Oh, absolutely this is the case. Reddit could even run bot accounts to gain a lion's share of points for any particular sub they want to control, thereby stifling any sort of protest or activism authorized by sub vote.
The article comments are linked to Reddit, if you click on "Replies" it routes you to the topic on Reddit where there are posts about leaving the platform.
There are like 2.7 million reviews. At a rating of 4.8 it would take tens of thousands to reduce that by just a tenth of a point even if they rated it as a 1.
I remember how excited I was to download the trailer for The Phantom Menace in 1999. Took almost an hour on a 56k modem. Or how it took under 10 minutes to download a 8 megabyte song off Napster on DSL.
I did interact with a BBS site or two, but then got caught up in the AOL wave. I used their platform, Geocities, and a few other chat sites. Once ditching AOL around 1999 I ended up on a local forum we used for electronic music, and then in 2003 made my way to a Star Wars fansite forum called BlueHarvest (I moderated there the last couple of years before the admin shut it down in 2008 or 2009). A couple friends and I then communicated via a forum we made for ourselves. Then Facebook, then Reddit...now here.
EDIT
I also had accounts with MySpace and Friendster too...Twitter for a few years around Arab Spring, but I didn't like it. Even back then The Bird was a toxic mess with rare moments of humanity. I think my avatar is still shaded green...if my account still exists.
The link is fixed in the post body. I don't get this at all. I only copied the BotDefense link which is available through clicking the title, yet it pasted the next post from Reddit in the post body? Weird, but the link is fixed.
Speaking about Phantom Liberty it reminds me. I finished the game prior to the patch that included items about David. Do you know if the events of Edgerunner are supposed to occur canonically during the events V's experiences, or afterwards?
I'm giving the most plausible scenario. They don't need a mod from r/pics to take over; they can use anyone who is power hungry enough to do the job.
Not saying I like it, or agree with it, just giving the most plausible option for Reddit to take at this point.
Because, let's be clear about this, Reddit is winning this battle even if they won't win the war. This overall event spells the end of the site as we know it...or knew it. The malicious compliance, changing to NSFW, the broad interpretation of the rules...it doesn't matter. Reddit is going to win this, or appear to win this in the short term, even if it entirely kills their future. They'll kill a 20 million subscriber subreddit to do it if they need to.
As a nomad, I finished the game leaving Night City with the Aldercados & Judy. Seemed the best ending...haven't tried the others yet. I think that's the most anti-corpo ending you get out of the game.
Trust me, before I deleted my account there were so many users in the sub salivating at all the unfolding drama. While they didn't participate in the blackout, I wonder how many migrated to Fedi. Might indicate why there isn't as much activity as I remember.