Re:'Coup Attempt' of Reddit's Wallstreetbets Forum Is Averted
by wjmao88 on Friday February 05, 2021 @02:23PM
(#26040158)
Interestingly, Baidu had been selling moderator rights for boards on its Tieba (which is kind of the same as subreddits on reddit). It got lots of backlash especially after they sold mod rights for some cancer patient support group boards to, well, alternative medicine promoters.
Re:'Coup Attempt' of Reddit's Wallstreetbets Forum Is Averted
by neaden on Friday February 05, 2021 @03:17PM
(#26040682)
This is also the strategy of a lot of social media accounts that compile cute animal pictures or something, amass followers then sell the account for ads.
Re:'Coup Attempt' of Reddit's Wallstreetbets Forum Is Averted
by lupire on Friday February 05, 2021 @02:24PM
(#26040168)
Most of the popular subs are run by a small group of people who use mod power to sell native advertising and reputation manipulation (suppressing anti-advertiser commentary, promoting pro-advertisiter sentiment).
I know there's been many articles written about this kind of thing, but I'm surprised it hasn't (or maybe it has) become a trend to build a popular subreddit for the purpose of selling out once it has traction.
Some subreddits will be more profitable than others. Gaming subs or anything with commerce attached to it are obvious wins. Politics too are an obvious target for taking in money for approved content.
I wonder if there has been much speculation or analysis into which existing communities are poised for takeover/competition with the goal of 'selling out' for promoted content later.
I think if the problem became too common it would force Reddit to reevaluate the community mod aspect of the site but who knows.
quick edit: after I wrote this and thought about it I realized this is also kinda how reddit started in the early days with them faking users and comments in order to grow in popularity and gain traction as a forum. In a way it's sticking with the early ethos of Reddit's founding team.