My theory is the people making the decisions don't actually use the products they make and have no idea what it's like to use them. They hear that another site is using AI, for instance, and decide their own site needs to use AI. But they don't understand what AI does or why they should/shouldn't use it, only that they have to have it. Boom, enshittification.
Tariffs can only drive prices up. Companies will pass the cost on to customers, they're not going to "take one for the team." Manufacturing in the US is not going to return to what it was 60 years ago.
Spez fundamentally misunderstands what Reddit is and who it belongs to: the people making the posts and providing the content. The more he alienates the users, the less value Reddit will have. He's shot himself in the foot and he's getting ready to fire again.
I get it, you couldn't possibly imagine he'd do something stupid and harmful with the powers you've given him. I mean, all the signs were there but they were hard to see if you didn't look at them. Anyone could have made that mistake.
My theory is the people making the decisions don't actually use the products they make and have no idea what it's like to use them. They hear that another site is using AI, for instance, and decide their own site needs to use AI. But they don't understand what AI does or why they should/shouldn't use it, only that they have to have it. Boom, enshittification.