this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2023
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The day that digg launched that new design was the last day I ever logged into that site. Why do people fuck up things that work?
Things that work aren't profitable (enough). A thing that works is good for expanding customer base. A thing that almost works is good for profit per customer base. The thing is... A thing that works and is sustainable to maintain provides the most long term profits. There's no legal requirement a company grow in scope, but most investors (both in small and large companies) see that as the only way. Reddit has been operating on an unsustainable business model. Their core feature set is simple. Their userbase was loyal, and willing to pay for Reddit gold to directly keep the website running. The holes in their sustainability were a huge staff to develop features to grow their customer base despite no one wanting or asking for those features, a terrible ad model that left money on the table by not putting ads where they'd have the most effect (why did I always get Ford ads on r/FuckCars, never Taco Bell ads on r/ShittyFoodPorn, no small online stationary shops on r/FountainPens?) and not returning ads in API calls, and finally an API model that went from free to impossible to justify overnight. But no one on the board of directors is interested in a business that consistently makes money over the long term. They want to make as much money as possible all in one go.
Let me ask you this. Which is better? To run a small coffee roaster that employs 8 people and serves coffee through one physical shop and one online store front to a loyal fan base by serving a high quality product in small batches, or to be massive coffee company, shadowed in scale only by Starbucks and Peets, but going into bankruptcy because you can't keep up with Starbucks and Peets? I'd take the consistent sustainable business every time, but too many people want to be the big winner with the bankrupt company, and the result is the small investors, the ones who bought into the big coffee company, or Reddit, end up holding the bag while the people who took their money deploy their golden parachutes
Your example of Reddit’s evolution underscores the challenges that companies face when striving to balance the demands of expansion, customer satisfaction, and financial stability. As companies grow, there’s often a temptation to introduce new features, expand into new markets, or chase the latest trends, even if these decisions may not align with the core needs and desires of their customer base. This can lead to inefficiencies, overspending, and sometimes even a dilution of the very qualities that made the company popular in the first place.
How profitable did Digg get? It’s definitely a tight rope and the fact that we’re discussing this on Lemmy is a testament to how a lot of the user base feels now.
Great insight
Designers want to get promoted, or get good bonuses for having impact. Product Managers are similarly incentivized to make changes, to improve some metric that they believe helps their business. If these structures exist, and the people making changes don't understand what the users want, or their incentives are misaligned... it's inevitable
This makes me think of Microsoft. I get the impression it's a software and technology company run by suits who are completely detached from end users and every decision is made purely from pie charts, analytics with no nuances included and designers itching to be promoted whispering in their ear.
So many things that worked perfectly - things people have learned where they are and how to use them for decades get changed for apparently no other reason than just to change them and a constant push to redesign everything into a path towards using one of their new services that already has better existing external services people were quite happy using.
Like if your product is good and works don't start a new product then start changing the original product solely to integrate the new product. That's bad for the existing users and customers.
It just seems like a constant thing with them that always leads back to squeezing more data and money out of users at the detriment to everything else then gaslighting users by using phrases like "improved user experience"
I actually just scrolled down some more after writing all this and there's a good comment with some of they whys on what I was saying
https://slrpnk.net/comment/1679100
“Promoted to the level of incompetence”
Yep, same here.
It obviously is a sustainable business. What they want to do is fatten the cow before slaughter
Yeah, but only because Reddit wants to become more than they are! All the coins, nfts (yes, they already sell them), useless functions and redesigns they implemented over the years, while simultaneously giving a shit about what made Reddit useful and interesting. They had a chance to be better than the rest and give us (and by that I mean user who used Reddit often) a way to pay for what we liked but more and more they pushed people like me away with all the convoluted and microtransactiony way to spend money.
Eh, whatever. I like it here better now!
Eh, I don't pay for Tv or have a lot of subscriptions but I actually pay for YouTube premium because there are channels I follow for more than ten years at this point. And because I know that some of this money goes to the creators (not all, I know) I feel like it's money well spent for content I actually enjoy. So, with all that said: if Reddit would have given me an option to pay a reasonable amount to browse it on an app of my choice I am pretty sure I would have done that, because some of content and communities were also a part of my life for way longer than ten years.
I can kinda see where you are coming from, though. Not enough people would have paid the way I would have done. People like free stuff. I do too.
The more I think about it. I think you’re right. No more 0% loans so cheap debt is hard and interest starts accruing.