The effect has been fairly small, but the effect itself is not even the thing that’s going to get Huffman’s nuts in a vice when the IPO comes. The thing that’s going to ruin him is the awareness now that poorly received changes can cause chaos to the functioning of the site. That’s not the case with social media sites like Facebook, or even Twitter for that matter. Those don’t rely intrinsically on the agreeable participation of unpaid labor (Reddit mods), so Zuckerberg and (to a lesser degree) Musk can run around naked with their balls out all they want and it won’t move the needle that much. But when Huffman does it, there’s thousands of angry people ready with clamps and gelding equipment.
The effect has been fairly small, but the effect itself is not even the thing that’s going to get Huffman’s nuts in a vice when the IPO comes. The thing that’s going to ruin him is the awareness now that poorly received changes can cause chaos to the functioning of the site. That’s not the case with social media sites like Facebook, or even Twitter for that matter. Those don’t rely intrinsically on the agreeable participation of unpaid labor (Reddit mods), so Zuckerberg and (to a lesser degree) Musk can run around naked with their balls out all they want and it won’t move the needle that much. But when Huffman does it, there’s thousands of angry people ready with clamps and gelding equipment.