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Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

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Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#411

Post by devnullbrain »

lozenge wrote: post #392
c7b wrote: post #357

There's something that I don't get about forcing mobile browser users into mobile apps - how does it make sense for the company? They're forcing themselves into a walled garden, where the gardener takes a hefty "app store tax" on your revenues and has countless levers to force you to style the app how it suits their interests, not yours. For some apps, this might still be the best way to gain traction. But if have al…

If the user follows a link to an article or video, there's a high chance it'll be the end of their reddit session, due to distraction or back button capture. There's also a high chance the browser will unload the reddit page causing a flash of no content and potentially losing the user's scroll position. After a few rounds of this the user will leave in frustration. Now they could use the tabs feature, but this is ag…

>If the user follows a link to an article or video, there's a high chance it'll be the end of their reddit session, due to distraction or back button capture.

Ironically this is made worse by apps teaching users not to multitask. You can't open a tab to read later.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#412

Post by maven29 »

VHRanger wrote: post #404
timbre1234 wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's 100% about being able to stop adblockers

On mobile? Apart from a few geeks using firefox on android, mobile browsers generally dont hinder ads

Every single browser except Chrome would be a better way to put it.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#413

Post by TheBigSalad »

marcosdumay wrote: post #58
benatkin wrote: post #17

People don't complain as much when Apple does stuff like this.

Apple customers don't complain a lot. When you keep selecting people for an specific behavior, you get a population biased towards that behavior. If you suddenly decide you want something else, then you have a problem.

Apple people are a weird cult to me. I think Apple is happy to have a subset of customers willing to pay exorbitant prices, and fine with a large chunk of people (like me) who won't buy any of their products.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#414

Post by TeMPOraL »

cshimmin wrote: post #360
thomasahle wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's interesting everything trying to be TikTok. As a user, if I wanted TikTok i'd use TikTok. I don't want TikTok, so I don't use TikTok. > ... > It's sad when every tech company tries to replicate another companies features ditching the very thing which their users originally joined them for. I wonder if we might give this a name like "tradegy of the social networks". It's easy to see how a company, like Meta/Ins…

Tragedy of the socials

Tragedy of the socialites? Tragedy of the socialite capitalism?

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#415

Post by post-it »

pixel3234 wrote: post #271
tiew9Vii wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting everything trying to be TikTok. As a user, if I wanted TikTok i'd use TikTok. I don't want TikTok, so I don't use TikTok. I use Facebook mainly for hobby/owners groups these days as that's where a lot of them are. I sometimes use the market place. My feed is mainly my interests, motorbikes, local events, local cafes/restaurants etc etc. Then there's reels i never interact with which get forced on me…

> I wanted TikTok i'd use TikTok You want some experience, but then you describe how Youtube is forcing you to click through shorts and BS as that. I think power users should give up on direct interaction with internet. With youtube you can have a scripts that download videosm, and filter out shorts, ads and other garbage. With news you can just print everything on laser printer... Spotify should be exported as bunch…

Ok Stallman.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#416

Post by sokoloff »

dmix wrote: post #363
c7b wrote: post #357

There's something that I don't get about forcing mobile browser users into mobile apps - how does it make sense for the company? They're forcing themselves into a walled garden, where the gardener takes a hefty "app store tax" on your revenues and has countless levers to force you to style the app how it suits their interests, not yours. For some apps, this might still be the best way to gain traction. But if have al…

You’re assuming there is some cohesive strategy here. It’s better to look at what often happens in practice at a more practical level. Some exec will be constantly getting pressure to make his mobile app growth chart keeping going up. So instead of doing customer research finding out what people want, having a product vision, market research (“why do people like Apollo?”), making the app so good that Redditors tell o…

This argument is at the intersection of “Wet streets cause rain” and “Depressingly likely to be accurate”.

“All these other companies are successful and had experienced large mobile growth along that success. Maybe we can force that same success by boosting our own mobile numbers.”

See also Goodhart’s Law.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#417

Post by baq »

joshribakoff wrote: post #364
dmix wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re assuming there is some cohesive strategy here. It’s better to look at what often happens in practice at a more practical level. Some exec will be constantly getting pressure to make his mobile app growth chart keeping going up. So instead of doing customer research finding out what people want, having a product vision, market research (“why do people like Apollo?”), making the app so good that Redditors tell o…

It sounds like you are saying there is no reason other than pressure, presumably from a board. Perhaps the board has a reason.

The VC board always has the same reason: revenue, revenue per user and their respective quarter over quarter percentage delta. Number go up = good. Number go up less than last quarter = bad. Number not go up = disaster.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#418

Post by jillesvangurp »

_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…

Exactly, don't take it personally just vote with your feet. Reddit doesn't owe you anything. The flip side is that you don't owe it anything either. If they do something you disagree with, that is their good right. But you are of course under no obligation to stick around.

In any case, it looks like Reddit is going to join the ranks of long forgotten startups on a slide towards basically being empty shells of their former selves. More interesting to ask is where the users, content, and attention will go.

I never really cared for Reddit. The signal to noise ratio just feels wrong to me. Lots of people yapping about whatever and just not a lot of stuff that interests me. I lurk in a few sub-reddits but as communities they are pretty weak.

Might be a nice one for Elon Musk to buy. But I'd recommend he does that at a big discount. This company needs the same kind of shock therapy that Twitter received to have a realistic shot at surviving. Including a big layoff round probably. I get that people are still upset about what happened at Twitter, but they too were on a long slide towards irrelevance. It's debatable whether Musk's intervention is going to be good enough of course.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#419

Post by devnullbrain »

GabeIsko wrote: post #257
tiew9Vii wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting everything trying to be TikTok. As a user, if I wanted TikTok i'd use TikTok. I don't want TikTok, so I don't use TikTok. I use Facebook mainly for hobby/owners groups these days as that's where a lot of them are. I sometimes use the market place. My feed is mainly my interests, motorbikes, local events, local cafes/restaurants etc etc. Then there's reels i never interact with which get forced on me…

This just seems to be the strategy they teach at business school, and it never works. I remember in the 2000s, all these mmos were popping up saying they were the "WoW killer". Um, no, people who play WoW already play WoW, and you are really trying to convince everyone who doesn't want to play WoW to play a game that is designed to be very similar. It never made any sense. But I guess if you are a business exec, and…

It's something that does work in other industries. If fantasy books are big you pay someone to write another fantasy book. If people start buying crossovers, you build a crossover.

The difference is that these are replaceable, consumable or temporary. With 'platforms', it's not enough to make something similar to something that someone likes, you have to make something that displaces something someone likes. How someone spends their leisure time is a limited, valuable resource.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#420

Post by fullstop »

Starmina wrote: post #159
hapticmonkey wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You can also use the "Userscripts" extension and add this userscript to https://drop.tf/FaCcNg redirect to "/.i" website.

i.reddit.com just redirects to new reddit now.
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