Comment by lotsofpulp
2 years ago
>Websites don't cost that much to run.
Popular websites that allow user content to be uploaded or linked do cost that much to run, due to content moderation.
There might be a small (relatively) forum here and there that a few good moderators are willing to slave away at keeping clean, but you will never see a website that allows user content with as many users as Reddit/Youtube/Instagram/etc be cheap.
Although, due to AI, the cost to spam the small forums might be so small that even they might come into the crosshairs.
Although it is quite surprising that mainly text websites (Reddit, Twitter) are hard to run sustainably but video and image websites (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok) can because it is easier to sell ads against them.
> Popular websites that allow user content to be uploaded or linked do cost that much to run, due to content moderation.
Reddit outsourced most of it's moderation to unpaid volunteers.
I am referring to moderation of child sexual abuse material and other legally problematic content. I assume volunteers do not handle that.
I don't see how that would fall to different people in reddit's case. I'm sure reddit has some moderators on staff but the vast, vast majority of their moderation happens on the proverbial front lines, which is basically all volunteers. I would hope there's a dedicated abuse team at Reddit that are actually paid people whom the volunteers can kick the truly sick shit to so it can be properly dealt with, but given the corporate culture Reddit has shown over the years, I also wouldn't be awfully surprised if it's JUST down to the volunteers either.