Reddit acquires ML startup Spell • Hacker News Board

Re: Reddit acquires ML startup Spell

#21

Post by sumy23 » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 6:18 PM UTC

jwilber wrote: post #9

Reddit should prioritize their site working on the browser. Clicking a nested thread seems to crash whatever browser I use 1/10th of the time, the videos never work, and the time it takes to open a thread is almost unbelievable in 2022. (Never mind the times it won’t let me view content without the app.)

Reddit has an odd strategy. I have Apollo on my phone, which is a great Reddit app that doesn’t have ads. Sometimes, I go to Reddit in Safari out of habit. The experience is so terrible, that it forces me to go from the website, which has ads, to Apollo, which doesn’t. The performance of the mobile website is absolutely terrible as well. It’s like they’re trying to make a garbage website.

Re: Reddit acquires ML startup Spell

#22

Post by jklinger410 » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 6:19 PM UTC

jwilber wrote: post #9

Reddit should prioritize their site working on the browser. Clicking a nested thread seems to crash whatever browser I use 1/10th of the time, the videos never work, and the time it takes to open a thread is almost unbelievable in 2022. (Never mind the times it won’t let me view content without the app.)

They probably hate maintaining desktop. They are essentially a data farm at this point. They just want that sweet sweet device id and location data from the app.

Re: Reddit acquires ML startup Spell

#23

Post by RosanaAnaDana » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 6:22 PM UTC

ydnaclementine wrote: post #19

Imagine how easy it would be to sell ads on reddit, the users self select topics. If I subscribed to r/koreancosmetics and r/makeup, do you really need ML to figure out which ads to show?

I desperately wish they would have IPO'd last may so I could short the ever living shit out of them.

Re: Reddit acquires ML startup Spell

#24

Post by bombcar » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 6:22 PM UTC

n00bface wrote: post #13

aneil wrote: post #2

Maybe if they can just focus on making their video servers work sometime in the next decade.

For everyone nodding in agreement with this post I have a treat for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99cVnYY9Iqs

This is actually obscene wow. My bits and bytes are crying in pain and suddenly I'm against net neutrality for Reddit.

Re: Reddit acquires ML startup Spell

#25

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 6:22 PM UTC

RosanaAnaDana wrote: post #16

I mean, when they dropped the tagline "The front page of the internet", for the committee engineered "Dive into anything", you knew it was going down. Reddit is a walking corpse and I'm happy to participate in the monthly "Reddit is shit" punching bag thread.

[deleted]

Re: Reddit acquires ML startup Spell

#26

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 6:23 PM UTC

aneil wrote: post #2

Maybe if they can just focus on making their video servers work sometime in the next decade.

[deleted]

Re: Reddit acquires ML startup Spell

#27

Post by bombcar » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 6:24 PM UTC

ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #10

phphphphp wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Acquihire. "Our next challenge is to apply what we’ve built to improve the user experience for redditors" "we’ll no longer be signing up new commercial customers to the Spell service" https://spell.ml/blog/spell-joins-reddit-YqtKRhEAACMAgbU9

Do the founders get any money out of it or not much.

Depends on the deal, but if the founders are in control and the company wasn't death-spiraling, they usually do decently well (but not so well that they immediately quit their new job).

Re: Reddit acquires ML startup Spell

#28

Post by RosanaAnaDana » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 6:24 PM UTC

n00bface wrote: post #13

aneil wrote: post #2

Maybe if they can just focus on making their video servers work sometime in the next decade.

For everyone nodding in agreement with this post I have a treat for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99cVnYY9Iqs

That music and linus hopping in is so great..

Re: Reddit acquires ML startup Spell

#29

Post by bombcar » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 6:25 PM UTC

ydnaclementine wrote: post #19

Imagine how easy it would be to sell ads on reddit, the users self select topics. If I subscribed to r/koreancosmetics and r/makeup, do you really need ML to figure out which ads to show?

There's an old saying goes something like this "if you go to the car dealership, and all they have are station wagons, they're gonna sell you a station wagon". The ads you see on Reddit say much more about who is willing to advertise with them than anything about you. And so if you're seeing low-value ads, it's because they can't sell any high-value ones.

Re: Reddit acquires ML startup Spell

#30

Post by PhoenixReborn » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 6:26 PM UTC

jklinger410 wrote: post #20

RosanaAnaDana wrote: post #16

I mean, when they dropped the tagline "The front page of the internet", for the committee engineered "Dive into anything", you knew it was going down. Reddit is a walking corpse and I'm happy to participate in the monthly "Reddit is shit" punching bag thread.

Right now they are floating on viral momentum. They are a few stupid decisions and one neat alternative away from going the way of Digg.

I worked at Reddit for several years in the past - if anything, they have the exact opposite of viral momentum: https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1360263618508521480?lang=en

I do agree on the neat alternative piece, but all of the ones that have come up in the past had some sort of flaw (or in some cases deliberate slower growth) that caused them not to go viral (Voat, Tildes, etc)