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Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

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Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#181

Post by matsemann »

hayst4ck wrote: post #47

I have been in this A/B test group and I have been in the A/B test group that tries to show a TikTok style feed (one that gets new content based on the content you spent time observing) rather than a normalized upvote based one. Without old.reddit.com, I would have not used reddit. I think it is important to never comply with these forced changes. I think there is a larger discussion on professional ethics to be had.…

I've been wondering if I'm in some experiment sometime as well. Sometimes my r/popular will be filled with content from niche subreddits I don't follow with barely any upvotes. The content is generally bad. Seems like a failed attempt at a "for you" page (and then I would just have browsed my own frontpage with subs I follow..)

But if I refresh, it's back to "expected" content. So weird.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#182

Post by pkulak »

predictabl3 wrote: post #60

I am absolutely blown away by the number of subs that have gone private and shocked at some napkin math of how many total subscribers are affected. Further, the Discord is well, finally getting a bit too riled up to hear coherently, but is easily the largest live, wholesome gathering of people I've participated in a live event with. And on top of that, numerous people are signing up for Matrix and joining the bridged…

Where is the Matrix room?

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#183

Post by politelemon »

marcosdumay wrote: post #58
benatkin wrote: post #17

People don't complain as much when Apple does stuff like this.

Apple customers don't complain a lot. When you keep selecting people for an specific behavior, you get a population biased towards that behavior. If you suddenly decide you want something else, then you have a problem.

> Apple customers don't complain a lot.

about Apple. About everyone else though, there are no limits. Observational anecdata from rApple and HN.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#185

Post by WirelessGigabit »

hapticmonkey wrote: post #96
skinkestek wrote: post #83

I assume this comes in addition to "reminding" me multiple times a day, sometimes when I click a link, sometimes seemingly on a timer loop while I am just reading, that they have an app? Yes. I tried the app. The app is better not because it is good but because they deliberately break the web. Also the app seems to eat battery and I am planning on charging my new iPhone 14 twice a day to use it or jump through hoops…

There's a free safari extension for iOS that blocks the "use our app" popup on reddit mobile site. It's sad that such a thing even needs to exist.

If Apple didn't have so much power we wouldn't be in this situation where we can only use Safari with this extension.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#186

Post by rvba »

MattGaiser wrote: post #94
p-e-w wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's only absurd if you misunderstand the true intention. They didn't acquire Dubsmash to profit from its technology and users. They acquired Dubsmash to shut it down. Today's social media corporations are so fat with (venture) capital that they can, and do, spend that kind of money just to keep any potential competitors locked out. TikTok, the last social network that became truly big, was launched in 2016, seven ye…

I get buying it for that purpose, but why then kill it? Especially when it is a personal video platform, when Reddit is mostly an anonymous text platform?

They try to make reddit a picture-first based platform. What alienates the user base.

Also why does reddit mobile site lag? Takes 5-10 seconds of the stupid icon before you see the text. Compare it to instant i.reddit or old.reddit.

Are they so incompetent that they cannot write a site that doesnt lag? Or they just dont care?

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#187

Post by dehrmann »

faangsticle wrote: post #43

> It looks like you’re part of one of our experiments. The logged-in mobile web experience is currently unavailable for a portion of users. To access the site you can log on via desktop, the mobile apps, or wait for the experiment to conclude. Wow. Most companies at least have the grace to allow users to opt out of these kind of experiments via a "labs" kind of configuration.

I get wanting to test the hypothesis that disabling logged-in mobile web will drive app downloads, but the user experience a critical flow you used to use went a way for no apparent reason, and workarounds also went away. It would feel like you're going crazy or your device/IP got banned, somehow.

They accidentally tipped their hand with this. Everyone suspected, but it's basically confirmed that they're pushing to get mobile users onto the first-party app.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#188

Post by benjaminwootton »

Why is it so important for Reddit to get you on the app? A daily active user is the same, you can still serve apps, still control your UX and still track.

I’m sure they lose more users by throwing up the banner to people who can’t be bothered or don’t want to download the app.

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