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Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

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Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#171

Post by RandallBrown »

lb4r wrote: post #164

Somewhat related, but I'd love for Apolloapp to break free from the Reddit API and simply become its own thing. It's backed by, depending on how you measure things, probably almost 50% of the Reddit community as it is. With some VC backing, or simply just crowdfunding to start things off, and continuous support from the subreddits that have gone dark, it could very well become a thing.

I would be interested to hear how you measure Apollo usage to say it's backed by 50% of Reddit.

I've never used it and don't know anyone that has. I read a stat yesterday that only about 5% of Reddit traffic comes from 3rd party apps (might be incorrect) so I'm curious what impact it has beyond just a client for reddit. (I'm vaguely aware of some moderation tools that Apollo has.)

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#172

Post by princevegeta89 »

sharperguy wrote: post #44

I see reddit less as a website and more as a collection of communities. Each community has its own set of reasons for hosting itself on reddit vs other locations. Therefore I would predict that in the absence of reddit, not every community would move to the same place. I also noticed that in recent years many subreddits have increasingly been taken over by memes and other low quality posts and so users looking for mo…

I only use Reddit when I am doing research, since it seems to be a straightforward way to see information written mostly by real users. The Frontpage in my opinion is utter trash - it's filled with woke bullshit, ignorant crap and other reposts of old posts that can be anywhere between a year and 5 years old.

The memes and jokes have gotten so poor they just look plain stupid. A majority of the AskReddit posts are useless questions posted by kids and teens that make no value and only get posted to make the OP's look "cool". That said, it was once a good way to get news, and now with the stupid commercial push by the company it has now lost almost all of its status

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#173

Post by politician »

echelon wrote: post #98
1024core wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Public: these would be democratically run forums. The users would actually be able to vote for moderators, and perhaps even rules around them. This would be ideal for things like r/[country] or r/[city]. This is my biggest gripe about Reddit. Unlike hobbies or interests, I can't change my country of birth or (easily change) the city. So when you get banned from a geographical sub, you have no alternative. Some of t…

Reddit's moderation system is the worst on the internet. No rhyme, no reason, no restitution. You're completely at the mercy of little fiefdoms and people who are sometimes on power trips. I've been banned from my city reddit for simply stating that crime was becoming a problem. I've been banned for supporting trans rights. I've been banned for explaining stock based compensation. For describing and linking to AI too…

The problem isn't just the petty tyrant fiefdoms, it's also the exclusive claims on generic terms like "news". So, instead of generic news, you find hyperpartisan content on "r/news". Once someone cybersquats on a generic term, other perspectives are forced into qualified subreddits that more accurately describe their bias, "r/conservative".

I think it would greatly improve the site if communities using generic terms were instead replaced with disambiguation pages that linked to related communities, and that this process could be triggered automatically so that as terms become generic the communities could be remounted.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#174

Post by Glench »

sebstefan wrote: post #168
Glench wrote: post #14

God what a mess. If anyone else is interested I made a browser extension you can use to batch delete your Reddit posts and comments: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bulk-delete-reddit... Let me know how it works for you if you try it! Still fixing bugs.

Could you make it edit them to an AES256 encryption of itself? That way it's reversible Much better way to protest I feel like

Hm interesting point! I feel like for a broad audience having to manage your encryption key wouldn't be a good UX, but maybe for more advanced users!

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#175

Post by katbyte »

boplicity wrote: post #95

What do you want, exactly? I've been running a forum for 15 years. It's now horrible, outdated software, full of bugs and probably security holes. However, it works. It has an active community. It requires almost zero maintenance on my end. A cheap VPS will do the trick. Before Reddit, people would just type in "forum" when doing a Google search. That should still do the trick. For example a Google search for, how to…

i miss the forum days. some still do kick around tacomaworld is by far the best resource for anything tacoma related and is very very active

i do miss threaded comments thou

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#176

Post by TheCaptain4815 »

How about we take this opportunity to go back to the old internet to a time where real free speech ruled. Remember how reddit started off, where ANYTHING went no matter what (as long as it was legal)?

Do people have the courage for that anymore? I certainly do, and I'd love to hear from those who disagree in complete free speech for the next Reddit.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#177

Post by schwarzrules »

robbyking wrote: post #147
dabluecaboose wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I also noticed that in recent years many subreddits have increasingly been taken over by memes and other low quality posts and so users looking for more substantial content have already moved elsewhere. It's incredibly frustrating to discover a potential new hobby, check out the subreddit, and go to the top posts all time, only to find pages on pages of low-effort crossposted memes that are often barely relatable. I…

I was a long time reddit user (I created my first account in 2007), and I eventually left for this reason. I moderated a cycling community (r/mtb) that grew to about a quarter million subscribers and I had a really difficult time keeping the low effort content at bay. When communities grow to a certain size they lose their niche audience, and lowest common denominator posts bubble to the top and drown out quality con…

Where do you find/engage with similar high-effort content now (if anywhere)?

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#178

Post by SantalBlush »

dabluecaboose wrote: post #127
hazebooth wrote: post #3

I’ve seen https://tildes.net/ pop up but it’s invite only atm I think, would totally be down for an invite from anyone here though :)

Tildes is great but it's a lot more analagous to HN than reddit. The moderators are limited in number and absolute in power, you can't make new subs (I asked for a few and was declined), and the community is more tight and discussion-oriented (which is a good thing IMO, but I never quite felt like I fit in so I don't comment often).

It has some nice things going for it, but it has a few issues that can be off-putting.

1. People are discouraged from being too negative about posts, but posting negative articles is fine. This led to people occasionally linking articles containing invectives about some subject they didn't like, but you're not supposed to respond to the article with invectives. It produced a natural asymmetry in the conversation and felt really passive aggressive.

2. The long post format is a noble goal, but personally I couldn't see the incentive in putting in a ton of work to craft a thoughtful, researched, and thorough post only to have it read by maybe 20 people then buried after a day. If I'm going to put that much work into a piece of writing, I'll create a blog where it will at least have some more permamence. I think in the end the long post format attracts people who enjoy the process of writing itself--which is fine--but it simply doesn't equate to higher content. A lot of the opinions in those long posts are still underbaked, and the length doesn't improve them. Tildes threads can be a grind to read while producing little information.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#179

Post by lb4r »

RandallBrown wrote: post #171
lb4r wrote: post #164

Somewhat related, but I'd love for Apolloapp to break free from the Reddit API and simply become its own thing. It's backed by, depending on how you measure things, probably almost 50% of the Reddit community as it is. With some VC backing, or simply just crowdfunding to start things off, and continuous support from the subreddits that have gone dark, it could very well become a thing.

I would be interested to hear how you measure Apollo usage to say it's backed by 50% of Reddit. I've never used it and don't know anyone that has. I read a stat yesterday that only about 5% of Reddit traffic comes from 3rd party apps (might be incorrect) so I'm curious what impact it has beyond just a client for reddit. (I'm vaguely aware of some moderation tools that Apollo has.)

I don't mean the usage of Apollo in particular, but my understanding from what I've read is that according to some metrics, almost 50% of Reddit have gone dark, partly in support of Apollo. It's already the unofficial alternative to Reddit, except also kind of being Reddit at the same time.

Correction: I did a quick check, and around 40% went dark according to this source, so not quite the 'almost 50%' that I proclaimed: https://twitter.com/aakashg0/status/1668107416490192897

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#180

Post by steviedotboston »

Whenever a site does something "bad" (Twitter and musk's BS, Reddit with their API nonsense, etc) people's initial reaction is to look for a site JUST like it but without the bad thing. That feels like stage 1 of grief: denial. Denial that the thing you loved is no longer the same. Maybe it's dead, or maybe its changed in such a drastic way thats its no longer the same thing. Regardless, I have never seen a successful website or service start from the premise of "we will be just like thing X, but without the bad thing". You need more than that. You need a vision. And I'd argue your initial motivation needs to be something positive, not negative. If you're initial motivation is "this website is doing something bad, so we need to make a similar site that doesn't do that" then you are motivated by a negative emotion, which will only drive you so far. You'll be driven by anger which might get a bunch of new users, but that emotion will fade, and after a while what will you have left? That isn't to say that situations like this aren't a great opportunity. Far from it. It's just that the opportunity requires people to think creatively. For sure learn from the mistakes of these companies, but also don't just create a clone that positions itself as a direct competitor or a home for refugees. That's just depressing and a recipe for failure.
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