What did they really think was going to happen?

They’re going to kick and ban people who are trying to hijack the company. That should be a given, because it makes sense.

What did they really think was going to happen?

I think what they thought would happen was that reddit would relize they they have inadvertantly united users, subreddit mods, and 3rd party developrs (many of which are ironically from subreddits that ordinarily despise each other) into a common cause against reddit…and that reddit would reconsider their actions and find a way not to murder 3rd party apps.

They don’t care about any of that though. They knew this was going to happen before they made the announcement.

It’s called “common sense”. Do you really think they were that out of touch?

The mods and users knew exactly what would happen, either Reddit changes, or they double down. The mods/users were ready to react to which ever Reddit chose. No one is making a surprised pikachu face here, they’re just calling Reddit out for doubling down, like they already planned to do, in the event it’s the move Reddit makes. It’s really not that hard to understand.

The mods and users knew exactly what would happen, either Reddit changes, or they double down.

They obviously didn’t know exactly what would happen, because if they did, they wouldn’t have bothered.

You’re listing two possible outcomes and pairing them as a single event, which doesn’t make sense.