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What a strange thing to be this user hostile. When stuff like this happens, people look for alternatives, and even if they don’t switch immediately, this reall

by blhack 7y ago

What a strange thing to be this user hostile. When stuff like this happens, people look for alternatives, and even if they don’t switch immediately, this really erodes any loyalty they have to your brand/service. I think Facebook is experiencing a similar thing. A frustrating amount of my network has quit, which makes planning events more difficult (and is frustrating). The difference for Facebook is that they have enough money to just buy wherever people move to. Reddit doesn’t have that. At this point I think a lot of people are actively looking for (and probably finding) replacements. I’m actually surprised Reddit still makes their public api so easily available without any keys. I wonder how long until somebody just scrapes the content and uses that to help get over the network problem and start a competitor.

themagician 7y ago
Facebook gave up on its original userbase long ago when it found out there was a near endless supply of older boomers that can barely use a computer and would would click on everything and anything. Facebook is designed for, and in fact is designed to prey on, the computer illiterate.
- catalogia 7y ago
  > would click on everything and anything. Particularly ads. I don't think it's necessarily computer illiteracy specifically to blame here, though it's certainly a factor. The elderly are also targeted by telephone scammers, presumably because they tend to be more trusting/naive. Even snail-mail becomes an issue for some old folks; my grandmother has trouble differentiating junk mail from legitimate mail, it can sometimes take her several minutes to realize she can throw away a junkmail flier. I have the deepest contempt for the people who work in these sort of industries. They must know what they're doing.
  - themagician 7y ago
    My parents fall prey to a new Facebook scam every couple weeks. I can’t even keep up with it anymore. Scam isn’t even the right word. More like “scheme”. Everything from anti-aging pills to travel clubs to worse. Between this garbage and the fake news nonsense Facebook is an absolute disease at this point. Honestly, someone should start a campaign to ask Mark Zuckerberg to just delete it. Cash out and delete it for the good of humanity.
    - GlitchMr 7y ago
      Mark Zuckerberg cannot do this. He could sell his shares and leave Facebook, but it would still work. Your best bet about shutting down Facebook is government action or useds leaving Facebook. Either of those seems almost impossible however, and keep in mind Facebook has money to purchase its competitors if useds start moving to them.
      - Nextgrid 7y ago
        We just need regulation. If Facebook advertising is used to promote a scam then Facebook should be considered complicit for the crime and punished. The market will do the rest. Facebook doesn’t want to be fined so will force all ads to be reviewed & approved manually. This costs money so in turn the price of the ads will go up. Legitimate brands will still be able to afford it, the rest will disappear. Overall there would be less “noise” in the ads compared to the “signal” (the very few good ads).
        pixl97 7y ago
        Regulations, at least in the US will be purchased by the multi billion dollar ad companies.
sillysaurusx 7y ago
An alternative to Reddit? It's a monopoly. Where are you going to go? Voat? They can be as horrible to their users as they want. As long as they have cat pictures on the front page, nobody cares enough to change anything. I think we're all getting exactly what is deserved by collectively allowing a monopoly to form. (I'm not suggesting there should be legal action. I'm saying, by the laws of exponential curves and popularity, monopolies naturally form, and this is the result.)
- mirimir 7y ago
  How about Snew?[0] I see TFA.[1] So maybe everything. But I guess that replies aren't implemented :( > Snew is an open-source parody client for reddit. > It is a client forked from the reddit source code that runs entirely in your browser. > Snew attempts to undo reddit's pervasive censorship > Content is pulled directly from the reddit api and pushshift.io 0) https://snew.notabug.io/r/all/ https://snew.notabug.io/r/all/ 1) https://snew.notabug.io/r/mobileweb/comments/f2afvz/this_community_is_available_in_the_app/ https://snew.notabug.io/r/mobileweb/comments/f2afvz/this_com...
  - sillysaurusx 7y ago
    Hmm, you mean notabug? https://notabug.io/ https://notabug.io/ Interesting. Seems active too. There's also tildes: https://tildes.net/ https://tildes.net/ (I tried googling them and they're nowhere to be found. Ironically /r/tildes popped up before the actual site did.) And lobsters: https://lobste.rs/ https://lobste.rs/
    - mirimir 7y ago
      I think that it's somehow distinct from NAB. It just gives you ~everything that got posted to Reddit. Which is very useful for research purposes. And it fixes another Reddit defect, wherein it won't display full comment history, unless you're logged in.
    - screenbeard 7y ago
      Tildes feels like Reddit used to. it's just low on new content at the moment. More users would be good.
numpad0 7y ago
It pays to be user hostile. Draws in fresh blood. Keeps diversity high. Customer satisfaction is a metric, not a goal. I think that’s the reality.
Terr_ 7y ago
"Dear Reddit, have you forgotten that I switched to you from Digg when they pulled this kind of bullshit?"
- eximius 7y ago
  Yes, the people who built Reddit no longer run Reddit.
  - Macha 7y ago
    Actually, they're back. They just have a lot more investor money they need to show returns on this time.
    - eximius 7y ago
      I meant this both literally and metaphorically. No one is the same person after 15 years, but sometimes the same principles remain. Maybe theirs haven't. Further, I don't know how big the original team was, but I doubt the majority of the founders are still there. It is, largely, approximately, under different management.
  - throwaway1777 7y ago
    Spez started Reddit and he’s the ceo currently.
- bob1029 7y ago
  Look at digg.com today... I can't say their shenanigans have played out all that well for them. Perhaps Reddit engineers should use this as a cautionary tale during UX design meetings. The oldest and most stable online communities seem to have the slowest-changing interfaces.
  - bnt 7y ago
    Current digg.com has nothing to do with the original Digg.
dkdk8283 7y ago
I left Reddit years ago due to the “community” getting weird, I feel some schadenfreude every time I see people complain about the site. I think it will be an interesting case. Reddit seems more entrenched than Digg and the internet is different now. They obviously have metrics affirming their choices, so we’re probably in the minority with this mindset. All kinds of shitty companies regularly force us to accept bullshit like this and Im afraid this is now status quo. It seems younger people generally accept it because the need for content is stronger than that of due diligence, a naive mistake en masse.
- mrweasel 7y ago
  >I left Reddit years ago due to the “community” getting weird, Yeah, one thing is that Reddit the company is getting shady, but the community has gotten rather toxic the last few years. I closed my account two years ago, roughly, because the community started be rather exclusive. If you're not an overly political correct leftish American city dweller you're opinions aren't welcome. There are Reddit approved opinions, any deviation from these opinions will result in you having a bad time. I'm honestly surprised that the NSFW subreddit haven't been killed off yet, but I suppose Reddit see a business opportunity in all the cam-girls hanging around.
nialv7 7y ago
This is what always happens with SNSs, isn't it? The company starts small, and user-centric. People likes the website, a community starts to grow. And then, the company starts to find ways to be profitable. But at this point, most people won't leave, they will stay for the community. Think about Facebook, Twitter, Quora and now Reddit. I am not saying the company is doing anything _bad_ per se. A company has to be profitable, otherwise it would die. So, it seems to me that for a SNS to stay "good", it cannot be backed by a for profit company. I don't know how that would work. Maybe things like WT.Social and Mastodon are the answer.

by blhack 7y ago

themagician 7y ago

Facebook gave up on its original userbase long ago when it found out there was a near endless supply of older boomers that can barely use a computer and would would click on everything and anything. Facebook is designed for, and in fact is designed to prey on, the computer illiterate.

catalogia 7y ago
> would click on everything and anything. Particularly ads. I don't think it's necessarily computer illiteracy specifically to blame here, though it's certainly a factor. The elderly are also targeted by telephone scammers, presumably because they tend to be more trusting/naive. Even snail-mail becomes an issue for some old folks; my grandmother has trouble differentiating junk mail from legitimate mail, it can sometimes take her several minutes to realize she can throw away a junkmail flier. I have the deepest contempt for the people who work in these sort of industries. They must know what they're doing.
- themagician 7y ago
  My parents fall prey to a new Facebook scam every couple weeks. I can’t even keep up with it anymore. Scam isn’t even the right word. More like “scheme”. Everything from anti-aging pills to travel clubs to worse. Between this garbage and the fake news nonsense Facebook is an absolute disease at this point. Honestly, someone should start a campaign to ask Mark Zuckerberg to just delete it. Cash out and delete it for the good of humanity.
  - GlitchMr 7y ago
    Mark Zuckerberg cannot do this. He could sell his shares and leave Facebook, but it would still work. Your best bet about shutting down Facebook is government action or useds leaving Facebook. Either of those seems almost impossible however, and keep in mind Facebook has money to purchase its competitors if useds start moving to them.
    - Nextgrid 7y ago
      We just need regulation. If Facebook advertising is used to promote a scam then Facebook should be considered complicit for the crime and punished. The market will do the rest. Facebook doesn’t want to be fined so will force all ads to be reviewed & approved manually. This costs money so in turn the price of the ads will go up. Legitimate brands will still be able to afford it, the rest will disappear. Overall there would be less “noise” in the ads compared to the “signal” (the very few good ads).
      - pixl97 7y ago
        Regulations, at least in the US will be purchased by the multi billion dollar ad companies.

sillysaurusx 7y ago

An alternative to Reddit? It's a monopoly. Where are you going to go? Voat? They can be as horrible to their users as they want. As long as they have cat pictures on the front page, nobody cares enough to change anything. I think we're all getting exactly what is deserved by collectively allowing a monopoly to form. (I'm not suggesting there should be legal action. I'm saying, by the laws of exponential curves and popularity, monopolies naturally form, and this is the result.)

mirimir 7y ago
How about Snew?[0] I see TFA.[1] So maybe everything. But I guess that replies aren't implemented :( > Snew is an open-source parody client for reddit. > It is a client forked from the reddit source code that runs entirely in your browser. > Snew attempts to undo reddit's pervasive censorship > Content is pulled directly from the reddit api and pushshift.io 0) https://snew.notabug.io/r/all/ https://snew.notabug.io/r/all/ 1) https://snew.notabug.io/r/mobileweb/comments/f2afvz/this_community_is_available_in_the_app/ https://snew.notabug.io/r/mobileweb/comments/f2afvz/this_com...
- sillysaurusx 7y ago
  Hmm, you mean notabug? https://notabug.io/ https://notabug.io/ Interesting. Seems active too. There's also tildes: https://tildes.net/ https://tildes.net/ (I tried googling them and they're nowhere to be found. Ironically /r/tildes popped up before the actual site did.) And lobsters: https://lobste.rs/ https://lobste.rs/
  - mirimir 7y ago
    I think that it's somehow distinct from NAB. It just gives you ~everything that got posted to Reddit. Which is very useful for research purposes. And it fixes another Reddit defect, wherein it won't display full comment history, unless you're logged in.
  - screenbeard 7y ago
    Tildes feels like Reddit used to. it's just low on new content at the moment. More users would be good.

numpad0 7y ago

It pays to be user hostile. Draws in fresh blood. Keeps diversity high. Customer satisfaction is a metric, not a goal. I think that’s the reality.

Terr_ 7y ago

"Dear Reddit, have you forgotten that I switched to you from Digg when they pulled this kind of bullshit?"

eximius 7y ago
Yes, the people who built Reddit no longer run Reddit.
- Macha 7y ago
  Actually, they're back. They just have a lot more investor money they need to show returns on this time.
  - eximius 7y ago
    I meant this both literally and metaphorically. No one is the same person after 15 years, but sometimes the same principles remain. Maybe theirs haven't. Further, I don't know how big the original team was, but I doubt the majority of the founders are still there. It is, largely, approximately, under different management.
- throwaway1777 7y ago
  Spez started Reddit and he’s the ceo currently.
bob1029 7y ago
Look at digg.com today... I can't say their shenanigans have played out all that well for them. Perhaps Reddit engineers should use this as a cautionary tale during UX design meetings. The oldest and most stable online communities seem to have the slowest-changing interfaces.
- bnt 7y ago
  Current digg.com has nothing to do with the original Digg.

dkdk8283 7y ago

I left Reddit years ago due to the “community” getting weird, I feel some schadenfreude every time I see people complain about the site. I think it will be an interesting case. Reddit seems more entrenched than Digg and the internet is different now. They obviously have metrics affirming their choices, so we’re probably in the minority with this mindset. All kinds of shitty companies regularly force us to accept bullshit like this and Im afraid this is now status quo. It seems younger people generally accept it because the need for content is stronger than that of due diligence, a naive mistake en masse.

mrweasel 7y ago
>I left Reddit years ago due to the “community” getting weird, Yeah, one thing is that Reddit the company is getting shady, but the community has gotten rather toxic the last few years. I closed my account two years ago, roughly, because the community started be rather exclusive. If you're not an overly political correct leftish American city dweller you're opinions aren't welcome. There are Reddit approved opinions, any deviation from these opinions will result in you having a bad time. I'm honestly surprised that the NSFW subreddit haven't been killed off yet, but I suppose Reddit see a business opportunity in all the cam-girls hanging around.

nialv7 7y ago

This is what always happens with SNSs, isn't it? The company starts small, and user-centric. People likes the website, a community starts to grow. And then, the company starts to find ways to be profitable. But at this point, most people won't leave, they will stay for the community. Think about Facebook, Twitter, Quora and now Reddit. I am not saying the company is doing anything _bad_ per se. A company has to be profitable, otherwise it would die. So, it seems to me that for a SNS to stay "good", it cannot be backed by a for profit company. I don't know how that would work. Maybe things like WT.Social and Mastodon are the answer.