Because for some piracy isn’t simply about being a cheapskate but also about activism

This is not exactly true.

It’s not that the votes don’t count, it’s that Reddit uses a particular technique where the karma you see is randomly modified every time to make it impossible to see if your vote has an effect.

The goal is to prevent bots from realizing when they have been shadow banned. It makes it easier to control automated vote manipulation since bots will just make a new account if they realize they’re banned.

They are not trying to burn it down. They don’t care about those who leave. Reddit wants to be the new TikTok and those who leave over stuff like this are only getting in the way.

Ohh what volume are you at? I caught up at volume 4, I think, a few years ago and it was so much fun. I think I’ll pick it back up once I’m done with my current read.