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Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

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Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#121

Post by NoMoreNicksLeft »

m348e912 wrote: post #59
qwertox wrote: post #38

I ask myself on a weekly basis when old.reddit.com will disappear. And there is nothing more cruel than the new Reddit, UI-wise. Even Twitter's "threading" of conversations appears to make more sense, even though I have still not figured out how it works.

old.reddit.com and it's imminent disappearance underscores that there is a still need for a user-centric web browser designed to combat user-hostile web ui. Here are some features I think the browser should have by default (without plugins) Short feature list: - Overwrite website code and display a user-hostile UI of popular sites like reddit/Facebook (this warrants a whole list in itself) - offer a reader view of an…

> Ever seen a password field where you can't paste text for whatever reason. That would not be a thing.

Can anyone explain this one to me? My passwords are impossible to type/memorize, and the password manager's Firefox extension sucks too much to rely on it. It's clearing the clipboard 10 seconds later anyway, so they website's not protecting me.

Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#122

Post by tough »

notatoad wrote: post #108
tough wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny both Alexis is a VC now, and he actually invested in kevin's NFT 10k PFP (Moonbrids) The Reddit Mafia

reddit basically became everything the founders mocked when they first started it. https://sp.reddit.com/reddit2.html

That's why you never sell yourself as the hero,

Or you'll just wait long enough to become the villain

Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#123

Post by nullc »

dangus wrote: post #109
nullc wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd agree that people aren't invoking him because they care about him personally, people seldom give a darn when someone else isn't being given full credit. But I think it doesn't have anything to do with martyrdom: People were complaining about the reddit thing wrt Aaron while he was alive too. The comments are driven out of concern and feelings of loss related to reddit's former perceived public-spirited democratic…

Perhaps you’re right…which brings up another point: all these people building idealist products need to stop selling out to investors and acquiring companies. The recent news about Imgur violating its original purpose of being the anti-photobucket image host for Reddit is the same thing, and even worse: Imgur was bootstrapped. A founder can’t be said to have an idealist perspective if they sell their idealist platfor…

hah. For Dorsey the point that happened was when he made it public, I believe he's said he regretted that! :)

But I think the invocation of imgur brings up a good point. Was what we believed imgur to be ever actually economically viable? They were "bootstrapped" but $40 million in 2013, back before almost all of their impact.

At least some of the funded things that 'sell out' were just never viable to begin with.

It's far from clear to me that reddit couldn't have become more like Wikipedia-- driven by its community and funded through public support-- but there are lots of things that we could decry for violating their purpose that I think couldn't exist economically in their original more public-spirited form.

I find myself wondering more how often alternatives that are viable but just a little less good are driven out of the market or prevented from ever being created by funded alternatives which aren't viable... leaving us stuck on a bait and switch tread-mill while the services we actually need die for lack of support.

Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#124

Post by exsf0859 »

LegitShady wrote: post #74
exsf0859 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit recently announced changes to their APIs pricing and features that will probably lead to the abandonment of most third-party Reddit clients. Users of those clients are upset. https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/12ram0f/had_a_fe...

but lets say they're upset enough to leave - where will they go en masse that replaces reddit?

I doubt they'll go anywhere en masse. They'll probably just grudgingly use the official clients. Possibly with browser plugins to customize the UI.

Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#125

Post by canadianfella »

bigcloud1299 wrote: post #4

Most of social platforms are nothing but feature AOL back in the day. They got a different look and feel. Some are cross over of ICQ and AOL (WhatsApp) AOL messenger Chat rooms (discord, telegram) Twitter is nothing but public chat room.

[dead]

Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#126

Post by Aloha »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #114
stametseater wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The problem with all of these sites is they start to service the lowest common denominator in the name of next quarters profits. [...] It seems so clear to me that billionaires mean we can't have nice things" The pressure to increase quarterly profits to the detriment of the long-term emerges from the very nature of short-term investment, particularly as facilitated by stock exchanges. Eliminating billionaires woul…

Yes, Reddit is not even part of a publicly listed company that has investor pressure to meet quarterly numbers, it is privately owned by the Newhouse family. People just like having more money than less money. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_Publications

I think reddit is majority owned by Reddit employees.

Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#127

Post by jacquesm »

faeriechangling wrote: post #35
earthscienceman wrote: post #7

This is a nice time to remind everyone that Aaron Swartz died while fighting for a freer internet and a freer world. He is, by Paul Graham, considered a founder of reddit but is rarely mentioned in these stories. Instead of trying to go for broke and grind till he could cash out, Aaron put his skin in the game for what the internet should become. Which gets more relevant everyday that the internet megacorps consolida…

I've felt for a decade now, even though the two weren't directly linked, that the death of Aaron Schwartz was the symbolic death of Reddit's soul. Nowadays the website is a dark pattern hellscape that forces app downloads for "age verification" and just because you scrolled through too many comments. Schwartz is dead and Ohanian is a multi-millionaire married to an olympian, so I guess that tells you about what socie…

Swartz.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz

Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#128

Post by 7373737373 »

Aloha wrote: post #126
lotsofpulp wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, Reddit is not even part of a publicly listed company that has investor pressure to meet quarterly numbers, it is privately owned by the Newhouse family. People just like having more money than less money. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_Publications

I think reddit is majority owned by Reddit employees.

The lack of ownership transparency is an absolute failure. Reddit should not have been for profit anyway

Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#129

Post by Eisenstein »

ROTMetro wrote: post #113
hayst4ck wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is the day I will quit reddit and never look back. 6 months ago I rarely used old.reddit.com, but now I run into more and more dark patterns all the time. They tried to TikTok my feed and it was an awful experience. I frequently default to it now instead of using it only when I get sick of the dark patterns. Reddit got popular because Digg screwed up their comment threading. It's sad to see reddit is starting to…

The entire Internet at the 'fantastic' time of Reddit was very much tilted towards the elite class that could 1. Afford an expensive computer or phone (or have access from University) 2. Afford Internet (and for an added bump of exclusivity add mobile Internet) (or have access from University) 3. Have the time/inclination to put lots of energy into CREATING Internet content (via either a hobby site, or composing well…

Sure, having a group of people who are of the same general education, sensibilities, and class is desirable.

When people who are only in the same space due to shared interests and experiences become too inclusive then that gets diluted and they are left being around a lot of people who are just a lot of people. No one likes that except extroverts and attention seekers.

Trying to shame us for pining for the days of educated and interesting content made by people we relate to for reasons that are not tied to monetizing everything (because, well, we don't need it) is silly, because by pretending you think that is wrong means you are either short-sighted or bitter.

This is not to say that exclusivity is desirable, but to say that communities exist for a reason and being nostalgic about losing a healthy one does not make you a bad person.

Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#130

Post by hayst4ck »

ROTMetro wrote: post #113
hayst4ck wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is the day I will quit reddit and never look back. 6 months ago I rarely used old.reddit.com, but now I run into more and more dark patterns all the time. They tried to TikTok my feed and it was an awful experience. I frequently default to it now instead of using it only when I get sick of the dark patterns. Reddit got popular because Digg screwed up their comment threading. It's sad to see reddit is starting to…

The entire Internet at the 'fantastic' time of Reddit was very much tilted towards the elite class that could 1. Afford an expensive computer or phone (or have access from University) 2. Afford Internet (and for an added bump of exclusivity add mobile Internet) (or have access from University) 3. Have the time/inclination to put lots of energy into CREATING Internet content (via either a hobby site, or composing well…

> What everyone on Hacker News seems to long for is an Internet limited to 'that class' of people.

Yep, that is exactly what I want. I want to be around and interact with other educated people who act in good faith and I don't want to be around uneducated people who act in bad faith or can't see or aren't open to the contradictions in their own ideas.

Eternal September is the name of this idea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_News

  Graham stated he hopes to avoid the Eternal September 
  that results in the general decline of intelligent 
  discourse within a community.
http://paulgraham.com/hackernews.html

  The good things in a community site come from people more 
  than technology; it's mainly in the prevention of bad 
  things that technology comes into play. Technology 
  certainly can enhance discussion. Nested comments do, for 
  example. But I'd rather use a site with primitive 
  features and smart, nice users than a more advanced one 
  whose users were idiots or trolls.
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