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Reddit subs with millions of followers plan to extend the blackout indefinitely

theverge.com

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Re: Reddit subs with millions of followers plan to extend the blackout indefinitely

#211

Post by kesslern »

majormajor wrote: post #140
CincinnatiMan wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your view is a little simplistic. There is plenty of useful information on Reddit. I'm a big fan of home-related subs for example, where a lot of trade-knowledgeable people seem to hang out. There is a wealth of information on subs like r/DIY, r/HomeImprovement, r/paint, r/woodworking, etc.

I've often wondered why people use Reddit for stuff like this since the information and conversation management and organizational tools seem vastly inferior to most any pre-Reddit forum software. My current working theory is largely that internet search is just broken. It's easier to search for subreddit once you're on Reddit than to wade out into the sea of SEO crap and try to find a live, reliable format on the br…

People use Reddit because the alternative is blogspam. When I try to find DIY or home improvement advice, I see the same points repeated without much detail. The articles are intended to push Amazon affiliate links or other services.

I want to see real problems other homeowners are facing and the knowledge many other homeowners have to fix it. That's not something I see on any platform other than Reddit.

Re: Reddit subs with millions of followers plan to extend the blackout indefinitely

#212

Post by rcarr »

Tangurena2 wrote: post #175
rurp wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Although I do foresee Reddit “super mods” forcibly removing the blackout through their backend, removing mod status from the “rebels” and inserting their own friendly mods until they can find replacements. I agree this is likely, which will extend the negative reactions further and alienate even more users. Unless Reddit execs do a 180 in the very near future I think the platform will be forever crippled. Large net…

There are not enough volunteers to handle the load. Companies depend on free labor to moderate things and will never be able to afford the actual cost of doing business without that free labor. I currently moderate 2 subs (down from 5). I'm looking to offload those 2 without having them get banned for being unmoderated (again).

You say this, but it’s only a matter of time until we get AI moderation.

Re: Reddit subs with millions of followers plan to extend the blackout indefinitely

#213

Post by mvdtnz »

epmatsw wrote: post #200
mvdtnz wrote: post #29

Reddit would be infinitely better without any subreddits bigger than about 100k subscribers.

Sports subreddits are a notable exception imo. While they might get a bit silly, r/cfb, r/nba, etc. are so much better than Twitter or any other public forum that losing them would be pretty awful.

I only follow motorsports so the only sports subs I'm on are motogp, v8supercars and formula1.

The F1 subreddit (over a million subs)is one of the absolute worst places on the internet for any kind of discussion. It's totally dominated by The Hive Mind, dissenting opinions are absolutely unwelcome and the top posts on every single post are low-effort jokes, usually jokes that have been told a thousand times before. It's awful.

MotoGP (250k+ subs) is better, but still suffers from similar problems.

V8Supercars is quiet, but the discussion is of a far higher quality.

"Better than twitter" is a low bar to clear.

Re: Reddit subs with millions of followers plan to extend the blackout indefinitely

#214

Post by clouddrover »

donmcronald wrote: post #98
nielsbot wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is explicitly what their CEO said. Many subreddits said they'd return on wednesday. https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/13/23759559/reddit-internal-...

Maybe I'm reading it in a biased manner, but that sure has the feel of "if we wait it out the pigs will get hungry and be back at the trough on Wednesday." I don't think they respect their users, he doesn't understand that's a big part of why people are getting so upset, and he just keeps talking. Lol.

> that sure has the feel of "if we wait it out the pigs will get hungry and be back at the trough on Wednesday."

And he's probably correct. Mark Zuckerberg once called Facebook users "dumb fucks" but plenty of people still use Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The addicts will return to the drug.

Re: Reddit subs with millions of followers plan to extend the blackout indefinitely

#215

Post by ht85 »

erellsworth wrote: post #43
ThomW wrote: post #18

... until they just take over the moderation of their largest communities and this whole thing ends. I mean what's so magical about the moderation of something like r/videos other than the mods being free labor for Reddit?

I think you underestimate the value of that free labor. Reddit isn't even profitable. Hiring mods for thousands of subreddits would cost them a ton of money, not only in wages but in the cost of finding and training those workers. Beyond that, the minute the mods are official employees of Reddit, Reddit is fully responsible for all the content on all those subs. Social media companies are already under a lot of scrut…

Looking forward to watch reddit corporate approved mods trying to deal with the platform. Lmao

Re: Reddit subs with millions of followers plan to extend the blackout indefinitely

#216

Post by deely3 »

majormajor wrote: post #140
CincinnatiMan wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your view is a little simplistic. There is plenty of useful information on Reddit. I'm a big fan of home-related subs for example, where a lot of trade-knowledgeable people seem to hang out. There is a wealth of information on subs like r/DIY, r/HomeImprovement, r/paint, r/woodworking, etc.

I've often wondered why people use Reddit for stuff like this since the information and conversation management and organizational tools seem vastly inferior to most any pre-Reddit forum software. My current working theory is largely that internet search is just broken. It's easier to search for subreddit once you're on Reddit than to wade out into the sea of SEO crap and try to find a live, reliable format on the br…

Using forum you have to scroll via dozens of pages while trying to follow discussion by reading separate comments divided by other comments. With reddit tree structure of comments you can easy and quickly follow discussion and votes helps you understand of significancy of each comments. Same as in HN btw.

Re: Reddit subs with millions of followers plan to extend the blackout indefinitely

#217

Post by 3np »

wahnfrieden wrote: post #151
ssl232 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where will reddit get enough mods to police the hundreds (thousands?) of subreddits each with tens of thousands of members that are rebelling against the API changes? Blocking/firing the existing mods would make the site descend into chaos.

Well they’ve already started doing it

source?

Re: Reddit subs with millions of followers plan to extend the blackout indefinitely

#218

Post by andrewflnr »

milkytron wrote: post #11

This is what is needed to put pressure on Reddit. A two day protest then returning to normal is a blip in the grand scheme of things. But if they do not change their API pricing, stance on third party apps, etc, then a prolonged blackout could lead to an eventual exodus. I hope the communities I used to engage in partake in this prolonged blackout.

> A two day protest then returning to normal is a blip in the grand scheme of things.

People keep saying this. It's true of the vast majority of protests. And yet, they keep happening, and I don't think it's because they're completely ineffective.

I'll grant I don't entirely get it either, but here's my theory of how they work: by being a show of unity, protests are an honest signal of power. In any case where the party being protested against is not willing to cause mass civilian casualties, unified rebellion is a genuine threat. It's an even bigger threat in a democracy, or a commercial setting. It's also a signal of willingness to accept costs (not guaranteed honest, but it's still pretty hard to coordinate a bluff in public).

Re: Reddit subs with millions of followers plan to extend the blackout indefinitely

#220

Post by throwaway106382 »

So this means spez is just gonna suspend and institute his own mods, right?

Blackout isn't enough, don't let them scab the VOLUNTEER mods - don't cross the picket line - better yet, delete your account after using a tool to scrub your account's history. Delete isn't enough, you need to replace it with junk.

If you're going to lurk, make sure you're blocking first party ads.

https://github.com/scullionw/reddit-scrubber

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