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Wouldn't call it a die off, more a consolidation: reddit got some really good niche communities and if you want to narrow it even further down Discord evolved q

Wouldn't call it a die off, more a consolidation: reddit got some really good niche communities and if you want to narrow it even further down Discord evolved quite well in this regard (great communities + easy access to multiple groups unlike with Slack).

TheAdamAndChe 6y ago
For a while there, reddit replaced forums for me. But then they became Reddit™ and have become so user-hostile and partisan that I can't stand the site anymore. Discord is a place for synchronous communication, so it doesn't fill quite the same niche that reddit and forums filled for me.
gempir 6y ago
I think it's awful Discord is used in that way. Discord is not indexed by Google or other searchengines. All the content will slowly be forgotten. Typescript has very big Discord server full of useful information and help threads which would be super nice to be able to find via Google. So I hope either Discord starts creating "crawable" channels or communities start moving away from Discord again.
qPM9l3XJrF 6y ago
As a software platform, subreddits are inferior to traditional forums. Upvoting/downvoting facilitates groupthink and tribalism. "Hot" algorithm encourages popcorn content over in-depth discussions which continue over an extended period of time. User mixing with reddit at large disrupts community feel. Dollars to donuts the Foo Fighter subreddit won't result in any marriages any time soon.
- tjpnz 6y ago
  Downvoting has turned me off Reddit. Often it's just downright petty and results in an overly dull experience. I'm what they would call a Liberal in the US but will often try to read opinions from the other side - Reddit labels those as "Controversial". I've occasionally committed "wrongthink" there myself and it's rather disheartening to know that few will ever read what I had to say. It's no wonder that contrarians have all but abandoned the platform. I find it interesting that HN also has downvotes yet somehow manages to not have the same vibe.
  - robotnikman 6y ago
    I think the fact that you need to be upvoted 500 times before you get to downvote makes a difference. There is also the fact that this site caters to a more professional crowd and different discussion compared to Reddit.
  - vorpalhex 6y ago
    HN generally sets the expectations that downvotes are only for off-topic or non-helpful posts. Someone disagreeing productively should get your upvote - even if you still disagree with them. Subreddits often become a way for mods to push their agenda. There are exceptions to this - /r/moderatepolitics has done a decent job of becoming a good place for across-the-aisle discussion, etc. Unfortunately even productive subreddits get raided by crazy people and extremists from time to time. HN by not having scores (visible to anyone but you) prevents the "playing for internet points" game. As a user you have very little history and exposure to others so each argument is generally standalone. Whereas on reddit someone will dig through my comment history and bring up the subreddits I'm on ("Oh, you claim to be a moderate so you're really just a nazi!") or stalk me, that kind of bad behavior is just not possible on something like HN.
    - ghaff 6y ago
      You do still get a degree of downvoting for unpopular opinions even if they're made in a calm, reasoned manner. But I agree in general. You have mostly relatively mature, rational participants and, someone has to have something of a positive track record before they can downvote. Plus there is a degree of active moderation. None of these individually is a silver bullet but the combination works better than most places.
    - 0xffff2 6y ago
      Reddit used to set that expectation too. I think HN's restriction of the downvote button to relatively high-karma users has a much bigger impact than (or at least in combination with) the cultural expectation.
  - at_a_remove 6y ago
    Interestingly, Reddit now has a policy of warning users for upvoting "wrong." It's a very clear case of like what we tell you to like, hate what we tell you to hate.
- PaulKeeble 6y ago
  The algorithm for hot is really toxic. As a community gets bigger the content that more people review and engage with is the simplest of content such as pictures and Memes and it comes to completely dominate a sub past about 10,000 users. So communities have to create rules and consistently moderate such simple content out to maintain a baseline of quality which always expels the highest quality longer form content.
tannhaeuser 6y ago
Consolidation, as in: forums that naturally attracted visitors with their focussed content and having acceptable content-based ads without tracking (or only basic visitor counters) were obsoleted by forum aggregators with targetted advertising and invasive tracking making up their own play-out stats to get customers paying more for ads and devaluing content-based ads

TheAdamAndChe 6y ago

For a while there, reddit replaced forums for me. But then they became Reddit™ and have become so user-hostile and partisan that I can't stand the site anymore. Discord is a place for synchronous communication, so it doesn't fill quite the same niche that reddit and forums filled for me.

gempir 6y ago

I think it's awful Discord is used in that way. Discord is not indexed by Google or other searchengines. All the content will slowly be forgotten. Typescript has very big Discord server full of useful information and help threads which would be super nice to be able to find via Google. So I hope either Discord starts creating "crawable" channels or communities start moving away from Discord again.

qPM9l3XJrF 6y ago

As a software platform, subreddits are inferior to traditional forums. Upvoting/downvoting facilitates groupthink and tribalism. "Hot" algorithm encourages popcorn content over in-depth discussions which continue over an extended period of time. User mixing with reddit at large disrupts community feel. Dollars to donuts the Foo Fighter subreddit won't result in any marriages any time soon.

tjpnz 6y ago
Downvoting has turned me off Reddit. Often it's just downright petty and results in an overly dull experience. I'm what they would call a Liberal in the US but will often try to read opinions from the other side - Reddit labels those as "Controversial". I've occasionally committed "wrongthink" there myself and it's rather disheartening to know that few will ever read what I had to say. It's no wonder that contrarians have all but abandoned the platform. I find it interesting that HN also has downvotes yet somehow manages to not have the same vibe.
- robotnikman 6y ago
  I think the fact that you need to be upvoted 500 times before you get to downvote makes a difference. There is also the fact that this site caters to a more professional crowd and different discussion compared to Reddit.
- vorpalhex 6y ago
  HN generally sets the expectations that downvotes are only for off-topic or non-helpful posts. Someone disagreeing productively should get your upvote - even if you still disagree with them. Subreddits often become a way for mods to push their agenda. There are exceptions to this - /r/moderatepolitics has done a decent job of becoming a good place for across-the-aisle discussion, etc. Unfortunately even productive subreddits get raided by crazy people and extremists from time to time. HN by not having scores (visible to anyone but you) prevents the "playing for internet points" game. As a user you have very little history and exposure to others so each argument is generally standalone. Whereas on reddit someone will dig through my comment history and bring up the subreddits I'm on ("Oh, you claim to be a moderate so you're really just a nazi!") or stalk me, that kind of bad behavior is just not possible on something like HN.
  - ghaff 6y ago
    You do still get a degree of downvoting for unpopular opinions even if they're made in a calm, reasoned manner. But I agree in general. You have mostly relatively mature, rational participants and, someone has to have something of a positive track record before they can downvote. Plus there is a degree of active moderation. None of these individually is a silver bullet but the combination works better than most places.
  - 0xffff2 6y ago
    Reddit used to set that expectation too. I think HN's restriction of the downvote button to relatively high-karma users has a much bigger impact than (or at least in combination with) the cultural expectation.
- at_a_remove 6y ago
  Interestingly, Reddit now has a policy of warning users for upvoting "wrong." It's a very clear case of like what we tell you to like, hate what we tell you to hate.
PaulKeeble 6y ago
The algorithm for hot is really toxic. As a community gets bigger the content that more people review and engage with is the simplest of content such as pictures and Memes and it comes to completely dominate a sub past about 10,000 users. So communities have to create rules and consistently moderate such simple content out to maintain a baseline of quality which always expels the highest quality longer form content.

tannhaeuser 6y ago

Consolidation, as in: forums that naturally attracted visitors with their focussed content and having acceptable content-based ads without tracking (or only basic visitor counters) were obsoleted by forum aggregators with targetted advertising and invasive tracking making up their own play-out stats to get customers paying more for ads and devaluing content-based ads