I'm very sympathetic. Doesn't seem like alienating all the volunteer labor is the way to go though.
Without much inside info, I think what they should have done is something like: 1. Make actually-good first-party tools for moderators, 2. Figure out how to monetize everything else.
But trying to make money off of the volunteer labor is not the way to go, IMO.
It really reminds me of Twitter. Why can't these super high traffic sites where all the content is contributed for free figure out how to make money?
Without much inside info, I think what they should have done is something like: 1. Make actually-good first-party tools for moderators, 2. Figure out how to monetize everything else.
But trying to make money off of the volunteer labor is not the way to go, IMO.
It really reminds me of Twitter. Why can't these super high traffic sites where all the content is contributed for free figure out how to make money?