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A lot of Redditors hate the Reddit IPO | Reddit warned us that its users were a risk factor, and boy do they sound excited about shorting its stock.

A lot of Redditors hate the Reddit IPO | Reddit warned us that its users were a risk factor, and boy do they sound excited about shorting its stock.::Reddit seems like a likely candidate for a meme stock. But the actual reaction suggests that r/WallStreetBets isn’t going to send the stock to the moon.

swordgeek ,

I'm apparently one of the "power users" because I got the IPO investment invite.

In Canada.

Rediphile ,

Haha same despite not being active at all for months now. In any case, the email explains only residents of the USA are eligible.

stoly ,

I finally went back and checked reddit and I received the email too. I laughed as I read it.

Smokeydope ,
@Smokeydope@lemmy.world avatar

Theres a lot of smart financially minded people in these comments. any advice for how someone can get started with the market, and investments in general?

TranscendentalEmpire ,

Tbh it's not very hard, just get a brokerage account with someone like fidelity or even Robinhood. As far as picking stock, there's no correct way that's applicable to everyone. Oftentimes people who obsess over crunching numbers and doing lots of research, will rarely make more than if they just bought index funds.

Long-term investments are a lot more about how much and how long you can invest, vs what you invest in. In general, I tend to buy stock in companies who I believe to be undervalued, particularly if it's been devalued in reaction to the media and not something like a bad quarterly.

werefreeatlast ,

For example Boeing. But if you get a brokerage account and they recommend stuff but they are your age or younger, you should definitely listen with a grain of salt. I lost a good 5 years of income listening to the guy from fidelity. "It's definitely time to invest!" In my head I was like 'no way'. But they got my wife to convince me. And sure enough the money was gone in Just a few short months. But then we started to do our own investigation to see if theirs matched ours. Don't do your own research thinking you'll beat them, do it to get educated in your investments and to compare...if they seem to be way off, it could be either a great opportunity they know about and you don't (insider trading lol) or it's probably pure bullshit. I would say most of time it's bullshit. How to they make money? Off your losses! Indirectly ofcourse, otherwise it would be robbery.

TranscendentalEmpire ,

brokerage account and they recommend stuff but they are your age or younger, you should definitely listen with a grain of salt. I lost a good 5 years of income listening to the guy from fidelity. "It's definitely time to invest!"

Yeah, never give anyone the ability to completely manage your brokerage account. Most investment brokers are just gambling addicts that get to spend other people's money. If they are telling you they can get you returns much greater than index funds or a decent ETF.....they aren't telling you of the potential risk.

My advise to younger people is just to take advantage of any tax mitigation like a IRA or 401k, invest in index funds, and most importantly ......don't look at it too much.

People tend to panic when they see a long term investment dip below their original purchasing price, but it's important to realize that losses aren't realized until you sell. The market will fluctuate, but the likelihood of a company recovering at some point in the next 20 years is pretty high. Just be patient and don't buy overspeculated stock.

Moneo ,

Oftentimes people who obsess over crunching numbers and doing lots of research, will rarely make more than if they just bought index funds.

I'm pretty sure like 95% of people who are paid to beat the market perform worse than index funds over any period greater than 5 years. I'm procrastinating at work so I'm going to be one of those annoying people that tell you to go research it yourself, but ya. From everything I've heard essentially nobody beats the market over long periods of time, it's a losing battle. Just buy index funds and wait.

It's boring but it's the smartest thing to do.

TranscendentalEmpire ,

like 95% of people who are paid to beat the market perform worse than index funds over any period greater than 5 years.

Not too crazy to imagine, especially with how the markets have been behaving recently. Index funds have been having crazy returns the last year or so.

agitatedpotato ,

Do you have retirement funds set aside an invested? If not, setting up or managing your own retirement account could be a good primer.

Copernican ,

Don't try to overthink the market. If you are wanting to invest with no plans to spend that money within say 3 to 5 years, just by low expense ratio S&P500 tracking ETFs. My goal isn't to beat the market, just ride with the market benchmarks as best as possible.

Moneo ,

My goal isn’t to beat the market

Yup. Nobody consistently does. If there exists some secret sauce to beating the market you're certainly not going to find it on lemmy. Buy index funds and forget about them.

stoly ,

Set up Robin Hood or Acorns and drop like $100 a month into random stocks. NVIDIA is doing really well because of AI and is growing in leaps.

Moneo ,

In my opinion you are describing gambling not investing.

stoly ,

So people shouldn't get into low-stakes investment for some reason? Do you think that most poeple in the US have the money to do higher-level investment?

Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In ,

Low risk, not low stakes. Choose index trackers, not individual stocks.

mipadaitu ,

If you want to look at investments, DO NOT buy individual stock. DO NOT short stocks. These are gambles that people play, where you try to guesstimate what the general market thinks about future prospects of a company. Many stocks that over-perform, do not do so because the company is doing well, they over-perform because a large percentage of investors think it might do well in the near future.

Step 1 is just building a stable budget for your household. Pay off debts, earn more than you spend, build an emergency fund. Many companies have savings accounts that you can safely put money into that you can pull out at a moments notice without taking a loss because of a dip in the economy. There's no reason to look at anything else if you have large amounts of student loans, credit card debt, or car payments you're working off.

Step 2 is decide what you want to save for - retirement, a home, etc.

Step 3 is start investing towards that goal. Use investment portfolios that match what your Step 2 goal is.

Step 4 - What country are you from? Because the following advice is for Americans:

If you want to actually earn money, you do it slow and steady. Invest in whole market funds, like VTSAX or similar. They are called "whole market index funds" where you invest a small amount of money into an index fund and it grows along with the entire market. You would put money into a 401k, IRA, or other tax advantaged account, and put that money into a whole market index fund.

IF you have thousands of dollars that you are willing to just throw away and it doesn't matter to you, THEN you can start buying stocks like Reddit, TSLA, or whatever. But that money shouldn't be considered an investment.

Moneo ,

My advice is to read the simple path to wealth. I listened to the audiobook, its short and sweet and entertaining.

The gist: Nobody consistently beats the stock market (not even the people being paid to do so), don't try, it's gambling. Buy index ETFs when you have extra and hold on to them until you retire. Don't time the market, dont overthink it. Buy and forget. There's a part of the book where he says that the best group of investors were dead people and the second best were people who forgot about their investments. Idk if it's true but it stuck with me.

Spend a few hours learning about tax differed savings accounts or whatever your country offers and take advantage of them.

In my experience, being investing intelligently is really fucking easy and really fucking boring.

Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In ,

Add a bit about moving from stocks to bonds as you approach retirement to top off your advice.

Also, pay off debt before you invest.

taanegl ,

*looks at c/WallStreetBets and puts on sunglasses*

Pump it.

sugartits ,

This feels like another "Netflix are coming after password sharing, HOW DARE THEY, EVERYONE WILL CANCEL AND THEY WILL BE BANKRUPT IN 6 MONTHS" circlejerk we recently read.

Then Netflix announces a pretty good quarter and all of a sudden these people are silent.

This feels like it'll be that. I could be wrong. But it really feels like the echo camber will lose its mind again in a few months when the stock is priced above zero and maybe actually doing quite well.

DingoBilly ,

Yep. Unfortunately companies have learnt they can get away with shitty practices. It is only thanks to government groups like the EU that some of them are being reined in, but even with them they get away with a lot.

Without them I suspect we'd already have a matrix type scenario.

Grandwolf319 ,

I just canceled a week ago.

Please note that some of us are in family plans and it just took that long to convince everyone to drop Netflix.

Sometimes it’s less of a burst and more of a slow burn.

Trollception ,

The ironic thing is that Netflix didn't have family plans.

Mossheart ,

They allow for multiple user profiles in one account and multiple concurrent streams. A family plan by any other name.

Trollception ,

When I think of a family plan I think of multiple people having a subscription with a discounted group rate, like with a cell phone carrier. What you describe is no different than a PlayStation having multiple profiles.

sugartits ,

Anecdotal evidence is not evidence.

Comments like yours was exactly what I was reading when everyone was losing their minds the first time around.

Grandwolf319 ,

Yes, and I never claimed it’s the same as proper stats, just wanted to point out the outrage didn’t mean everyone canceled right away.

stoly ,

LOL can't believe you got downvoted for talking about things you saw with your eyes. I saw those same things.

stoly ,

LOL i remember how people would rage on Reddit about Netflix and act like they were the worst company with the worst lineup in all of history. Then the following month, subscribers increased. It really became a hate meme.

Maggoty ,

The stock market doesn't reflect reality. It reflects the confidence of rich people in certain stocks.

crypticthree ,

Well Netflix doesn't publish viewership numbers, just subscribers so we have an incomplete view of how much of an impact the crackdown had

Tigress ,

Reddit is getting worse every day, for a while it was worth it, but sooner or later, everyone reaches that point where the cons outweigh the benefits

stoly ,

I still feel surprised that people remain on Facebook and am slowly beginning to feel the same about Reddit.

spider ,

Does anyone remember this?

Reddit hackers demand $4.5 million ransom and API pricing changes

Still waiting -- and hoping -- for the other shoe to drop.

afraid_of_zombies ,

I don't care about my ex

Underwaterbob ,

While I also feel like the past is better left in the past, I am certainly not above a little schadenfreude, either.

MaxPow3r11 ,

Fuck Steven Huffman.

DAMunzy ,

Fuck spez

Mango ,

Reddit's owners are the risk factor.

beebarfbadger ,

No, you're seeing this the wrong way. The iceberg stands for urgently needed structural reforms in the body of the Titanic. After the project is completed, they'll make movies about the whole thing, you'll see!

therealjcdenton ,
@therealjcdenton@lemmy.zip avatar

What's an IPO?

halva ,
@halva@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    EatATaco ,

    Public means it's open to anyone, right? Not just institutional investors?

    nmfisher ,

    Correct, this means anyone will be able to buy/sell shares on the open market.

    It's also why the financials are actually open to the public. They have to publicly disclose all financials/risk factors/etc before they invite the public to buy shares The idea is that institutional/wealthy investors are savvy enough to figure that out on their own.

    EatATaco ,

    Thanks for the response. But on this:

    The idea is that institutional/wealthy investors are savvy enough to figure that out on their own.

    Do what on their own? I don't quite follow what you are alluding to here.

    AngryCommieKender ,

    Assessment of the company, its current finances, its past finances, and hopefully that will give them a decent forecast of the company's future viability.

    In reality it's all just gambling.

    nmfisher ,

    Public fundraising laws exist to protect the average Joe from losing his life savings to fly-by-night hucksters while trying to ensure companies can still raise capital.

    If you're a wealthy/sophisticated investor, the expectation is that you're already capable of assessing investment risk on your own (including, if you think necessary, getting your own lawyers, direct access to a company's financial reports, due diligence, etc). Average Joe, on the other hand, is required to be given audited financials, a prospectus that's vetted by regulators, explicit statements of share rights, etc etc.

    aidan ,

    The idea is that institutional/wealthy investors are savvy enough to figure that out on their own.

    No, the idea is that there are few enough owners that the owners communicate with the operators directly. If you owned 30% of a privately held company and the other owners lied about the financials to you that would still be a crime.

    nmfisher ,

    Not sure why you brought up lying, that's totally different (and still illegal, public or private).

    The difference between raising public vs private money is whether or not you are legally required to actively disclose your financials/risks/business plans/etc. I can (legally) raise money from a wealthy family office with nothing but a phone call (basically how most angel investments work). I can't do the same if I'm trying to raise money from a random Joe off the street, that will land me in jail.

    aidan ,

    from a wealthy family office with nothing but a phone call (basically how most angel investments work).

    Again, like I said, it's because it's assumed that they have a direct connection to you to ask about the company and make decisions.

    FrankTheHealer ,

    Company goes on the stock market so anyone can buy stock in that company.

    Usually means that said company makes a ton of money but also have to keep these new investors happy and make the company more profitable. Can often lead to enshitification.

    Socsa ,

    What's a stock?

    ILikeBoobies ,

    stock is just a publicly listed company, they sell ownership (shares) of the company to the public. As part owner you can sometimes vote for what they will do (the company tends to hold over 50% so they decide everything still). Some companies will give their shareholders dividends which is money based on how much they make

    You can also sell your ownership stake to others which is where you will make or lose most of your money

    Shorting is betting a stock will go down, you borrow a stock and sell it before you actually own it. Then when the stock goes down in value you get to keep the difference

    FrankTheHealer ,

    A piece or 'share' of a company you can buy.

    Are often bought and sold on big 'stock markets' in places like New York and London.

    Sometimes buying stock comes with benefits like having a vote on certain decisions or getting payments or 'dividends' from the company if it is very profitable.

    Mathmango ,

    Has always led to enshittification

    Ad4mWayn3 ,

    Is there a case where it actually hasn't led to enshitification?

    GhostFence ,

    Looking forward to seeing Reddit take a hit. They love to ban people for the silliest of reasons.

    ghewl ,
    @ghewl@lemmy.world avatar

    fuck spez

    loudWaterEnjoyer ,
    @loudWaterEnjoyer@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

    fuck spez

    Doggystyle_roaches ,

    suck fpez

    jaybone ,

    I don’t get why, if these people hate Reddit so much and they want the IPO to fail, why are they still using the platform?

    Once people get burned with that stock purchase email, they are going to have even more pissed off users.

    zalgotext ,

    I don’t get why, if these people hate Reddit so much and they want the IPO to fail, why are they still using the platform?

    Could be several reasons:

    • they're addicted
    • they don't know any alternatives
    • they still like using the platform, they just disagree with the financial/executive decisions being made
    • the alternatives don't have equivalent communities
    • their communities don't want to move to an alternative
    • they like the alternatives even less than Reddit
    DumbAceDragon ,
    @DumbAceDragon@sh.itjust.works avatar

    Honestly, Lemmy just does not have the amount of niche content nor the large userbase of reddit. I don't even bother following communities here because there's barely enough on c/all.

    The only reason I haven't gone back to reddit is because I know for a fact things are only gonna get worse on there. That, and pure unadulterated spite.

    odelik ,

    My biggest problem with lemmy is discovery.

    I can't find shit I want unless it comes across all and I find it interesting.

    Randomgal ,

    So what you're saying is you miss the algorithm.

    leviathan3k ,

    When the volume of potentially relevant and interesting content is enormous to the point that a standard human brain can't possibly hope to filter through all of it in reasonable time, the algorithm makes plenty of sense.

    I just want a fair algorithm that represents what is best for me and us.

    captainlezbian ,

    Having an algorithm is something some people like. It isn’t as universally negative as some seem to think. The issue is when the algorithm is prioritizing engagement over enjoyment

    Riven ,

    You nailed it there, it's similar to targeted ads for me. I actually do like targeted ads because they might show me stuff I'm actually interested in or new products/new media in my wheelhouse. It's just that a lot of people can't help themselves and buy what they see on ads, I usually just use it as a jumping off point to do research into whatever product. I prefer seeing ads for games than for diapers.

    odelik ,

    No, what I miss are tools for searching for communities that actually work. While technically those use algorithms to find communities, but I don't miss "the algorithm".

    KingThrillgore ,
    @KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml avatar

    It makes curation a lot less difficult, but I also think making it the sole authority is reckless and bad design. I should be able to live my life without its sense of 'discovery' and Mastodon is in the right with their approach.

    KrokanteBamischijf ,

    Yeah that's the thing. Users stick to reddit because they have ties with the individual communities, not so much the platform itself.

    People used to use Facebook for similar reasons. "Because all my friends are there". Not because Facebook was so great.

    It can be difficult to leave communities behind that you feel a part of, even if you just lurk most of the time. The fact that reddit was turned into a corporate dystopic shitshow does bother users, but it hasn't outweighed their needs to still be part of their respective communities.

    But seeing as official reddit sources claim that "they're still in the early stages of user monetization", it might not be long before we see what's left of the platform turn into the biggest dumpster fire the internet has ever seen.

    Followupquestion ,

    Also, for some hobbies/interests, there really isn’t another space. For instance, if you’re into tactical gear, there’s really not another community like r/tacticalgear. Lemmy has the promise of being free from Reddit’s admin and moderator madness, but doesn’t have the user base and neither do any other sites.

    TwoXChromosomes has the same problem, though of course it has a much wider appeal. The moderators there protested the API changes and the gradual decline of Reddit in general, but they face two bad choices, and I genuinely don’t know the right answer:

    1. Keep serving as a large and visible space for women within the confines of Reddit’s sinking ship

    2. Abandon Reddit (ship) and let Reddit powermods run a space that they may be uniquely unqualified to operate. those same powermods/admins don’t care about doing the right thing in every other sub they control, so why would they ensure that women are protected from, say, tracking their visits to Planned Parenthood and selling that data to “advertisers” or hostile governments.

    We need Reddit to truly self-destruct to ensure an Exodus, and right now it’s crumbling but not broken yet. It’s honestly sort of a mirror to society in general. We’re in the Crumbles, and every day we inch closer to the final straw that breaks the camel’s back.

    GhostFence ,

    Reddit has a near-monopoly on forum communities. It is ranked 16 on similarweb and no other competitor comes even close in terms of community size. It's like Facebook in its dominance.

    SkippingRelax ,

    Is it though? Everyone I know aged 20 to 85 i on Facebook, some more active than others.
    I think I know 3 people irl that use reddit. Mind you I'm not in the US, where is more prevalent but most people I know have barely heard of reddit.

    Sure, it has near monopoly on forum communities but that's a tiny niche on the internet

    ghterve ,

    Your first sentence suggests you're disagreeing, but nothing you said after that is incompatible with anything gp said.

    SkippingRelax ,

    They are saying it's like Facebook in its dominance, I'm saying it's not like Facebook, clearer now or you want me to come over with a whiteboard?

    fossilesque ,
    @fossilesque@mander.xyz avatar

    Most normal people don't admit to using Reddit, and it is not a platform you use to connect with friends in real life. Facebook has a different use case entirely.

    SkippingRelax ,

    Fair enough, still feels like we are comparing nestle with your city's local chain of 7 minimarkets, sure I might have a few more acquaintances that use reddit but that is not 100% of them.
    I did a quick search from my phone, hope the sites is reliable and that I didn't fuck up anything

    According to this reddit had just under 75 million daily active users in q3 2023
    https://www.statista.com/statistics/1453149/reddit-quarterly-dau-by-region/

    In the same q, Facebook had
    https://www.statista.com/statistics/346167/facebook-global-dau/ 2110

    So reddit need to grow another order of magnitude for op statement that it is comparable to fb in its dominance to become remotely true. Ideally two orders of magnitude.

    I get it, we have all spent too much time on reddit for years and feel like that's basically the whole of the internet but we are biased, there is a whole majority of people out there that don't even know that exists

    Lionheart_xa ,

    As someone on wsb and totally going to short the stock. They named the sub in their Ipo and that we were going to short the shit out of them.

    I think it would be rude not to deliver on said promise. Honestly from what I've gathered on the wsb discord we kinda just wanna see reddit on fire. At least that's the general sentiment I've perceived.

    Also the main thought has been that as soon as they IPO they're gonna get their board taken over and kick us out first thing.

    module ,

    please use puts for that

    Lionheart_xa ,

    Gotta wait a week after the IPO launches for options usually.

    pkill ,

    bring them in to !WallStreetBets

    FlyingSquid ,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    FOMO.

    Kept me on Reddit for a lot longer than it should have.

    MeThisGuy ,

    fear of moving on?

    FlyingSquid ,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    Fear Of Missing Out.

    captain_aggravated ,
    @captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

    That too.

    Dr_Satan ,

    Because that's where the convo is.

    But that's people. People make convo. We like people.

    What we hate is the spider. Squatting on, manipulating, sucking the people.

    Kill the spider.

    nonfuinoncuro ,

    https://youtu.be/d1vSlNz0PaA

    buddascrayon ,

    I don’t get why, if these people hate Reddit so much and they want the IPO to fail, why are they still using the platform?

    Why do people still use Xwitter even though that entire platform has become a wasteland of bigots, assholes, and authoritarians?

    zarkanian ,
    @zarkanian@sh.itjust.works avatar

    ... Work? That's the only good reason I can think of. People use X and reddit for very different reasons. The platforms aren't similar at all.

    Hadriscus ,

    Habit. Inertia. Ease

    pjwestin ,

    It's where a lot of centralized communities are for niche topics, so it's kinda hard to just drop it entirely. I haven't posted on Reddit since moving to Lemmy, but I still lurk on some of my old subs for news and events in my city or to keep up to date on some of my hobbies. I can get memes and news here, but for the hyper-specific stuff I can either lurk on Reddit or dust off my Facebook account and try to find a relevant Group. Given the choice, I'll take Reddit.

    AceFuzzLord ,
    @AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee avatar

    I have a feeling that if a pump and dump happens, all the people who are actually involved (who aren't already rich) will have their funds completely taken from them and the companies behind it will claim it as an attempt to stop fraud or some other bullshit they know is fake news.

    Liz ,

    A la GameStop. The rich won't let you play their own game.

    agitatedpotato ,

    They only let us play when they dont think we can effect them. Once our money gets in the way of their money, we see how the rich people have protections the government doesn't even offer to itself.

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