Right now it's only giving spez a lot of extra traffic from people wanting to be creative and people wanting to see the shit storm. If people keep enjoying literal subs with shit posts, he doesn't care as long as he gets traffic and users before the IPO
I say it's super productive. People go to Reddit because others have already done the work to vote the best content for consumption. For majority of Reddit users who just passively consume info (and maybe vote), seeing John instead of cats will significantly reduce their interest in Reddit.
Agreed that it’s probably not productive for reducing traffic. That being said, I think the novelty will wear off.
Also, this whole situation is just amplifying the protest’s message (landed gentry lol). His 180° decision to threaten the removal of protesting mods just boosts my favorite internet phenomenon - the Streisand effect!
Plus, it may hurt the public offerings - Investors don't like uncertainty, and seeing that the users may at any point completely alter a subreddit could make them skittish