Reddit just passed Facebook as #3 most popular website in US • Hacker News Board

Re: Reddit just passed Facebook as #3 most popular website in US

#381

Post by wuliwong » Wed, May 30, 2018, 11:34 PM UTC

cm2012 wrote: post #59

Keep in mind: 1) Most Facebook users use the app, not the website, which Alexa doesn't track (Which is also why Facebook doesn't fear commonly used ad blockers). 2) Alexa uses a number of metrics to rank sites, including pages visited. Reddit users load many more individual pages than FB users. In reality, Reddit is nowhere near close to the traffic and engagement leviathan that is Facebook.

While this maybe true, none of what you mention has changed recently but this ranking did. This ranking change at least points to a trend. Maybe the percentage of mobile use is increasing at faster rate on FB vs Reddit, recently. But according to the nextweb link someone shared in this thread, FB had nearly 90% of their traffic via mobile already in 2016.

Re: Reddit just passed Facebook as #3 most popular website in US

#382

Post by bitL » Wed, May 30, 2018, 11:34 PM UTC

neolefty wrote: post #376

bitL wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Reddit’s ability to turn a profit Maybe our society should recognize that some platforms should be treated as utilities, impose a small tax ($5? 0.05%?) which individuals can dedicate to a platform of their choice, and keep these vital forums away from crushing forces of market?

Wikipedia does well with a periodic fundraiser. Hi Jimbo! Could Reddit do similarly? Style itself as mostly a service and not especially profit-driven? Hi, I'm @spez. By Creddits this week to help Reddit meet its quarterly fundraising goal! We've gamified it a little ...

In EU many governments force you to fund state TVs you never watch; instead giving portion of that to a site (or sites) of your choice could be preferable.

Re: Reddit just passed Facebook as #3 most popular website in US

#383

Post by neolefty » Wed, May 30, 2018, 11:36 PM UTC

std_throwaway wrote: post #247

exelius wrote: post #15

Reddit works because it’s anonymous, information-dense and relatively ad-free. Change any one of those three and the user base will abandon you. It’s been Reddit’s dilemma since the beginning: you can’t monetize a toxic user base that has total freedom. Sure you can try to drive away the toxic users, but it turns out that those toxic users are also pretty influential in non-toxic aspects. I’m still skeptical of Reddi…

What does "toxic user" mean in this context? How do they differ from a "non-toxic" user?

It's vague but real.

Maybe someone who makes the experience miserable for other users? Or is destructive / harassing / mean-spirited?

Re: Reddit just passed Facebook as #3 most popular website in US

#384

Post by hueving » Wed, May 30, 2018, 11:38 PM UTC

cortesoft wrote: post #298

bradlys wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's okay to some extent but I find that forums definitely are a much better resource and controversial threads or posts in forums don't get buried or hidden by a downvote. Some of the most humorous threads you'll read would have had a -inf rating and thus never seen on reddit. To me, reddit seems a great way for a community to reinforce groupthink. Instances I can think of are forums for motorcycles, cars, p…

While it is true that sometimes valid, yet unpopular, opinions get downvoted and buried, most of the times the things getting downvoted and buried are simply comments or opinions that are worthless. They are either trolls, racist, or derogatory comments that I WANT to have hidden from my view. I think the upvote/downvote system is what makes reddit so popular, since it acts to filter out the useless comments that oft…

>They are either trolls, racist, or derogatory comments that I WANT to have hidden from my view.

This view is pretty naive. I suspect you just don't hold any opinions against the groupthink of the subreddits you participate in.

Re: Reddit just passed Facebook as #3 most popular website in US

#385

Post by Fnoord » Wed, May 30, 2018, 11:42 PM UTC

tomc1985 wrote: post #306

actsasbuffoon wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMDB forums required signing up to even read threads, if memory serves. Every now and then I'd try to figure out where else I'd seen some actor, notice an interesting sounding topic at the bottom of the page, click on it, be told I had to register in order to read, and then get annoyed and leave. Note to companies: Don't do crap like this. Let people lurk. If they like the content then they'll create an account. Forc…

I think IMDB is a good example of why registration is a good thing: discussions on there were of very high quality and I learned a lot about a given movie by combing through them. You would have to have a subreddit for every movie out in order to come close to replicating that experience on Reddit, and it seems registration kept a lot of the riff-raff out.

I've been a member on IMDB since the end of '90s, and I've seen high quality discussions and low quality discussions on IMDB. I think it goes too far to say that either is dominant. I can say though that controversial / politics related subjects likely create low quality discussion whereas clever movie plots generate high quality discussions. At least, that's my perception/experience of it. We both got our data point of experience, and that's it. We need some kind of data / analysis to get to a more coherent, unbiased viewpoint.

Re: Reddit just passed Facebook as #3 most popular website in US

#386

Post by hueving » Wed, May 30, 2018, 11:45 PM UTC

neolefty wrote: post #371

swebs wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There is one clear side that is wrong. You're doing a really good impression of the average toxic Reddit user.

I think this is the more important part of the quote: > Racism, bigotry, and misogyny are not political topics. Is there gray to any of those?

Yep, the UN classifies discrimination based on country of citizenship as racism (a.k.a xenophobia). Every rich country has all kinds of social benefits reserved only for citizens, and nobody is proposing the removal of these programs despite their racist underpinnings.

Re: Reddit just passed Facebook as #3 most popular website in US

#387

Post by dbasedweeb » Wed, May 30, 2018, 11:51 PM UTC

6cd6beb wrote: post #310

dbasedweeb wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The alternative communities often speak for themselves, while the popularity of the mainstream does as well. For a perfect example, look no further than here at Hacker News. The moderation is very active, but here we are enjoying civil conversation because of that moderation. To go back to my previous example, look at Voat, it’s just the worst place to be. I don’t love Reddit, but it has its upsides, such as science,…

>Voat has fulminating hate boners and tumbleweeds, and literally nothing else. I go there and I can tell you this is categorically false. No one's asking you about "the JQ" in the gardening or painting communities. There's a lot of VERY unpalatable content on voat because its free speech and censorship policies allow what nearly no one else will, but to claim that's literally all that's present there is just a case o…

Right, no one is asking anything in those communities, because they’re the tumbleweeds.

Voat has fulminating hate boners and tumbleweeds, and literally nothing else.

https://voat.co/v/gardening

Jesus that’s dead. Meanwhile if you want to hear some skinhead rant, that’s plenty active. Accept what you want, but I’m not interested in the internet equivalent of a Klan rally or a skinhead bar. I’ll go to the reputable establishment down the street that 86’s violent drunks, because loud, violent assholes make for a lousy social experience. You can enjoy a post every month or so in Gardening on Voat, because “freedom”.

Re: Reddit just passed Facebook as #3 most popular website in US

#388

Post by acdha » Wed, May 30, 2018, 11:51 PM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #278

acdha wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The use of “left” by American conservatives doesn’t have a meaning beyond “political opponent”. The absence of an organized movement means people just assume that everything they dislike is “left”.

At the risk of saying 'both sides are bad' I would point out that this behavior is not limited to American conservatives. Politics in the US is extremely tribal.

It’s definitely not limited to one side but I think America’s general historical right lean means that calling something “left-wing” has carried more of a stigma and is thus more common. Even a fair number of people who like liberal/socialist get uneasy about being called lefties since that brings in a lot of Cold War baggage.

Re: Reddit just passed Facebook as #3 most popular website in US

#389

Post by Retra » Wed, May 30, 2018, 11:53 PM UTC

gthtjtkt wrote: post #216

Shank wrote: post #94

The biggest value gain from Reddit, to me, is the ability to centralize effectively around different hobbies and activities. In the past, if you wanted to find an online community for a movie or a game, you had to find a forum for that community. Finding forums that are well managed and capture a good segment of the community is hard -- and Reddit just becomes a default place to look now. Let's say a new TV show star…

> and you really like it and want to discuss it more Reddit is a terrible place to discuss anything. Great place to see funny memes about your favorite hobbies and TV shows though.

You're using it wrong.

Re: Reddit just passed Facebook as #3 most popular website in US

#390

Post by Retra » Wed, May 30, 2018, 11:57 PM UTC

narrator wrote: post #125

slg wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The kind of toxic people we are talking about on Reddit are not toxic for their politics. Racism, bigotry, and misogyny are not political topics. It isn't like tax policy or any other topic that can be debated. There is one clear side that is wrong.

Racism, bigotry and misogyny are politics. You perfectly demonstrate my point in that you hold the political aspects above all other aspects in determining the validity of an entire persons life and contribution to society because of the ideas they express. For example, Roseanne making one tweet and ruining her whole career. Reddit doesn't force that sort of political conformity on people.

Have you heard the phrase "know your audience"? A professional comedian should. Because if they don't, they might not produce any laughs. And if they can't do that, how are they going to get paid?