lmfao no kidding. part of me is waiting to see the shitshow that happens to some subs without proper moderation. just the amount of bullshit thats gonna be submitted is gonna be intense. and the trolls, oh lord the trolls are gonna have a hayday with once properly moderated subs.
He for a time had the highest karma score of any user. He stepped away from the platform. Many redditors felt it wasn't a coincidence that the platforms most successful user was also close personal friends with one of the founders (Alexis) and accused the platform and the user of collusion.
The reality of his situation likely lies somewhere between his and Reddit's position that his content rose to the top purely organically and other users' position that his content rose to the top purely through manipulation. He got his start legitimately making funny memes for Photoshop battles but then at a certain point started manipulating the platform (with Reddit's tacit approval) for his own personal gain
I think an important part of the story is how he was very obviously getting deals from companies to use reddit to advertise their products. Remember when he just posted the netflix logo animation?
I was trying to find some history of that. I recalled him getting monetary compensation for posting (which is what I was trying to allude to with "personal gain") but I couldn't find any specifics. I even kinda think his personal friendship with Alexis had to do with Alexis getting some of the money from advertisers directly in the whole scuzzy affair
He was Reddit's biggest power user, moderator of a significant amount of major subs, constantly on the front page and had the most reach of the website.
He got caught using alts to boost himself and his account was deleted.
There are sooooo many fuckin subs, and while I know there are small handfuls that oversee dozens and dozens, the niche ones that really help user retention will suffer.
Like, it's not the huge million+ subs that I'm missing, it's the smaller localized fandoms and obscure memory subs that I'm really missing.
But quality will slip. You can't just substitute care, concern, and domain knowledge that built a community for some rando. The pillars of the communities are moving on and going elsewhere.
People all over reddit have been bitching about supermods and the concentration of power forever. This is what reddit wants, this is the way they become filled with qultists. Easily manipulated, stupid, profitable, and valuable to the next billionaire who wants their own media outlet.