "Redditors", and feel an affinity towards the site. My prediction is this actually works.

Yup, I donated. They are so open and honest, they don't pull any tricks. The consistently listen to feedback.

I see lots of people bashing reddit and from a glance at the Frontpage I can see why. But the real good stuff is in the subreddits.

I'd also donate to HN too, if asked.

Re: Reddit needs help

#25
post #12

I think if any site could pull this off, Reddit could. Somehow, somewhere, someway, Reddit became a social news site that has a strong sense of community to it. Redditors feel good being "Redditors", and feel an affinity towards the site. My prediction is this actually works.

I bought a t-shirt from kn0thing at startup school a few years ago, but I can't really see paying for reddit now. I wish them luck in finding a business model that works for them.

Re: Reddit needs help

#26
I don't want to kick someone when they are down, but this just stood out to me:

And reddit's revenue isn't great. The good news is, our traffic continues to grow by leaps and bounds.

Talk about doing it wrong.

When you have growth but no revenue, it's probably because you aren't asking your users to pay. That should be every website's first option - ask people to pay for the service they receive.

Paying users are great, un-paying users are a liability.

Re: Reddit needs help

#27

I don't want to kick someone when they are down, but this just stood out to me: And reddit's revenue isn't great. The good news is, our traffic continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Talk about doing it wrong. When you have growth but no revenue, it's probably because you aren't asking your users to pay. That should be every website's first option - ask people to pay for the service they receive. Paying users are gre…

Not quite.

Sometimes, free users increase the network effect; also, sometimes the longer they use the system, more likely they are to pay for it eventually.

Re: Reddit needs help

#29
post #12

I think if any site could pull this off, Reddit could. Somehow, somewhere, someway, Reddit became a social news site that has a strong sense of community to it. Redditors feel good being "Redditors", and feel an affinity towards the site. My prediction is this actually works.

I would love it if totalfarke...(err, I mean, "reddit gold members") also got labeled (perhaps after a review by a mod or something) as "definitely not spammers".

Just today I was being told to wait 10 minutes between postings...even though I'm definitely not a spammer, and have very positive karma (2000 after about 3 months).

Personally, I would pay $5/mo for premium reddit.

Re: Reddit needs help

#30
post #4

It's good that they're seeking ways to increase revenue, but this comes across as nearly cyber-begging. "...we can right now only offer you our undying gratitude and an optional trophy on your userpage." Yikes. What else could reddit offer for subscribers other than a png? Can reddit or similar platforms find a good way to generate revenue? Obviously ads and merchandise (t-shirts, etc) aren't doing it alone here.

I think they are generating revenue, just not enough for Conde Nast to increase their budget. This seems like a way for them to get extra money that they can personally use toward the site.

It seems likely they aren't actually making a profit yet. 4 engineers, servers, etc seem like they could be costing way more than a few ads bring in.
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