Everything that is cool about Reddit at this point is what Redditors are doing with Reddit, not what Reddit is doing with its site. And isn't that how social media is supposed to work? Not just some notion that users are tools, that you'll crowdsource your way to being yet-another-traditional-media source (except without journalists)... social media should be individuals forming their own communities... communities of interest, communities of practice, communities of support -- all of which exist in Reddit (/r/SuicideWatch both disturbs and impresses me).
So the fact Reddit-the-software isn't changing that much doesn't seem like that big an issue, it's more like infrastructure. A major redesign would be negatively disruptive to the communities that are building there. Not that there aren't great things Reddit could do but isn't, but I think they are doing well at the most important stuff. If Reddit had 68 employees they not only would be fat, they'd probably fuck up a good thing.
Do not take my comment to mean I'm anti-Reddit, I like Reddit way more than I ever did Digg :) But Reddit doesn't really do a lot apart from keeping everything going.
I agree that altering Reddit now is probably not a good idea, and they don't need a large headcount, but it's good that Reddit isn't answering to shareholders directly, because if it wasn't for Digg's implosion, their growth would have been far too slow.
So the fact Reddit-the-software isn't changing that much doesn't seem like that big an issue, it's more like infrastructure. A major redesign would be negatively disruptive to the communities that are building there. Not that there aren't great things Reddit could do but isn't, but I think they are doing well at the most important stuff. If Reddit had 68 employees they not only would be fat, they'd probably fuck up a good thing.