Prior to the protest reddit was in full support of the protest. Most polls on subs supported a shutdown. Now, seemingly every community cant understand why the protest was needed and they’re calling it a mod power trip. There is a 3rd possibility. This is an unfounded conspiracy but reddit themselves could be manipulating scores.
See the NFL thread if you don’t mind sending traffic
https://reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/14b11kh/were_just_here_so_we_dont_get_fined/
That’s no surprise. The reality is that the API changes don’t affect most people and they don’t use third party apps. All they care about is that they keep getting their free content to consume. The second it became inconvenient for them, they turned against the blackout. The vast majority of Reddit are lurkers that will never interact with the communities, they only want a endless stream of distraction and entertainment.