To be fair, I don't think the parent is talking about preserving this gilded crystal egg of a community. They are talking about making Reddit profitable. Two (apparently totally) different things. You could slap banner ads and sneak stories onto Reddit's top posts list and enough users would stick around for you to not only turn a profit, but turn it into a huge return for investors. I'm all for preserving and protecting the fragile, warm community wherever it exists, but that's not what makes a profit, or people would never lament "the good ole days" of community X.