Reddit power users were the most likely ones to care enough about the platform’s direction to be willing to give it up, I would think.
For most Reddit users, it’s just an endless stream of information, different in form but not different in function from any other social media platform.
But for the people posting content (posts and comments), losing their tools was a huge barrier to continuing to engage, and the complete disrespect and libel to the Apollo dev made a lot of those most invested in Reddit very angry.
I used to browse Reddit 99% of the time using BaconReader, and have for about a decade. I’m just not going to comment there any more, and I don’t enjoy engaging when I can’t respond. Since June, I’ve only gone to Reddit from Google search results, and then left immediately after.
It’s expected that losing a small percentage of users has a massive impact on the quantity and quality of created content, when those leaving are disproportionately power users.