I made this prediction some years ago, that the Reddit userbase is change-resistant enough that any change that made it profitable would kill the whole thing. Frankly, I'm astonished it made it this long. But then again, thinking about how terrified the management must be, sitting on this huge treasure trove of active users, knowing that they could kill it with even minute changes... In a way it's not surprising Reddit has been in a kind of design stasis.

I'm just pulling ideas off the top of my head since this isn't challenging honestly. Retroactively give everyone that has ever purchased or been purchased reddit gold a one year subscription. Do the same for reddit gold purchases going forward. Immediately you have a new reddit populated by users that are valuable.

Nothing is stopping anyone from returning to their old communities. The whole thing hinges on the new website actually being good, fast, and better.