Reddit kind of anticipates this critique in its investor docs, and argues that it didn’t really start operating as a serious business until 2018 when it finally started “meaningful monetization efforts” — that is, trying to make money for real....
Reddit made an initial public offering filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday ahead of its highly-anticipated stock market debut....
[...] a dearth of profit this late into its existence portends the lack of a real business model, suggesting it’s still not ready for public company life.
Interestingly, Narwhal remained open ahead of Narwhal 2’s release without users having to pay anything. I asked Harrison in June how that was possible, but he said he couldn’t explain due to a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with Reddit. I asked again for this story, and Harrison said he couldn’t provide full details but...
It's mentioned in this really good Verge article about SEO. I don't think it's a good sign for Reddit to just allow such blatant spam and makes me think how much subtler spam is out there too....