Yesterday news came across Reddit that Reddit is shutting its popular gift exchange and Secret Santa. 2021 is going to the last year of Reddit Gifts according to the post that can be seen here and is linked to from the Reddit gift exchange page.
The announcement from the mods was met with some anger by users of the popular service. Some of the comments talk about how this is BS but some really make it so personal to some of the user. For example one user stated “This is so upsetting. Reddit Gifts has been a serious light in a very dark tunnel for me recently, 51 exchanges, 7 years, countless connections and friends made from all over the world. How is this so expensive to keep going? I’ve met and connected with some AMAZING people through these exchanges and it’s a really loss to many many folks. A computer does the matching… You all should be ashamed of yourselves :(” Others replied with the comments of this is stupid or I’m sad.
The statement from the mods says that they mad the decision to shut down the gift exchange and put more focus on enhancing the user experience on Reddit. The enhancement includes investing in the foundation of the platform and mod tools to make it more accessible around the world. They said the power of Reddit Gifts was never the software but the community of gifters in the Secret Santa subreddit and they hope the spirit continues in the future. The steps they are taking towards sun-setting this is that they have disabled the creation of any new Reddit Gifts accounts, any incomplete exchanges will result in a ban from the remain exchanges and they have turned off the ability to buy elves.
The exchange which is popular with Redditors has also attracted some big names in the past with people getting gifts from Bill Gates, Snoop Dogg, Arnold Schwarzennegger and others. I have done the exchange a few times and have to say not only did I feel good giving something to someone based on their likes and hope they enjoy it but also to receive some cool thoughtful gifts from random people is such a cool thing.
What do you all think of Reddit shutting the gift exchange after this year? Will you be participating in it for the final time? Let us know in the comments below or hit us up on our Twitter account. We would love to interact with our readers. As always stay tuned to Culture Splat for more coverage of your favorite topics.
