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Reddit is still in turmoil

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Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#91

Post by dang »

u238ed wrote: post #63

Wow. What a hit piece. I bet their anonymous source happens to be the ex VP of Product that was fired by Pao, and is now building a 'safer' Reddit. Conflict much? In their sources quote, it's evident the source knows a lot of the inner workings of the leadership, is a man, and doesn't work there anymore. Well, that leaves only the ex VP, seeing as though Pao was a woman. So they took all of Dan's words as truth? The…

Going from "I bet" (i.e., you imagine) something about somebody to making factual-sounding claims ("Dan's words") using that person's name is a big breach of civility and you can't do it here.

You went even further than that and hounded this guy elsewhere in the thread. That's unacceptable on HN, so we've banned this account.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#92

Post by 86646 »

bane wrote: post #39

Why the hell is Reddit trying to make their own content when the entire point of the site is for the users to create the content? Don't make a Reddit podcast, make Reddit a podcast hosting network. Don't make a Reddit video show, make Reddit a video hosting site. Don't make a Reddit magazine, make Reddit a source for anybody to publish their own magazines. Why does Reddit have writers and editors and creative directo…

Because reddit feels the need to 'curate' everything they host. Can't have that free speech, yo. Someone's feelings might get hurt. Too dangerous.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#93

Post by matwood »

jfoutz wrote: post #41
existencebox wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to give a counter-perspective, since those who drink at work are often grouped as "brogrammers" when I don't feel like the term encapsulates the environment I'm seeking at all; I have a group of mixed engineer/PM peers accumulated from multiple past jobs who perhaps once a month after work on a friday go to a bar for happy hour and just shoot the shit about work. We have non-drinkers there (we'd glady have m…

> [we...] go to a bar for happy hour and just shoot the shit about work. Yeah, that makes perfect sense, i do that myself. Absolutely agree with the 4 on Friday point as well. I like drinking. It's just the at work part that makes me nervous. I see the utility in not having to move to a different location, and how that is more inclusive to everyone. I think it takes a very light touch. Because it's at work people mig…

It is definitely much easier in a small company. We hire mature adults and treat people as mature adults. Drink/don't drink, play a chess game or not, work at home or not, stay and play some games after work or go pick up your kids, we do not care as long as the work gets done.

All people are different and value different things. If you hire responsible adults, you can give a lot of leeway with how the work gets done.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#94

Post by mbesto »

LA_Banker wrote: post #7
minimaxir wrote: post #5

Reddit, from a business perspective, baffles me. During the Yishan Wong/Ellen Pao era, we had Reddit-Made and Reddit TV, both of which bombed especially. Under Alexis Ohanian, we had Upvoted and Formative which as the article notes were killed silently. Reddit released a native app and an image host years too late. (I just checked the data and it is not killing Imgur: Reddit image usage was 18% in the top image subre…

It's not. Reddit could easily sell targeted ads based on subreddits (e.g. inking a deal with Uniqlo to advertise on /r/malefashionadvice or /r/femalefashionadvice). It chooses to pursue other monetization means to preserve the Reddit experience. We'll see if it's able to stumble onto another sustainable business model.

> It's not. Reddit could easily sell targeted ads based on subreddits

Except Redditors are explicitly anti-advertising. You can't have both - the current community/culture and billions in revenue.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#95

Post by cerrelio »

bane wrote: post #39

Why the hell is Reddit trying to make their own content when the entire point of the site is for the users to create the content? Don't make a Reddit podcast, make Reddit a podcast hosting network. Don't make a Reddit video show, make Reddit a video hosting site. Don't make a Reddit magazine, make Reddit a source for anybody to publish their own magazines. Why does Reddit have writers and editors and creative directo…

I see why they want to create their own curated content. A friend of mine has created and run several user-generated content sites and he said: "user generated content is worthless; largely racism and porn." It's driven by the lowest common denominator.

As long as content is hosted on company-controlled servers where ad revenue is the model for survival, you're going to see slow declines and eventual busts like Digg. Users hate being advertised to and censored.

The future is probably something where people pay a small amount to access a forum that's somehow distributed on their machines (phones, PCs, etc) and not controlled by any organization. Data transfer (even mobile) and storage are getting cheaper. It'll be like bitcoin, but for discussions.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#96

Post by eropple »

mindslight wrote: post #14
twblalock wrote: post #6

I think much of Reddit's problems with its userbase boil down to an early failure to manage expectations. It's pretty clear that the Reddit corporation doesn't want Reddit to be an anything-goes, absolute free speech zone with no moderation or anti-harassment policies -- but that's what the site actually was for many years. Now, when the company cracks down, users think their freedoms are being curtailed. The mistake…

> The mistake was ever allowing that kind of freedom in the first place, because people developed an expectation that it would persist. Sure, and then we wouldn't be talking about reddit but rather whatever site was actually free at the time. The only reason web forums exist is because people are lazy about adopting decentralized Free software. Yet the owners of these centralized services, as well as paternalistic sp…

> The only reason web forums exist is because people are lazy about adopting decentralized Free software

Or because that open-source software is user-hostile and has no serious argument for its use for 99% of people. When users don't do something you like, in almost every instance it's your failing rather than theirs.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#97

Post by mbesto »

grandalf wrote: post #15

Why does Reddit have to become a media empire? The formula for doing that is pretty well-known by this point: We'll see a ban on throwaway accounts and a push for real names, then a ban on third party URL shorteners, then interruption ads, and finally some sort of paywall. Reddit is a useful piece of internet infrastructure, and I'd be pleased if it would stay that way. It doesn't need to become its own media empire…

> Why does Reddit have to become a media empire?

Because investors have poured a ton of money into it expecting it to be a media empire.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#98

Post by teej »

erichocean wrote: post #85
RhodesianHunter wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or just provide better targeted advertising... On Facebook you can advertise to people based on demographics, interests, behavior, etc. On Reddit you can't even place an add on a specific subreddit if it's not one of the big ones.

> On Reddit you can't even place an add on a specific subreddit if it's not one of the big ones. Would someone please confirm this? If true, wow.

I just tried to place an ad for /r/pics and /r/gaming and had no problem getting to "pending ad approval"

EDIT: I'm an idiot.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#99

Post by omni »

teej wrote: post #98
erichocean wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On Reddit you can't even place an add on a specific subreddit if it's not one of the big ones. Would someone please confirm this? If true, wow.

I just tried to place an ad for /r/pics and /r/gaming and had no problem getting to "pending ad approval" EDIT: I'm an idiot.

Those are huge subreddits, both around 12MM subscribers.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#100

Post by wutbrodo »

teej wrote: post #98
erichocean wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On Reddit you can't even place an add on a specific subreddit if it's not one of the big ones. Would someone please confirm this? If true, wow.

I just tried to place an ad for /r/pics and /r/gaming and had no problem getting to "pending ad approval" EDIT: I'm an idiot.

> if it's not one of the big ones

I'm pretty sure r/pics and r/gaming are two of the biggest subreddits out there.

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