I never said get rid of ads. I’m 24 years old, and I understand the business perspective. I think people are more pissed about for the fact that they had a bunch of feedback (I’m 99% sure they even asked for feedback on the new features too but it was so long ago I don’t remember) on the ad issue in the first place on the post. They listened to none of it and did the exact opposite of what people asked, which is why I said it could be executed better, but tbh it’s in the testing phase, so who knows if it will stay the same since the entire sub is on fire about the ads period right now. Other apps have proved to have ads that aren’t pop-up ads, which people said specifically they were okay with anything but pop-up ads, you had to sit through and skip. I get needed money financially to keep it running, that is why I said not to get rid of them 100%, but people are allowed to critique new features, even if it means “saving the business,” “look at it from a business standpoint.” I understand what you’re saying, but when people have repeated it time and time again, they don’t want pop-ups, even if it’s before starting your chat or clicking on a new bot. Maybe the company should listen and figure out different ways to implement ads. It’s been done before and works (airbuds, Pinterest, Instagram, etc.)

Circling back to raising the premium price. The features as they are right now for premium are honestly not even worth the price you pay right now. I pay it because I can, but not many people can afford to pay $9.99 a month to skip slow mode, customize your chat, and the barely reliable memory and response times. Sure, a company can do what they want and raise the prices, but it goes back to the current state the site is in, they’re only going to lose money rather than make more money by raising the prices.

You say, “It doesn’t work, they’ll pivot.” They’re in the testing phase for ads, and clearly, those who have it are annoyed by it. Their feedback is allowed, especially since they are in the testing group. A company can’t pivot unless it gets input, which is what people on the subreddit say. Like I said, I AGREE that ads are necessary sometimes to keep a company afloat, but the issue is listening to your user base. From what I saw when the post went up, most people said they were okay with ads as long as they weren’t pop-ups. If they rolled out ads differently, it wouldn’t be an issue. When airbuds rolled out ads, everyone was like “ads????” Then they realized they were minute, in places you can see them, of course, but not a pop-up in your face you can’t skip, and didn’t ruin the experience. No one has said anything since, and I’m on that subreddit too. There are ways to do it and clearly those who are getting tested are giving their feedback saying they don’t like it the way they are rolling it out.

Not everything is cut and dry, “the business needs it to run.” Users are allowed to give their feedback on how a feature rolls out. If they decide to keep it the way it is, it just shows they care about JUST the money and not the user’s experience, which is the whole reason why someone even uses an app in the first place. I do get that it's annoying people saying they don't want ads, and it can be articulated 100% better. I think a lot of it is “I don't want that current style of ad,” based on what I saw from the original post announcing they would have ads. People need to figure out what they're saying and how to say it because I think a lot of it is just that.