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An account is now required to read Reddit comment threads?

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Re: An account is now required to read Reddit comment threads?

#241

Post by reroute1 »

foobiekr wrote: post #217
davidmurdoch wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google will figure the higher bounce rate of the page (the user quickly went back to the SERP) means it's not as relevant as they thought, so they'll move it down in the search rankings.

The Pinterest issue has been there for 4+ years. When does Google figure it out?

Maybe it's not an issue for everyone? Maybe the bounce rates on average aren't that bad and some people are spending lots of time there? It's possible, but I agree they aren't very user-friendly in search results for someone who doesn't have an account. I also avoid them.

Re: An account is now required to read Reddit comment threads?

#242

Post by CM30 »

lghh wrote: post #228
CM30 wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a market for this, and I believe at some point a site like this will probably replace Reddit... but it can't be started on that basis. It'll have to be set up independently of Reddit, grow organically with its own community, then get successful enough that people move over when there's already an established userbase. That's how communities get big without becoming cesspools or going over the top on the mode…

I think if anything, Discord will get a lot of what Reddit had in certain communities. Particularly anything around hobbies. It's a shame because things in discord get lost the moment after they happen, but I can find years old reddit posts about something I'm newly interested in.

I agree with you. The move towards platforms like Slack and Discord where you need to be logged in to see anything at all is a terrible one, and it basically kills discoverability stone dead. Also gonna make for an interesting future for Google if it becomes the norm, since it's also unusable in their search engine.

Alas, it definitely seems to be the direction these services are going in, and (at least in my opinion), seems to be on the verge of outright replacing Reddit for communities about games and media related topics.

Re: An account is now required to read Reddit comment threads?

#243

Post by [deleted] »

hahla wrote: post #72
coldpie wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the same thing that happens to all "free"/ad-sponsored/VC-backed services. Unless you're FB or Twitter or YouTube, your ads aren't profitable enough to run your business. The business model is unviable unless you get that big. So you lose a bunch of money until you find a way to monetize or close. This always takes the form of user-hostile anti-features. Currently that's forcing users into your special apps, whe…

I just fail to see how old Reddit could not have been a sustainable standalone business. Conde Nast had a huge opportunity once they acquired it as it no longer needed "VC growth" but they failed. I wish I had the opportunity to acquire it for 10-20 million[1]. [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/25/the-1st-thing-alexis-ohanian...

[deleted]

Re: An account is now required to read Reddit comment threads?

#244

Post by war1025 »

jackcosgrove wrote: post #113
Someone1234 wrote: post #45

This is classic shortermism. Reddit is, in the short term, driving more external users towards creating user accounts while in the long term removing one of the major value funnels for why they would (i.e. the quality of comments, particularly in certain niche communities/about niche topics). This will give them a short term "bump" at the cost of the site's long term relevance (as it falls down Google's search result…

Nothing lasts forever. Reddit is 14 years old. They've had a good run. I think there is a general trend away from user-generated content as a business model, because that content can be a bit salty. Reddit might just be cashing out because the wave they rode has already crested.

Echoing this, even just a year or so ago, I'd follow five or six different subreddits and check in on them multiple times a day.

In the past few months, I've found that I only check "Today I Learned", and even that only once every day or so.

I find the discussion here to be much more mature and insightful than any of the tech related subreddits. I had written it off as reddit being a young-persons domain and me getting old, but it could just be that reddit is losing it's edge.

Re: An account is now required to read Reddit comment threads?

#245

Post by vb6sp6 »

ken wrote: post #190
vb6sp6 wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. And HN is social media too.

StackOverflow? LinkedIn? Is any website with user accounts "social media"?

Here is a definition from dictionary.com

"websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking."

So having a user account doesn't make it social media.

Stackoverflow seems like a "no" but you can definitely promote yourself and there is a "community" there.

LinkedIn is virtually all about social networking, so yes.

Re: An account is now required to read Reddit comment threads?

#246

Post by tbrownaw »

harimau777 wrote: post #31

It feels to me like social media has been imploding recently. It seems like I am seeing more and more efforts to overtly force people use an app, associate browsing with an account, and link their account with a real world identity (e.g. via phone number). This in turn makes the platforms less useful and more hostile to users and presumably at some point that will cause users to leave the system. It also feels like s…

The hostility of existing large sites towards pseudonymity is also interesting in conjunction with the general insistence that sides really shouldn't implement their own account system, and with the ever-increasing legal overhead required to spin up a new site.

Re: An account is now required to read Reddit comment threads?

#247

Post by hanniabu »

0xffff2 wrote: post #233
slothtrop wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What comes next? Don't say Discord.

Does anyone give Discord as a serious answer to that question? I'm really struggling to figure out how a glorified IRC replacement is going to fill the same niche as Reddit.

I think Discord is great for chats. They've been adding a lot of improvements and features recently. The only thing I wish they had was an IP ban.

However, this is by no means a replacement for reddit.

Re: An account is now required to read Reddit comment threads?

#248

Post by viburnum »

dougmwne wrote: post #69

I deleted my Reddit account recently in an effort to curb social media. I've still been checking r/all and some favorite subreddits. Thank you Reddit for further breaking the site and making it easier to ween myself off of. Thank you HN for the addiction block contols on the account screen.

I’m sure Reddit has nice parts but for me it was completely terrible and anything they can do to keep me away is good.

Re: An account is now required to read Reddit comment threads?

#249

Post by msluyter »

ativzzz wrote: post #189
msluyter wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I call this the dismal equilibrium . Anything free that provides value is, in brute economic terms, mis-priced. Thus, it tends to degrade due to attempts at monetization until a balance is reached between its inherent value and the pain one must endure to use/access it.

> in brute economic terms, mis-priced Is this necessarily a bad thing? Or are you saying this is basically an arbitrage opportunity waiting for someone to exploit it? How would we structure something free that provides value, and keep it free in the long term without degradation?

Well, not really saying it's bad in a moral sense or making a value judgement (though it does tend to be "bad" from a usability perspective), just noting what I've observed. And it applies even to things that aren't free, but which you pay for via some fixed initial cost.

For example, I bought Words with Friends a long long time ago, and for a while it was great. But now they've added tons of gamification features like powerups that bypass game rules, social, awards, etc... to try to get you to engage more and pay more money. Now, various awards screens pop up and waste seconds of my life after every move.

I just want to play standard Words with Friends with my wife like I have for the last 10 years. But one can see that folks like me aren't making Zynga any (new) money, hence the other inducements.

Re: An account is now required to read Reddit comment threads?

#250

Post by hanniabu »

jandrese wrote: post #163
mietek wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

12 year club; charter member; already gone.

The thing about leaving is that I don't know where I would go. As much as I much preferred the way Usenet clients worked the weak moderation made it untenable. Most of the competing sites are overrun with the neo-nazis that were kicked out of Reddit or topics are limited to whatever the news story of the day is. The ability to create long term communities around extremely niche topics is the strength of Reddit. Despi…

> The thing about leaving is that I don't know where I would go

Outside, a friend's house, visit family, etc

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