A lot of Redditors hate the Reddit IPO | Reddit warned us that its users were a risk factor, and boy do they sound excited about shorting its stock.::Reddit seems like a likely candidate for a meme stock. But the actual reaction suggests that r/WallStreetBets isn’t going to send the stock to the moon.

  • @ilinamorato@lemmy.world
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    361 year ago

    Reddit warned us that its users were a risk factor

    This means they’re positioning themselves solely as a source of training data. If their users are a risk factor, not the entire product, they’re completely uninterested in maintaining a user base and think that what they have is all they’ll ever need to sell.

    • @ghterve@lemmy.world
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      21 year ago

      I’m not sure that conclusion follows. There are many more potential future users than there are current users.

      • @ilinamorato@lemmy.world
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        41 year ago

        That’s the logical framing. But if they believed that, they wouldn’t call their users a risk factor; they’d be the entire product.

    • @Hoomod@lemmy.world
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      11 year ago

      Google is paying something around $60m a year for AI training on reddit content

      So that’s gonna be helpful lol

  • @ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    This pre-IPO invitation to buy is the “pump” part of pump and dump, of course everyone hates it, lol.

    “I think it’s pretty cool that Reddit is doing this IPO offer to their mods and users,” a Reddit user who asked me to identify him as Kevon tells me. “It’s a nice little thank you that actually may have some monetary value.”

    Kevon’s considering buying shares in the Reddit program, and may buy more once it goes public, if he feels the stock is undervalued.

    Kevon sounds like a nice guy, but someone should explain to him the difference between being given options and buying shares at the IPO price. Reddit’s not doing him any favors.

  • @Dasnap@lemmy.world
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    171 year ago

    I had a good laugh when I got an email through basically offering a preorder of Reddit shares.

    • @givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      151 year ago

      Why would the price go up?

      The only way to make money is sell comments to AI developers, and users hate that.

      It’s completely unprofitable and the days of throwing tech bro money into bottomless pits is over

    • @ikidd@lemmy.world
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      51 year ago

      You buy a put option and if it tanks, you sell the put and profit. Doesn’t mean you actually end up with stock in the end. And why would you if you expect it to continue downward? Buying a long position is making the assumption that a stock is undervalued, and I guarantee you, if that stock goes down 90% it’ll still be overvalued.

  • SmokeyDope
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    81 year ago

    Theres a lot of smart financially minded people in these comments. any advice for how someone can get started with the market, and investments in general?

    • @agitatedpotato@lemmy.world
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      41 year ago

      Do you have retirement funds set aside an invested? If not, setting up or managing your own retirement account could be a good primer.

    • @stoly@lemmy.world
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      31 year ago

      Set up Robin Hood or Acorns and drop like $100 a month into random stocks. NVIDIA is doing really well because of AI and is growing in leaps.

    • @TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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      71 year ago

      Tbh it’s not very hard, just get a brokerage account with someone like fidelity or even Robinhood. As far as picking stock, there’s no correct way that’s applicable to everyone. Oftentimes people who obsess over crunching numbers and doing lots of research, will rarely make more than if they just bought index funds.

      Long-term investments are a lot more about how much and how long you can invest, vs what you invest in. In general, I tend to buy stock in companies who I believe to be undervalued, particularly if it’s been devalued in reaction to the media and not something like a bad quarterly.

      • @Moneo@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Oftentimes people who obsess over crunching numbers and doing lots of research, will rarely make more than if they just bought index funds.

        I’m pretty sure like 95% of people who are paid to beat the market perform worse than index funds over any period greater than 5 years. I’m procrastinating at work so I’m going to be one of those annoying people that tell you to go research it yourself, but ya. From everything I’ve heard essentially nobody beats the market over long periods of time, it’s a losing battle. Just buy index funds and wait.

        It’s boring but it’s the smartest thing to do.

        • @TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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          21 year ago

          like 95% of people who are paid to beat the market perform worse than index funds over any period greater than 5 years.

          Not too crazy to imagine, especially with how the markets have been behaving recently. Index funds have been having crazy returns the last year or so.

      • @werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
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        21 year ago

        For example Boeing. But if you get a brokerage account and they recommend stuff but they are your age or younger, you should definitely listen with a grain of salt. I lost a good 5 years of income listening to the guy from fidelity. “It’s definitely time to invest!” In my head I was like ‘no way’. But they got my wife to convince me. And sure enough the money was gone in Just a few short months. But then we started to do our own investigation to see if theirs matched ours. Don’t do your own research thinking you’ll beat them, do it to get educated in your investments and to compare…if they seem to be way off, it could be either a great opportunity they know about and you don’t (insider trading lol) or it’s probably pure bullshit. I would say most of time it’s bullshit. How to they make money? Off your losses! Indirectly ofcourse, otherwise it would be robbery.

        • @TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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          31 year ago

          brokerage account and they recommend stuff but they are your age or younger, you should definitely listen with a grain of salt. I lost a good 5 years of income listening to the guy from fidelity. “It’s definitely time to invest!”

          Yeah, never give anyone the ability to completely manage your brokerage account. Most investment brokers are just gambling addicts that get to spend other people’s money. If they are telling you they can get you returns much greater than index funds or a decent ETF…they aren’t telling you of the potential risk.

          My advise to younger people is just to take advantage of any tax mitigation like a IRA or 401k, invest in index funds, and most importantly …don’t look at it too much.

          People tend to panic when they see a long term investment dip below their original purchasing price, but it’s important to realize that losses aren’t realized until you sell. The market will fluctuate, but the likelihood of a company recovering at some point in the next 20 years is pretty high. Just be patient and don’t buy overspeculated stock.

    • @Copernican@lemmy.world
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      61 year ago

      Don’t try to overthink the market. If you are wanting to invest with no plans to spend that money within say 3 to 5 years, just by low expense ratio S&P500 tracking ETFs. My goal isn’t to beat the market, just ride with the market benchmarks as best as possible.

      • @Moneo@lemmy.world
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        21 year ago

        My goal isn’t to beat the market

        Yup. Nobody consistently does. If there exists some secret sauce to beating the market you’re certainly not going to find it on lemmy. Buy index funds and forget about them.

    • @mipadaitu@lemmy.world
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      81 year ago

      If you want to look at investments, DO NOT buy individual stock. DO NOT short stocks. These are gambles that people play, where you try to guesstimate what the general market thinks about future prospects of a company. Many stocks that over-perform, do not do so because the company is doing well, they over-perform because a large percentage of investors think it might do well in the near future.

      Step 1 is just building a stable budget for your household. Pay off debts, earn more than you spend, build an emergency fund. Many companies have savings accounts that you can safely put money into that you can pull out at a moments notice without taking a loss because of a dip in the economy. There’s no reason to look at anything else if you have large amounts of student loans, credit card debt, or car payments you’re working off.

      Step 2 is decide what you want to save for - retirement, a home, etc.

      Step 3 is start investing towards that goal. Use investment portfolios that match what your Step 2 goal is.

      Step 4 - What country are you from? Because the following advice is for Americans:

      If you want to actually earn money, you do it slow and steady. Invest in whole market funds, like VTSAX or similar. They are called “whole market index funds” where you invest a small amount of money into an index fund and it grows along with the entire market. You would put money into a 401k, IRA, or other tax advantaged account, and put that money into a whole market index fund.

      IF you have thousands of dollars that you are willing to just throw away and it doesn’t matter to you, THEN you can start buying stocks like Reddit, TSLA, or whatever. But that money shouldn’t be considered an investment.

    • @Moneo@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      My advice is to read the simple path to wealth. I listened to the audiobook, its short and sweet and entertaining.

      The gist: Nobody consistently beats the stock market (not even the people being paid to do so), don’t try, it’s gambling. Buy index ETFs when you have extra and hold on to them until you retire. Don’t time the market, dont overthink it. Buy and forget. There’s a part of the book where he says that the best group of investors were dead people and the second best were people who forgot about their investments. Idk if it’s true but it stuck with me.

      Spend a few hours learning about tax differed savings accounts or whatever your country offers and take advantage of them.

      In my experience, being investing intelligently is really fucking easy and really fucking boring.

  • @stoly@lemmy.world
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    21 year ago

    I finally went back and checked reddit and I received the email too. I laughed as I read it.

  • Swordgeek
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    51 year ago

    I’m apparently one of the “power users” because I got the IPO investment invite.

    In Canada.

    • @Rediphile@lemmy.ca
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      41 year ago

      Haha same despite not being active at all for months now. In any case, the email explains only residents of the USA are eligible.

  • @jaybone@lemmy.world
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    641 year ago

    I don’t get why, if these people hate Reddit so much and they want the IPO to fail, why are they still using the platform?

    Once people get burned with that stock purchase email, they are going to have even more pissed off users.

    • Flying Squid
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      191 year ago

      FOMO.

      Kept me on Reddit for a lot longer than it should have.

    • @zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
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      1011 year ago

      I don’t get why, if these people hate Reddit so much and they want the IPO to fail, why are they still using the platform?

      Could be several reasons:

      • they’re addicted
      • they don’t know any alternatives
      • they still like using the platform, they just disagree with the financial/executive decisions being made
      • the alternatives don’t have equivalent communities
      • their communities don’t want to move to an alternative
      • they like the alternatives even less than Reddit
      • @KrokanteBamischijf@feddit.nl
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        391 year ago

        Yeah that’s the thing. Users stick to reddit because they have ties with the individual communities, not so much the platform itself.

        People used to use Facebook for similar reasons. “Because all my friends are there”. Not because Facebook was so great.

        It can be difficult to leave communities behind that you feel a part of, even if you just lurk most of the time. The fact that reddit was turned into a corporate dystopic shitshow does bother users, but it hasn’t outweighed their needs to still be part of their respective communities.

        But seeing as official reddit sources claim that “they’re still in the early stages of user monetization”, it might not be long before we see what’s left of the platform turn into the biggest dumpster fire the internet has ever seen.

      • DumbAceDragon
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        611 year ago

        Honestly, Lemmy just does not have the amount of niche content nor the large userbase of reddit. I don’t even bother following communities here because there’s barely enough on c/all.

        The only reason I haven’t gone back to reddit is because I know for a fact things are only gonna get worse on there. That, and pure unadulterated spite.

        • @odelik@lemmy.today
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          221 year ago

          My biggest problem with lemmy is discovery.

          I can’t find shit I want unless it comes across all and I find it interesting.

            • @leviathan3k@sh.itjust.works
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              41 year ago

              When the volume of potentially relevant and interesting content is enormous to the point that a standard human brain can’t possibly hope to filter through all of it in reasonable time, the algorithm makes plenty of sense.

              I just want a fair algorithm that represents what is best for me and us.

            • kingthrillgore
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              11 year ago

              It makes curation a lot less difficult, but I also think making it the sole authority is reckless and bad design. I should be able to live my life without its sense of ‘discovery’ and Mastodon is in the right with their approach.

            • @captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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              91 year ago

              Having an algorithm is something some people like. It isn’t as universally negative as some seem to think. The issue is when the algorithm is prioritizing engagement over enjoyment

              • @Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                11 year ago

                You nailed it there, it’s similar to targeted ads for me. I actually do like targeted ads because they might show me stuff I’m actually interested in or new products/new media in my wheelhouse. It’s just that a lot of people can’t help themselves and buy what they see on ads, I usually just use it as a jumping off point to do research into whatever product. I prefer seeing ads for games than for diapers.

            • @odelik@lemmy.today
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              21 year ago

              No, what I miss are tools for searching for communities that actually work. While technically those use algorithms to find communities, but I don’t miss “the algorithm”.

      • @Followupquestion@lemm.ee
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        41 year ago

        Also, for some hobbies/interests, there really isn’t another space. For instance, if you’re into tactical gear, there’s really not another community like r/tacticalgear. Lemmy has the promise of being free from Reddit’s admin and moderator madness, but doesn’t have the user base and neither do any other sites.

        TwoXChromosomes has the same problem, though of course it has a much wider appeal. The moderators there protested the API changes and the gradual decline of Reddit in general, but they face two bad choices, and I genuinely don’t know the right answer:

        1. Keep serving as a large and visible space for women within the confines of Reddit’s sinking ship

        2. Abandon Reddit (ship) and let Reddit powermods run a space that they may be uniquely unqualified to operate. those same powermods/admins don’t care about doing the right thing in every other sub they control, so why would they ensure that women are protected from, say, tracking their visits to Planned Parenthood and selling that data to “advertisers” or hostile governments.

        We need Reddit to truly self-destruct to ensure an Exodus, and right now it’s crumbling but not broken yet. It’s honestly sort of a mirror to society in general. We’re in the Crumbles, and every day we inch closer to the final straw that breaks the camel’s back.

    • @GhostFence@lemmy.world
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      151 year ago

      Reddit has a near-monopoly on forum communities. It is ranked 16 on similarweb and no other competitor comes even close in terms of community size. It’s like Facebook in its dominance.

      • @SkippingRelax@lemmy.world
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        21 year ago

        Is it though? Everyone I know aged 20 to 85 i on Facebook, some more active than others. I think I know 3 people irl that use reddit. Mind you I’m not in the US, where is more prevalent but most people I know have barely heard of reddit.

        Sure, it has near monopoly on forum communities but that’s a tiny niche on the internet

        • @fossilesque@mander.xyz
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          31 year ago

          Most normal people don’t admit to using Reddit, and it is not a platform you use to connect with friends in real life. Facebook has a different use case entirely.

          • @SkippingRelax@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Fair enough, still feels like we are comparing nestle with your city’s local chain of 7 minimarkets, sure I might have a few more acquaintances that use reddit but that is not 100% of them. I did a quick search from my phone, hope the sites is reliable and that I didn’t fuck up anything

            According to this reddit had just under 75 million daily active users in q3 2023 https://www.statista.com/statistics/1453149/reddit-quarterly-dau-by-region/

            In the same q, Facebook had https://www.statista.com/statistics/346167/facebook-global-dau/ 2110

            So reddit need to grow another order of magnitude for op statement that it is comparable to fb in its dominance to become remotely true. Ideally two orders of magnitude.

            I get it, we have all spent too much time on reddit for years and feel like that’s basically the whole of the internet but we are biased, there is a whole majority of people out there that don’t even know that exists

        • @ghterve@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Your first sentence suggests you’re disagreeing, but nothing you said after that is incompatible with anything gp said.

          • @SkippingRelax@lemmy.world
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            11 year ago

            They are saying it’s like Facebook in its dominance, I’m saying it’s not like Facebook, clearer now or you want me to come over with a whiteboard?

    • @Lionheart_xa@lemmy.world
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      171 year ago

      As someone on wsb and totally going to short the stock. They named the sub in their Ipo and that we were going to short the shit out of them.

      I think it would be rude not to deliver on said promise. Honestly from what I’ve gathered on the wsb discord we kinda just wanna see reddit on fire. At least that’s the general sentiment I’ve perceived.

      Also the main thought has been that as soon as they IPO they’re gonna get their board taken over and kick us out first thing.

    • @Dr_Satan@lemm.ee
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      91 year ago

      Because that’s where the convo is.

      But that’s people. People make convo. We like people.

      What we hate is the spider. Squatting on, manipulating, sucking the people.

      Kill the spider.

    • @buddascrayon@lemmy.world
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      111 year ago

      I don’t get why, if these people hate Reddit so much and they want the IPO to fail, why are they still using the platform?

      Why do people still use Xwitter even though that entire platform has become a wasteland of bigots, assholes, and authoritarians?

    • @pjwestin@lemmy.world
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      141 year ago

      It’s where a lot of centralized communities are for niche topics, so it’s kinda hard to just drop it entirely. I haven’t posted on Reddit since moving to Lemmy, but I still lurk on some of my old subs for news and events in my city or to keep up to date on some of my hobbies. I can get memes and news here, but for the hyper-specific stuff I can either lurk on Reddit or dust off my Facebook account and try to find a relevant Group. Given the choice, I’ll take Reddit.

    • @Underwaterbob@lemm.ee
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      351 year ago

      While I also feel like the past is better left in the past, I am certainly not above a little schadenfreude, either.

  • Dizzy Devil Ducky
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    261 year ago

    I have a feeling that if a pump and dump happens, all the people who are actually involved (who aren’t already rich) will have their funds completely taken from them and the companies behind it will claim it as an attempt to stop fraud or some other bullshit they know is fake news.

    • Liz
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      241 year ago

      A la GameStop. The rich won’t let you play their own game.

      • @agitatedpotato@lemmy.world
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        11 year ago

        They only let us play when they dont think we can effect them. Once our money gets in the way of their money, we see how the rich people have protections the government doesn’t even offer to itself.