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Wouldn't the threat of change be going in the opposite direction?

Thorentis 6y ago
Well, that would only make Reddit better, but Redit is much much bigger. The bigger risk is that Alexis sees what Reddit is doing (maybe gets a peak at their balance sheet) and thinks that what we have here is the next big social media unicorn he can overhaul and then flog off to the highest bidder.
- cryptica 6y ago
  What?? I enjoy reading Hacker News and commenting, but Reddit is a lot more open and puts a higher value on free speech and contrarian ideologies (some of it is borderline horrible, but that's OK, that's the price of free speech). I'd be more worried about him bringing HN policies to Reddit. Trying to get superficially good behavior from users by punishing contrarian views isn't going to work in this case. But it works for HN because people know that we're just guests on a VC's property. But I come to HN to push agendas and collect feedback on ideas, not to share what I really think about.
  - austincheney 6y ago
    > Reddit is a lot more open and puts a higher value on free speech I disagree in the strongest possible terms. So much of Reddit is a populist echo chamber, which is the opposite of free speech.
    - cryptica 6y ago
      Well if you're poor, you have no free speech in any case. Populism is just a desperate way for the poor working class to acquire free speech by leveling the playing field... Sometimes that means taking the whole economy down but poor people don't care at all about the economy; especially when they already don't have jobs. What do they have to lose? Populism is rational and rooted entirely in capitalist self-interest. What the rich don't understand about populism is that these people are not misguided or manipulated. They know exactly what's going on, they know that populism will destroy the economy, but this is exactly what they want.
    - dvtrn 6y ago
      Is this a problem with Reddit the company or the subreddits you are completely free to browse or not browse and participate in?
      - austincheney 6y ago
        I was frequenting the r/programming and r/javascript subreddits, which are both huge in terms of population. I remember the JavaScript subreddit bring much less of an echo chamber but it also rarely had interesting submissions comparative. Yes, the echo chamber problem could have been addressed by an army of aggressive moderators, but that was absent. The stupidity on the site was present because the conventions of the site encouraged it. Sometimes the moderators are actively working to grow the echo chamber, such as r/thedonald. At any rate I don’t miss it.
- covercash 6y ago
  Read the article again, you’re reversing what’s happening... Alexis isn’t joining YC/HN’s board, he stepped down from Reddit and is being replaced by Michael Seibel. Michael is YC’s current CEO.
austincheney 6y ago
That being said please make Reddit more like HN. I deleted my Reddit account years ago. In the cases where it wasn’t a doomed echo chamber vortex it was stupid framework trend of the moment, which isn’t interesting when your primary concerns are technology and programming.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- buzzkillington 6y ago
  HN is literally a reddit clone.
  - OldFatCactus 6y ago
    HN is reddit for people that make six-figures and casually discuss eugenics
  - dang 6y ago
    Given that the creator of HN was also the person who conceived Reddit, I'm not sure you have your arrow of causality right.

Well, that would only make Reddit better, but Redit is much much bigger. The bigger risk is that Alexis sees what Reddit is doing (maybe gets a peak at their balance sheet) and thinks that what we have here is the next big social media unicorn he can overhaul and then flog off to the highest bidder.

cryptica 6y ago
What?? I enjoy reading Hacker News and commenting, but Reddit is a lot more open and puts a higher value on free speech and contrarian ideologies (some of it is borderline horrible, but that's OK, that's the price of free speech). I'd be more worried about him bringing HN policies to Reddit. Trying to get superficially good behavior from users by punishing contrarian views isn't going to work in this case. But it works for HN because people know that we're just guests on a VC's property. But I come to HN to push agendas and collect feedback on ideas, not to share what I really think about.
- austincheney 6y ago
  > Reddit is a lot more open and puts a higher value on free speech I disagree in the strongest possible terms. So much of Reddit is a populist echo chamber, which is the opposite of free speech.
  - cryptica 6y ago
    Well if you're poor, you have no free speech in any case. Populism is just a desperate way for the poor working class to acquire free speech by leveling the playing field... Sometimes that means taking the whole economy down but poor people don't care at all about the economy; especially when they already don't have jobs. What do they have to lose? Populism is rational and rooted entirely in capitalist self-interest. What the rich don't understand about populism is that these people are not misguided or manipulated. They know exactly what's going on, they know that populism will destroy the economy, but this is exactly what they want.
  - dvtrn 6y ago
    Is this a problem with Reddit the company or the subreddits you are completely free to browse or not browse and participate in?
    - austincheney 6y ago
      I was frequenting the r/programming and r/javascript subreddits, which are both huge in terms of population. I remember the JavaScript subreddit bring much less of an echo chamber but it also rarely had interesting submissions comparative. Yes, the echo chamber problem could have been addressed by an army of aggressive moderators, but that was absent. The stupidity on the site was present because the conventions of the site encouraged it. Sometimes the moderators are actively working to grow the echo chamber, such as r/thedonald. At any rate I don’t miss it.
covercash 6y ago
Read the article again, you’re reversing what’s happening... Alexis isn’t joining YC/HN’s board, he stepped down from Reddit and is being replaced by Michael Seibel. Michael is YC’s current CEO.

austincheney 6y ago

That being said please make Reddit more like HN. I deleted my Reddit account years ago. In the cases where it wasn’t a doomed echo chamber vortex it was stupid framework trend of the moment, which isn’t interesting when your primary concerns are technology and programming.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
buzzkillington 6y ago
HN is literally a reddit clone.
- OldFatCactus 6y ago
  HN is reddit for people that make six-figures and casually discuss eugenics
- dang 6y ago
  Given that the creator of HN was also the person who conceived Reddit, I'm not sure you have your arrow of causality right.