I think if they had been straight up with their intentions and gave 3rd party devs time to adjust, gave them jobs/roles to improve their application. Or literally express themselves in any other way about their plans. I really honestly think that people would have been less pissed. But they decided to be secretive and dishonest about their intentions. I feel like Spez is a sitting duck who will get plucked off the moment the company goes public regardless. The fact that Reddit as he has publicly stated is not profitable now and never has been is quite damning. Investors are not going to like that. And will not willingly invest into a company that will not make them money.

I don’t see them backtracking regardless of what happens with spez but they could have been more honest from the forefront. It still would have sucked. People would have probably still moved on. But there would be less animosity towards the suits in charge right now.