I have to say, well written article (too bad they only mentioned Beehaw and not Lemmin). Reddit cannot exist without user content and more importantly the moderators who do a hard job for free.
Without moderators, subreddits simply become a free for all, the far west.
“We are not in the business of giving that [Reddit’s content] away for free.”
but…you are spez. That’s what social media is. A useful medium with a value determined by the size of its network. Restricting access makes your network less valuable.
Honestly treating hosting like for-profit media company is the biggest delusion of the 2010s-20s. It really only works in a system like email (see:fediverse) or maybe a wikipedia and Internet Archive nonprofit model.
So they’re going to pay mods and users then? Didn’t think so.
A reasonable and modest platform cost is what’s in order not a SV unicorn IPO.