Is that the whole story? Why isn't reddit overrun by bots then (or are they?), and why wouldn't basic proof-of-work techniques fence against bots? Since they started out just in January, isn't it plausible to assume they didn't meet their target user figures and investors jumped ship?
Surely that's what happen. They probably couldn't compete with reddit at this point and bots were a secondary issue. Hoping that the interest will develop on its own, partially by the brand knowledge among older users wasn't enough.
It's been over a decade now and reddit despite of own exodus that happen recently still remains the default social link aggregator, and a global multi-forum. Not mention that younger generations prefer different kind of platforms and this largely-text based site might be not attractive to them at all
