doesn't reddit have a stake in imgur? http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/03/after-five-years-of-bootstr...
Reddit launches image uploads, ditching alliance with Imgur
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Re: Reddit launches image uploads, ditching alliance with Imgur
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
At Reddit's scale they would be able to negotiate directly with AWS for lower rates. I'm sure they already do so with servers.
[ deleted ] -- I removed it because I got tired of trying to explain the nuance.
TIL. After reading about Spotify negotiating with Google Compute Cloud I just thought it was common place for such orgs to negotiate vs everyone else that will rarely reach that scale.
Re: Reddit launches image uploads, ditching alliance with Imgur
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
"direct" links to an image uploaded sometimes/usually redirect to imgur page, with lots of ads and shitty content, obnoxious, animated overlays that block out part of the image on mobile, etc
The biggest problem with imgur is that their mobile site is slow and sluggish as hell. On my Moto G2 loading and rendering even a single image takes way longer than it should be so I guess there is a lot of "beautiful" Javascript hackery going on in the background doing who-knows-what.
My money is on the JavaScript for the stupid ass swipe left/right functionality and cat paw.
The same functionality that loves to go off when I'm scrolling down on an album and lose my position.
Re: Reddit launches image uploads, ditching alliance with Imgur
#94I think it'll be the same when StackOverflow introduced snippers and everyone thought JSFiddle would fade away because of it... In reality there was zero impact on the traffic from SO.
I'm pretty sure the same will be for Imgur.
Re: Reddit launches image uploads, ditching alliance with Imgur
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then they should never have started. Why does every 'free' service on the Internet inevitably devolve into an ad-laden, tracker-enabled shitfest?
Because they probably aren't charities, and can't afford to donat e Free resources for your perpetual enjoyment?
Then we're back to my initial point: they never should have started as one.
Re: Reddit launches image uploads, ditching alliance with Imgur
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then they should never have started. Why does every 'free' service on the Internet inevitably devolve into an ad-laden, tracker-enabled shitfest?
Because they probably aren't charities, and can't afford to donat e Free resources for your perpetual enjoyment?
> Because they probably aren't charities, and can't afford to donat e Free resources for your perpetual enjoyment?
Then why did they start a free service to begin with, if they knew from the start it couldn't last?
Right, to trick people into becoming dependent on the free service so they'll be reluctant to leave once the shady, UX-degrading monetization starts.
You'll forgive me if I'm not sympathetic to that business plan.
Re: Reddit launches image uploads, ditching alliance with Imgur
#97Having a third party host Reddit's images gave away a bunch of control to the point that imgur has its own community based upon the site . At the time Reddit didn't have the resources to make a competitor but this seems to be a good move now that imgur is doing dark patterns.
I want to know whether Imgur's dark patterns are because the site isn't profitable, or because it isn't profitable enough . Because they've sort of cut their own throat here, and it would be interesting to know whether it was from necessity or greed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMtmnLWL79o
They've received VC funding and now they have to make lots of money for their VC bosses. Therefore, they will do almost anything.
Re: Reddit launches image uploads, ditching alliance with Imgur
#98When you're growing as fast as Reddit was, you don't change the recipe, you just keep cooking it. They already had the ingredients for exponential growth, so change in general just introduces unnecessary risks. They had no need for a larger exponent.
The outcome of that is:
-Alien Blue beat Reddit to mobile optimization of Reddit's own platform
-Imgur beat Reddit to sharing images on Reddit
-Reddit and Imgur now exist as pseudo-sister-sites with features that overlap on a fundamental level, and Reddit is cannibalizing its own equity in Imgur
Now that they can't just hire site reliability engineers and watch their graph go up like a volcano, their only play is to improve their product, but now they're running uphill.
I think it's generally correct to play it safe and maintain organic exponential growth if you have it, but when it comes to things as obvious as mobile optimization and image sharing, maybe it's ok for a company to come out of their shell and iterate on obvious stuff (even though they don't have to).
Re: Reddit launches image uploads, ditching alliance with Imgur
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
"direct" links to an image uploaded sometimes/usually redirect to imgur page, with lots of ads and shitty content, obnoxious, animated overlays that block out part of the image on mobile, etc
To be fair, bandwidth isn't free. Imgur can't serve hotlinked content for free, forever.
To be fair, they could have operated a simple and effectively profitable business, and grown at an economically normal rate. But hey, I guess I wouldn't say no to $40M of a16z's money and a $200M valuation either.
Re: Reddit launches image uploads, ditching alliance with Imgur
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep. Imgur realized that being solely a user-friendly image host wasn't much of a money maker, so they started gradually turning into the Photobucket style messes that it was originally aiming to destroy. Now they run their own community/discussion site and try to show it down the throat of anyone who lands there trying to look at a picture. It's not been good for the user experience of anyone who was just there for…
Question. What's wrong with making just a little bit of money?? (which is presumably still more than i will ever see!)
Downvoted you by mistake, apologies.