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Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

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Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#361

Post by mariusor »

yellowapple wrote: post #360
mariusor wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a demo instance where I test the latest code[1], but my purpose as a developer is to make the project better not to admin/moderate a discussion platform. My hope was that communities come together and put up their own servers. [1] https://brutalinks.tech

I dig it; you've made my self-imposed task of "figure out which of these I like best" that much harder lol Noticing that it's more like HN than reddit, in the sense that there's no equivalent to a subreddit AFAICT. Fine for my purposes, but are there any implications around that when it comes to federating with e.g. Lemmy or Kbin (which very much do have subreddit-like subtopics)?

> there's no equivalent to a subreddit AFAICT

The idea (maybe not very well communicated in the README and other docs[1]) is that each instance would correspond to a "subreddit" with its distinct community. The federated aspect however still allows users from other instances to subscribe/participate. In my personal opinion building services that group multiple interests is a step in the wrong direction creating redundancy to the concept of federation itself.

[1] https://man.sr.ht/~mariusor/go-activitypub/brutalinks/as-a-r...

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#362

Post by Summershard »

There was a P2P Reddit alternative some time ago. The problem with it was that you had to install a program on your computer, so it can sync with the network. I doubt it still exists, but the idea was intriguing. Anyone remember the name?

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#363

Post by auxym »

deepspace wrote: post #321
browningstreet wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish we could divide forums into 101 and 202 (as in college levels) streams. Newbies need a place, but I don't want to be their guide (in most cases). Newbie/101 energy kills a lot of places.

Yes, I frequent subs like r/Electronics, r/Arduino and r/ElectricalEngineering. While I sympathize with newbies, the incessant “My First Blinking LED” posts get old really fast. Especially when said LED DOESN’T blink, and they post a Fritzing thing instead of a circuit diagram.

r/embedded feels like it has become 75% "how do I find my first job as an embedded programmer", which gets old after a while.

AskElectronics is pretty good though, in large part thanks to Davide's moderation. Losing places like that is sad tbh.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#364

Post by brightball »

tezgon wrote: post #284
brightball wrote: post #193

90% of the time there's a forum for the subject that's a better option anyway. For example, the College Football /r/cfb area is periodically entertaining but the Rivals.com network is significantly better for the same thing anyway. I found that blocking Reddit as part of the parental controls on my home network was beneficial anyway, considering just how much stuff falls under the umbrella of availability on that sit…

And really beyond rivals.com, your team-specific forum is even better. I was a frequent poster on shaggybevo before it became surlyhorns, and still hang around there. Though there are some absolutely unhinged posters on them (you get that with most smaller forums I've found).

The paid forums on Rivals tend to be much better conversation. You still get a few but the barrier to entry filters a lot of crazy.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#365

Post by pellucidar »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #328
setgree wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel for you man. I live in Brooklyn where I can meet all the weirdos I want (though the fact that we're so spread out makes having a 'community' hard sometimes). So I get why Reddit and its ilk would seem like the best available option. But if at all possible, I think moving to where your people are is going to scratch the itch more holistically. This person has been thinking hard about this: https://twitter.com/P…

That's the strange thing of it all. I'm not necessarily in Los Angeles proper, but I'm in a suburb and am fine driving downtown. There theoretically shouldn't be a better place to find some 20's people interested in various geek/tech content. I'm sure the groups are there, but I'm not sure where to look. The only better place in theory is up north in Silicon Valley. But I'm not sure if I want to move and drastically…

LA is a stranger place than it seems if you haven’t lived elsewhere as an adult. SV is definitely not the only better place, though the candidates may be similarly expensive due to the density you need (Boston, NYC, etc.).

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#366

Post by docmars »

auxym wrote: post #363
deepspace wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I frequent subs like r/Electronics, r/Arduino and r/ElectricalEngineering. While I sympathize with newbies, the incessant “My First Blinking LED” posts get old really fast. Especially when said LED DOESN’T blink, and they post a Fritzing thing instead of a circuit diagram.

r/embedded feels like it has become 75% "how do I find my first job as an embedded programmer", which gets old after a while. AskElectronics is pretty good though, in large part thanks to Davide's moderation. Losing places like that is sad tbh.

Same with the various web development subreddits as well. Copious amounts of content from "My First Website", to "am I doing intro-level CSS thing right?", and "can I still get a React job?"

There's certainly a place for these, as everyone needs to start somewhere, but having a better home for these would be welcome.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#367

Post by SkyMarshal »

SkyMarshal wrote: post #209
ollien wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard about the Lemmy dev's politics, but what's this about the Kbin devs?

There was some discussion and links about it in the “Building a Better Rust Community” post yesterday. The post is inaccessible today due the protest against reddit, but will be back tmw. https://old.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/146qxzn/building_a_be...

Or it might have been in the Neovim post, not sure. Still dark atm though, and no archive link for it:

https://old.reddit.com/r/neovim/comments/1445lf2/hey_guys_le...

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#368

Post by Aachen »

pndy wrote: post #342
dr_monster wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are all used now, unfortunately.

Those who got invites should be able to invite more folks > "Most of the existing users have the ability to invite others, so if you know someone that has an account, you can ask them for an invite." https://tildes.net/login

Takes somewhere between 48 hours and a week to generate the first invite codes, though. (Those are the two closest moments at which I checked before and after I had invites available)

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#369

Post by robbyking »

schwarzrules wrote: post #177
robbyking wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)?

I haven't really had any luck yet. I was a Farker back in the day, but went to Reddit while a lot of other people were going to Digg. Back then I loved Reddit as a social news site, but now I really dislike it because it's mostly a meme and image aggregator. (IMO it was the memes, image macros (Advice Animals) and meta references that killed that site.)

That said, I like PinkBike.com for MTB stuff and Hacker News for tech stuff. Those are really the only two forums where I actually leave comments these days.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit

#370

Post by anadem »

holler wrote: post #156

https://sqwok.im - All posts fully public and google indexed. - Built-in realtime chat rooms instead of threaded comments on all posts, complete with presence, @mentions, markdown support (check faq)(mobile & desktop web supported currently). - Trending based on chat activity and time decay. - Search, notifications, follows, themes, other settings like block a user. - Focus on simplicity, accessibility, usability. Pr…

Doesn't work on the three different browsers I tried just now .. I see only grey bars arranged rather like conversational text posts would be.
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