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Reddit Strike Has Started

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Re: Reddit Strike Has Started

#431

Post by altonas »

themagician wrote: post #401
OldManRyan wrote: post #314

There's a good number of people saying this strike is meaningless and reddit's API change will only affect a tiny % of users. I want to explain why I believe they are wrong. Engagement is a power curve. Most content is created by a small subset of users. I think it is a fair to say that if you use and especially pay for third party tools, whether that be a client or something like RES, you are more than likely a powe…

Most of the content is also modded by a small subset of mods—literally dozens. You've got maybe a hundred mods who are "power mods" that control the vast majority of large subreddits, and these are the ones "protesting". They don't own the subreddits. They have no rights to them, but they like to pretend that they do. Their moderation has, in many ways, become oppressive to the userbase. You don't hear about it becau…

I'm surprised more people aren't talking about this. I'm active in some video game subreddits and I even mod a video game related sub with about 25k subscribers. And on multiple occasions I've had terrible interactions with those big multi-sub moderators. A particularly infamous multi-sub mod (whom you can probably figure out) has threatened me for my subreddit on multiple occasions, making statements like "I'll have you blacklisted from modding other subs". That same exact mod on multiple occasions has deleted my posts from subs he mods, just to reupload them for karma himself. I don't even care about the karma, I just wish mods wouldn't delete my posts that don't break any rules in any way, shape, or form, especially when it's for blatant karma farming.

If you look around Google you can even find several posts of subreddits getting "liberated" of this particular multi sub mod... Something needs to change so this stops happening

Re: Reddit Strike Has Started

#432

Post by justinhj »

anonred wrote: post #232
justinhj wrote: post #197

Forgive me if I'm making a simplistic reading of this, but it seems the CEO has said that whilst apps and bots are making some good money, Reddit is losing money. Assuming Reddit has already taken cost saving measures (with 2000 staff maybe not), then how can they continue as a business losing money? I wonder if a model would work where all monetization of api calls has to be done through Reddit and the API itself, a…

> all monetization of api calls has to be done through Reddit and the API itself How does this work with IAP and ads? Or do you mean that only Reddit Premium users should have access to third party apps? Because that would be much more expensive than the $2.50/mo that people are riled up about with the new API pricing.

I would say that making money from sites content by putting it somewhere else with your own ads is simply not allowed. What I would allow is you to charge a subscription to use the api which goes to Reddit and you get some cut like 30%.

Re: Reddit Strike Has Started

#433

Post by Lapsa »

wpietri wrote: post #390
AmericanOP wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They wasted half a decade not building promised moderation tools for the people who create value on Reddit. Instead they were busy running cost/benefit analyses on how aggressive the dark patterns to drive users to the maligned mobile app should be.

I still feel bad for whatever web developer had to check in the "this page looks better in the app" banner.

great levels of empathy. and I'm not sarcastic

Re: Reddit Strike Has Started

#434

Post by a2tech »

GenerWork wrote: post #359
istillwritecode wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will continue to use reddit.

Same. One thing that I've noticed is that this seems to be a rebellion of power users and not the average Joe, which is why this has gotten so much traction on HN. To the Average Joe, if Apollo shuts down, they'll just download the Reddit app. However, HN users look at the Apollo dev and see themselves, so they're jumping on this out of solidarity. I personally think this will last a few days and then all the default…

I don't think I agree with you. Every sub I'm on that has asked people if they should go dark (either temporarily or permanently) have seen overwhelming support for the protest. This includes subreddits such as woodworking, our local city sub, and arduino. These subs are NOT made out of power users and they all supported it.

Re: Reddit Strike Has Started

#435

Post by mrtksn »

OldManRyan wrote: post #314

There's a good number of people saying this strike is meaningless and reddit's API change will only affect a tiny % of users. I want to explain why I believe they are wrong. Engagement is a power curve. Most content is created by a small subset of users. I think it is a fair to say that if you use and especially pay for third party tools, whether that be a client or something like RES, you are more than likely a powe…

So, what happens if reddit just kicks out the mods participating? It's not like the owners of the subs actually own anything, they just happen to do work in exchange of clout or money(from 3rd parties). There will be unlimited supply of volunteers waiting in line to acquire this privilege. If anyone actually manages to do some damage, they can just roll back the database or something.

I've seen so many boycotts on the internet and the only one that worked was DIGG->Reddit and it worked only because Reddit was ready to take over.

It would be poetic if Reddit goes away the way it come but I wouldn't bet on it. The relationship is symbiotic but the parties are not equal, it's the platform that holds the power. Unlike the real world where atoms behaviour is absolute, in this virtual environment the platform decides about how the nature works and the only real power is in the hands of those who control the servers.

Re: Reddit Strike Has Started

#436

Post by Wowfunhappy »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #33
bstar77 wrote: post #21

Flashback to Digg.com... I hope the people currently in charge of Reddit know how that event played out... it was the single most significant stroke of luck a fledgling Reddit could have possibly hoped for.

They of course know (at the time of the mass Digg exodus Reddit specifically changed their alien icon to welcome Digg refugees), but the difference is that they are betting on the fact that right now there is no immediately obvious alternative, like Reddit was to Digg a decade ago.

> the difference is that they are betting on the fact that right now there is no immediately obvious alternative, like Reddit was to Digg a decade ago.

Discord.

I know, I know—it's built for real-time chat, it's harder to search, etc etc... but a lot of subreddits already have associated Discord servers. I could see a lot of communities naturally migrating there. Maybe as a temporary stop-gap, maybe permanently.

Younger people in particular seems to use Discord for things I would think belong on a forum.

Re: Reddit Strike Has Started

#437

Post by Lapsa »

JaumeGreen wrote: post #371
GenerWork wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. One thing that I've noticed is that this seems to be a rebellion of power users and not the average Joe, which is why this has gotten so much traction on HN. To the Average Joe, if Apollo shuts down, they'll just download the Reddit app. However, HN users look at the Apollo dev and see themselves, so they're jumping on this out of solidarity. I personally think this will last a few days and then all the default…

The decisions that reddit has taken were not affecting me for now. The new ui was horrible for my use case (text subreddits and focusing on the debate) so I was a old.reddit user. But the way the direction is going, and some experiences in some subs have made me take a decision, and my 12+ year account is no more. It won't matter, and probably reddit will survive, be it as strong as it is now or in a diminished state…

it will. saying that from experience. makes you bit of an outcast though - be ready

Re: Reddit Strike Has Started

#438

Post by miniBill »

TheCaptain4815 wrote: post #428

As I’ve continued to repeat, a change in user preference (mostly from one ideology) is to blame for this. Reddit went from pretty much complete free speech to one of the most censored websites in existence. Huge portions of America now prefer censorship so Reddit has in essence created a moat for themselves. If Americans were more accepting of all speech like before, Reddit clones would be easy to switch to. Now, you…

No? This has nothing to do with freedom of speech or censorship. What are you on about?

[nitpicky note: it's iOS, not IOS - the latter being Cisco's one]

Re: Reddit Strike Has Started

#439

Post by discardedrefuse »

TheCaptain4815 wrote: post #428

As I’ve continued to repeat, a change in user preference (mostly from one ideology) is to blame for this. Reddit went from pretty much complete free speech to one of the most censored websites in existence. Huge portions of America now prefer censorship so Reddit has in essence created a moat for themselves. If Americans were more accepting of all speech like before, Reddit clones would be easy to switch to. Now, you…

Reddit didn't censor itself because Americans are not accepting of free speech. Reddit started censoring itself to appease corporate overlords. And the only reason those corpos embrace censorship is to stay out of the political crosshairs. How long did /r/jailbait exist before getting shutdown in 2011...and only because it was featured on Anderson Cooper?

Re: Reddit Strike Has Started

#440

Post by Wowfunhappy »

dasil003 wrote: post #327
GolfPopper wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there's a fundamental conflict, in that these network effect businesses are terrible as for-profit businesses. They're of great value to those who use them, and indirectly to society as a whole. Yet there's no good way to monetize them (nor does there need to be monetization), and trying to do so damages the functionality of the network. Both Twitter and Reddit would likely be better off (from the POV of the…

Meh, Twitter and Reddit monetize just fine with ads. The problem comes in with VC expectations where everything must 1000x or die. These are not bad businesses, they're just small compared to Facebook or Google. What's needed is mature leadership that recognizes the value comes from the community, and following the private equity playbook of strip-mining the value is short-sighted.

> Meh, Twitter [...] monetize[s] just fine with ads.

Well, not anymore.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/05/technology/twitter-ad-sal...

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