this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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Yep. Numbers alone aren't what are "significant".
Numbers are all spez cares about, though, and just like with Facebook, listicle sites, and reality tv, eyeballs are all that matters. The content is trash and may even be harmful, but if they can sell eyeballs, that’s all that matters.
I’d rather a smaller community with quality content myself, but unfortunately that’s never going to be lucrative.
Downturns in quality always take a bit of time to have an effect. Sites coast on momentum. Sometimes it takes a user a while before they decide the site just isn’t as interesting as before. Sometimes a user might be optimistic that the quality will return and stick it out. Eventually, those user numbers will see a bigger dip.
Of course, when it comes to corporations and finance, it seems all the power players ever care about are the short term. What gets them into next quarter. Most of them are going to be long gone and working on something else before the real damage kicks in.
So, yeah, you’re right. All spez cares about are the numbers. But unless they can pivot this whole enshittification process, those numbers are likely to look different in a few years. Though that only matters if you actually care about Reddit and not just making as much money as quickly as possible.