5 ms·

Also for context, Reddit found a lot of steam when Digg suffered a mass exodus based on seismic product shifts. I wouldn't be surprised if Reddit was consciousl

by beager 9y ago

Also for context, Reddit found a lot of steam when Digg suffered a mass exodus based on seismic product shifts. I wouldn't be surprised if Reddit was consciously and unconsciously averse to that kind of mutation.

hn_throwaway_99 9y ago
Kudos to reddit for not following the trend of "lets redesign the site just because we can" ethos. Not only did the product shift kill Digg, I also think it led to the earlier downfall of Slashdot. I may be dating myself, but I remember how each revision of Slashdot made it less usable for me. The "cleaner, minimalist, lots of whitespace" designs that were in vogue actually made it much harder to navigate comment threads quickly and see good content easily while avoiding the chaff. Even today I prefer to use the desktop version of Reddit on my phone, because I can just go through content threads a lot faster than compared to their mobile site.
- gtm1260 9y ago
  I agree! It feels like a good portion of the time when I see a new feature on a website it seems like it only exists because all the people needed to create it are employed at the company and we can't have them just sitting around all day.
  - FiveDegrees 9y ago
    I'm looking at you, Slack.
    - paulddraper 9y ago
      You mean Facebook?
    - hn_throwaway_99 9y ago
      Yes! Slack is dangerously close to the point of "every new feature makes it worse", while basic features that should work (scrolling to earlier in a channel that reloads history feels like a roulette wheel) stay broken.
  - hkon 9y ago
    This seems like a first principle. You find this in every organization which has served it's purpose. Lawmakers, developers, activist groups
- ktta 9y ago
  Reddit is actually facing a lot of flak for their plan of disabling CSS. This has made several of the subreddits announce themselves as Pro-CSS - sort of a rebel against the admins. https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/66q4is/the_web_redesign_css_and_mod_tools/ https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/66q4is/the_web_red... https://www.reddit.com/r/ProCSS/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ProCSS/
  - sillysaurus3 9y ago
    I've been following some of that. It's difficult to call, but I don't think it's a serious problem for Reddit, if they do it right. Situations like this are extremely difficult to predict accurately. It could become a big problem. But it has a decent chance of blowing over. The main issue is to harness the energy that the moderators currently put into their subreddit. They're not sad that CSS is going away. They're sad their toys are being taken away from them. That's not to trivialize it, not at all -- people like to tinker, and playing with your subreddit and putting your markings on it is a toy for adults. It's a game. It's necessary to replace that with something that feels equally deep and immersive. Or, you know, just don't mess with the status quo. But if you're going to do it, I think that's why people are rebelling. Not because the functionality is gone, but because they're losing a creative outlet.
  - dzhiurgis 9y ago
    I haven't seen a single sub where CSS would add value. The worst example is r/science where colourful tags make it especially noisy.
    - elgenie 9y ago
      CSS adds tons of value in sports subreddits. It's used to display stuff like the league standings and details on the day's game.
    - dredmorbius 9y ago
      https://reddit.com/r/dredmorbius https://reddit.com/r/dredmorbius Availability hueristic and personal bias. There are others. CSS is a tool. Often, but not always misused.
- wvenable 9y ago
  Digg and Reddit kind of came out of the lack of change at Slashdot. Slashdot had many problems with obvious solutions and originally digg was just slashdot where users could submit stories.
  - zhte415 9y ago
    And kuro5hin, where users sit around on stories endlessly trolling them or asking for clarification before they got published. Kuro5hin did achieve some of the most amazing content, however.
    - samstave 9y ago
      I haven't been on K5 for ages .. can you recollect some of amazing content to tell me what I may have missed?
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
- ryl00 9y ago
  .compact is still my preferred way of browsing Reddit on my phone. It seems to be slowly losing functionality (e.g., can no longer submit links or text posts), but the compactness of content is a big plus for me...
  - Yhippa 9y ago
    When linking to other parts of the site I notice I'll get bounced to the mobile version of Reddit even when I'm on .compact. The mobile version is so space-inefficient which is worse because I'm on a small mobile screen.
- ngold 9y ago
  They understand they exist because people go there. V3 Digg will alaways be burned in their minds. Replace them and that lesson is lost. And another Voat will replace them. Hopefully without being taken over by a bunch of broke Nazis
pinpeliponni 9y ago
You call forging votes, and banning large parts of the community a "seismic product shifts" ? :)

by beager 9y ago

hn_throwaway_99 9y ago

Kudos to reddit for not following the trend of "lets redesign the site just because we can" ethos. Not only did the product shift kill Digg, I also think it led to the earlier downfall of Slashdot. I may be dating myself, but I remember how each revision of Slashdot made it less usable for me. The "cleaner, minimalist, lots of whitespace" designs that were in vogue actually made it much harder to navigate comment threads quickly and see good content easily while avoiding the chaff. Even today I prefer to use the desktop version of Reddit on my phone, because I can just go through content threads a lot faster than compared to their mobile site.

gtm1260 9y ago
I agree! It feels like a good portion of the time when I see a new feature on a website it seems like it only exists because all the people needed to create it are employed at the company and we can't have them just sitting around all day.
- FiveDegrees 9y ago
  I'm looking at you, Slack.
  - paulddraper 9y ago
    You mean Facebook?
  - hn_throwaway_99 9y ago
    Yes! Slack is dangerously close to the point of "every new feature makes it worse", while basic features that should work (scrolling to earlier in a channel that reloads history feels like a roulette wheel) stay broken.
- hkon 9y ago
  This seems like a first principle. You find this in every organization which has served it's purpose. Lawmakers, developers, activist groups
ktta 9y ago
Reddit is actually facing a lot of flak for their plan of disabling CSS. This has made several of the subreddits announce themselves as Pro-CSS - sort of a rebel against the admins. https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/66q4is/the_web_redesign_css_and_mod_tools/ https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/66q4is/the_web_red... https://www.reddit.com/r/ProCSS/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ProCSS/
- sillysaurus3 9y ago
  I've been following some of that. It's difficult to call, but I don't think it's a serious problem for Reddit, if they do it right. Situations like this are extremely difficult to predict accurately. It could become a big problem. But it has a decent chance of blowing over. The main issue is to harness the energy that the moderators currently put into their subreddit. They're not sad that CSS is going away. They're sad their toys are being taken away from them. That's not to trivialize it, not at all -- people like to tinker, and playing with your subreddit and putting your markings on it is a toy for adults. It's a game. It's necessary to replace that with something that feels equally deep and immersive. Or, you know, just don't mess with the status quo. But if you're going to do it, I think that's why people are rebelling. Not because the functionality is gone, but because they're losing a creative outlet.
- dzhiurgis 9y ago
  I haven't seen a single sub where CSS would add value. The worst example is r/science where colourful tags make it especially noisy.
  - elgenie 9y ago
    CSS adds tons of value in sports subreddits. It's used to display stuff like the league standings and details on the day's game.
  - dredmorbius 9y ago
    https://reddit.com/r/dredmorbius https://reddit.com/r/dredmorbius Availability hueristic and personal bias. There are others. CSS is a tool. Often, but not always misused.
wvenable 9y ago
Digg and Reddit kind of came out of the lack of change at Slashdot. Slashdot had many problems with obvious solutions and originally digg was just slashdot where users could submit stories.
- zhte415 9y ago
  And kuro5hin, where users sit around on stories endlessly trolling them or asking for clarification before they got published. Kuro5hin did achieve some of the most amazing content, however.
  - samstave 9y ago
    I haven't been on K5 for ages .. can you recollect some of amazing content to tell me what I may have missed?
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
ryl00 9y ago
.compact is still my preferred way of browsing Reddit on my phone. It seems to be slowly losing functionality (e.g., can no longer submit links or text posts), but the compactness of content is a big plus for me...
- Yhippa 9y ago
  When linking to other parts of the site I notice I'll get bounced to the mobile version of Reddit even when I'm on .compact. The mobile version is so space-inefficient which is worse because I'm on a small mobile screen.
ngold 9y ago
They understand they exist because people go there. V3 Digg will alaways be burned in their minds. Replace them and that lesson is lost. And another Voat will replace them. Hopefully without being taken over by a bunch of broke Nazis

pinpeliponni 9y ago

You call forging votes, and banning large parts of the community a "seismic product shifts" ? :)