cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/930912
This is the user’s 3rd post. Let’s see how long before that is also taken down! 🤣
Screenshot:
Long-screenshot:
Edit: Seems like Lemmy just compresses long-screenshots, so here’s imgur link:
https://i.imgur.com/3hrxeXt.jpg
Original post (this is the 3rd post, it was too late for me to see the other 2 posts):
https://old.reddit.com/r/place/comments/155emuz/so_i_cant_even_post_about_the_abuse_going_on_here/
Archive:
I keep seeing people talking about how this is to boost numbers and it’s direct relationship to their IPO. This seems simplistic and probably not entirely correct. I’m not going to pretend to understand the finer points of an initial public offering (there seems to be enough people pretending already) but I doubt there will be any one-to-one direct correlation between placing a pixel and putting one more penny in scrooge mcducks dragon hoard. Like, as if spez is saving up for a new bike, and if I don’t look at r/place today he’ll be a few cents short and I can twirl my mustache and villain laugh while a single tear rolls down his cheek.
Honestly boycotting or participating in protesting on reddit are likely equally futile from a change the world standpoint. Reddit is a building marked for demolition. It will be blown up and a big apartment building with no parking, a partial view, and moderate to high rent is going to be constructed in it’s place. The value of the real estate is the neighborhood, it doesn’t matter what furniture is currently in the building or what you wrote about the upcoming demolition in your letter to the editor. It’s getting torn down and rebuilt no matter what, and the people involved will be marginally richer than they already are. But it’s natural and honest to be upset and I support people expressing themselves however they see fit.
It indicates an ability for the site to attract eyeballs on demand. /r/place started as an experiment, it’s now just a gimmick reddit can pull out at any time to attract traffic. Being able to pull engagement like that is valuable to advertisers and therefore make the site more valuable overall.
But more importantly, I think you’re right in assuming any of us individuals using Reddit right now isn’t swinging any pendulums. That said, the overall point is everything spez is doing right now is about demonstrating Reddit’s value, the potential profit to be made, and its reach. The more people interact with the platform right now, the more active it appears, the more the protests seem irrelevant. “See? No one left. We’re as strong as ever.”
Granted, it’s probably true that reddit’s traffic is not much lower than it was, it’s just not getting the API calls anymore, but those weren’t valuable to them anyway. But at the same time, Reddit’s recent moves clearly indicate they need to keep engagement up right now. It’s all about appearances. Investors and advertisers are likely side eyeing spez a lot after the last few months and they need reassurances the site is OK. Tanking these efforts by users trolling /r/place proves that it isn’t.
Yep. Imagine future r/place but instead of blank it starts pre-filled with a huge Nike swoosh, or some other branding. Then The Verge makes an article about it, it then fills Lemmy’s front page with screenshots. People write fuck Spez (which if you do t know who he is means nothing) and Reddit traffic gets a boost, because they choose so. Now this is a huge argument for advertisers.
Boycotting isn’t about changing the world, we all know that a couple thousand people choosing to not participate is a drop in the bucket that wont really change much in the short term.
Its not about that.
Its about putting your foot on the ground and making a personal commited choice to say ‘No.’ To not tolerate being censored and treated like stupid animals by soulless megacorps who just want to squeeze you dry.
Its about setting boundaries for yourself and what you are willing to take from who/what. Its about truly commuting to not being a mindless consumer bitch boy driven by popular trends.
My choice to delete my reddit accounts and not come crawling back to daddy spez isn’t much on its own, but its not nothing either. If enough people put their foot down and make a true effort to say no, it might just mean something in the end. Even if it doesn’t change anything in the long term, it has a personal affect on me, I know that I am strong enough to say ‘no’ and mean it indefinitely That is the true spirit of a protest.