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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

#171

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

roflyear wrote: post #157
mandmandam wrote: post #142

Steve Huffman, aka 'spez'? Wasn't he the guy who got caught anonymously rewriting user comments? Secretly editing user comments, without a trace. As CEO. ... Seems weird that this hasn't been brought up yet - maybe it was covered in the podcast?

He did it in a pretty obvious way and said he did it basically but yah

He did it, then got caught, then admitted to it. The one mitigating point is that he did say he was sorry and that he wouldn't do it again. Mind, I'm saying this as somebody who deleted my account over this exact incident (straw that broke the camel's back), but there it is.

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

#172

Post by courgette »

grogenaut wrote: post #163
courgette wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> hacker news just coffee shops and bars Ok, I really follow you on the rest and the overall point. But this one … hacker news is how : delicio.us/Reddit/digg/slashdot used to be, before the network effect. I rarely talk about BRNF at bars and I don’t use drugs while reading HN.

What was hacker news before delicious/reddit/digg/slashdot... before the web bassed internet... before bbs's... what's the analog version of these? Also I've talked about SQL, made an adobe flash joke, ML, and many other tech things at bars in the last month, with randos. Had a good hour discussion about ChatGPT with an NFL journalist from the local paper.

Again, agreed. I’m just bored tonight. No animosity here.

My goal was to point out that the metaphors is not equality working across all the examples.

Why Dropbox got NFS and not the postal service or train station locker?

Why google got Grep and not the Dewey classification system ?

Why HN got a pre internet, multi-milenary and deeply human “ancestors”. While BBS would have been sufficient?

Same for Craigslist and Amazon I guess.

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

#173

Post by doodlesdev »

htag wrote: post #141
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.

Generally the social platforms can offer one or more of these three things better than AOL ever did. 1. Recommendation engines, and other clever ways to drive up engagements. 2. Marketing. AOL's marketing was generally ahead of other tech companies at the time. Modern platforms have marketing on par with any other consumer brand. They are specifically great at FOMO, user acquisition, and feeling like a basic utility…

Arguably all of the things you pointed out are actually disadvantages, it's a matter of perspective really.

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

#174

Post by irrational »

capableweb wrote: post #152
giantrobot wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you're wrong. Digg did not understand the core features that users valued. They assumed users would stick around through every monetization abuse they threw at them. Users put up with the "power user" bullshit (paid influencers and astroturfing) because the comments tied to those submissions could be worthwhile. I think digg's fundamental problem was they viewed their user base like a passive audience.…

It seems that most social networks have experienced this, and for those that haven't, it's only a matter of time.

Everything passes eventually. Microsoft used to be king of tech, but no longer. Google has been king, but clearly they are on the downhill slide from their peak. Someday AWS will no longer be the prime cloud provider. Someday another phone manufacturer will take Apple’s crown. It is as inevitable as the rising and setting of the sun.

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

#175

Post by grogenaut »

courgette wrote: post #172
grogenaut wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was hacker news before delicious/reddit/digg/slashdot... before the web bassed internet... before bbs's... what's the analog version of these? Also I've talked about SQL, made an adobe flash joke, ML, and many other tech things at bars in the last month, with randos. Had a good hour discussion about ChatGPT with an NFL journalist from the local paper.

Again, agreed. I’m just bored tonight. No animosity here. My goal was to point out that the metaphors is not equality working across all the examples. Why Dropbox got NFS and not the postal service or train station locker? Why google got Grep and not the Dewey classification system ? Why HN got a pre internet, multi-milenary and deeply human “ancestors”. While BBS would have been sufficient? Same for Craigslist and A…

Cause that's what I typed while in the bathroom at a baseball game after 2 beers and it wasn't my a-material :)

Thanks for clarifying, I guess I'm in paranoid mode...

I didn't say BBS because I was never on one.

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

#176

Post by pier25 »

noir_lord wrote: post #79
twostorytower wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know some people at Reddit and sadly it's definitely going to happen.

Used Reddit for 14 years as a registered member and longer since before I signed up. The day old.reddit.com stops working is the day I stop using reddit completely, I detest their new UI so much that it’s essentially unusable for me.

Yeah. The new UI is terrible.

The moment they kill old Reddit I'm out too.

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

#177

Post by bigcloud1299 »

jefftk wrote: post #137
notatoad wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

But modern reddit isn't really very similar to what they're mocking? Here's the joke mockup: https://sp.reddit.com/reddit2mockup.jpg Open reddit now and there's no silly unusable tag clouds, no top-of-page ads, no 3rd-party ad serving, no gradients, no overdone logo, no tagline, no allcaps headings, no giant voting arrows...

Let’s admit modern Reddit is probably half porn and only fans site. I don’t have quantifiable data but the way I see people on Twitter complain about porn on Twitter. I can only assume.

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

#178

Post by langfan »

capableweb wrote: post #153
langfan wrote: post #151

I once emailed Steve with some questions about software technology choices and architecture for a new project I was on, in the early days of Reddit, and he replied with some advice.

This is not a obituary (I think?)

No, unfortunately :) [1]

Just an actual anecdote.

[1] ”The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

-Mark Twain

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

#179

Post by langfan »

grogenaut wrote: post #13
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.

Slack is just irc, Dropbox just nfs, Google just grep, Craigslist just newspaper classifieds, amazon just Walmart, Netflix just charter, hacker news just coffee shops and bars, and on and on, what's your point

Wow. Good analogies.

"Google just grep"

That's a keeper.

Larry's dad to Larry (pretending that dad was not computer literate, but somehow knew just grep and the web):

Son, now that you're outta school, whaddya do to make rent?

Larry: Oh dad, Sergey and me, we just grep the web for folks. Makes us rent, and a tad more.

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

#180

Post by capableweb »

langfan wrote: post #178
capableweb wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not a obituary (I think?)

No, unfortunately :) [1] Just an actual anecdote. [1] ”The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” -Mark Twain

:)

Reading my comment after a good nights sleep, it might seem slight snappish and/or brusque, that wasn't my intention and I'm sorry if that's the case.

I'm glad you shared it, thank you!

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