Midway through reading your comment, I thought you were going say the formula1 community loads blazingly fast.
This was my thought too. Migrating an identity is one thing. What does your content even mean? All posts, comments, and votes? They wouldn't make sense without context of the thread. That's an awful lot of data because it's not yours alone. Just think about migrating entire communities and their history. That's a lot of duplication! Please elucidate me if I'm misinformed.
I can imagine a high-karma account being monetized if there's an audience following a specific user - akin to Twitter followers. Is this even a thing on Reddit? I subscribe to communities, not users.
I just looked it up and there are indeed sites to buy and sell accounts, but they are fairly low-cost at around US$ 30. The only real value I can think of is for spam bots or organizations trying to manipulate public opinion using previously reputable accounts.
Social media has proven to be a powerful tool for behavior manipulation, for both commercial and political ends. (ads and mis/dis-information).
Wouldn't it be nice to sell to a good actor? Does it even matter anymore since Reddit is going down the toilet?
Thank you for your responses. It really makes me think about the meaning of portability:
Are you moving your identity? (e.g. implementing something like instance-agnostic user PGP keys)
Your data? The posts and comments you've contributed, which would only make sense with the context of the entire thread.
How would the contents of entire communities be migrated? I presume that's where the valuable content is for potential buyers either to drive ad traffic or train models.
Genuine question. Who would buy a Reddit account? What's the value to the buyer? How would you find a buyer? Are there markets for social media accounts?
I hope I'm wrong, but... I think network effects could lead to a single instance becoming dominant and therefore vulnerable to such a takeover/sellout. I'm less sure about this, but perhaps non-technical users don't understand the concept of federated instances and flock to a single one. Perhaps there are other tangible benefits of everyone being on a single instance. Just because the protocol allows for decentralization, doesn't mean it will naturally happen. E.g. How many email users are on Microsoft exchange/outlook, Gmail, and Yahoo?
I love the concept of your own data being portable, but am afraid there might be other factors that somehow naturally lead to centralization. Please change my mind!
Sounds like a fun experience. Thank you!
Thank you! I'll check it out
The type of food almost doesn't matter to me. I should have phrased the question as "what are your favorite places to eat in Milan?".
I love finding places that are "better than they should be" if that makes any sense. I don't mind spending a lot on a meal if it exceeds expectations. I am easy to please.
Midway through reading your comment, I thought you were going say that only the formula1 community loads blazingly fast.