Reddit kept the people who didn't care about third party apps
Which is important to note is like 90%+ of users, most of whom never participate and just consume content.
I felt many of the protesters had no clue how unpopular (by numbers) 3rd party clients were. The reason they seemed so prevalent in discussions is because reddit users who use 3rd party clients are power users who actually participate versus everyone else who just browses. These protests showed the ugly reality that they were always a small vocal minority.
I left reddit and edited all my comments/posts on principle, but I was never under the illusion that I was part of the majority or that the protests would lead to something.
Of course I hope Lemmy got some nice visibility and that something positive comes out of it, but I'm not clinging onto a pipe dream.