Earlier quoted context omitted.
This point has been discussed to death already. Reddit is extremely reliant on a small percentage of users who moderate and post content. Those are the ones being impacted and complaining the loudest. The majority of users just passively absorb the work of the few.
Not to mention most all subreddits had votes beforehand that were overwhelming in favor of going private or read only. This isn't a small group unilaterally deciding to take reddit down. This is akin to a union holding a vote and overwhelmingly deciding to strike.
What percentage of users actually voted in the polls? If its not a significant portion of the sub-reddit population, was the poll even valid? But a sub-reddit may have still taken action: "90% voted yes... but less than 5% voted" hmm?
I personally dont like the official apps or new.reddit, but I think Im part of the minority. It wouldnt surprise me to find out that most users dont actually care about the API price increase, because they use the default homepage and mobile apps. In that case, this boycott would actually be creating a degraded experience for them and negatively impacting their opinions of the moderators that are complaining and making polls to shut it down.