this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2024
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Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has hinted that in future some subreddits could be paywalled, as the company seeks to devise new sources of income.

He suggested that the company might experiment with paywalled subreddits as it looks to monetize new features. “I think the existing, altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way it has,” Huffman said. “But now we will unlock the door for new use cases, new types of subreddits that can be built that may have exclusive content or private areas, things of that nature.”

This is another move likely to anger Redditors. While the platform is a commercial enterprise, its value derives almost entirely from freely offered user content. That means Redditors feel at least some sense of ownership in a community endeavour, so the company needs to tread carefully when it comes to monetization at user expense.

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[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (7 children)

That dude is really trying to kill his own platform, isn't he?

[–] Erasmus@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Taking lessons from Elon.

Maybe they need to charge users a monthly fee and add blue check marks. Lol

[–] Sludgehammer@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Taking lessons from Elon.

Wasn't Huffman singing Elon's praises after the Twitter purchase?

[–] NickwithaC@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Huffman is a full on Musketeer.

[–] unconfirmedsourcesDOTgov@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

How has this demonym only just now come to my attention?

It's fantastic, thank you.

[–] NickwithaC@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

See also: Trumpet - people who start singing the same tune as Trump for their own political gain.

[–] Thrife@feddit.org 1 points 2 months ago

I remember that too, but am not that sure..

Oh yeah, he did! https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/reddit-blackout-protest-private-ceo-elon-musk-huffman-rcna89700

Doing right as his role model!

[–] ch00f@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago (2 children)

It's kind of indicative of how bad the web has gotten that twitter and reddit still have users. Digg completely imploded over much less than this. Just that back in 2010, there was somewhere else to go.

inb4 Lemmy. I get it, but we're not there yet.

[–] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

I love Lemmy but I really, really miss the old web. Back when people would just create their own website and put it out there to share their niche interest with the world. People just organically linked their sites to each other to form web rings, an easy method of federation without any reliance on sophisticated server-side software.

[–] thehatfox@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

The makeup of web users has changed a lot since 2010. The average web surfer was a lot less passive in attitude in decades past.

[–] SzethFriendOfNimi@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Quarterly reports demand that line go up.

The line must always go up.

[–] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

The enshittification must go on!

[–] cheddar@programming.dev 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

He's trying to make money, he doesn't care about the platform or its future. The Boeing's CEO during the two 737 MAX crashes had to resign... with $62.2 million in his pockets. These people live in a different world.

https://www.ft.com/content/522fab9c-34f2-11ea-a6d3-9a26f8c3cba4

[–] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The way I interpret what he is suggesting is that they are planning on going after Patreon type websites that provide a private paid for space for a creator's supporters. It's unlikely, but they could also pretty easily go after OF to keep that traffic on site.

[–] JonnyJ@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

i mean, this is the site that blocked nsfw content from hitting the front page

[–] iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Lot of wishful thinking in here. Fact is, Reddit isn't going anywhere.

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 1 points 2 months ago

What will likely happen is the worst assholes will be the ones paying for this stuff, much like Xitter, because it is a demonstration of being a part of the alt-right, ultra-capitalist in-group.

[–] SlapnutsGT@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

What’s next? Change the name of the platform to Y.com?

[–] infinitevalence@discuss.online 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The enshitification will continue until all value is extracted.

[–] BmeBenji@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

Businesses really are just artificial mines, aren’t they?

[–] MataVatnik@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I kinda love to see it. These companies can't help themselves.

[–] Banichan@dormi.zone 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I kinda love to eat, but I'm paying more for less of a worse version.

[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Care to explain how Reddit shitting the bed impacts your ability to eat?

[–] Banichan@dormi.zone 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I was referring to the enshittification of all things, which has impacted my eating habits

[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca -1 points 2 months ago

I find this comment funny.

[–] IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Now the IPO is done Reddit has to continually feed the investors at the expense of the quality of the thing that's supposed to make money to feed the investors.

This is gonna be fun.

[–] witx@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The truth is in the better days of Reddit I would've paid 2 or 3 dollars to access Reddit if that helped maintain it sustainable and if some of that money reverted to mods. Now? Reddit can burn

[–] thehatfox@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Yeah this feels like a move that would have worked a lot better before Reddit had burned a bunch of bridges with their most active users.

The pool of people with enough goodwill to pay now is likely small, and shrinking. The causal new users probably are that keen to pay up either.

[–] a_guy_at_home@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That was the first sales pitch for Reddit gold. That they just needed a couple bucks a month to pay for the servers. Lots of power uses back then did just that, and felt pretty good about themselves. There were people also arguing even then that anybody who paid Reddit’s bills for them was an idiot, but lots of people did.

[–] witx@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 months ago

I mean I get their feelings. Netflix et Al started with reasonable prices and then the greedy fuck heads raised the prices, so I bet Reddit would do it as well.

[–] ResponsibleBorder746@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

lol I saw this on reddit and was like fuck it, and made a lemmy account.

[–] ruk_n_rul@monyet.cc 1 points 2 months ago

Aaron Schwartz didn't die for this.

[–] tiramichu@lemm.ee 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

“I think the existing, altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way it has,” Huffman said.

There's nothing 'altruistic' about reddit

[–] The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

If anything, they're the ones benefiting from altruistic users giving them free labor to profit off of.

[–] TheGalacticVoid@lemm.ee 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

If Reddit were run by competent people, I'd think that paywalled subs might be a good idea. I imagine that there are countless scenarios where people have really useful info to share, but at the same time, said info can't be spread too widely, and a paywall is one way of making sure that only people who truly care about said info can take advantage of it.

[–] MataVatnik@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] TheGalacticVoid@lemm.ee 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The first thing that comes to mind is credit card point redemptions. Right now, the best information on getting stuff like free first class flights are on communities like FlyerTalk. If that info was super accessible, those opportunities wouldn't be available in the first place, and travel companies would be far less generous with rewards programs.

[–] MataVatnik@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

If you look at the other reply he says he wants it for illegal shit lol

[–] TheGalacticVoid@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

Duality of man

[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Piracy, drm bypass, hacked firmwares, zero days vulnerabilities, low volume deals, good drug plugs, hip artist spaces and bunch of other shit that gets ruined by being too popular

[–] MataVatnik@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

So a legitimate publicly traded company should pay wall illegal shit? Bro

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world -1 points 2 months ago

...

Wouldn't the contributors to those subs just make a new one that's not paywalled?

Reddit is going to be asking users to pay to generate content on specific subs, but they're forgetting again that the sub isn't the important part, it's the users.

This would just fracture the biggest subs and destroy the communities.

[–] index@sh.itjust.works -1 points 2 months ago

reddit ad remove