Reddit was down for over two hours • Hacker News Board

Re: Reddit was down for over two hours

#71

Post by Chris_Chambers » Wed, Sep 18, 2019, 11:17 PM UTC

dondawest wrote: post #65

pjc50 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, who does the moderation, new group creation, and antispam? Those were always problems.

Exactly. Will this new platform provide a safe space for the brilliant minds at /r/fatpeoplehate? /s The problem with all anti-censorship platforms is that they become hate platforms by default, because only people who get deplatformed have an incentive to move there, and it’s mostly hateful loudmouths who get deplatformed.

The problem with all pro-censorship platforms is that they become hivemind platforms by default, because only people who are worried about catering to the specific opinions of the site hivemind have an incentive to stay there, and it’s mostly smoothbrain dipshits who stay there.

By the way, go fuck yourself.

Re: Reddit was down for over two hours

#72

Post by otterley » Wed, Sep 18, 2019, 11:17 PM UTC

manigandham wrote: post #59

Klonoar wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citing UX in a thread about Reddit, the company with an almost universally hated redesign that moved away from a mostly text-based condensed format is... interesting.

Every user engagement metric has increased since the redesign. Unfortunate for some of us, and it doesn't preclude the metrics measuring the wrong thing, but that's reality on the ground. Same reason why Gmail is a bloated mess, because that's what the metrics show is wanted by users.

I don't disagree, but "engagement" does not necessarily reflect value to the user. Taking more time to accomplish one's goal (e.g., obtain information) than necessary may improve engagement metrics from the service's perspective, but from the user's perspective, that's extra time that might have been wasted and better spent on other things.

Re: Reddit was down for over two hours

#73

Post by devmunchies » Wed, Sep 18, 2019, 11:17 PM UTC

manigandham wrote: post #59

Klonoar wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citing UX in a thread about Reddit, the company with an almost universally hated redesign that moved away from a mostly text-based condensed format is... interesting.

Every user engagement metric has increased since the redesign. Unfortunate for some of us, and it doesn't preclude the metrics measuring the wrong thing, but that's reality on the ground. Same reason why Gmail is a bloated mess, because that's what the metrics show is wanted by users.

personally I've probably spent an hour on Reddit in the last year. I used to spend a couple hours a day. After it modernized I realized it was just facebook for introverts and bailed.

Re: Reddit was down for over two hours

#74

Post by EpicEng » Wed, Sep 18, 2019, 11:18 PM UTC

ses1984 wrote: post #50

EpicEng wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They make a lot more than does the little outfit I work for and we manage it.

How much does reddit make, I wouldn't be surprised if it operates at a loss.

It definitely does, just like so many VC funded companies, but they could afford to fix their deploys. The reddit back end is notoriously bad and, judging by their new UI, it isn't getting better.

Re: Reddit was down for over two hours

#75

Post by Angostura » Wed, Sep 18, 2019, 11:18 PM UTC

manigandham wrote: post #48

bitwize wrote: post #27

Y'know, the toll that all this activity takes on Reddit's servers gave me an idea for a sort of distributed Reddit. News links and stories assorted into topic-based groups, with the option for users to comment or respond to others' comments in a threaded discussion. It would be completely decentralized and belong to the users, not some central media company. We could call it Users' Network, or USENET for short. We co…

Except UX is everything. 100s of billions in corporate value are based on nothing more than better UX. If only everyone who talks about usenet, IRC, and the rest could actually be bothered to update the experience to what modern users demand.

> Except UX is everything.

I see you haven't visited Reddit lately ;)

Re: Reddit was down for over two hours

#76

Post by chiph » Wed, Sep 18, 2019, 11:18 PM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #55

bitwize wrote: post #27

Y'know, the toll that all this activity takes on Reddit's servers gave me an idea for a sort of distributed Reddit. News links and stories assorted into topic-based groups, with the option for users to comment or respond to others' comments in a threaded discussion. It would be completely decentralized and belong to the users, not some central media company. We could call it Users' Network, or USENET for short. We co…

So, who does the moderation, new group creation, and antispam? Those were always problems.

We'll crowd-source that.

Re: Reddit was down for over two hours

#77

Post by otterley » Wed, Sep 18, 2019, 11:18 PM UTC

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #67

manigandham wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every user engagement metric has increased since the redesign. Unfortunate for some of us, and it doesn't preclude the metrics measuring the wrong thing, but that's reality on the ground. Same reason why Gmail is a bloated mess, because that's what the metrics show is wanted by users.

> Every user engagement metric has increased since the redesign. Doesn't that just mean that users are spending more time on the site because it's so much more of a pain to get what they actually want out of it? Like, you could increase "user engagement" of a shopping mall by turning it into a labyrinth and rearranging the shops every day.

Alas, Costco does just that (rearranges where things are) to improve "discoverability." Drives me nuts!

Re: Reddit was down for over two hours

#78

Post by manigandham » Wed, Sep 18, 2019, 11:18 PM UTC

sha666sum wrote: post #62

manigandham wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except UX is everything. 100s of billions in corporate value are based on nothing more than better UX. If only everyone who talks about usenet, IRC, and the rest could actually be bothered to update the experience to what modern users demand.

You know, the people who talk about USENET and IRC are people who don't want to be "updated" to what modern users demand. I don't know if you've had a look around you lately, but the modern internet is a dumpster fire. Anyways, ideally you would be able to connect to services with whichever client you want. You could use a pretty eye candy client, or then not. With the web, however, it's an impossible feat to impleme…

Modern internet is both good and bad. Depends on the site. Generalizations don't work. However if those technologies are to ever be popular than they'll need to be redesigned to keep pace with what the vast majority expect, which is in response to the OPs comment. Otherwise you can already go post on usenet right now.

> "Anyways, ideally you would be able to connect to services with whichever client you want."

Make it happen. This is my other point. People complain that all these fantastic legacy technologies aren't used but nobody puts in the work to modernize and use them. If it was that simple, where are all the companies doing it?

Re: Reddit was down for over two hours

#79

Post by Silhouette » Wed, Sep 18, 2019, 11:20 PM UTC

dymk wrote: post #36

blackhaz wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I wholeheartedly wish Reddit will continue doing what they are doing. As a user, I would vote for scheduled maintenance downtime to many monetization attempts present on other networks.

Looks like they’re having trouble just keeping the lights on without taking VC money. Not exactly a sustainable plan if you value using their service, and they’ve already got early investors pushing them to monetize.

The problem these sites have is that most of us don't particularly value using their service. We might appreciate the facility they offer for free, but what we truly value is the communities that are found there and the information and discussions that originate from those communities.

If Reddit died tomorrow, we'd all shrug and find somewhere else to talk, just like the countless forums we used before Reddit that are no longer with us. Such is the danger for any social media: if all you provide is a commodity platform, you're only ever as valuable as the community you can build and whatever that community is willing to contribute, and ultimately you have very little control over those things.

Re: Reddit was down for over two hours

#80

Post by _asummers » Wed, Sep 18, 2019, 11:20 PM UTC

thrownblown wrote: post #61

Sendotsh wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sign me up. I’d happily contribute to that as much as I can, whenever my parents aren’t using the phone line.

Don't forget to turn off call waiting. I always forgot to turn off call waiting....

I'm showing my youth here, but this is a legitimate question. Isn't call waiting just a thing that exists on the line? Did phones used to have a switch to toggle that? And what was the harm in keeping it on? When I had dial up, I don't recall having to consider call waiting.