this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2023
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted, clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts: 1
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His moves make sense when you realize that he answers to investors who are done with throwing money at a company that has never turned a profit. The cost of money is now higher than it was at the time Reddit was founded. The entire social media era is built on top of Great Recession monetary policy, and that policy is now done. These investors want to cash out, and they want to cash out now.
Bingo. He's following a WELL KNOWN playbook of making the company both leaner in terms of expenses, and trying to add revenue, with zero care about long term viability of the company.
The goal is to make the books look better then they are, so that you can dupe investors into thinking the turd you just shined up isn't a turd.
EVERYTHING he's doing is logical when you look at it in that sense, they are throwing a coat of wax on a used lemon to dump it on some unsuspecting suckers for a profit.
Even under that lens, I don't think his moves make sense. At least not now. He may have thought they would, and that the backlash wouldn't be too bad. BUT he didn't back down, when it became apparent that he was on the losing end. That makes him a egotistical moron, at best. They are losing advertisers, there is a lot of not flattering press, and they are bleeding users (it will only get worse on the 1st of July too). That's not typically endearing to investors, no matter how close to the IPO they are. In fact, that's the kind of shit you do right after the IPO, and the investor cashout.
I get it. Company isn't making money, so lets come up with ways to generate more income. Ok, let's charge for API access. On the surface, great idea. The issue is that he does what so many people do in that situation. He went from a good idea, that could keep him solvent, to a HUGE overreach. I honestly don't know anyone that's upset with reddit/spez for the IDEA of charging for API. The issue is the ridiculous price tag he applied, and the message behind it.
He truly could have been the hero if he had come up with a reasonable price. Or, alternatively, started with the ridiculous price, and then left himself an out, for if the users revolted. Ok guys, I see that I was being dumb, my $2.50 average per user IS a bit too much. Let's go down to $1.50 per person. Suddenly he would have been a great guy, who is willing to work with the community. He's seemingly doing the one thing in business you should never do. Bringing your emotions into it. So I guess it does kind of make sense, just not good sense IMO