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Scaling Reddit from 1 Million to 1 Billion – Pitfalls and Lessons [video]

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Re: Scaling Reddit from 1 Million to 1 Billion – Pitfalls and Lessons [video]

#21

Post by gargoiler00 »

chroem wrote: post #14
OGC wrote: post #11

Reddit's not profitable though..

If there is one lesson that HN needs to learn, it's that profitable is not the same thing as important.

Look back in time. Read up on other things that had a massive userbase, but were unsustainable.

Checkup alladvantage - they paid people to surf. Had millions of users, but ultimately failed because their "business model" was idiotic.

Getting millions of users is pretty easy if you pay them to be a user. Someday though, it's only worthwhile if you can build a sustainable business which at least doesn't lose money hand over fist.

If Reddit hadn't got bought and supported by other profitable businesses, I doubt it would have survived.

Re: Scaling Reddit from 1 Million to 1 Billion – Pitfalls and Lessons [video]

#22

Post by mercurial »

adventured wrote: post #18
OGC wrote: post #11

Reddit's not profitable though..

Reddit has an exceptionally low cost to scale ratio. Where are you getting the information that they're not profitable at this point (I know they weren't in the past)?

From the horse's mouth (18th of July, 2013):

Yep, the site is still in the red. We are trying to finish the year at break-even (or slightly above, to have a margin of error) though. [1]

1: http://www.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/1ihwy8/rathe...

Re: Scaling Reddit from 1 Million to 1 Billion – Pitfalls and Lessons [video]

#23

Post by chroem »

gargoiler00 wrote: post #21
chroem wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there is one lesson that HN needs to learn, it's that profitable is not the same thing as important.

Look back in time. Read up on other things that had a massive userbase, but were unsustainable. Checkup alladvantage - they paid people to surf. Had millions of users, but ultimately failed because their "business model" was idiotic. Getting millions of users is pretty easy if you pay them to be a user. Someday though, it's only worthwhile if you can build a sustainable business which at least doesn't lose money hand…

That was more of a general statement than a comment specifically on reddit's position.

I can make millions of dollars selling condom wrappers, but just because I have made millions of dollars does not mean that I have done something important. I may catch quite a bit of hate for this, but a large portion of HN's content is on things that make money, but are not truly important.

Re: Scaling Reddit from 1 Million to 1 Billion – Pitfalls and Lessons [video]

#25

Post by amitparikh »

wjk wrote: post #16
paraxisi wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://bugmenot.com/view/infoq.com Bugmenot is great for sites like this.

http://10minutemail.com/ is what i use, much simpler.

Another similar option is Mailinator: http://mailinator.com/

Re: Scaling Reddit from 1 Million to 1 Billion – Pitfalls and Lessons [video]

#26

Post by ics »

ExpiredLink wrote: post #24
OGC wrote: post #11

Reddit's not profitable though..

> Reddit's not profitable though.. Source?

"I confirm that reddit is not profitable." Yishan Wong, CEO

[1] http://www.reddit.com/r/CrazyIdeas/comments/1i7crj/antigold_...

[2] http://blog.reddit.com/2013/08/reddit-myth-busters_6.html

Re: Scaling Reddit from 1 Million to 1 Billion – Pitfalls and Lessons [video]

#29

Post by straight_talk_2 »

paulhauggis wrote: post #20
chroem wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there is one lesson that HN needs to learn, it's that profitable is not the same thing as important.

Without cash flow, how far can the site go? Someone needs to pay the bandwidth/server bill. Not to mention it costs time to run a site. If you are working full-time at another job (because you aren't bringing any money in), you won't have any time to work on it. Reddit succeeded largely because the company that bought them is making money elsewhere.

>> Reddit succeeded largely because the company that bought them is making money elsewhere.

Such a nonsense makes me angry. Surely you've heard about companies called Google, Facebook, Linkedin, that succeeded without being bought and for a long time not making a profit.

Re: Scaling Reddit from 1 Million to 1 Billion – Pitfalls and Lessons [video]

#30

Post by masklinn »

ics wrote: post #5
endlessvoid94 wrote: post #2

Thrilled to finally see this on InfoQ -- already an underappreciated resource for technical talks. What is it about video + slides that appeals so little to people?

Large banner and tiny video frame, site rendering completely garbled for 8 seconds until fully loaded, signup required to view the slides (after realizing that the video doesn't cut to slides at all). The talks are interesting, and the interview transcription is nice though there are UX issues there as well– I need to click to view each response, and despite the entire question being hyperlinked clicking it actually…

> SlideShare plus an audio file is just perfect.

Although slideshare is not as bad as infoq by a long shot, it's not very useable (or fast) either. I much prefer speakerdeck.

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