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An account is now required to read Reddit comment threads?

old.reddit.com

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

#91

Post by grep_name »

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…

> 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.

People always seem to brush off this kind of comment when I see it discussed, usually the argument is "well, you're a software developer / superuser, normal people don't care about these things." It will be interesting to see where the breaking point actually is; I've always felt that platform users deserve a little more respect than that. The linked identity thing is especially frustrating for me.

I stopped posting to facebook in 2010 (still using it to keep in touch via messenger and see event invites, and to avoid alienating extended family), but I used to have an instagram account with a fun theme that I only shared with a few friends. What was fun and relatable for my friends was confusing and obtuse to my family. Even the account username was embarrassing in that context. So I always kept them separate, explicitly saying "no, I don't want to attach this to my facebook account." Then one day, it just sort of happened? I can't remember if I was tricked by a dark pattern or if they just forcibly fused the accounts YouTube-Google style, but that day instagram immediately lost all usefulness to me and I haven't been on since. For me as a user, social media has always kind of felt this way.

I'm curious to see what will happen to reddit and its communities, and even more curious to see whether the next generation sees internet anonymity as a cool feature. When I was growing up, it felt like being able to form an alternate identity online was almost the whole point, but I guess back then there were fewer avenues to cultivating your identity as a personal brand for profit.

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

#92

Post by dariusj18 »

dagurp wrote: post #68
mFixman wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yeah, for a while, Digg and Reddit were very similar, so Digg thought, "Hey, let's differentiate ourselves from our competitors." They then proceeded to ruin themselves by trying to become something more like a news aggregator, when what users really wanted was what Reddit remained.

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

#93

Post by cdiddy2 »

mietek wrote: post #65
aloisdg wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Is there somewhere people are going to? similar to when Digg went to reddit. where will reddit users go?

Not all of the outcasts can end up on HN

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

#94

Post by dghughes »

If you have a reddit account and go to the site not logged in the site looks like trash. The articles seem worse than what you see when logged in. Similar to YouTube if you aren't logged in you see the trashiest videos on the "unlogged in" main page.

I don't know if that's on purpose or it's just like that. But there seems to be a big difference in the quality depending on whether you are logged in or not.

As for the reddit site itself I wonder what is the ratio of old.reddit viewers vs reddit viewers are. I've used reddit for over a decade and absolutely hate the new style I only go to old.reddit if that changes and only new reddit is available I'll abandon my account (or sell it to Russians ha! Kidding.).

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

#96

Post by Loughla »

dariusj18 wrote: post #92
dagurp wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yeah, for a while, Digg and Reddit were very similar, so Digg thought, "Hey, let's differentiate ourselves from our competitors." They then proceeded to ruin themselves by trying to become something more like a news aggregator, when what users really wanted was what Reddit remained.

And this was at the same time, or roughly the same time, that slashdot started making 'improvements'. I dumped both slashdot and digg to go to reddit. And now I'm starting to look for somewhere else to go.

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

#98

Post by lghh »

AJ007 wrote: post #80
mietek wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

12 year club; charter member; already gone.

What are you using now? I’ve been an active member of various communities and forums over the years (excluding reddit), and I never actively left one. It was always just a realization I hadn’t been to the site (or really aging myself, BBS) in a year. Most of them where daily habits at one point.

I wonder if there is a market for a Reddit alternative that is somehow treads the line between being a cesspool like that one site that tried to replace Reddit when they banned a lot of fascist stuff was and that other site that infantilized everyone. Is there a middle ground? I feel like treading it would be useful.

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

#99

Post by coldpie »

Glyptodon wrote: post #71
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'd caveat this very slightly, as sometimes a business model turns out to be existentially viable, but lacks the kind of scale, revenue, or exponential growth that VCs want to see.

If your business model doesn't include paying back your investors, it's not viable. If your business model does pay back investors, or doesn't require them, then congrats! You've avoided the dismal equilibrium and have a successful business that serves its users instead of abuses them :)

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

#100

Post by WhompingWindows »

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…

I wish Reddit had gone the way of VLC -- keep your core product, the thing people liked, and stop chasing profits. Why do so many of these companies fall to the profit motive and lose their "soul"?
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