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reddit is uniquely designed to maximize time wasting. HN gets pretty boring for me after 15 minutes. reddit just keeps it interesting all day long. From my e

by 300bps 7y ago

reddit is uniquely designed to maximize time wasting. HN gets pretty boring for me after 15 minutes. reddit just keeps it interesting all day long. From my early days on BBSes to Usenet to IRC to Slashdot to digg, etc I’ve never witnessed anything as addictive as reddit. I stopped using it completely five years ago.

skinnymuch 7y ago
To each his own? Reddit bores me fairly quickly except for a select view subreddits that are focused on videos. But that’s really just YouTube then. Is it even the reddit home page that is addictive to you? It might just be my cynicism but not believing most of the self posted stories that populate the front page, or, while I love dogs in real life, not caring for another dog photo, or, a post trying to pull at your heart strings. I don’t get the modern appeal of reddit. It’s of course a hugely popular site. The comments for big stories are usually filled with tepid jokes or repeating some part of the post or some meme. Or there’s a good chance a reddit post is just plain wrong or the comments are by and large uninformed. Most of my friends also by and large aren’t into reddit. But I recognize it’s a top 5 most popular site and so likely is addicting to a ton of people. On the other hand, while I waste too much time on H, I’ve never made any social connection here. This is the only social site where I spend substantial time and have no social connections at the end of it.
- Sharlin 7y ago
  The default front page material is, frankly, subjectively terrible (damn kids these days get off my law etc.) But a customized front page can be really addictive, though these days I find myself just going directly to the various subreddits I frequent (things like r/AskScience, r/AskHistorians, r/photography, r/rust, r/dwarffortress).
  - samhain 7y ago
    This is how I use it too, and I probably have a problem with it. I've set up timers so that I don't use it more than a few hours a day. Basically I've maxed out the filter on /r/all (yes, it's actually called /r/all and there was a time when it wasn't...) And then I visit just the communities that I'm interested in. I am subscribed to some of them, but I don't use the home page at all.
ryl00 7y ago
To me, reddit is truly Usenet 2.0, and in retrospect it's somewhat amazing Google groups didn't capitalize on the head start they should have had when they "inherited" Usenet and let it stagnate. My Windows phone is still viable primarily because reddit .compact still works in Edge (it'll be a sad day if/when? they remove .compact). Perhaps I need help? :)
bonniemuffin 7y ago
I cured reddit of its addictiveness by unsubscribing from all high-volume subreddits, and only subscribing to a few low-traffic niche communities. Now I reach the "end" of reddit quite quickly (like I reach the end of the infinite scroll and it doesn't show me any more posts) and feel like I'm "done" reading it.
justinator 7y ago
Oh you'll love the Reddit redesign then. Gets old fast.

by 300bps 7y ago

skinnymuch 7y ago

To each his own? Reddit bores me fairly quickly except for a select view subreddits that are focused on videos. But that’s really just YouTube then. Is it even the reddit home page that is addictive to you? It might just be my cynicism but not believing most of the self posted stories that populate the front page, or, while I love dogs in real life, not caring for another dog photo, or, a post trying to pull at your heart strings. I don’t get the modern appeal of reddit. It’s of course a hugely popular site. The comments for big stories are usually filled with tepid jokes or repeating some part of the post or some meme. Or there’s a good chance a reddit post is just plain wrong or the comments are by and large uninformed. Most of my friends also by and large aren’t into reddit. But I recognize it’s a top 5 most popular site and so likely is addicting to a ton of people. On the other hand, while I waste too much time on H, I’ve never made any social connection here. This is the only social site where I spend substantial time and have no social connections at the end of it.

Sharlin 7y ago
The default front page material is, frankly, subjectively terrible (damn kids these days get off my law etc.) But a customized front page can be really addictive, though these days I find myself just going directly to the various subreddits I frequent (things like r/AskScience, r/AskHistorians, r/photography, r/rust, r/dwarffortress).
- samhain 7y ago
  This is how I use it too, and I probably have a problem with it. I've set up timers so that I don't use it more than a few hours a day. Basically I've maxed out the filter on /r/all (yes, it's actually called /r/all and there was a time when it wasn't...) And then I visit just the communities that I'm interested in. I am subscribed to some of them, but I don't use the home page at all.

ryl00 7y ago

To me, reddit is truly Usenet 2.0, and in retrospect it's somewhat amazing Google groups didn't capitalize on the head start they should have had when they "inherited" Usenet and let it stagnate. My Windows phone is still viable primarily because reddit .compact still works in Edge (it'll be a sad day if/when? they remove .compact). Perhaps I need help? :)

bonniemuffin 7y ago

I cured reddit of its addictiveness by unsubscribing from all high-volume subreddits, and only subscribing to a few low-traffic niche communities. Now I reach the "end" of reddit quite quickly (like I reach the end of the infinite scroll and it doesn't show me any more posts) and feel like I'm "done" reading it.

justinator 7y ago

Oh you'll love the Reddit redesign then. Gets old fast.