norb

Memory is short on the internet. Reddit are hoping for this to blow over “quickly” (i.e. in a month or two) because they know the bulk of their users will continue to show up (out of inertia or a lack of viable alternatives). If they can keep the front page showing decent posts, they think they’ll make it through.

I think the knock-on effects of losing mods and “power users” will take some time to play out. The real long term effects won’t be known until it becomes clear that the loss of those key users has effected the quality of the posts and therefor usage by your “average Redditor.”

I’d hazard a guess that what respondents really want to return to not being expected to be available to anyone at any time. And, crucially, they don’t feel they can just … do that.

I think you hit the nail on the head here. People want to go back to a time when it wasn’t possible, but I think even more importantly where it wasn’t expected, that you are available 24/7/365.

The good thing is we can, as a society, start to not expect that availability.