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Ask HN: What was the outcome of Reddit blackout?

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Re: Ask HN: What was the outcome of Reddit blackout?

#321

Post by fulladder »

hamandcheese wrote: post #45

I never was a huge Reddit user before, but I have noticed an increase in lower-quality reddit-style comments here on HN in the last year or so. Thankfully they usually get downvoted or are already dead. I might have to turn off showdead though.

Yes, I've noticed this trend too. I find this entire thread positively alarming because an influx of Reddit users can be deadly for online communities.

Reddit was useful because it kept those people contained within the reddit.com domain. Now, I fear they are loose on the Internet and we may see many sites/apps/federations quickly deteriorate into uselessness.

Re: Ask HN: What was the outcome of Reddit blackout?

#323

Post by paulddraper »

paulddraper wrote: post #209
thaumaturgy wrote: post #48

The end result was a stalemate. Reddit did not change any of its policies. Enough of the people responsible for posting and managing content left the platform to cause a noticeable impact on it. Here's a fun thing to look at, https://subredditstats.com/ for any major subreddit, e.g.: https://subredditstats.com/r/worldnews https://subredditstats.com/r/explainlikeimfive https://subredditstats.com/r/videos All of the mo…

It wasn't a "stalemate," Reddit got its way and the subreddits were reopened.

And despite some users leaving, is a steady #18 on SimilarWeb.

That's not to say that Reddit has a great, glorious future. But by any quantifiable metrics, Reddit "won."

Re: Ask HN: What was the outcome of Reddit blackout?

#324

Post by sadtoot »

cxx wrote: post #21
sorahn wrote: post #7

My outcome was the shutdown of Apollo, rather than the blackout. I no longer read Reddit on my phone. (Except for a link or two clicked from something else, but even then I go to `old.reddit` instead to read the comments). That was really where I wasted the most time on it. It’s kind of a relief. I think I was too “lazy” to stop on my own because Apollo was so comfortable to use.

Apollo's shutdown was a blessing in disguise, I was addicted to Reddit and wasted hours on it before going to sleep. Thanks to that event I no longer browse or even feel the need to see what's going on, it's like quitting smoking, I literally feel better and relieved that I quit. I don't think I would've been able to stop on my own either, Apollo made it too easy.

i feel this way about twitter since logged out users can't browse tweets anymore. now i can give myself just a tiny bit of friction to break the habit. i still waste time on my phone, but at least it's not quite so effortless now

Re: Ask HN: What was the outcome of Reddit blackout?

#325

Post by fulladder »

0xbadcafebee wrote: post #158
hamandcheese wrote: post #45

I never was a huge Reddit user before, but I have noticed an increase in lower-quality reddit-style comments here on HN in the last year or so. Thankfully they usually get downvoted or are already dead. I might have to turn off showdead though.

How do you know they're Reddit-style if you weren't a regular Reddit user? This is literally one of the most common complaints about HN, and has been repeated continuously since HN's inception. It's in your mind. Every forum's activity changes over time, especially as it continues to grow. It's not becoming more like Reddit. Reddit just becomes more like "a forum that grows over time", like every other forum does. Et…

This is one of the highest quality comments I have seen here in a long time. Ironic that it complains about "quality."

First, you caught my attention by dropping a powerful and memorable term (eternal september). Second, you followed up with an entirely accurate indictment of the problems with this site.

However, you lost your way a little bit at the end. Is it really that hard to recognize that Reddit-tier comments are uniquely low quality content? For at least a decade, that whole site has been overrun by angry people posting comments that not only do not contribute to any sort of intelligent discussion, but actually deter more thoughtful and reasonable people from even bothering to try to contribute. How is this at all controversial for you?

Re: Ask HN: What was the outcome of Reddit blackout?

#326

Post by neilv »

Biggest outcome: I'm no longer surprised when Web-searching a problem, getting to a Reddit post that might have the answer, and... the top-voted comment on that post has been deleted (or replaced with some text about protesting Reddit policy changes).

Re: Ask HN: What was the outcome of Reddit blackout?

#327

Post by baby »

sorahn wrote: post #7

My outcome was the shutdown of Apollo, rather than the blackout. I no longer read Reddit on my phone. (Except for a link or two clicked from something else, but even then I go to `old.reddit` instead to read the comments). That was really where I wasted the most time on it. It’s kind of a relief. I think I was too “lazy” to stop on my own because Apollo was so comfortable to use.

I basically stopped using reddit when they came up with the new web UI, and then pushed me to download the app on mobile. They obviously don't care about users.

Re: Ask HN: What was the outcome of Reddit blackout?

#328

Post by system2 »

lagniappe wrote: post #295
system2 wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were. Similarly Unidan's crow stuff. I miss those days of reddit.

Honest mistake, pretty sure you mean jackdaw stuff.

Crow, jackdaw, from the same family. I am surprised I remember that much :)

Re: Ask HN: What was the outcome of Reddit blackout?

#329

Post by johnnyanmac »

kmlevitt wrote: post #293
srcreigh wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is your sub growing?

Yes, still. I’m a mod on a few other decent sized subs (30k-ish) actually and most of them are still growing, unless the topic at hand is clearly outdated.

Reddit throttled its API usage a month before the great 3rd party purge, so I'm guessing whatever collection method that site was using simply doesn't work correctly anymore. Or worse yet, the remnants of the API spits out completely incorrect data itself.

Sounds like Reddit itself has recovered in terms of raw numbers, but I (and others) have noticed yet another downtick in quality. Lot more bots (AI craze doesn't help. And despite the API narrative being used to counter them, they probably suferent the least), comments seem to be as hostile as early pandemic. But these are hard to measure objectively.

Re: Ask HN: What was the outcome of Reddit blackout?

#330

Post by Pathogen-David »

dv35z wrote: post #156
sixothree wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me it is YouTube 100%. I really just used Reddit as a way to kill time. Now I just watch makers doing their thing.

Care to share strong recommendations? Interested in maker spaces, agile, entrepreneurship & prototyping.

Wanted to echo the suggestions of ThisOldTony, BenEater, and bigclivedotcom.

ZackFreedman is another good marker, although he can be a bit goofy.

If you like mechanical things in general, both SouthMainAuto and HVACRVIDEOS are fantastic.

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