technically you aren't wrong...

there was an APK teardown once the API changes happened that showed the following information because Reddit broke for a bit:

Android authority page on it here: link to article

Fake internet points are finally worth something! Now redditors can earn real money for their contributions to the Reddit community, based on the karma and gold they've been given. How it works: Redditors give gold to posts, comments, or other contributions they think are really worth something. Eligible contributors that earn enough karma and gold can cash out their earnings for real money. Contributors apply to the program to see if they're eligible. Top contributors make top dollar. The more karma and gold contributors earn, the more money they can receive.

Not just anyone can be a contributor. To join and stay in the program, contributors need to meet a few requirements: Be over 18 and live in the U.S. Only Safe for Work contributions qualify Earn xx gold and karma each month Provide verification information. You must have at least 10 gold and 100 karma to begin verification. NSFW accounts aren't eligible for the Contributors Program

Provide the following information to get verified for the program and start earning: Email Personal Information Tax and bank account information

Once you hit the payment threshold, you'll automatically be paid out via your Stripe account. Approximate calculation before fees. Exchange rate and payment thresholds are subject to change

apparently these are already active in r/cryptocurrency and r/eth or w.e the Ethereum subreddit is...

definitely not looking good and I'm glad I switched to lemmy when I did

That'll be very interesting. I always forget about the NFT shit despite having been a redditor for years. I don't want to give them ideas, but I'm guessing they would let people "reward" each other those fugly ass avatar NFTs.

I saw a post over here earlier today about someone data mining the Reddit app code and finding monetization options for top contributors. Literally paying people to shitpost.

Hopefully someone not on mobile can link it here. Seems like it’s already set in stone.

My bet is a "buy karma with money" program, mirroring the "sell karma for money" one, but geared towards advertisers. That means native, built-in advertisement in the platform, that you can't block through ad blockers because it behaves the same as the content there.

They never actually replace things that they kill though. They just say they have something better lined up and then you never hear about it again. They said the same thing when they removed the setting from your profile to disable the constant app nagging in your browser. They said "we have something better planned", removed the toggle, and that was it. That was like a year ago.

Maybe some day they'll get that the more processor-hungry-techno they pour in the mix, the costlier the server gets.

Hence, reddit gets more addicted to money; so more ads and other corporate agreements.