Please stop asking me to use the app • Hacker News Board

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#211

Post by s-shellfish » Tue, Jul 03, 2018, 12:21 PM UTC

lmm wrote: post #208

s-shellfish wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I felt that way for a day or a week maybe, but 1. I got off Reddit 2. I saw that that had changed my conversation style 3. I appreciated that I had matured in a way I could notice, without it having to be pointed out to me, or rewarded with upvotes

Have you tried leaving modern-day HN? It might have the same effect. (I'm not denying that today's Reddit is quite different from HN if that's what you're trying to say)

I have work and my family besides HN. I'm a software developer, and I study a lot of computer science and mathematics for fun. Things get weirdly mathematical in an information flow sense when you close your communication bubble too tightly.

So yes, I have left HN multiple times. I find reasons to come back to it, I find reasons to appreciate it.

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#212

Post by shostack » Tue, Jul 03, 2018, 12:32 PM UTC

daveheq wrote: post #136

Too many mobile sites do this now; there's a reason I keep declining to use the app... BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO. The reason is irrelevant, and they don't ask for it anyways. They just keep badgering and badgering and badgering to try to figure out WHO YOU ARE and tag your phone info/MEID across the internet... Do you really think they can't connect that info? LinkedIn is the worst example because they represent profes…

Has there been any verification that Reddit is doing any sort of cross device tracking? Last I heard their ad platform was pretty bare bones, particularly on the tracking side.

I'm curious if they are selling anything to cookie onboarding and audience data vendors. Has anything been disclosed?

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#213

Post by pdkl95 » Tue, Jul 03, 2018, 1:17 PM UTC

doubleunplussed wrote: post #161

pdkl95 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they're about to Digg themselves into a amusingly-recursive grave "You'll get over it" > All it would take is one great, open forum site to absorb the refugees from a terrible management mistep This is fundamental risk to any business that depends on a social space. The best explanation of the mechanics that create this risk is Joe Peacock's talk[1] at NOTACON 8 about the time fark.com made the same mistake... and…

As I recall, people got over it.

Most people got over it, but it's hard to estimate if people actually "got over it". Looking at the behavior of the people using the site afterwords probably doesn't include[1] the people that left. In Q&A at the end of the talk they mention that the incident caused a significant drop in paid-account revenue[2]. They eventually recovered, but the exodus was real for a while.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias

[2] They also mentioned that some of the loudest people that left came back later under a different username. That's the lesson the talk is trying to explain: most people probably do like (or will eventually like) the benefits of the "new and improved" version, so involve them in the process and respect that they might just need some time to adapt. Forcing people to adapt immediately only associates the new version with a strongly negative experience.

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#214

Post by sunstone » Tue, Jul 03, 2018, 1:31 PM UTC

blt wrote: post #80

underwater wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically the mobile site is a full single page app, while the desktop site (or at least the old one) was mostly server rendered. It's not impossible to create a fast mobile client rendered site (Twitter have done well) but it's certainly not as easy as it is with plain old HTML.

The new desktop site sucks too. The old one was great, information dense, no bullshit.

You can still get the old one at http://old.reddit.com

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#215

Post by draw_down » Tue, Jul 03, 2018, 1:44 PM UTC

paidleaf wrote: post #207

They are trying to IPO for once last chance at a cashout for their most recent investor/owner ( advanced publications ). http://www.businessinsider.com/reddit-is-reportedly-consider... They aren't interested in user experience. They are interested in drumming up mobile #s in the short term to get the best valuation possible. Reddit, like most things on the internet, have turned away from their idealistic beginnings f…

Well, it’s a shame but at least the story adds up.

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#216

Post by foobarchu » Tue, Jul 03, 2018, 1:47 PM UTC

blt wrote: post #80

underwater wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically the mobile site is a full single page app, while the desktop site (or at least the old one) was mostly server rendered. It's not impossible to create a fast mobile client rendered site (Twitter have done well) but it's certainly not as easy as it is with plain old HTML.

The new desktop site sucks too. The old one was great, information dense, no bullshit.

Didn't cause my laptop fans to spin up.

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#217

Post by foobarchu » Tue, Jul 03, 2018, 1:53 PM UTC

fjsolwmv wrote: post #134

slg wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The funny thing is that Reddit completely inadvertently killed one of the possible heirs in Voat. That site had potential to steal the traditional Reddit audience due to Reddit's mismanagement. However Reddit's crackdown on hate on the site caused a big exodus of problem users to Voat. The end result is that Voat is now a vile alt-right wasteland that presents no threat of stealing Reddit's mainstream audience.

Why can't another site pop up? There was one last year with a 4(?) letter name I forget (Lyme or something?) but it failed and shut down because it's impossible to pay the server bills with only nontoxic content, apparently.

I think the core issue is that no site can just "fill the void" suddenly, or else it will immediately become a toxic cesspool as trolls take over immediately and scare off all potential users. These sites have to grow slowly and naturally, like Reddit did, or like Digg and Facebook did. The trickle of users needs to start slow and grow through slow word of mouth, not hype.

Reddit itself did grow massively with the Digg exodus, but that was after it had already grown into its own, it had a community behind it to begin with. There was no content void for trolls to fill up with crap. It only worked because Reddit had grown up naturally already.

If a site is hyped as "reddit competitor", it will fail, just like sites hyped as a "facebook competitor" or "twitter competitor". Hype is a horrible thing for any site that depends on user interaction and discussion.

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#218

Post by Shibaru » Tue, Jul 03, 2018, 1:57 PM UTC

eksemplar wrote: post #133

goostavos wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been trying to pin down _why_ I've had the same reaction as you, but I really can't put my finger on it. Something about the new site just somehow puts me off. While I could mindlessly browse the old site endlessly, something about the new actively makes me want to close the tab. Either way, a good thing.

The new design made me leave as well, it had been s long time coming though. Most discussions are dumb, I can’t remember the last time I had a conversation on reddit where I wasn’t the most knowledgeable person in the thread, and that’s just a waste of time. It’s not that people are stupid, sometimes you’re simply talking to a teenager with no life experience. Often it is because people are kind of stupid. My nationa…

r/imverysmart

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#219

Post by kup0 » Tue, Jul 03, 2018, 2:07 PM UTC

geofft wrote: post #49

kirubakaran wrote: post #10

I'm thankful for their new design, actually. After many years of trying, I have now managed to successfully kick my Reddit habit completely and have gained precious hours in my day.

Yeah - the redesign had a fantastic feature that it wouldn't let me log in successfully, so I'm gone now.

Similar issue for me, redesign kept logging me out over and over again

Re: Please stop asking me to use the app

#220

Post by eksemplar » Tue, Jul 03, 2018, 2:12 PM UTC

Shibaru wrote: post #218

eksemplar wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new design made me leave as well, it had been s long time coming though. Most discussions are dumb, I can’t remember the last time I had a conversation on reddit where I wasn’t the most knowledgeable person in the thread, and that’s just a waste of time. It’s not that people are stupid, sometimes you’re simply talking to a teenager with no life experience. Often it is because people are kind of stupid. My nationa…

r/imverysmart

I see your point, but I’m not sure how else to describe it.

Every time I visit HN I read something interesting. I can’t remember the last time I read something that interested me on Reddit, outside of /r/space.

I mean, I know it sounded arrogant to say I was the most knowledgeable, it simply happens to be true, but it only applies to Reddit. It’s extremely rare that I feel like that anywhere else, even Facebook is much better in that regard.

Maybe I’m just using Reddit wrong, but it hasn’t always been like this either.