It's interesting you'd think these communities would learn from the previous downfalls. I guess half glass full perspective would be that it's nice that the internet exists in a way where we can seamlessly transition to something new when the time has come.
They can't "learn from the past" because the reason this keeps happening comes from a fundamental tension between the need to monetize the site to make a profit, and the inherent resistance of the userbase to marketing, ads, fees, or really anything related to commerce at all.
The only solution is to run aggregators and discussion forums like this as projects that aren't meant for profit. That way a small or medium-sized community can potentially be subsidized by a combination of ads, donations, "freemium" perks, and volunteer labor in perpetuity.
The problem is that, as the userbase grows, a need to monetize appears. It is extremely tempting to extend that monetization to make a bit of profit. Then, when the site makes enough profit, it gets bought. Then that company wants to make even more profit. Then it turns to shit. But as they already make a shitload of money, even when shit hits the fan, they still make enough to get by.
I'm pretty sure this is what is happening to Reddit right now : Pao's regime is a regime under the sign of the dollar. I'm positive they make far more then enough money to get by, even with the reduced userbase. They don't care about users, they just make the site what advertisers want.
I'm pretty sure this is what is happening to Reddit right now : Pao's regime is a regime under the >sign of the dollar. I'm positive they make far more then enough money to get by, even with the >reduced userbase. They don't care about users, they just make the site what advertisers want.
This hits the nail right on the head. I know people gotta make some money but for a site that's all about the community, you have to sacrifice at some point to keep the community happy.
While I personally don't have issues making money off of their work I think it is something completely unavoidable. As a userbase grows it has to continually be supported which costs time and money. Reddit has slowly been dying under its own weight for a year or so and the founders made a good move cashing out.
Any loosely structured internet society will crack under its own weight. At the same time those societies are going to resist structure that can save it. Resulting in the mob mentality (Hive Mind of Reddit) that eventually poisons all the smaller communities that older (Veteran) users retreat to.
I've been looking for a smaller community with an easy interface to transition to and this is a promising solution. Unfortunately I have to sacrifice niche communities (like a single game instead of gaming in general) so some content will be lost, but will hopefully give me a wider angled lens on the more general concept.
Every product, even a website, has a life cycle. Some things just can't go on forever and web content is one of those things with a life cycle on the shorter side.
It's funny you should say "every three years" actually. I came to reddit just over three years ago having not used a similar site before. Has that sort of length seriously been the lifespan of these sites before they go tits-up?
I'm just getting used to leaving one community and joining a new community about every 3-5 years. Sad but true.
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I am the exact same, it seems that nothing lasts forever and history just keeps repeating itself over and over :-/
It's funny you should say "every three years" actually. I came to reddit just over three years ago having not used a similar site before. Has that sort of length seriously been the lifespan of these sites before they go tits-up?