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Some subreddits could be paywalled, hints Reddit CEO (9to5mac.com)

submitted 2 months ago by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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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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[–] witx@lemmy.sdf.org 186 points 2 months ago (4 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

[–] a_guy_at_home@lemmy.world 85 points 2 months ago (4 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 20 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.

[–] Speculater@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago

I definitely bought Reddit gold to support them. Then they got all greedy. Today I pay Sync for a nice app and donate to my Lemmy and Mastodon hosts.

[–] Krauerking@lemy.lol 1 points 2 months ago

Yeah I immediately thought of the funding bar for gold back in the day.

It was honestly fine. Made sense. Showed if they had made enough revenue to cover costs and let you make a personal choice beyond that.

[–] Gestrid@lemmy.ca 0 points 2 months ago

I never directly paid for Reddit Gold (in the sense that I had a subscription to it), but I definitely gilded others' comments a lot.

[–] thehatfox@lemmy.world 23 points 2 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 2 months ago

Nonsense. The users who have left are an infinitesimal portion of users.

[–] suction@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

I’d happily pay 29.99 to access /r/japancirclejerk2

[–] glockenspiel@programming.dev 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Fark still exists with that small monthly payment to support the site model. Drew, the owner, regularly meets up with folks, too. And if you’re a subscriber he must buy you a beer if you ask him per the “terms” of service.

A nice, relatively small, community. That’s what Reddit used to be. Your post really resonated with me.

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

Find out where he lives, move there, stalk him everywhere you can get a drink, never pay for a drink again!