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

submitted 4 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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[–] Phegan@lemmy.world 50 points 4 months ago (4 children)

What's going to stop people from creating a new community and migrating the second reddit pay walls it.

Oh pics is now paywalled, looks like everyone is using pics_free

[–] somenonewho@feddit.org 45 points 4 months ago (1 children)

"Oh pics_free exists let's quickly ban that community before we loose revenue ... I mean because they violated the rules"

[–] Phegan@lemmy.world 22 points 4 months ago (1 children)

pics_free_free it is.

[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 4 points 4 months ago

I prefer the _farthuffer suffix as a juvenile jab at Huffman who off course cannot stop huffing his own farts.

[–] LiveLM@lemmy.zip 19 points 4 months ago (1 children)

inb4 they make creating new subs cost money too

[–] Krauerking@lemy.lol 3 points 4 months ago

Oh man that's an idea that if they didn't have before I bet they do now.

[–] NutWrench@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago

The problem with media platforms like Reddit and Twitter is that they take place in a single Instance, with thousands of communities. So it's easy for one person (like an Elon Musk) to completely screw it up for millions of people.

With Lemmy, everything is decentralized. Communities are spread out and duplicated over hundreds of Instances in many countries. So if somebody ruins one Instance or community, people can just hop over to the second or third most popular Instance, and the original instance will dry up and disappear.

[–] bamboo@lemm.ee 2 points 4 months ago

Reddit will likely ban any community that exists to evade the paywall