Reddit power users balk at chance to participate in IPO as Wall Street debut nears

All it takes is people going elsewhere and they are worth nothing. Reddit isn’t like Twitter, where it’s all about you. I came here, have the same conversations, and haven’t even noticed I’m not on Reddit any longer.

Most people I think see through this, they’re just trying to bring in some bag holders to inflate the share price while they cash out.

They’re gonna link your account to your identity and then your data will be worth a lot more in a sale. Fuck that shit

Not sure I would call myself a power user. While I did have a few posts over 50k, I was not exactly creating a ton of content. Still got an email though and decided against investing.

When even the people that work for Reddit, for free, don't want to buy your bs stonk

Rather take your money to the casino kids. I think the reddit IPO will crash and burn. Not only because spez is a total fucking tool destroying the platform. But the reddit model will be tough to be a booming profitable business. All they really have is add revenue and users will start seeing through the smoke and mirrors no matter how hard they try to disguise them as normal posts. We have already seen this type of manoeuvre is not easy with Twitter.

I initially thought I might participate in the IPO. I’m still not over what /u/spez did last year but I justified it the same way I ever bet AGAINST my favorite sports teams. That way if they lose there would is still an upside. I don’t think Reddit will be a great investment. But if they are, hey, at least there’s some money in my pocket.

This would have been my first IPO. And what made me finally decide against participating was the recognition that buying into an IPO, unlike regular stock trading, is actually putting money directly into the company’s pockets.

Fuck that; fuck them; and especially fuck /u/spez.

Of course they would. They have first hand experience with how reddit has been mismanaged by spez into oblivion.

Unsurprisingly the people who have had to deal with Reddit's leadership for years don't trust them. Shocking. That said I could see a lot of Redditors still buying in, just out of fear that they might miss out on the next big "get-rich-quick" opportunity.

I deleted every comment and post I had made and then deleted my account when they locked out Apollo. But it sounds like I missed out on getting the secret email and making the investment of a lifetime! /s 

I appreciated the article. Apparently not lost on the writer was the quote from the mod of r/Equestrian which was almost entirely obscure horse puns.

Only on the last line did he manage to reign himself in.

Reddit doesn't function like a real business (i.e. most of the work is unpaid volunteers, users and especially mods). There's no genuine site-wide code of ethics beyond what will actually get them criminal charges. The written rules don't matter - many moderators are unpaid bullies who permaban if their feelings are hurt and ignore questionable content they agree with. That system of banning users based on opinion kills discussion of "unapproved" views and sorts people into forums where their favorite opinions (and often outright hatreds) are popular. Loathe a particular race/gender/political ideology etc? Just find a subreddit where the mods agree and you'll be fine saying some truly terrible stuff. Read the bloodthirsty posts on r/worldnews and tell me if the site-wide rules on not promoting violence or racism apply. For these reasons and more I don't think anyone should be buying into their IPO because they aren't a reliable business.

I don't know if Lemmy is different because I've been here for less than a month, but at least here it feels like you can have different opinions and the worst that happens is you eat downvotes. Plus a lot of the really unethical takes are usually checked pretty hard in my (limited) experience by the users, which doesn't happen when the only other voices are basically guaranteed to agree with you (a la most of Reddit).

The rest of this is just my Reddit survivor tale so if you don't care stop here. I got invited to the IPO on the same week I got a 3-day site-wide ban after appealing a subreddit permaban for a fairly popular comment that the US should stop funding Israel and give the money to Ukraine (on a post about how the US is having trouble finding money for Ukraine). In those words, no hate speech or racism etc. When I asked why I was banned I got a 4-word insult as the only communication back. I'm not usually a conspiracy theorist, but it sure felt like I was being deliberately censored/punished for high-ish profile "dangerous" anti-Israeli opinion. May not be the case, but it was my first site-wide ban ever for a comment that broke no written rules.

My Reddit account is 13 years old and in 2023 I think I made about 100k karma, primarily with comments about history, education, and in one case a post about how awesome sperm whales are. My experience mirrors what I've read happens to others enough that Reddit has lost my participation (I've only posted 2x in the last 3 months, down from a few times daily) and my faith. I only go back to check on specialist communities (video game tips etc) and almost never participate anymore. Frankly I hope it either changes to allow for discussion or dies.

It wouldn't very smart to buy shares on a stock I plan to short the hell out of.

I got the email. No way in hell I'm throwing my money into that hole. I left with the API changes and haven't looked back. Part of what made Reddit successful is it was user-centered. Chasing profit has only made Reddit worse. Going public will accelerate that exponentially. I give it 6 months tops before they start deleting subs, particularly porn ones, because advertisers complain.

power users? i received the email and I wasnt a power user.

"You're all landed gentry! But hey, send some money to me by buying a little stock okay?"

Yeah spez, kindly go fuck yourself.

Of course they did. It’s why I’m here. They’ve entirely enshittened Reddit. Good riddance, and enjoy watching Reddit burn from a distance on your mountain of cash, spez. Fuck you.

I'd have bought a few shares but they wanted my real info. The whole thing just felt like a scam to collect PPI.

Eh, I bought 100 shares.

I figured:

a) I have the money.
b) I don't get IPO offers that often.
c) Buy what you hate.

https://slate.com/business/2005/12/buy-stocks-in-companies-you-hate.html

Once I have the shares at $34, I'll put in an order to sell at $69. Nice!