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One Way to Reform Reddit: Give Users a Share in Profits

nytimes.com

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Re: One Way to Reform Reddit: Give Users a Share in Profits

#31

Post by drinknderive »

Kequc wrote: post #2

It's a little bit ridiculous that a webpage serving millions of unique visitors every day cannot manage to turn a profit. A savvy business person would do a lot for a head start like that. I think that the whole website is pretty bad. It's old and crummy, easily one of the worst designed popular sites on the internet. Open a new one as a subscription service, leave the old one open for free as it is right now. I mean…

I don't think you can say that and simultaneously be on hackernews without sounding a bit hypocritical (if that the correct word)

Also I believe, Reddit has the userbase it does not for its design but for its the community.

Re: One Way to Reform Reddit: Give Users a Share in Profits

#32

Post by [deleted] »

Kequc wrote: post #2

It's a little bit ridiculous that a webpage serving millions of unique visitors every day cannot manage to turn a profit. A savvy business person would do a lot for a head start like that. I think that the whole website is pretty bad. It's old and crummy, easily one of the worst designed popular sites on the internet. Open a new one as a subscription service, leave the old one open for free as it is right now. I mean…

[deleted]

Re: One Way to Reform Reddit: Give Users a Share in Profits

#33

Post by [deleted] »

slg wrote: post #28

Paying users or even just moderators is a dangerous idea due to the overjustification effect [1]. Once someone is paid for an activity they previously did for free, it shifts in their mind from a hobby to a job. The joy they previously got from participating in that activity is reduced and they will then reevaluate how they spend their time. I don't think Reddit really wants its moderators to think "I spent 40 hours…

[deleted]

Re: One Way to Reform Reddit: Give Users a Share in Profits

#34

Post by minimaxir »

I'm surprised Farhad (who's one of the best tech reporters) forgot to mention Reddit Notes (http://www.redditblog.com/2014/12/announcing-reddit-notes.ht...) and RedditMade (http://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/2knh96/announcing_r...), both of which were proposals to monetize using the very same mechanisms (giving back to the community / crowdsourcing merchandise) suggested in the article.

Both failed due to bad management, unsurprisingly.

Re: One Way to Reform Reddit: Give Users a Share in Profits

#35

Post by icanhackit »

Maybe I'm missing something but Reddit/Imgur is essentially this generation's Usenet. Groups for anything imaginable, bigotry/flaming/trolling, lots of adult material. All that was missing from Usenet was a points system and descriptive groups directory.

Make a CMS with a points system on top of Usenet (tied to message-ID) that is sponsored by embedded ads instead of requiring a paid subscription. Block binaries with the exception of say, images - that way you're avoiding the vast majority of pirated materials. The points system would be similar to Reddit so that posts are ordered by rank but can still be sorted by date/poster. Posts/threads/users/groups can be canned from the CMS side. Posts censored? Feel free to switch to a pure Usenet service but you'll lose your points system/community.

By starting out on Usenet you already have content to begin with. Recall that Reddit started with fake user accounts with some quality content to get the ball rolling.

On further reflection...this would basically be Reddit as it is now.

Re: One Way to Reform Reddit: Give Users a Share in Profits

#36

Post by danieltillett »

nathancahill wrote: post #26
danieltillett wrote: post #20

Reddit faces the problem of competing in a marketplace dominated by businesses losing money that are being supported by VC money (well really the limited partner’s money). It is very hard to build a business in an industry where all your competitors don’t care about profit and are only interested in growth.

This is the essence of why it's incredibly difficult to bootstrap a profitable startup in a market that already has one of more funded players in it.

Yes this is why you should avoid these markets if you are a bootstrap business.

The positive is there are lots of markets out there that are too small to attract external funding, but large enough that a good $10 to $20 million dollar business can dominate them profitably - I run exactly this type of company in this type of market. All I can say is it is very nice to have no outside investors to answer to and to see a nice positive balance sheet each month :)

Re: One Way to Reform Reddit: Give Users a Share in Profits

#37

Post by rjbwork »

kiba wrote: post #5
Kequc wrote: post #2

It's a little bit ridiculous that a webpage serving millions of unique visitors every day cannot manage to turn a profit. A savvy business person would do a lot for a head start like that. I think that the whole website is pretty bad. It's old and crummy, easily one of the worst designed popular sites on the internet. Open a new one as a subscription service, leave the old one open for free as it is right now. I mean…

Badly designed? Reddit seems ok as a website.

Ultimately, the design hasn't actually changed much at all since 2006 when it started actually getting users.

Re: One Way to Reform Reddit: Give Users a Share in Profits

#39

Post by joshuapants »

Nacraile wrote: post #10
Kequc wrote: post #2

It's a little bit ridiculous that a webpage serving millions of unique visitors every day cannot manage to turn a profit. A savvy business person would do a lot for a head start like that. I think that the whole website is pretty bad. It's old and crummy, easily one of the worst designed popular sites on the internet. Open a new one as a subscription service, leave the old one open for free as it is right now. I mean…

> It's a little bit ridiculous that a webpage serving millions of unique visitors every day cannot manage to turn a profit. A savvy business person would do a lot for a head start like that. Care to elaborate on how a savvy business person would extract a profit? Unobtrusive ads obviously don't make enough money. Obnoxious ads are going to push users away / to use AdBlock. Sneaky manipulation of rankings will get out…

> Yeah, a reddit paywall is going to go over real well. (And if the free version doesn't compromise basic functionality, good luck convincing anybody to pay for frills)

Reddit is already addictive. I'm sure they could take a bit of inspiration from the variety of addictive "free to pay" games and work in microtransactions and perks.

Re: One Way to Reform Reddit: Give Users a Share in Profits

#40

Post by roflmyeggo »

slg wrote: post #28

Paying users or even just moderators is a dangerous idea due to the overjustification effect [1]. Once someone is paid for an activity they previously did for free, it shifts in their mind from a hobby to a job. The joy they previously got from participating in that activity is reduced and they will then reevaluate how they spend their time. I don't think Reddit really wants its moderators to think "I spent 40 hours…

Collary: similarly, switching from social norms to market norms would decrease the motivation of the user base to help each other out. The intrinsic motivation to do a social favour comes with its own rewards - you take that away by switching to monetary payment (even if they could pay an equivalent, fair price).
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