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This is a great move. But it only makes sense after a community with momentum is in full swing. The community experience is the driving force behind reddit/di

by fiaz 18y ago

This is a great move. But it only makes sense after a community with momentum is in full swing. The community experience is the driving force behind reddit/digg/HN/mixx/slashdot/etc successes, not the technology.

andreyf 18y ago
The community experience is the driving force [...], not the technology. Absolutely. I'd be much more impressed with a comprehensive API for votes/comments/stories.
- ph0rque 18y ago
  Now you can write it...
  - andreyf 18y ago
    I doubt they would include such a patch in reddit.com ... it's trivial to write, but their intention is keeping that information inside reddit, which is pretty evil, by Google standards.
    - ph0rque 18y ago
      Why not ask them? Even better, maybe they'll see this thread and respond...
      - Raphael 18y ago
        They (spez) already did.
        ph0rque 18y ago
        Compare the timestamps on my and Spez's comments.
    - spez 18y ago
      Did you just make that up? We give data away all the time.
      - andreyf 18y ago
        Links, please? What I'm talking about is an open API like twitter or flickr's, so that people may make 3rd party apps or website that can do anything the website can. Pretty much, I think it would be best for everyone to let people make reddit (or private reddits) the back-end infrastructure of all sites like news.YC, slashdot (just like flickr is a back-end for other people's sites). This was submitted as a request well over a year ago: http://www.reddit.com/info/1jhma/comments/ http://www.reddit.com/info/1jhma/comments/ It's interesting that you commented on that thread, saying: adding the display templates is easy. what i'd be really concerned about is the db load, but that's solvable as well. and also: We'd certainly do it. It just takes time, and that's a scarce resource at the moment. It's been a year and two months since then... how much longer do you need? The data you have comes from the community... why not open automated access to it?
xirium 18y ago
> The community experience is the driving force behind reddit/digg/HN/mixx/slashdot/etc successes, not the technology. Slashdot only went open source after they gained a lead with their own instance of the code. Slashdot only went open source after increasing demand from its community. Since going open source, Slashdot has subsequently gained bug fixes and a much more scalable implementation at reduced cost. However, I cannot name any other instances or derivatives of the code which are active - not even Squishdot Zope clones. So, if you've got a big archive of posts and a large number of active users then open sourcing your code only entrenches your position by reducing costs.
- rw 18y ago
  open sourcing your code only entrenches your position by reducing costs. A valuable observation, but seemingly only valid for frameworks and backends that are merely a glorified CMS.
  - DougBTX 18y ago
    > a glorified CMS Much of the web is a glorified CMS, indexed by Google. If your businesses produces value through human generated content[1], you should share your code to push down the cost of technology, undermining the market for people trying to sell similar but potentially innovative software to your competitors. [1] as opposed to computer generated content, such as online catalogues or search indices.
    - michaelneale 18y ago
      hehehe yes... and a computer is just a collection of coloured pixels flickering a bit.
- narag 18y ago
  >However, I cannot name any other instances or derivatives of the code which are active In Spain we have http://barrapunto.com http://barrapunto.com much smaller but also using slashcode. IIRC there are also two more instances, one of them in Portugal. Barrapunto added its own features for a long time, but they weren't incorporated to main branch, and after serious scalability and trolling problems arose, they reverted to regular slashcode.

by fiaz 18y ago

andreyf 18y ago

The community experience is the driving force [...], not the technology. Absolutely. I'd be much more impressed with a comprehensive API for votes/comments/stories.

ph0rque 18y ago
Now you can write it...
- andreyf 18y ago
  I doubt they would include such a patch in reddit.com ... it's trivial to write, but their intention is keeping that information inside reddit, which is pretty evil, by Google standards.
  - ph0rque 18y ago
    Why not ask them? Even better, maybe they'll see this thread and respond...
    - Raphael 18y ago
      They (spez) already did.
      - ph0rque 18y ago
        Compare the timestamps on my and Spez's comments.
  - spez 18y ago
    Did you just make that up? We give data away all the time.
    - andreyf 18y ago
      Links, please? What I'm talking about is an open API like twitter or flickr's, so that people may make 3rd party apps or website that can do anything the website can. Pretty much, I think it would be best for everyone to let people make reddit (or private reddits) the back-end infrastructure of all sites like news.YC, slashdot (just like flickr is a back-end for other people's sites). This was submitted as a request well over a year ago: http://www.reddit.com/info/1jhma/comments/ http://www.reddit.com/info/1jhma/comments/ It's interesting that you commented on that thread, saying: adding the display templates is easy. what i'd be really concerned about is the db load, but that's solvable as well. and also: We'd certainly do it. It just takes time, and that's a scarce resource at the moment. It's been a year and two months since then... how much longer do you need? The data you have comes from the community... why not open automated access to it?

xirium 18y ago

> The community experience is the driving force behind reddit/digg/HN/mixx/slashdot/etc successes, not the technology. Slashdot only went open source after they gained a lead with their own instance of the code. Slashdot only went open source after increasing demand from its community. Since going open source, Slashdot has subsequently gained bug fixes and a much more scalable implementation at reduced cost. However, I cannot name any other instances or derivatives of the code which are active - not even Squishdot Zope clones. So, if you've got a big archive of posts and a large number of active users then open sourcing your code only entrenches your position by reducing costs.

rw 18y ago
open sourcing your code only entrenches your position by reducing costs. A valuable observation, but seemingly only valid for frameworks and backends that are merely a glorified CMS.
- DougBTX 18y ago
  > a glorified CMS Much of the web is a glorified CMS, indexed by Google. If your businesses produces value through human generated content[1], you should share your code to push down the cost of technology, undermining the market for people trying to sell similar but potentially innovative software to your competitors. [1] as opposed to computer generated content, such as online catalogues or search indices.
  - michaelneale 18y ago
    hehehe yes... and a computer is just a collection of coloured pixels flickering a bit.
narag 18y ago
>However, I cannot name any other instances or derivatives of the code which are active In Spain we have http://barrapunto.com http://barrapunto.com much smaller but also using slashcode. IIRC there are also two more instances, one of them in Portugal. Barrapunto added its own features for a long time, but they weren't incorporated to main branch, and after serious scalability and trolling problems arose, they reverted to regular slashcode.