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Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

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Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#71

Post by djcannabiz »

dangus wrote: post #69
m348e912 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

old.reddit.com and it's imminent disappearance underscores that there is a still need for a user-centric web browser designed to combat user-hostile web ui. Here are some features I think the browser should have by default (without plugins) Short feature list: - Overwrite website code and display a user-hostile UI of popular sites like reddit/Facebook (this warrants a whole list in itself) - offer a reader view of an…

> offer a reader view of any website including pay walled websites Not really possible if a paywalled website is a true paywall. Many paywalled websites don't even expose their content to crawlers. I also think that, philosophically, the majority of the user base being able to bypass paywall isn't healthy for the Internet. It will only make content quality decrease and advertisement aggression increase. You can see t…

Anecdotally i have never had a problem with anti adblockers with UBOs anti-anti-adblocker list turned on, but maybe anti-adblock will get better if more people start using adblockers.

Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#72

Post by dangus »

earthscienceman wrote: post #7

This is a nice time to remind everyone that Aaron Swartz died while fighting for a freer internet and a freer world. He is, by Paul Graham, considered a founder of reddit but is rarely mentioned in these stories. Instead of trying to go for broke and grind till he could cash out, Aaron put his skin in the game for what the internet should become. Which gets more relevant everyday that the internet megacorps consolida…

Well, that's what sort of happened.

He broke in to an MIT networking closet (he was never a student there, and MIT is not a public university) and connected his equipment to the network.

https://www.wired.com/2013/12/swartz-video/

There are a lot of much more legal ways to make the Internet freer. He was a smart guy and knew what he was doing was highly illegal. It goes without saying that it's very tragic that he decided to end his life.

I think that this is the major issue with martyrdom. Aaron is remembered for "fighting the man" but the real story is a significantly muddier than that. A martyr's death makes it seem like the martyr did nothing wrong even if they did, so tread carefully on idolizing them. (You and I certainly wouldn't appreciate a stranger breaking into our homelab closets and attaching equipment, and in many states we would be within our rights to defend our property with deadly force on sight).

People like Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman make the Internet and computing more free while avoiding blatant, stupid lawbreaking. Aaron sadly isn't around to make the successor to Reddit or do anything to help make the Internet more free.

I'm not trying to say that the feds being intimidating is right, but, ya know, Aaron did the exact sort of thing that goes far beyond petty crime.

Sorry, I know this is kind of a dumb and not so productive soap box. Oh well.

Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#73

Post by djcannabiz »

m348e912 wrote: post #59
qwertox wrote: post #38

I ask myself on a weekly basis when old.reddit.com will disappear. And there is nothing more cruel than the new Reddit, UI-wise. Even Twitter's "threading" of conversations appears to make more sense, even though I have still not figured out how it works.

old.reddit.com and it's imminent disappearance underscores that there is a still need for a user-centric web browser designed to combat user-hostile web ui. Here are some features I think the browser should have by default (without plugins) Short feature list: - Overwrite website code and display a user-hostile UI of popular sites like reddit/Facebook (this warrants a whole list in itself) - offer a reader view of an…

I would love this. Almost all of these can be achieved using Firefox and tons of extensions, but its to much for some of my relatives who feel the same way about the web but don't have the technical knowledge to set everything up.

for example, bypass paywalls clean was removed from most (all?) web extension stores and now has to be sideloaded. I don't think most non techies would be comfortable doing this, so maybe something like a firefox distribution (a la librewolf) would be ideal, so you could build off the other extensions there, and the anti tracking tech built into firefox.

Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#74

Post by LegitShady »

exsf0859 wrote: post #39
turzmo wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that?

Reddit recently announced changes to their APIs pricing and features that will probably lead to the abandonment of most third-party Reddit clients. Users of those clients are upset. https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/12ram0f/had_a_fe...

but lets say they're upset enough to leave - where will they go en masse that replaces reddit?

Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#75

Post by mrexroad »

bryceneal wrote: post #41

Reddit is such a cesspool of low-quality commentary and rage-baiting. The front page/popular category is particularly egregious.

I’ve never visited the front page, but I’ve found a number of helpful folks on various construction trade or woodworking subs. I only have notifications enabled for /r/costco_alcohol quite useful to gauge the overall distribution patterns for specific whiskeys I like, so I know when it’s worth making a trip or not. Pretty much every sub I’ve recently spent time offering help in, or have found interesting enough to scroll around, has a pretty rigid policy of no politics and no religion. With all that said, I made the mistake of visiting /r/BayArea and found your assessment spot on.

Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#76

Post by swalling »

dangus wrote: post #69
m348e912 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

old.reddit.com and it's imminent disappearance underscores that there is a still need for a user-centric web browser designed to combat user-hostile web ui. Here are some features I think the browser should have by default (without plugins) Short feature list: - Overwrite website code and display a user-hostile UI of popular sites like reddit/Facebook (this warrants a whole list in itself) - offer a reader view of an…

> offer a reader view of any website including pay walled websites Not really possible if a paywalled website is a true paywall. Many paywalled websites don't even expose their content to crawlers. I also think that, philosophically, the majority of the user base being able to bypass paywall isn't healthy for the Internet. It will only make content quality decrease and advertisement aggression increase. You can see t…

If a link is paywalled and/or the content is not able to be crawled/archived for a reader mode, a browser that warned me before I wasted time opening a tab whose content is totally inaccessible would be appreciated. Contextual lock icons on links or a hover state with a preview.

If paywall status was exposed via a standardized API to the browser, it could further make it more seamless to buy a subscription iOS-style that I know I can cancel easily later. Looking at you, NYT and other new sites.

Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#77

Post by eco »

nelsonenzo wrote: post #26
earthscienceman wrote: post #7

This is a nice time to remind everyone that Aaron Swartz died while fighting for a freer internet and a freer world. He is, by Paul Graham, considered a founder of reddit but is rarely mentioned in these stories. Instead of trying to go for broke and grind till he could cash out, Aaron put his skin in the game for what the internet should become. Which gets more relevant everyday that the internet megacorps consolida…

It's owned by a Chinese company from what I understand. I don't think they have a particular bone with Aaron, but generally just believe in deleting inconvenient controversies.

Tencent owns 5% of reddit.

Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#78

Post by hayst4ck »

giantrobot wrote: post #43
compumike wrote: post #2

Listened to this episode on a road trip yesterday and really enjoyed it. If you do a "part 2", I'm curious to hear more details about how they pulled off the growth of Reddit, broadening from an initial niche community into a wider collection of communities. Thanks jl and clevy!

They got multiple migration waves from digg, added subreddits, then network effects started. Early Reddit was pretty boring unless you were interested in programming or technology. The first big bump in users from digg was during the HD-DVD key fracas. The ham-handed response by digg to even talking about the key leak pissed off a lot of users. They were already simmering due to astroturfing/Payola by "power users" (…

Digg changed the way comments were threaded meaning there could be no cogent discussion in threads. I am confident that was the mortal wound to Digg.

Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#79

Post by noir_lord »

twostorytower wrote: post #45
qwertox wrote: post #38

I ask myself on a weekly basis when old.reddit.com will disappear. And there is nothing more cruel than the new Reddit, UI-wise. Even Twitter's "threading" of conversations appears to make more sense, even though I have still not figured out how it works.

I know some people at Reddit and sadly it's definitely going to happen.

Used Reddit for 14 years as a registered member and longer since before I signed up.

The day old.reddit.com stops working is the day I stop using reddit completely, I detest their new UI so much that it’s essentially unusable for me.

Re: Listen to Steve Huffman tell the story of how Reddit got started

#80

Post by hayst4ck »

doublerabbit wrote: post #27
jedberg wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol HN didn't exist until reddit was popular. HN was in fact created because reddit go so popular it no longer appealed to PG, so he started HN so he could moderate the conversation himself and steer the community they way he wanted it to go. The other thing you said partly true -- in the beginning the founders had about 100 accounts that they posted with, but there were no comments back then. There was never fake co…

Digg had it first, Reddit was Digg's second cousin. Reddit never took off until Digg shot itself in the kneecap. Digg was where the "fresh content" came from. If Digg hadn't made the v2.0 mistake; Reddit wouldn't be where it was now. The accounts may of not been fake, but reddit for sure had many plants; it was even boasted by the administration team prior Conde Nest. And now it's more blatant than before.

> Digg was where the "fresh content" came from.

This is not quite true. StumbleUpon is where fresh content came from. It was popularized on digg.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StumbleUpon

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