In cases like this, creating artificial scarcity is very important. Without scarcity, no producer would finance new movies because there’s no way to make back their initial investment. So just like with patents, we create artificial scarcity by giving the people who made the movie exclusive rights to decide who can watch it.

Even though scarcity isn’t enforced upon us like with most goods, it’s in literally everyone’s best interest to create (and enforce) that scarcity.

I’m guessing you’re in favor of counterfeiting currency, then?

It sounds to me like you weren’t the only person the company was screwing with. Once everybody started comparing notes, that company was dead in the water.

The people you’re (justifiably) worried about aren’t leaving Reddit because of the blackouts. The Reddit experience and content haven’t disappeared- all you have to do is switch to subs that didn’t go dark and post/consume content there instead. Eventually the protesting subs will be reopened under more subservient mods and everything will go back to “normal”.

People (like me) who are exploring entirely new communities right now are the ideologically motivated ones who don’t like what Reddit leadership is doing and want to find a new place without that kind of toxicity. Based on my very limited experience so far, that seems like the kind of person who would fit in here.