I really don't see the protests as a failure. You give Reddit, inc. an opportunity to compromise with the community and they show that they won't budge an inch (or, more accurately, they CAN'T due to VC pressure)
We learned what Reddit has become, and now we work towards building a future proofed community somewhere else. As long as the Fediverse has activity I will be prioritizing my time here. These little things have big ramifcations for years in the future, where we will see more enshittification and more draconian privacy laws in various countries and states.
I see what's happening here as a success.
Yep! Reddit won't die. It is becoming (and in some ways has been for some time) one of a very limited number of sites that the majority of the interconnected globe uses to exchange information, like Facebook. Even if it loses .5% of its current userbase to some alternative, it's barely a drop in the bucket to Reddit, but that number is HUGE if it's mostly dorks like us setting up a new home here in the Fediverse.
It's a win-win; we want quality discussion here. Your average modern Reddit user wants the information drip. (And I should say, it's entirely possible to be someone who uses both during this transition phase)