Are there metrics showing that reddit usage decreased because of subreddits like that? It's possible that most normal users who aren't actively searching for such content may not even be aware of that subreddit's existence and the number that are aware of it and who would choose not to use reddit is not signficant enough to affect overall usage patterns.
On the usenet side, Andrew Cuomo (back when he was the attorney general of New York) made a deal with a number of large ISPs in terms of dealing with CP getting posted to usenet. It's almost certain that those who were just using usenet for their discussions were not searching for CP on usenet, so their usage patterns would not have been affected.
But what did affect it was ISPs dropping usenet service, which lead to people no longer posting and groups dying off because no one was posting. This isn't something that would happen to reddit unless all major ISPs started blocking access to it.
> ...
> /r/jailbait is one of the early examples that comes to mind. It hosted risqué, but apparently legal photos of underage girls. Reddit couldn't just tell people "Don't visit those subreddits if you don't want to see that content". Most people found the content objectionable enough to want it removed completely. Its mere existence made normal users less likely to use Reddit despite users needing to go out of their way to see that objectionable content.
Are there metrics showing that reddit usage decreased because of subreddits like that? It's possible that most normal users who aren't actively searching for such content may not even be aware of that subreddit's existence and the number that are aware of it and who would choose not to use reddit is not signficant enough to affect overall usage patterns.
On the usenet side, Andrew Cuomo (back when he was the attorney general of New York) made a deal with a number of large ISPs in terms of dealing with CP getting posted to usenet. It's almost certain that those who were just using usenet for their discussions were not searching for CP on usenet, so their usage patterns would not have been affected.
But what did affect it was ISPs dropping usenet service, which lead to people no longer posting and groups dying off because no one was posting. This isn't something that would happen to reddit unless all major ISPs started blocking access to it.