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

Reddit Doubles Down

platformer.news

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

331–340 of 462 posts

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#331

Post by dann0 »

I deleted my account and my contributions. I'm very curious to see the change in user numbers from this as well.

If the number isn't very large, I'll concede that I either over-reacted or the total number of bots is way larger than I imagined. If the number of bots is large, this affects their valuation.

If the number is large, it shows that the primary asset, the user base, has reduced and this also affects their valuation.

I can't see how they can come out of this looking as valuable as before.

I wouldn't like to be an investor.

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#332

Post by Terr_ »

giantrobot wrote: post #321
anoonmoose wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Due to some quirk of when and how I used the Internet, I not only never used Digg but have only really heard of it in relation to the exodus you mentioned. So, interestingly, I don't remember the exodus but I also feel like people talk about Digg.com all the time (as a cautionary tale).

Digg was a social bookmarking site like Reddit. It originally ran on user submission of links, user voting, and then user comments on those links. It had a separate slew of problems than Reddit does today but it did have a similarity in laughably myopic and user despising management. Digg decided that taking user submissions didn't make them enough money so they changed the model to letting sites pay to submit links.…

> Digg basically turned into PRWire with a comment section.

Plus compared to Reddit, any kind of real discussion was a pain in the ass. (As opposed to a bunch of people sequentially shouting into the void in an un-threaded manner.)

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#333

Post by predictabl3 »

afavour wrote: post #279
predictabl3 wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They better get their buck quick before investors realize what that means for the future of content on reddit. Because much as some folks here seem to believe, there IS actually more to reddit, reddit as it exists today, than just ad impression counts. I'm not some social media genius but the way that this being talked about by some people, who I guess haven't been a part of reddit over 17+ years, I am flabbergasted…

> how y'all think these things grow and thrive Reddit has grown and has thrived, now the company is prioritising turning on the money tap. They’re prepared to lose X users if it means they can monetise the remaining users by Y amount. I’m not saying this as a defence, I’ve also been using Reddit for 15+ years and I’m disappointed by what I see. I’m just clear eyed about the game plan.

I totally agree. I just think the mental calculations some folks are doing don't even come close to accounting for power users, mods, and the amount that some of those pissed off users made reddit what it is.

I guess I just find it baffling that people think that the site will have the same value it had today (to users and advertisers) if it is loses its soul. I don't even think I'm being idealistic. I've been through this before. Reddit is more than a view count, or else people wouldn't care they way we do. Did? Something.

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#334

Post by Semaphor »

jprete wrote: post #280
tetris11 wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pushshift was the best unofficial reddit API for years, and did so without any funding problems

I'm talking about deterring ML data harvesting, or at least getting a better price for it.

If it were about ML, why did they go heavily after third-party apps, even making up lies about one of the developers?

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#335

Post by Semaphor »

jy1 wrote: post #289
jrm4 wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why the users aren't just leaving? Surely the software/infrastructure can't be that hard to replicate, especially on a "subreddit" level? Why don't a few big mods just go this route and tell everyone else?

Network effect. The mods don't really offer anything. People won't leave for another platform because there's no content/community. It's even hard for an individual subreddit to leave because a single subreddit isn't enough to be self-sustaining.

> a single subreddit isn't enough to be self-sustaining.

They said, on a website that is essentially a single subreddit.

Unless you mean financially.

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#336

Post by drdaeman »

gardnr wrote: post #203
roody15 wrote: post #96

It seems that the end game of corporate controlled social media is for corporate interests to control what you read or watch. Happened with the feed of Facebook. originally was a true social network where you scrolled through what your family and friends posted. Now it is a algorithm designed to maximize attention and sell influence, Happened with YouTube. Used to be really pro independent user … now the search funct…

Have you checked out lemmy yet? https://join-lemmy.org/instances

What's to see there?

I hate to admit, but this comment pretty much sums it up: https://sopuli.xyz/comment/209870 (first part talks about communities in general, the rest is about r/Dota2 in particular - but can mostly be applied to most other subreddits)

I really don't want it to be like this, but it sums up perfectly how I feel about it. I'm not on Reddit to make posts - about 99.999% of time I don't have anything to post, and those five minutes a year when I possibly do aren't today. I'm lurking around, then maybe participating in comments, chatting with people or just expressing My Importantly Worthless Opinions(tm).

I've checked out Fediverse and it's essentially empty. Those who make all the posts I was commenting on haven't moved there. If they will, I will visit, for sure. But if they won't (and seems that they won't) - I won't stick around simply because there's nothing to do there for me, personally (I'm no content producer).

Blackout doesn't address this. Neither are all those "check out Lemmy/Kbin/... posts" I've seen.

Reddit knows this and that's why they call users like me "noise". I guess, moderators included (as I get it, most mods don't post - they have a different role)?

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#337

Post by bombcar »

basch wrote: post #314
raincole wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal (cynical) bet is that Huffman actually understands what Reddit is better than us, and Reddit will be just fine after this. To be completely honest, if a two-day blackout is proven to be the most serious "protest" the community can do, I'll buy Reddit stock when it IPO.

Is there any measure of how many accounts were scrubbed by scripts and deleted?

Sounds like something you could use an API to find out … oh wait.

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#338

Post by data-ottawa »

mattmcknight wrote: post #250

He's reading it totally backwards. Most general subs I look at are hating on the mods for blacking out. People are creating alternative communities, but on reddit.

There’s also a filter where lots of users in favour of the blackout are not commenting during the blackout, so you’re only seeing one opinion amplify itself.

Numbers are probably closer to 20% care than 50%, but the effect would be visible regardless.

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#339

Post by refulgentis »

a2tech wrote: post #142
judge2020 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An influx of capital would be easier by making everyone pay $10/mo to access the API via third-party clients. Would still be unpopular but would mean people could still have the experience they want to see from reddit. but that's the issue - Reddit's been focusing on other forms of content only in the native Reddit app, like TikTok-esque live streams and promoted posts from subs you aren't subscribed to.

They have a $4/month product ALL ready that removes ads and gives you more features. Making that a requirement to use the API is by FAR the simplest and most profitable option. Its also more profit then they're proposing to get from their API charges

I don't understand the Apollo side of this --- that's literally what he's being offered, by his own math. $3/month/user. Fairs fair. He has enough users to make millions a year: their servers aren't his for free forever.

People are tying themselves into knots turning Reddit into either near-bankrupt or evil. Or hyper-focusing on particular elements that are just disputable human interactions, like most (i.e. suggesting he could optimize API calls isn't some slap in the face & shitting on his app. really immature!)

I have absolutely 0 dog in this fight, no huge reddit fan, I just don't like how many people I see bamboozled by him. Extremely manipulative behavior.

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#340

Post by fud101 »

paxys wrote: post #49

It will be interesting to see the eventual outcome of this saga. I have already seen backlash against the backlash in many subs. /r/NBA, which was mentioned in the article, had a poll one day before the blackout and made the decision based on 8000 votes (out of a total 8+ million members). Casual users were not happy to find out that they would have nowhere to discuss the most important game of the season, and the mo…

/r/nba would have seen a huge drop right after the finals anyway.
Post reply on HN