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r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

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Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#161

I’ll be honest, HN is the last place I’d expect to find people who underestimate the difficulty of creating a social network, but every single post about Reddit lately has had one or more comments about how the creators of Reddit clients should “just” make their own backend and take their users with them.

It's hard if you want it to be a social network, and hard if you want it to be under one domain. If it's a forum to talk about hats for cats at hatsforcats.lol that's not hard, and that's pretty much what the web was pre-Facebook. Is Reddit/Twitter "better" because everything is in one place? Maybe. But then it's a hard problem that requires money, and we end up where Reddit/Twitter are today.

[deleted]

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#162
post #97

I am on reddit quite a bit. I see many announcements that other subreddits are going dark to protest. The api changes seem to be the biggest thing. I am wondering if anyone in the c-suite has taken notice or if they just have blinders on for the IPO. Honestly it is a tough spot to be in. But if you think about it, without the users and moderators, reddit has nothing.

The CEO is doing an AMA about it tomorrow.

Edit: https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/144ho2x/join_our_ce...

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#163

HN might as well just run the headline that Reddit is shutting down permanently. All the major subs are either temporarily or permanently shutting down in protest. Do we have a federated Mastodon-esque system to replace Reddit yet? Its the only way to ensure the community survives at this point; Reddit leadership has already proven they only wish to harm both shareholders and the community at large under the guise of…

"Do we have a federated Mastodon-esque system to replace Reddit yet?" Yes. It's called Lemmy. https://join-lemmy.org Just found out about it today.

It's pretty junior. Buyer beware

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#164

I’ll be honest, HN is the last place I’d expect to find people who underestimate the difficulty of creating a social network, but every single post about Reddit lately has had one or more comments about how the creators of Reddit clients should “just” make their own backend and take their users with them.

The subreddit system makes this incrementally more doable for aggrieved subreddits: they have a better shot of uprooting enough of just their little community and convincing them to move. There's a decent number of users in those smaller subs that don't really have a wide membership in others so moving is more reasonable for them. But this: a) is only a little easier, it's still really hard to move even a tight-knit…

Also, a move isn't really a move unless the content comes along for the ride. I hope ArchiveTeam is on the lookout.

The smaller the subreddit, the easier the move, but there's still the discovery issue, especially since centralized "platforms" are starting to turn into centralized points of failure.

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#165
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why the blackout needs to be permanent. If even 25% of the users have no clue what's happening and thinks Reddit is crapping out for a couple days they'll shrug their shoulders and use it 48 hours later when it's back up. I don't understand what they think they're protesting by timeboxing it .. Reddit can afford wait it out 48 hours and plan for that. I guarantee people are going to get an error they can't vie…

The mods only power in life is on Reddit. If they give that up they lose everything. Once in a while some crazy stats like 5 mods control 20% of the top 500 subreddits pop up, I’ve never tried to validate but there is definitely a small group with a lot of power among mods Their entire purpose in life is being a Reddit mod, they’re the ones people expect to kill Reddit?

Hah, yeah, I've made this same comment on Reddit flippantly on a bunch of subs. I'm not shocked it's a joke subreddit closing down permanently and not something like r/aww or something that would make a difference.

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#166

Imagine Digg taking this opportunity to lure back all the users it lost during the Digg 4 redesign. Now, wouldn't that be something

That would actually be hilarious. I hope the Digg team is scrambling to make themselves a bit more Reddit-like by the 30th, I sure would be.

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does everyone forget Discourse? It's quietly enabling all of the best topic/product/niche-specific commmunities out there. https://discourse.mcneel.com as an example is a thriving treasure trove for CAD/Nurbs/product modelers/architects/etc.

Ha! If people are forgetting it, is it really a competitor? Truth is, for me, I just don't use it - it's as bad as Slack IMO, but I'm sure that a lot of people are finding it worthwhile

How is it bad? It's a message board by topic, sorted by last activity, and supports all kinds of media / preformatted text / replies / notifications / etc. If you don't like the community or subject matter, that makes sense. But what else are you looking for?

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#168

HN might as well just run the headline that Reddit is shutting down permanently. All the major subs are either temporarily or permanently shutting down in protest. Do we have a federated Mastodon-esque system to replace Reddit yet? Its the only way to ensure the community survives at this point; Reddit leadership has already proven they only wish to harm both shareholders and the community at large under the guise of…

I plan to avoid the platform as I can, but I worry the admin response will be to revoke the communities from their current moderators and install more cooperative scabs, which will have a profound effect on these communities. I'm not sure what the future holds, but reddit can't walk it back now, so I think it will end badly.

Poppycock! Reddit can walk it back at any time. This is a conscious choice they are making.

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#169
post #15
post #13

Do we need a thread for every subreddit?

This is a permanent shutdown, I've only seen temporary ones before. This is a subreddit I look at sometimes, too. So it's pretty relevant, I think.

It'll almost certainly be revived with other mods.

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#170

I’ll be honest, HN is the last place I’d expect to find people who underestimate the difficulty of creating a social network, but every single post about Reddit lately has had one or more comments about how the creators of Reddit clients should “just” make their own backend and take their users with them.

Right? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

"Apollo dev should create his own backend and show them!"

OK..? He'll take his 600k users, most of whom never contributed content, and do what exactly? Create his own little dead forum that runs only on iOS?

It's not a technical problem, let's stop pretending there's a technical solution. Plenty of reddit clones exist already (many even open-source).

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