Because Reddit is in the unique position where a small amount of users can affect a vast swathe of their platform - moderators.
Most mods don't care, by volume. The ones that do are often also the ones that are more active, more engaged, and more entwined with communities outside Reddit.
During the protest last year, polls come back favorably pretty much everywhere to shut down - but after the shutdown actually happened, a tidal wave of lurkers who never vote and never comment came out of the woodwork to complain and call it all stupid. Public opinion of all users is likely against practically any protest that could happen.
I don't like it, but that's how it is. The best realistic outcome is that a large contingent of content creators and more informed users leave the site - but how many of those are left that haven't already vamoosed and are still willing to leave under some unknown worse circumstance?
Then why go to the trouble of making this change?
Because Reddit is in the unique position where a small amount of users can affect a vast swathe of their platform - moderators.
Most mods don't care, by volume. The ones that do are often also the ones that are more active, more engaged, and more entwined with communities outside Reddit.
During the protest last year, polls come back favorably pretty much everywhere to shut down - but after the shutdown actually happened, a tidal wave of lurkers who never vote and never comment came out of the woodwork to complain and call it all stupid. Public opinion of all users is likely against practically any protest that could happen.
I don't like it, but that's how it is. The best realistic outcome is that a large contingent of content creators and more informed users leave the site - but how many of those are left that haven't already vamoosed and are still willing to leave under some unknown worse circumstance?