Silence from the small group that hates spez would be filled by the majority that don't care.
I don't use Reddit anymore now that I'm happily on Lemmy, but I would be open to contributing to the vandalism of /r/place since it would make my displeasure visible to the news sites reporting on the event.
People boycotting Reddit completely are a tiny minority compared to the total active userbase of Reddit, so stressing about engagement with the publicly editable canvas is probably a bit excessive, especially since it offers the opportunity to get the word out further
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