If really bots are being used for this, will that also contribute to the traffic metric like a normal user would?

no: bots generally use the API and, even if they went through the web ui, bot traffic doesn’t generally trigger tracking (you could write a bot that does that, but it would be extra work)

OP was about data caps on landlines… yeah, at first glance I too thought it could only be mobile

With the people I’ve talked about privacy the issue seems to be that they perceive google/apple/whoever as somewhat abstract entities: when I try asking if they would allow their local supermarket/corner shop (let alone the government!) to know that much about them, they immediately reply “no way!”… but then (even after the conversation) they are still ok with google tracking their location 24x7.

Lack of healthy competition. It’s plain to see from the other side of the ocean where I live… Is it maybe one of those things you can only see from afar?

I can already hear the voices of mods wishing him good luck moderating reddit on his own (in fact, I was certainly able to hear my own saying so before I de-listed myself as a mod).

I am impressed at how badly they are managing something that was initially merely “not the best idea” and now has become a true shitshow.

RIP reddit, you may very well survive this, but you’ll never again be “the front page of the Internet”.

Any sufficiently advanced reputation system is indistinguishable from magic

How does/did the digg reputation system work?