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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?

#271
post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How non-technical are we talking here, though?

The layperson used to use WordPerfect 5, a non-WYSIWYG word processor which required typing 'codes' using modified function keys to change styles. It came with keyboard templates so you could remember which key did what. IRC and USENET are simpler than that.

The userbase at the time was a few millions of computer users, unlikely more than 20 million and quite possibly closer to 10.

"Wordperfect" as a Google Ngram term peaks in the early 1990s:

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Wordperfect&ca...

Microsoft Windows 3.1 was released in 1992, selling "over a million copies" in the first two months of the year. That would an annual sales track of ~6 million or so.

In 1980 there were 2 million computers in the US, doubling every 2 years. By 2000, there were 168 million computers, only 6 doublings rather than the 10 the 1980 estimate would have provided. That suggests about 16 million users as of 1990, possibly 24-32 million by 1992.

As of 1995, total worldwide Internet usage (then largely in the US, though also Europe) was 16 millions. As of 2019 it's 4.5 billions.

https://www.internetworldstats.com/emarketing.htm

That would have been the more educated, wealier, and generally professional class of users, for the most part. For better or worse, computer use has democratised tremendously. The capabilities of the typical user have all but certainly fallen correspondingly.

https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2004/DianeEnnefils.shtml

https://www.computerhope.com/history/1992.htm

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

#272
post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How non-technical are we talking here, though?

The layperson used to use WordPerfect 5, a non-WYSIWYG word processor which required typing 'codes' using modified function keys to change styles. It came with keyboard templates so you could remember which key did what. IRC and USENET are simpler than that.

In the 80s, sure, when everything was more complicated and only techies actually had computers. The "layperson" of the 80s is the poweruser of today. Nowadays, but nobody is going to willingly spend the time to do it when far easier alternatives exist.

Nobody is going to go from Reddit to usenet/IRC. That's a massive UX downgrade and the modern layperson isn't going to deal with that when the next Tiktok or other social media craze is a tap away.

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

#273
post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How non-technical are we talking here, though?

The layperson used to use WordPerfect 5, a non-WYSIWYG word processor which required typing 'codes' using modified function keys to change styles. It came with keyboard templates so you could remember which key did what. IRC and USENET are simpler than that.

The average WordPerfect user wasn't a layperson, really. WordPerfect proficiency was listed on resumes, and looked for, as a serious differentiator (unlike today, where "Word proficiency" is a meaningless non-differentiator on resumes.) People took courses in WordPerfect to get that proficiency in order to get hired into secretarial roles. There were training courses given to employees who were users of previous technologies, to bring them up to date, rather than assuming they would just catch on. It was a whole "thing." (Even moreso for its companion Lotus 1-2-3: accountants did not just suddenly understand how to use an electronic spreadsheet.)

Just because it was a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf software package with a home-user license that any individual could buy, doesn't really mean that they were targeting the "layperson" market in the way that e.g. Windows Home Editions ever were. They were targeting professionals who had home computers, who had already learned the software due to previous corporate-sponsored training. Big difference.

The equivalent today would be the sort of software used by Hollywood screenwriters to format their scripts. Even if you buy a single-seat license of it, that's not because you're a layperson/hobbyist; that's because you're a freelance professional who works from your home-office.

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

#274

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…

Agreed 100%. As a massive reddit fan, this makes me mad. I can't see how this won't kill their growth long-term.

Several people I know (me included) refuse to use Pinterest because you can't browse without an account.

#NotMyInternet

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

#275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube is starting to do this as well. For example they've made it so that accounts with less than 1000 subscribers can't do live streams any more. Not coincidentally, 1000 subscribers is the threshold for monetization (i.e., when ads start getting shown on all the account's videos). A lot of smaller channels are upset about it, since live streams were one of the ways they were /getting/ to 1000 subscribers in the f…

Another YT issue I personally find annoying as someone who has recorded a LOT of programming tutorials is all the garbage that pops up on the lower part of the screen whenever the viewer presses pause. A lot of times they're hitting pause because they want to read what I'm typing in the terminal . In the past, YT allowed creators to prevent this behavior and recommended videos in general by appending a ?rel=0 to an e…

> A lot of times they're hitting pause because they want to read what I'm typing in the terminal.

In the DOS days the Pause button on your keyboard would actually stop the text being scrolled (if you had a multi-page output). I wonder if Windows (or well any desktop OS) can have a feature where that button would freeze frame the display.

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

#276

I'm hoping one of the ActivityPub Reddit-like projects takes off. (yeah, I know, someone else make what I want . . . ) (or, we should have just fixed spam on Usenet . . . )

Spam wasn't what killed netnews, big ISPs didn't want to serve it up for free anymore. Perhaps that wasn't what you were implying but in case it was, spam ain't what done her in.

I've always assumed it was mostly spam, and the bulk of new users preferring other discussion formats.

I appreciate the correction.

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

#277

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…

[deleted]

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

#278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube is starting to do this as well. For example they've made it so that accounts with less than 1000 subscribers can't do live streams any more. Not coincidentally, 1000 subscribers is the threshold for monetization (i.e., when ads start getting shown on all the account's videos). A lot of smaller channels are upset about it, since live streams were one of the ways they were /getting/ to 1000 subscribers in the f…

Another YT issue I personally find annoying as someone who has recorded a LOT of programming tutorials is all the garbage that pops up on the lower part of the screen whenever the viewer presses pause. A lot of times they're hitting pause because they want to read what I'm typing in the terminal . In the past, YT allowed creators to prevent this behavior and recommended videos in general by appending a ?rel=0 to an e…

I'm not sure if it's YT or the channel creators, but I've noticed a lot videos are popping up the 'Also check out these videos' thing at the end of their videos (as an overlay, not part of the video), and it covers up the actual video content with no way to hide/remove it.

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

#279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Tried this as a kid. It didn't work because nobody in the vicinity knew anything about my hobbies or had any interest.

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

#280

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.

Without researching traffic stats over time, what gives you the impression that reddit is dying? I'm under the impression it's only become bigger and bigger over the years. It's one of the top sites on the internet.

Also,for me, it's still a great social media site that lets me talk anonymously about almost anything.

The beauty of reddit is that serious decline and toxicity only seems to happen within subs. If a sub becomes really bad, you just move on to other subs that are less toxic. Still plenty of great subcommunities there.

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