I remember when Imgur was launched as a free image hoster for Reddit users. It was jarring to me, years later, to see it had attempted to become some weird Reddit/9gag mash-up. Not because it was a bad move, business-wise, but because it became clear how unmonetizable the plan was to start with.

That said, I agree with you: it feels like Imgur makes the Reddit move about twelve months before it, every time. From gif hosting to discovery to live feeds to requiring logins for NSFW content, Imgur basically leads Reddit. It honestly makes me wonder why I bother with Reddit at all...