For those who don’t know, Reddit is a social news website that was launched back in 2005. The website operates in the vein of sites like Digg, where users are able to submit stories and either vote them up (to the front page) or vote them down (to oblivion). The aim is to have the best and most interesting stories appearing on the main page.
I have been a follower of Reddit for many years now. Even though the website is owned by Condé Nast Publications, it always struck me as a less-commercial (and slightly more mature) Digg. So imagine my surprise when I saw this post on their blog today. It describes the pains of four folks running a website that garners millions of hits daily with very little in the way of a budget, and what they hope to do to fix the problem.
The more interesting part of this isn’t the Reddit blog post itself, but the comments section’s first post. A poster in their mid-twenties by the name of Nodex is proclaiming that he (or she) wants to buy Reddit and has the funds to do so. Of course, many posters laughed at the offer. “This guy seems legit,” and “Are you from Nigeria?” were two such posts that questioned the legitimacy of the offer. But not everyone was as skeptical; Reddit administrator Jedberg replied to the post, requesting proof that Nodex was indeed serious about the offer. From there, the public conversation stopped and we could only assume that discussions were taking place behind the curtain.
What would it mean for Reddit as a brilliant source of news if it were to be bought? As we’ve seen before, when Reddit was purchased by Condé Nast in 2006, not a whole lot. The only thing that really changed was the footer of the site, and who really pays attention to that anyway? It’s likely, however, that Reddit would gain more speed and stability. That is, of course, if Nodex does have the funds and is serious about providing the website with the budget to function on a large scale.
I’ve emailed the Reddit administrators for comment, but as of yet have not received word back on whether or not there are actual dealings to purchase the site beyond those in the comments. I’ll be keeping an eye on this story and if it develops, I’ll post an update.
