Reddit buys the site that's been running their semiannual Secret Santa exchange | Hacker News Reader

Reddit buys the site that's been running their semiannual Secret Santa exchange

blog.reddit.com

61 pointsraldi6 comments

I think that the timing of this move makes a lot of sense. Redditgifts has always been awesome, but as more and more people started using it, the penchant for abuse grew higher.

By reddit taking over, and dedicating full-time attention to it, they can take steps to combat a lot of the fraud and general lameness and keep the experience awesome for everyone.

I know a few great redditors who were drawn in through the gift exchange. I've done it now twice, and will do it again, although I got shafted my 2nd time.

I'm not certain I'll participate in the gift exchanges anymore, and it has nothing to do with Reddit buying the site. I've participated twice, and both times I got great gifts from the person who drew my name. However, my experience sending out gifts has been less than stellar. Both times, I did a lot of research and spent a lot of money. The first time, the person never even confirmed that they had received the gift (tracking info confirmed delivery) and the second time, it was just confirmed as received, with no commentary made, no thank you, nothing. When the person you are buying a gift for can't even take two minutes to say thanks, it kind of kills any desire to continue participating.

You know what they say... 3rd times a charm.

Sorry to hear you got unlucky. I've been in several exchanges without a bad experience giving or receiving- you should give it at least one more chance!

I had the same thing happen, but on a smaller scale. I got one gift that was meant as a joke, and then an actual gift. I sent the two one after the other. When the first arrived, even as a joke gift, it was not even marked as received ... when the second arrived I got a very shitty thank you.

Will this stop me from participating again? Nope, not at all, I have been very happy with the gifts I have received so far, and I have been even happier with what I have sent so far, and if people don't want to be in the Christmas spirit, well then thats a shame, but that doesn't mean everyone is the same way.

This makes a lot of sense for reddit. They get to keep a huge and very successful sub-community and really integrate it into the rest of the site. The exchange is one of the cooler things on the internet to show to friends and I'm really happy that the guys can now afford to work on it full time with the reddit team. Congrats guys!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com