Blocking a community for a protest is irresponsible and undemocratic.
NSFWification
Using a feature that is explicitly baked into the platform is irresponsible and will harm people who chose to click/tap on NSFW content clearly marked as such, and probably voted for to appear in the subreddit children.
What a nightmare this whole thing is turning out to be. I mean, imagine being the CEO right now. You want to seem strong, you don't want to back down, but every day the chaos seems to get crazier.
And the funny thing is, he deserves every bit of the shitstorm he brewed. He's traded his shovel for an industrial sized tunnel boring machine to dig Reddit's grave, as well as his own.
These malicious compliances are too fun, unfortunately, this kind of thing will increase engagement. Funny though, would have been a great April Fools day idea.
I think over time it will decrease engagement. I had fun with the 2 level of protests for a bit, but it took me less than 24 hours to go from full time redditor to never opening the app again. The app I loved is dead; time to move on.
I think it could increase engagement for a while, but over time it might drive down engagement over time as mods make it more challenging to participate with content. The Fediverse is still struggling to scale, so I think having a more natural transition from Reddit to here will be better in the long run. People getting confused and frustrated with a beta social platform means they might try it, hate it, and never come back. If it's gradual, people will follow more of the diffusion of innovation scope of adoption.
Thank you, your Holiness. Shall we endow cathedral schools to teach literacy to the growing artisan class? I think so. I'd also like some gigundous frescoes.