Reddit had years to make changes to the moderating situation. Any changes at all. Do you really think that they will start now instead of just cutting off their army of free mods and then wonder why things will go to shit even faster?

> Do you really think that they will start now instead of just cutting off their army of free mods

Better now than during a roadshow.

If they're concerned with the amount they lose to 3PAs, paying their moderators is a complete non-starter. The whole point of this is to increase revenue for the upcoming IPO.

Right, but the point of this change isn't really the _actual cost_ of 3rd party API usage, as much as the _opportunity cost_. They are way overcharging for the API, and they know it. Adding some expenses in the form of paid mods (let's be honest, probably off-shored to a 3rd world country and paid minimum wage) would be worth it, if it can guarantee the subs keep running.

That probably won’t help with their quest for profitability.