Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

reddit.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 658 posts

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#91

Post by mlyle »

SturgeonsLaw wrote: post #78
alwayslikethis wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is for every person like you and me, there are 10 or 100 others who put up with this crap, and reddit attracts people, centralizing communities, giving you little option for alternatives. It drains activities from forums, etc, toward itself as it is presented as a more convenient solution. I for one will try to undo my past contributions to accelerate its decline. The blackout is unlikely to work, but I hop…

> I for one will try to undo my past contributions to accelerate its decline. This is a great idea. I'm going to bulk edit then delete my old comments (I recall reading somewhere that editing them overwrites the original field in the database whereas deleting just sets a deleted flag). Destroys the value that I've created for free for that shitheap, plus it's helpful to make doxxing me harder.

I just bulk-edited them so I could leave a message about why the comment is gone.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#92

Post by filchermcurr »

predictabl3 wrote: post #60

I am absolutely blown away by the number of subs that have gone private and shocked at some napkin math of how many total subscribers are affected. Further, the Discord is well, finally getting a bit too riled up to hear coherently, but is easily the largest live, wholesome gathering of people I've participated in a live event with. And on top of that, numerous people are signing up for Matrix and joining the bridged…

Can you post the Discord link? I didn't know that was a thing... Is it an official Reddit Discord or something just for the current situation?

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#93

Post by jesterman »

filchermcurr wrote: post #92
predictabl3 wrote: post #60

I am absolutely blown away by the number of subs that have gone private and shocked at some napkin math of how many total subscribers are affected. Further, the Discord is well, finally getting a bit too riled up to hear coherently, but is easily the largest live, wholesome gathering of people I've participated in a live event with. And on top of that, numerous people are signing up for Matrix and joining the bridged…

Can you post the Discord link? I didn't know that was a thing... Is it an official Reddit Discord or something just for the current situation?

https://discord.gg/ukXPkeU9 I'm assuming they are talking about this.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#94

Post by MattGaiser »

p-e-w wrote: post #82
MattGaiser wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they converted it to a subreddit with 1.5k subscribers. That definitely belongs in a textbook on absurd corporate decisions. I thought you must have been exaggerating somewhere, but nope, that is exactly how it went. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubsmash https://old.reddit.com/r/dubsmash/

It's only absurd if you misunderstand the true intention. They didn't acquire Dubsmash to profit from its technology and users. They acquired Dubsmash to shut it down. Today's social media corporations are so fat with (venture) capital that they can, and do, spend that kind of money just to keep any potential competitors locked out. TikTok, the last social network that became truly big, was launched in 2016, seven ye…

I get buying it for that purpose, but why then kill it? Especially when it is a personal video platform, when Reddit is mostly an anonymous text platform?

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#95

Post by [deleted] »

shmatt wrote: post #56
_zzaw wrote: post #3

There is only one appropriate, effective response to disrespect, and that is to not reward the offending party. I made it a matter of principle to not use the Reddit app. Even if they removed all ads and made it an acceptable user experience, I'll never use the app as long as they are harassing me about it. It's simple. Don't reward bad behavior. Sometimes, denying obnoxious people something they want means denying y…

I find it funny people have been going on this anti Reddit turning profit crusade, but ignore the fact Reddit is pretty similar to Facebook groups, just has much better ui and indexability And everyone I know in real life who uses Reddit on a daily basis is also in at least 2-3 FB groups. Be it a local mom/dad group, Costco group, the car they own, or something more niche They’re not big Zuckerberg fans but they’re m…

[deleted]

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#96

Post by hapticmonkey »

skinkestek wrote: post #83

I assume this comes in addition to "reminding" me multiple times a day, sometimes when I click a link, sometimes seemingly on a timer loop while I am just reading, that they have an app? Yes. I tried the app. The app is better not because it is good but because they deliberately break the web. Also the app seems to eat battery and I am planning on charging my new iPhone 14 twice a day to use it or jump through hoops…

There's a free safari extension for iOS that blocks the "use our app" popup on reddit mobile site. It's sad that such a thing even needs to exist.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#97

Post by klardotsh »

andersrs wrote: post #63

I'm the mod of a small subreddit [1] with a few thousand members. Today I've spun up a Discord server [2]. Personally I've had a guts full of the banners trying to force the Reddit mobile app down my throat. It sucks it's a shitty app. Just no. I don't like how Discord is a walled garden however it seems like Reddit too is also becoming a closed platform. I might as well go for the company that can actually build a g…

There's so many places you could take your community that aren't another VC-backed SV startup well on its way to trying to be the next TikTok or whatever (see the Discord username change fiasco).

Try Discourse, or Zulip (disclaimer: I used to work there), or Mastodon, or spin up your own forum using any number of self-hostable solutions. Try anything but Discord. Future you will thank you when Discord is the one in the news some future day.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#99

Post by LaundroMat »

Scaevolus wrote: post #34
jletienne wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

man I did this with facebook and it obliterated my social connections. it doesn’t make sense from a micro perspective, game theory sucks man i installed instagram in december and it’s so much easier to make friends. I feel in touch with what’s going on in the community

That's how Meta pulls you in, but reddit has always felt less user-focused than subreddit and comment-focused. Read a link, make some smalltalk about it asynchronously for a few hours, move on. Reddit is probably among the least sticky social media sites because of it.

It may be less sticky from a social perspective, but its comprehensiveness is (was?) its strength to me. I often search Reddit for very specific questions about a range of subjects. That's what I come back to it for.

(Although it's been a while now; the user hostility is just too much).

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#100

Post by jmyeet »

Like many or most of us, I've long been annoyed by Reddit's nagspam to install the app or just use a browser (on mobile). It's annoying, particularly because the app is shitty. As others have said, the browser experience is just significantly better (eg tabs, pinch-to-zoom).

Forcing you into the app is next level.

I'm surprised some have put them in the same boat as Tiktok. Compare the logged out mobile Web experience of clicking on a Tiktok link to, say, Instagram and then get back to me. Tiktok just works and plays the video. IG nags you to login. And the page is slow to load. Like how IG Reels expects to be aserious Tiktok competitor is completely beyond me.

But we're doomed to repeat this pattern with Reddit and whatever eventually succeeds it:

1. Company creates app/website for users to create content;

2. Users create content. The company does everything it can to create hypergrowth;

3. At some point the owners decide to extract value from the user-generated content through ads, selling information, etc. It's easier to monetize an app than a website so you'll get nagged (and eventually forced) into installing the app;

4. There will be cries of protest. Comapny will mollify its users by partially backpedalling;

5. It'll quietly just roll forward with the changes months later after users have accepted the partial changes from (4);

6. Go to (3).

At some point the site turns into Myspace, Geocities, Experts Exchange, etc and users eventually leave and the cycle repeats itself.

This model is broken.

Post reply on HN