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Please stop asking me to use the app

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Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#71

Post by froindt »

tgtweak wrote: post #41

The app doesn't have ad blockers and they can spam notifications, hence the push. Also I'm sure somewhere "mobile users" is a metric in a company valuation equation. Pinterest is the worst offender of a mobile app that doesn't need to exist since the web counterpart can do 100% of the job. This being a product that leveraged JavaScript in browser bookmarks to get "pins" without an app or extension. When Reddit stoppe…

>When Reddit stopped allowing non-email-verified signups and conveniently locked everyone out who did have a non-email legacy account, the writing was on the wall.

While I haven't verified it, I recently read a post that they didn't stop allowing email-less account creation, they did add a dark pattern around it. I believe it was someone like an email prompt and next button, but allowing the email field to remain empty.

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#72

Post by minimaxir »

Rapzid wrote: post #62
minimaxir wrote: post #4

Reddit's recent tactics have incidentally topped /r/assholedesign lately, such as using a fake loading screen for the app-pushing ( https://www.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/8k10c7/not_g... ), a Facebook-esque obfuscation of ad-posts in the app ( https://www.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/85liof/how_r... ), and mobile notifications for subreddits you don't follow ( https://www.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/co…

I've had to start disabling notifications on just about everything due similar tactics across the app-o-system. Facebook spam was getting nuts; phone vibrating at 2AM because somebody I haven't had contact with in years has updated a picture? Google has even been getting really bad with TV show episode availability updates for shows I have never watched or searched for? Or is that some other app? I think the shark is…

If you are on iOS, I recommend scheduling Do Not Disturb at night.

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#73

Post by dionidium »

ajross wrote: post #39

At this point I'm genuinely wondering if they're about to Digg themselves into a amusingly-recursive grave. All it would take is one great, open forum site to absorb the refugees from a terrible management mistep, and they're toast. Just like Digg.

>All it would take is one great, open forum site to absorb the refugees from a terrible management mistep, and they're toast

I doubt it. Unlike Digg, Reddit has community lock-in. If your content is generic memes and videos and general-interest news articles, then you can switch without caring too much if everybody else follows right away.

But if you’re in a small city sub or the sub of some niche hobby or interest, then it matters a lot if everybody else agrees to move. You want to be where the other people are and it’s really hard to get an entire community to organize somewhere else. A site that can pull 20% of a small sub’s users isn’t 20% as good. It’s useless.

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#74

Post by chapium »

kirubakaran wrote: post #10

I'm thankful for their new design, actually. After many years of trying, I have now managed to successfully kick my Reddit habit completely and have gained precious hours in my day.

Same here! After repeatedly getting redirected to an app and mobile version of their site, i began asking myself why i put up with this on Reddit and not elsewhere.

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#75

Post by s-shellfish »

TheCoelacanth wrote: post #68
s-shellfish wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do feel vastly more productive with my life without Reddit. Conversations on HN - I feel an odd kind of inclusion I never felt on Reddit, or many other places in real life, internet. More signal than noise, makes it easier for me to feel like I have focus. The design of HN also, I appreciate, seems more thought went into planning the vote system, different ways to think about communities, different values. Knowing…

I think attributing the difference between HN and Reddit to design choices is inaccurate. The biggest difference is that HN has only a tiny fraction of the number of users that Reddit does. HN feels pretty similar to the way Reddit felt ten years ago when it was much less popular.

Eh, HN feels the same way HN felt ten years ago. I don't have the same feelings about Reddit. The only difference to me is there's actually some subtle sort of connection I feel here, that goes deeper than the number of upvotes. Maybe I'm selecting my own bubble to exist in, but here I feel like I can at least have doubt over that. Design choices, hacker philosophy, actual usage demonstrated practically - that all lines up from my perspective.

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#76

Post by [deleted] »

tgtweak wrote: post #41

The app doesn't have ad blockers and they can spam notifications, hence the push. Also I'm sure somewhere "mobile users" is a metric in a company valuation equation. Pinterest is the worst offender of a mobile app that doesn't need to exist since the web counterpart can do 100% of the job. This being a product that leveraged JavaScript in browser bookmarks to get "pins" without an app or extension. When Reddit stoppe…

[deleted]

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#77

Post by rainonmoon »

nunez wrote: post #53
s-shellfish wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do feel vastly more productive with my life without Reddit. Conversations on HN - I feel an odd kind of inclusion I never felt on Reddit, or many other places in real life, internet. More signal than noise, makes it easier for me to feel like I have focus. The design of HN also, I appreciate, seems more thought went into planning the vote system, different ways to think about communities, different values. Knowing…

It's possible to de-noise Reddit if you're picky about your subscriptions and avoid /r/all. Reddit is actually quite useful for me because of that.

Possible to an extent. I'm also picky about my subs and I find Reddit a lot better than its public perception would suggest, but some of my interests are still apparently impossible to indulge on Reddit without trading off between a frequently toxic community or dead subs. And I've seen the transition from latter to former happen too many times; alt subreddits like /r/Games used to be wonderful, but now tips into an /r/gaming sensibility more than I'd like. Don't get me wrong, this isn't always the case, but I think it's difficult for subreddits to adhere to community guidelines like HN contributors do because going from obscure to critical mass can happen so rapidly.

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#78

Post by trevor-e »

Ancalagon wrote: post #3

And please go back to the old reddit, before the redesign. I can't stand it.

I like the new design a lot, everything is consistent and easier to read now. Opening links in a popover is nice (although a little laggy) because I don't lose my scroll position after closing the page, which eliminates needing the Reddit Enhancement Suite extension. The page is also responsive now, previously the side bar would restrict the comment area.

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#79

Post by natrik »

s-shellfish wrote: post #75
TheCoelacanth wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think attributing the difference between HN and Reddit to design choices is inaccurate. The biggest difference is that HN has only a tiny fraction of the number of users that Reddit does. HN feels pretty similar to the way Reddit felt ten years ago when it was much less popular.

Eh, HN feels the same way HN felt ten years ago. I don't have the same feelings about Reddit. The only difference to me is there's actually some subtle sort of connection I feel here, that goes deeper than the number of upvotes. Maybe I'm selecting my own bubble to exist in, but here I feel like I can at least have doubt over that. Design choices, hacker philosophy, actual usage demonstrated practically - that all li…

https://meaningness.com/geeks-mops-sociopaths

Interesting article I suggest reading.

I agree with TheCoelacanth that an increase in users will lead to a decrease in quality.

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#80

Post by blt »

underwater wrote: post #11
colanderman wrote: post #7

I'm surprised that's their only problem with the mobile site. I purposely do not follow Reddit links because they show me a spinner for 7 seconds before showing the text of self posts. I can only assume that this delay to show a kilobyte of text is purposeful and meant to further steer users to the app, and not simply gross engineering incompetence, since the desktop site loads instantly. (Though, thank you to the OP…

Ironically the mobile site is a full single page app, while the desktop site (or at least the old one) was mostly server rendered. It's not impossible to create a fast mobile client rendered site (Twitter have done well) but it's certainly not as easy as it is with plain old HTML.

The new desktop site sucks too. The old one was great, information dense, no bullshit.
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