The distinguishment needs to be made that inconveniencing people who cannot make the needed change makes the entire protest immediately irrelevant.

For example, protesting in the middle of a highway does not inconvenience anyone that has the power to make a change. Those politicians are far away from the protest and don't care because it doesn't effect them or their pocketbook.

For Reddit, making it inconvenient for other users directly effects Reddit. Less and less user traffic is a major inconvenience for a tech company attempting to IPO. And they have the power to change. However, at this point the damage is beyond rolling back, I think.