7 ms·

Reddit was great, many years ago, although there are many sub-reddits that are still excellent today. Moves they've made in the recent years, like hiding vote c

Reddit was great, many years ago, although there are many sub-reddits that are still excellent today. Moves they've made in the recent years, like hiding vote counts, were to improve growth, but it has also enabled more astroturfing and censorship (widespread). More recently, they started injected tracking into outbound link clicks and introduced the terrible redesign to help with growth/monetization also. As they've grown, the quality of the content within sub-reddits and discussions within those communities, have fallen dramatically.

Zarath 8y ago
I've used reddit quite a bit the last two years and have felt the content quality has decreased. That, or I'm just used to it or bored of it. Feel like I may be getting a little old for it. There are still some subs that are useful, like fantasyfootball
- drankula3 8y ago
  It seems like after Reddit exploded trying to catch the Boston Bomber, the insane velocity of content was nerfed to prevent hivemind comment. I don't know if any data is available on how things have changed though.
naravara 8y ago
it never occurred to me before, but seeing it in a chart like this it really seems like Reddit has basically just turned into Gamers and their side interests, politics, and a few vestiges of old Reddit, like AskReddit, which at this point might as well be their own separate site for what all they have to do with the main demographic. The Video Game sphere takes up a huge chunk of it. Then many of the other subs are basically gamer adjacent. Many of those technology subs are just about building PCs and stuff, which is largely gaming related or correlated. Even a lot of the politics is invariably linked to Gamergate type stuff. The Entertainment section is all genre fiction, anime, etc. Stuff you would expect a gaming forum to focus on. The dedicated meme parts of the site are gone. The interesting stuff that fits in no particular category are gone. If you had told me 4 years ago that one day I would come to miss the derivative rage comics and image macros in the face of the unrelenting stream of toxicity that the site would become I wouldn't have believed you. Just look at this joke post https://external-preview.redd.it/dv9xRUyCUzzan5wZnVBCmmHIriHsSYajwIJ6fAu-Vh8.png?auto=webp&s=c4d42004c487dd362c7b54e60a933e0bafcb66d3 https://external-preview.redd.it/dv9xRUyCUzzan5wZnVBCmmHIriH... from 6 years ago. It all seems so innocent compared to what it is now.
- thelasthuman 8y ago
  https://www.reddit.com/r/FiveYearsAgoOnReddit/ https://www.reddit.com/r/FiveYearsAgoOnReddit/
- nitwit005 8y ago
  I'd be curious what the overlap is. I suspect a lot of those users have edited their subscriptions to see only gaming stuff. I've notice a number of questions on how to filter out all political content, so I suspect a lot of people are just trimming out the parts of reddit they don't care about.
- TylerE 8y ago
  Funny you should mention AskReddit. I'd consider the sad state of that sub an example of exactly how far mainstream Reddit has fallen. It's mostly content that makes me feel like I'm actually losing intelligence by reading it. Endless September writ large.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 8y ago
    Thing about askreddit is that I don’t think it’s gone downhill, it’s always been the same few recycled questions every day with some actual decent discussions popping up about once a week. I have been browsing the subreddit for about 7 years now and I can’t see a noticeable decline, more so that the same old questions have become even more tired after seeing them over and over.
- HeadsUpHigh 8y ago
  This really surprises me. Reddit to me feels like the easiest social network to customize your feed towards what you want( the redesign sucks though). Only recently after years of using it I found out that there are default subs and I was only subbed to r/funny and r/askreddit Every time I want information on whatever subject, be it a game or technology etc I first look if there's a subreddit for it and most often there is. I'm also building a multireddit for photography related stuff. You don't have to follow outrage or game-culture related subs whatsoever. Just sub to what you want to read about.
- 8y ago
Avery3R 8y ago
They started tracking outbound links before the redesign, so it's on old reddit too. You can disable it in user prefs.
HiroshiSan 8y ago
Not to mention their dark patterns to get you to install the mobile app while browsing on mobile.
- kdamken 8y ago
  If you hit the hamburger icon you can turn off the constant asking you to open the app pop ups.
  - babyloneleven 8y ago
    It's still a dark pattern.
  - HiroshiSan 8y ago
    Thanks for this, I don't know if it's because I'm getting older or what but it never occurred to me to think to check for a setting... I can't keep up with all these ui trends.
- mattpk 8y ago
  They've recently added javascript that mimics system UI asking you if you want to open the content in the app or in the browser. I'm also almost certain that the loading bars on mobile web are artificial sleeps.
SOLAR_FIELDS 8y ago
The thing about recent moves is that, unlike Facebook, they still support older ways to have the non-painful experience from the user side at least. i.reddit.com is still alive and I use it regularly. Lightweight, decent UX with some flaws, but pretty much no ads. The user tracking is harder to get around, but a combination of pi-hole, ublock origin, and privacy badger helps there. So it’s not terrible yet. I think when they finally kill i.reddit.com is when I leave the platform.
- dorfsmay 8y ago
  And old.reddit.com.
austincheney 8y ago
I deleted my account out of frustration early this year. Discussion is simply not important. Demonizing opposing opinions is very important though. Very much an anti libertarian echo chamber.
- baq 8y ago
  Basic group dynamics in absence of sufficient moderation. Usenet went through the same process.
- nurino 8y ago
  No offence but apart from HN I wonder what community takes libertarians seriously? In fact from my experience they are mostly non-existent outside of the US, so much that libertarians are a staple of the American culture for me.
  - austincheney 8y ago
    > No offence but apart from HN I wonder what community takes libertarians seriously? Allow me to rephrase. Are you immediately fearful or deeply (emotionally) offended by original opinions or opinions challenge assertions you care deeply about but are not fully informed of? Libertarianism is simply the idea of individual independence (each individual is equal) which is the opposite of democracy (majority rules). John Stuart Mills spells this out in his On Liberty book. The most clear example of absurdity is challenging the belief that WASM is replacing JavaScript. The position on this issue is stated by Mozilla, the WASM working group, and individual contributors to the WASM spec. Regardless of what the technology, or what's the authors mention, people form an independent reality and demonize anything contrary in an aggressive manner. Contrary opinions are taken as a personal threat necessarily demanding punishment.

Zarath 8y ago

I've used reddit quite a bit the last two years and have felt the content quality has decreased. That, or I'm just used to it or bored of it. Feel like I may be getting a little old for it. There are still some subs that are useful, like fantasyfootball

drankula3 8y ago
It seems like after Reddit exploded trying to catch the Boston Bomber, the insane velocity of content was nerfed to prevent hivemind comment. I don't know if any data is available on how things have changed though.

naravara 8y ago

it never occurred to me before, but seeing it in a chart like this it really seems like Reddit has basically just turned into Gamers and their side interests, politics, and a few vestiges of old Reddit, like AskReddit, which at this point might as well be their own separate site for what all they have to do with the main demographic. The Video Game sphere takes up a huge chunk of it. Then many of the other subs are basically gamer adjacent. Many of those technology subs are just about building PCs and stuff, which is largely gaming related or correlated. Even a lot of the politics is invariably linked to Gamergate type stuff. The Entertainment section is all genre fiction, anime, etc. Stuff you would expect a gaming forum to focus on. The dedicated meme parts of the site are gone. The interesting stuff that fits in no particular category are gone. If you had told me 4 years ago that one day I would come to miss the derivative rage comics and image macros in the face of the unrelenting stream of toxicity that the site would become I wouldn't have believed you. Just look at this joke post https://external-preview.redd.it/dv9xRUyCUzzan5wZnVBCmmHIriHsSYajwIJ6fAu-Vh8.png?auto=webp&s=c4d42004c487dd362c7b54e60a933e0bafcb66d3 https://external-preview.redd.it/dv9xRUyCUzzan5wZnVBCmmHIriH... from 6 years ago. It all seems so innocent compared to what it is now.

thelasthuman 8y ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/FiveYearsAgoOnReddit/ https://www.reddit.com/r/FiveYearsAgoOnReddit/
nitwit005 8y ago
I'd be curious what the overlap is. I suspect a lot of those users have edited their subscriptions to see only gaming stuff. I've notice a number of questions on how to filter out all political content, so I suspect a lot of people are just trimming out the parts of reddit they don't care about.
TylerE 8y ago
Funny you should mention AskReddit. I'd consider the sad state of that sub an example of exactly how far mainstream Reddit has fallen. It's mostly content that makes me feel like I'm actually losing intelligence by reading it. Endless September writ large.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 8y ago
  Thing about askreddit is that I don’t think it’s gone downhill, it’s always been the same few recycled questions every day with some actual decent discussions popping up about once a week. I have been browsing the subreddit for about 7 years now and I can’t see a noticeable decline, more so that the same old questions have become even more tired after seeing them over and over.
HeadsUpHigh 8y ago
This really surprises me. Reddit to me feels like the easiest social network to customize your feed towards what you want( the redesign sucks though). Only recently after years of using it I found out that there are default subs and I was only subbed to r/funny and r/askreddit Every time I want information on whatever subject, be it a game or technology etc I first look if there's a subreddit for it and most often there is. I'm also building a multireddit for photography related stuff. You don't have to follow outrage or game-culture related subs whatsoever. Just sub to what you want to read about.
8y ago

Avery3R 8y ago

They started tracking outbound links before the redesign, so it's on old reddit too. You can disable it in user prefs.

HiroshiSan 8y ago

Not to mention their dark patterns to get you to install the mobile app while browsing on mobile.

kdamken 8y ago
If you hit the hamburger icon you can turn off the constant asking you to open the app pop ups.
- babyloneleven 8y ago
  It's still a dark pattern.
- HiroshiSan 8y ago
  Thanks for this, I don't know if it's because I'm getting older or what but it never occurred to me to think to check for a setting... I can't keep up with all these ui trends.
mattpk 8y ago
They've recently added javascript that mimics system UI asking you if you want to open the content in the app or in the browser. I'm also almost certain that the loading bars on mobile web are artificial sleeps.

SOLAR_FIELDS 8y ago

The thing about recent moves is that, unlike Facebook, they still support older ways to have the non-painful experience from the user side at least. i.reddit.com is still alive and I use it regularly. Lightweight, decent UX with some flaws, but pretty much no ads. The user tracking is harder to get around, but a combination of pi-hole, ublock origin, and privacy badger helps there. So it’s not terrible yet. I think when they finally kill i.reddit.com is when I leave the platform.

dorfsmay 8y ago
And old.reddit.com.

austincheney 8y ago

I deleted my account out of frustration early this year. Discussion is simply not important. Demonizing opposing opinions is very important though. Very much an anti libertarian echo chamber.

baq 8y ago
Basic group dynamics in absence of sufficient moderation. Usenet went through the same process.
nurino 8y ago
No offence but apart from HN I wonder what community takes libertarians seriously? In fact from my experience they are mostly non-existent outside of the US, so much that libertarians are a staple of the American culture for me.
- austincheney 8y ago
  > No offence but apart from HN I wonder what community takes libertarians seriously? Allow me to rephrase. Are you immediately fearful or deeply (emotionally) offended by original opinions or opinions challenge assertions you care deeply about but are not fully informed of? Libertarianism is simply the idea of individual independence (each individual is equal) which is the opposite of democracy (majority rules). John Stuart Mills spells this out in his On Liberty book. The most clear example of absurdity is challenging the belief that WASM is replacing JavaScript. The position on this issue is stated by Mozilla, the WASM working group, and individual contributors to the WASM spec. Regardless of what the technology, or what's the authors mention, people form an independent reality and demonize anything contrary in an aggressive manner. Contrary opinions are taken as a personal threat necessarily demanding punishment.