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Reddit needs help

blog.reddit.com

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Re: Reddit needs help

#121

Post by tharris7 »

Devilboy wrote: post #114
jedberg wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the suggestions. Some we have tried, others we would like to, and some are totally new. The big problem is that we spend most of our time just keeping the site up and don't have time to focus on these ideas, and Conde is unwilling to invest. We're hoping the reddit gold money gives us the flexibility to bring in the talent we need to make some of those ideas happen.

You should really get a Flattr button too, it's starting to get traction now.

OT: anyone have a spare Flattr invite lying around? would be most appreciative. th AT uvic.ca

Re: Reddit needs help

#122

Post by asimjalis »

"Our four engineers are working full time just to keep things going. Perhaps we're doing it wrong: there might be ways to optimize our code, or technologies that could allow us to work more efficiently, but we're too busy to investigate these things, or to migrate to the ones that look promising. It becomes a vicious cycle."

If Reddit had not abandoned Lisp for Python, could the team have dodged this vicious cycle?

Re: Reddit needs help

#123

Post by barredo »

Someone mentioned give free @reddit.com email addresses (even if not a full mailbox, just a redirect or alias to other email account).

I will pay for that.

Re: Reddit needs help

#124

Post by runT1ME »

jedberg wrote: post #104
ww520 wrote: post #86

Time to hire some business folks? Really, now it is not the time to talk about server expansion or more page views. The highest priority now is monetization. They need to come up with ways to get paid sufficiently to expand. Here are the things they can do: 1. Place more ads. I don't buy the notion that many reddit users run ad-blockers. Even half of them do, you still get 140M/month page views. 2. Get Google AdSense…

Thanks for the suggestions. Some we have tried, others we would like to, and some are totally new. The big problem is that we spend most of our time just keeping the site up and don't have time to focus on these ideas, and Conde is unwilling to invest. We're hoping the reddit gold money gives us the flexibility to bring in the talent we need to make some of those ideas happen.

I don't really understand the notion that people hate Ads. People hate irrelevant ads. I'm stoked when an Ad reminds me of a new CD that came out of a band I like, or the latest book that people have been talking about, etc.

I really think targeted Ads are the way to go. Hell, I wouldn't even mind filling out information to help target ads.

Re: Reddit needs help

#126

Post by EvilTrout »

famfam wrote: post #90
EvilTrout wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are tons of sites where people can (and do!) pay money for a simple PNG. I'd know: my web based MMO, Forumwarz is one. People can pay to buy some kinds of "E-Peen" which is our version of badges.

Nice game. I logged in to play it a bit. I'd love to hear how the game is doing for you (e.g. paying for itself, ramen profitable, ferrari profitable). I'm actually in the middle of developing a browser based "MMO" myself right now. (Nothing deployed yet.)

I worked on Forumwarz for about 3.5 years full time, although my salary was far from glamorous. I'd say I was eating a lot better than ramen though :)

It was amazing experience that I wouldn't trade for anything, and I met so many amazing people and learned a lot, but eventually I realized that earning half of what I was capable of earning as a developer wasn't a good idea in the long term.

I now maintain the site on a part time basis along with a half dozen volunteers. The site still pays its operating costs but there isn't too much left over.

My goal is to run the site as long as possible, which is a lot more affordable now that it isn't doing 40M pageviews a month.

Re: Reddit needs help

#127

Post by Sidnicious »

zach wrote: post #55

I have to say, this looks bad for the whole "users first, revenue later" mantra. Now, admittedly, the founders got paid on the flip. But there are users, and now it's later, so... where is the revenue? I heard this moment described as the "where is the land" moment. The crew has been sailing the ocean for a long time and they're running on slim hope. They grumble, then complain, and finally they confront the captain…

I think that this is an attempt to keep the users first. If the users love the service enough to pay for it, there will be no need for potentially-user-experience-degrading changes like sponsored subreddits.

I don't know if it's the right move.

Re: Reddit needs help

#128

Post by DotSauce »

Brilliant tactic encouraging members to set their own donation amount. I imagine Reddit will receive significantly more donations and overall totals than had they set donation structure.

Re: Reddit needs help

#129

Post by blhack »

jedberg wrote: post #104
ww520 wrote: post #86

Time to hire some business folks? Really, now it is not the time to talk about server expansion or more page views. The highest priority now is monetization. They need to come up with ways to get paid sufficiently to expand. Here are the things they can do: 1. Place more ads. I don't buy the notion that many reddit users run ad-blockers. Even half of them do, you still get 140M/month page views. 2. Get Google AdSense…

Thanks for the suggestions. Some we have tried, others we would like to, and some are totally new. The big problem is that we spend most of our time just keeping the site up and don't have time to focus on these ideas, and Conde is unwilling to invest. We're hoping the reddit gold money gives us the flexibility to bring in the talent we need to make some of those ideas happen.

How much would it really take to replace the ads on there now with google ads?

Re: Reddit needs help

#130

Post by ciupicri »

vaksel wrote: post #96
jbooth wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They'd scream, and there'd be a rash of "this sucks, I'm quitting" diaries and then like 5 people who were going to quit anyways would actually leave. Look at their site, 2 total ads on the main page, one per comment page. They could bump that to 5 per page without breaking a sweat. There's their revenue.

wouldn't even have to do that, right now their ads suck...they are either "hey pay us $20-$30 to advertise on reddit", thanks for not using adblock, buying some reddit schwag, yay reddit, and once in a while you see Amazon or some anime shows ads. that's it...why can't they go to Honda and get them to pay them money to promote buying a Civic? or Coca Cola? etc etc/

I don't use AdBlock very much, but I must admit that the "thanks for not using adblock" message made me to promise myself that I'll never use AdBlock on reddit.
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