I wonder if GitHub repository Discussions can serve the need, since people can star individual repositories, each repository acts as its own subreddit which you subscribe to, and granular access permissions can be given to moderators etc.
You could even make the repo host a GitHub Pages dummy that just loads Giscus/retrieves the list of threads in the repository Discussions and render it with a more Reddit-like UI. Any deficiencies with the interface you can fix yourself or make a pull request to recommend changes.
You could even program moderation bots that runs via GitHub Actions etc, whatever moderation tool were lacking you can just take it into your own hands.
It's an interesting idea, I think. I've seen this (sort of) idea before - I forget exactly when, maybe back when Musk took the helm of the Twittanic and ordered flank speed towards the already visible iceberg.
Personally, I'm going to check the project mentioned at the top of this subthread and look at other options that may already be out there. I just saw, also, some mentions of thoughts about leveraging"ATproto" ...
I am fairly certain that there are solutions that can fill the void left by Reddit's latest knife in the back of the users and communities that really made it useful and different. It's a little saddening, but not that surprising (aside from how long it stayed user / community friendly before basically declaring war on many users and communities) ... and, at this point, any pathos I would normally experience is being far outweighed by schadenfreude at seeing the site burn (in essence, if not immediately in the most tangible ways, though I suspect the arc of events should shave any potential valuation down to around 75%, perhaps, of the already reduced valuation vs. 2021) and determination to help further reduce its valuation. If Huffman and his milieu (above, adjacent, etc.) have defined everything, at this point, in terms of money, then that's the only language that they will pay any attention to.
But, away from the "Io voglio vendetta" thoughts, I like the idea of something like a "co-op" ... something it sounds like this "sociables" (makes me think "lunchables", heh) idea might be touching the edges of ... I definitely think the best of (old) reddit can be transferred successfully elsewhere by people who aren't after some kind of 90s-style SV gold-rush and Reddit itself can be left to rot / fester as it competes with TikTok, Twitter, etc. for the scraps of the divided attentions of mindless media consumers.
You could even make the repo host a GitHub Pages dummy that just loads Giscus/retrieves the list of threads in the repository Discussions and render it with a more Reddit-like UI. Any deficiencies with the interface you can fix yourself or make a pull request to recommend changes.
You could even program moderation bots that runs via GitHub Actions etc, whatever moderation tool were lacking you can just take it into your own hands.