The fundamental problem with Reddit isn't ads, or freemium, or venture capital, or who is CEO, or even the API changes.
The fundamental problem is lock-in.
Once a site becomes big enough, its "users" effectively become owned by the site, because everything they care about is there, and the site controls access to it. Preventing another Reddit/Tumblr/Digg disaster entails solving this problem.
And with all due respect for the work you did on Non.io, I fail to see how it represents even the tiniest amount of progress in that regard. Notably, the payment model does not solve the problem, because if the site ever takes off, the temptation to milk the userbase for all they can give will become irresistible. And that means ads, dark patterns, blocking of third-party clients, censorship to appease advertisers and the mainstream press, etc. And then we're back to zero.
The fundamental problem is lock-in.
Once a site becomes big enough, its "users" effectively become owned by the site, because everything they care about is there, and the site controls access to it. Preventing another Reddit/Tumblr/Digg disaster entails solving this problem.
And with all due respect for the work you did on Non.io, I fail to see how it represents even the tiniest amount of progress in that regard. Notably, the payment model does not solve the problem, because if the site ever takes off, the temptation to milk the userbase for all they can give will become irresistible. And that means ads, dark patterns, blocking of third-party clients, censorship to appease advertisers and the mainstream press, etc. And then we're back to zero.