cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/37870004
reddit got bad because spez (the reddit admin) restricted API access to the platform for third-party apps, such that people would be forced to use the official app or web UI, both of which display advertisement and collect user data (e.g. scroll behavior).
the reason why this happened is because reddit is a for-profit company and tries to extract money out of the userbase, at the expense of the users.
another example of a bad decision that reddit made was to push a lot of ragebait (“Am I The Asshole?”) because company shareholders want to see “engagement numbers” go up, and if somebody writes an angry reply to a post, that’s “engagement”. but it makes you angry at the stupidity of the “Asshole”, so it makes your day worse. that is another example how reddit makes money at the expense of the users.
size (number of monthly active users) is not what made reddit bad. commercialization is.
we should probably get rid of the “don’t make lemmy grow, it will ruin the platform if we grow” idea.
Yes, stupid huge ads like that spaced out looking bird in the Etsy ad. They make me want to avoid the companies that advertise on there with obnoxious ads lol. Also suspending people for deriding nazis and laying blame where it belongs is BS. Demanding liberty, freedom and justice for all is good, including women and all discriminated people, supernatural excuses or not, all must be free to self-actualize and unfold their DNA how they choose.
they also used AI moderation, so people cant appeal it. and sub mods, including lemmy likes to do VAGUE reasons for banning in politically charged communities.