An account is now required to read Reddit comment threads? • Hacker News Board

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

#61

Post by noir_lord » Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 1:48 PM UTC

msluyter wrote: post #59

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 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.

> Anything free that provides value is, in brute economic terms, mis-priced.

Damn, that's a good way to put it.

I assume value includes non tangibles, otherwise open source wouldn't work.

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

#62

Post by trophycase » Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 1:50 PM UTC

As someone else mentioned in the thread. Viewing NSFW content now requires signing in as well.

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

#63

Post by TheHypnotist » Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 1:50 PM UTC

nimajneb wrote: post #54

paganel wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately the way things are going I can see them getting rid of old.reddit.com and i.reddit.com, at which point I think I'll also stop visiting the website (the mobile website is atrocious and I'm not going to install a dedicated app in order to read a forum).

I use the (old) desktop site on my phone. I also don't want extra apps that should just be websites.

The app is clean. I can't even look at the actual website now.

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

#64

Post by MayeulC » Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 1:52 PM UTC

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…

I can't comment on the fact that the whole field is imploding, but there is only room for finite growth.

A lot of these platforms seem VC-funded or publicly traded, and they are based on growth. So they probably see growth slowing down, and this is an effort to squeeze more numbers out of it. Hopefully for them, they can pivot their business plan on to something not growth-based.

This is a common pattern: growth is like a drug for tech startups. Cut it, and they will do all they can to have it again, even if they have to alienate their current user-base for this.

As I often browse reddit in private mode, this probably just means that I'll waste less time on that website; I'm not going to bother logging in if I didn't already.

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

#65

Post by mietek » Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 1:52 PM UTC

aloisdg wrote: post #47

carokann wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6 year member here with >25k karma. if old.reddit goes down i'm out as well.

7y with around ~40k karma. I am already leaving a bit more everyday. old.reddit.com is a blessing from the past.

12 year club; charter member; already gone.

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

#66

Post by sithlord » Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 1:52 PM UTC

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…

same thing quora did, which made it hated by the masses.

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

#67

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 1:55 PM UTC

coldpie wrote: post #44

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…

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…

[deleted]

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

#68

Post by dagurp » Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 1:56 PM UTC

mFixman wrote: post #52

Havoc wrote: post #3

They've been making increasingly more user hostile choice lately. Digg lessons weren't apparently not learned

Digg failed because Reddit existed. There's no similar social media for Reddit refugees to go to.

Reddit had existed for a while before Digg saw a mass exodus. I used both at the same time until Digg pushed a big update that broke the site.

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

#69

Post by dougmwne » Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 1:57 PM UTC

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.

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

#70

Post by gherkinnn » Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 1:58 PM UTC

AHTERIX5000 wrote: post #38

CM30 wrote: post #8

Hmm, I just checked myself, and I was able to read comment threads perfectly fine without being logged in, on both a desktop computer and a smartphone. Obviously old.reddit.com doesn't have these issues, but I'm pretty sure the session on smartphone used the new site, and that let me keep reading without any interruptions too. Either way, if Reddit does this, that's it. Not returning to the site. The internet doesn't…

It's ridiculous how much better old.reddit.com is for a casual reader like me. The way thread hiding works by default, "See Entire Discussion" etc, everything is designed to provoke clicks and actions instead of reading the actual discussion.

I recently browsed reddit after years of abstinence.

The “view discussion” and “view more comments” buttons are just utter, utter shite. It is near impossible to read all of the comments.

It’s clearly designed to satisfy KPIs other than actually reading a post. More like superficially bouncing from one post to the next, dropping an upboat and off you go.

I sincerely hope all these sign in-only forums with great SEO like Quora and Reddit suffocate on their own rot.