this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
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I lurked on the reddit app for a year or more before I started contributing. One of the first things I learned about 'internet forums', is that you lurk first, until you get a feel for the community. I began contributing more because the 3rd party app I started using had me more engaged; which meant that reddit gained more content
But Reddit made the API changes for 3rd party apps unsustainable, to push people toward their own ad revenue. They assume that they're too important to fail, and that the loss of users/content was worth the squeeze of those who didn't know how to leave. A standard cost-risk scenario. It's a short-term goal to try and carve out a piece of the centralized internet that the big corps envision. A move toward trying to win at monopoly
The "forum" is a relationship between "user contribution" and the host's 'personal time, money, effort'... a personal cost-risk for anyone that hosts. Is it worth my time? Do I enjoy what I'm hosting?
When the goal becomes so obviously "increase host revenue", without increasing user experience; you create an imbalance.
We all lurk online until we find something we wanna talk about. Reddit was trying to use (is using) their influence to increase profit for themselves, and (the way in which they chose to do so) actively decreasing user experience. The 'host' only gave a shit about themselves and decided that user-created content was a 'benefit' of being there, rather than the reason.
Lurkers are half of the equation. Lurkers often become contributors when they enjoy the community. Contributors bring more lurkers. That's kind of how the balance works
Reddit feels they can do without the lurkers who refuse to use their app, while simultaneously increasing ad revenue. And they'll be fine financially in the same way Facebook is... clinging to the smallest user-base that makes them the most profit, while slowly becoming irrelevant.
Because contributors will move on eventually, and so will the lurkers.
Case-in-point... my comment. I'm a lurker, until I'm not.