norb

It’s already happened!

THREE TIMES

2023: https://www.axios.com/local/new-orleans/2023/06/16/louisiana-cyberattack-dmv-moveit

2019: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/11/hackers-paradise-louisianas-ransomware-disaster-far-from-over/

2016: https://www.hackread.com/hacker-selling-louisiana-drivers-licence-database/

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 don’t think “higher education is typically liberal leaning” but rather as you learn more about the world, and how to think critically about it, you realize that most conservative ideals are not in the best interest of most people. They are actually in the interest of those already in power and/or with wealth.

It’s kind of like that saying that nothing removes prejudice faster than travel (or something like that, I’m paraphrasing from memory here).

I agree that the idea of federated Reddit (Lemmy/Kbin) is better but the user experience is currently not better.

Granted, that’s a “newness” problem that should get easier with time but to jump from relatively straightforward Reddit to a more complicated federated system is a leap in complexity a lot of people do not want to deal with.

The real driver for change will be when there isn’t anything interesting to look at or the entire thing is overrun with boys, ads, and trolls. The loss of mods might actually be the eventual downfall of Reddit.