Is Reddit winning? It seems too early to tell.
Their refusal to change doesn’t mean they are succeeding. The absolute mess that /r/all became over the weekend is already hurting their ability to sell ads.
Even if Reddit removes all the moderators from these thousands of protesting subreddits and replaces them with people willing to tow the line, that will only stem the bleeding short-term. As the most talented moderators and creators continue leaving the platform, Reddit will slowly lose it’s ability to produce content that keeps people reading.
Digg and Myspace didn’t die in a week.
Communities are not made in a week or months, and we shouldn’t expect that Reddit communities will decline in those time frames, either.
IMO, the only way Reddit survives is with automated automation. Replacing the mods is dangerous precident; any future mods should pay attention to the current situation. Reddit is disincentizing moderators from volunteering.
