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Fueling Reddit’s Future
- tryonenow 6y agoTangent but probably related: it really bugs me that ceddit and removeddit both no longer function, and I suspect reddit deliberately changed its API to nuke that window into reddit's censorship.
- croutonwagon 6y agoI think most of them rely on pushshift.it’s probably their api/usage that’s the issue. Good luck getting any of your content removed from that site as well. Ive asked and waited for months. It’s all like service.
- minimaxir 6y agoAt the risk of sounding like the "they changed it so it sucks" crowd, the changes Reddit keeps making to try and push monetization are slowly pushing me away from the site by robbing it of its simplicity. Contrary to others I was actually OK with the redesign at first, but now the forced chat, the opt-out animations/autoplay and the increasing slowness of the site are driving me mad. If it weren't for Apollo on iOS I would have considered quitting Reddit.
- denkmoon 6y agoThe mobile site is essentially unusable now. Anything NSFW? gotta have the app. Video? Gotta have the app. Want to view comments more than 3 levels deep? Gonna need the app for that. I like Sync, but I preferred just loading up reddit.com. This has reduced my usage a reasonable amount.
- creata 6y agoAt least we can use old.reddit.com, although I'm not sure how long that'll last.
- esperent 6y agoThat's totally unusable on a small screen though.
- tamrix 6y agoi.reddit.com used to work but it's mostly gone now too.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- ihuman 6y agoHow is it mostly gone? It looks like its working when I try it. The only thing that doesn't seem to work are videos hosted on reddit (v.redd.it)
- donatj 6y agoDisagree. I only use old on mobile and vastly prefer the information density. I'm perfectly happy to zoom in. ZUI beats low density mobile design by a mile.
- nickysielicki 6y agoteddit.net is slightly better
- throwaway1777 6y agoThis might sound like a troll, but what’s wrong with using the app? Do you not use any apps?
- fogetti 6y agoThe real question is: what was wrong with the website in the first place?
- pokstad 6y agoI don’t use social media apps if I can avoid it. You don’t really know what information is being collected about you. Even the website collects an obscene amount of information. Combined with the fact that Reddit is full of incendiary content, it’s better to avoid being fingerprinted.
- ABeeSea 6y agoThe reason they broke the website to push the app is to get more user data to sell to advertisers and to make ad blockers harder to use.
- throwaway1777 6y agoWhat data? Now that people can block the advertising tokens on mobile as of the recent android and iOS releases I’m not sure what the difference is browsing on web vs the app?
- Nextgrid 6y agoAdvertising identifiers are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to data collection. Disabling them (which you could already do in Settings) would barely make a difference.
- throwaway1777 6y agoMust be news to Facebook who is running a campaign against apple for disabling them!
- echelon 6y ago> gotta have the app. > Gotta have the app. > Gonna need the app for that. This is why I changed my Reddit avatar to the Digg logo.
- meowster 6y agoAll the while at reddit hq: "See! The numbers don't lie, people like using the avatars."
- jabberwcky 6y agoI'll be gone from Reddit completely the day they turn off old.reddit.com, which surely must be fast approaching. Meanwhile, limited to subreddits of only a few K users still captures something of that original feel, but smart conversation has long since moved elsewhere.
- jseliger 6y agoThis reminds me of the Facebook situation: https://jakeseliger.com/2018/11/14/is-there-an-actual-facebook-crisis-or-media-narrative-about-facebook-crisis https://jakeseliger.com/2018/11/14/is-there-an-actual-facebo...: lots of complaints on places like HN, but I'd bet they're carefully running a/b tests and watching user growth.
- Nextgrid 6y ago> watching user growth Metrics can be misleading - I don't doubt they're seeing short term user growth or increased engagement (which is all the employees really care about, as their compensation is tied to hitting those "OKRs"). But wouldn't this just end up eventually going back to normal (as the users adjust) or even worse, push users even closer to the breaking point past which they'll leave the product completely?
- randallsquared 6y agoReddit is better and better as a source of obscure information (like a more complete and less restricted Stack Overflow), but the only way to use it effectively is by external search. Reddit is worse and worse as a community or a place to find things organically, for all the reasons everyone lists, and I, too, find myself going there less and less, when it used to be a default destination for idle moments.
- Grakel 6y agoWe're deeply committed to using venture capital to systematically ruin something that you loved. We're just about done with Dropbox, so we'll be bringing that same great ethos to Reddit. Again.
- slow_donkey 6y agoI find it funny that software with relatively no r+d or initial costs have become burdened with VC.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoThat’s where spray and pray works best, because the initial costs are so low.
- magicalhippo 6y agoI can't think of a major, user-driven[1] site that's more actively hostile to being used than Reddit. If I Google and find a Reddit link, I'll try just about anything else first. Actually participating? Only if I must. [1]: in the sense that without users, Reddit is nothing
- ProAm 6y ago> I can't think of a major, user-driven[1] site that's more actively hostile to being used than Reddit. Don't visit Stack Overflow
- johnmaguire2013 6y agoWhat's wrong with Stack Overflow? Genuinely curious.
- Zandikar 6y agoI interpreted that statement as asking a question on Stack Overflow (as opposed to just searching for existing content on SO) is openly hostile to new users. Some may consider "Hostile" an extreme take, but I'd be shocked if anyone on Hacker News felt that Stack Overflow was in anyway welcoming to new users.
- johnmaguire2013 6y agoThat's fair, I just thought we were talking about UX here. > that's more actively hostile to being used
- tolbish 6y agoThey don't badger you to install an app, do they?
- lepouet 6y agoPinterest.
- 6y ago
- Helloworldboy 6y agoThe story of reddit: “And then it got worse...”
- vegannet 6y agoDoes anyone have a take on where Reddit might be, say, 5 years from now? A view on the path to profitability? The obvious outcome for an unprofitable Reddit is an acquisition by a big media company but I’m curious if anyone has a contrary view on how it can become profitable and what sort of shifts it’ll need to make.
- bena 6y agoTheir majority shareholder is a big media company.
- waprin 6y agoThey are a top ten site on the internet. I don't see why Twitter is 45 B market cap but Reddit should be so hopeless, especially when their subreddit model lends itself much more clearly to ads than the "stream of conscious" of Twitter. They don't even need to worry about tracking/privacy as much, since just the subreddit name and nothing else is a huge hint as to what ads should be relevant.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoThe problem is when the subreddit content itself becomes ads, although they may have sufficient time to milk it while people figure it out and/or don’t have a better alternative
- sombremesa 6y agoAnother problem is that subreddits are under the ownership of the creators/moderators, who may have their own ideas of monetization as well as where the revenue should go...
- DLay 6y agoReddit seems to be following all the other social media platforms in increasing the time spent within their app. Reddit Public Access Network (live streaming) could be further monetized by incentivizing tipping and venturing into gaming. They also purchased the short video app Dubsmash to compete with TikTok. Ads can be shown in between videos. "...encourage under-represented creators to find a home on Reddit," seems to be hinting at making the platform appealing to influencers? If so, e-commerce and affiliate linking integration could be profitable. Not sure if the current reddit community would like that one, though. I'm sure they could also squeeze in a Clubhouse copy too. Could be popular with communities like the /r/wallstreetbets crowd.
- 0xy 6y agoIf they're fueling the dumpster fire that is their new website that looks like it was designed by 3 junior React engineers over a 1 month hackathon you might want to stand back because it's going to get even worse. Their new layout is slow, hides information, full of dark patterns, full of egregious tracking and user hostile in a way that is rare to see. Are there Reddit employees who are actually proud of this abomination? It's terrible!
- renewiltord 6y agoThese guys figured out that the money is in the award stand. That was clever.
- _nickwhite 6y agoTrying to use Reddit without the app is maddening. I am aware of old.reddit.com- but it is so annoying to have to change 'www' to 'old' every time I want to read something. On IOS/Safari, visiting any Reddit page results in a full page prompt to use the stupid app. No, I don't want to use the app right now, which is why I'm using Safari! If reddit wants to do anything for their future, they should address these basic usability issues.
- StavrosK 6y ago> If reddit wants to do anything for their future, they should address these basic usability issues. They did: they decided they are their future.
- kevin_thibedeau 6y agoThose usability issues are intentional dark patterns. The web site is supposed to suck to drive app usage where they can mine more detailed user data.
- tmp538394722 6y agoI’m right there with you, but it can’t be “usability” oversight, can it? It’s so bad. I have to assume it’s a very deliberate effort based on some business metric that the risk of losing people from the site is less than the profit gained from people on the app.
- McDev 6y agoThey've straight up started banning certain subreddits from the mobile website, forcing you to download the app. As I write this, I just noticed it was an A/B test and I'm able to go on the subreddit in question again ... Argh!
- 8ytecoder 6y agoIf you’re ok with an app that’s not Reddit (so no ads), try Apollo.
- karlshea 6y agoWhich would be fine if the app wasn’t garbage. Constant bugs with data loading and swipes, and no way to disable all the “suggested” bs (I get why you can’t disable promoted items, but the rest should be removable).
- pgustafs 6y agoCentralized opaque moderation ruins every large subreddit. It's too bad because reddit could be 10x more interesting if it were more open. Network effects can only take you so far -- without real user-centric leadership, reddit will go the way of tumblr/digg in the next five years.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- markdown 6y agoI find the opposite to be true, with the large subreddits not moderated enough. Compare HN to reddit and you'll see there's a massive difference.
- dealforager 6y agoThe incentives of the site are not aligned with high quality moderation at the moment so mods spend minimal effort and find shady ways to monetize such as partnering with marketing agencies. I'm pretty sure HN mods get paid for what they do which is why they are good.
- mdoms 6y agoWithout a doubt the worst subreddits are the unmoderated ones.
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- RedditModerator 6y agoAs a very early user of Reddit and a founder and long-time moderator of a popular subreddit, it seems to me that Reddit is cruising towards an iceberg, and it's hard to envisage them turning the ship around at this point. There's so much momentum behind the toxic nature of Reddit now and many of the good moderators are getting fed up and either jumping ship or preparing to, leaving subreddits to be managed by more self-interested and less competent people. Over the years I've created a list of suggestions that I would have made if I had the ear of somebody in authority at Reddit. But that's one thing they've never really done - made it easy for mods, who effectively do a large part of running their website 24/7, without pay, to provide feedback and have real discussions and input with the admins. And it is to the detriment of the website, its owners and its users. I believe that Reddit will fail in the next few years, unless it undergoes radical changes soon. And by fail I mean, it will probably still exist, possibly have more users, but it will be so toxic that anyone with any sense will not go there anymore. The garden is in very real danger of being completely overtaken by weeds. And it's a shame. I really loved Reddit, it helped me on occasions and I also saw it help many other people. But the only reason I personally still use Reddit is because I feel an affinity for the subreddit I created and have moderated for years, and the community I have managed to create, which I am proud to say is in stark contrast to the toxicity of many other popular subreddits.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- dealforager 6y agoI think the "everything should be free and no one should make money" mentality that is popular on the internet is very harmful in the long term. Moderators should be paid for doing a good job and content creators should be paid for good content. Making ads the only way to do this ends up forcing content to essentially become an ad. This is happening everywhere on the internet.
- RedditModerator 6y agoI agree. I think that the revenue model for websites like Reddit was what set them up for failure. In the beginning, focused on growth, it probably made sense to get as many users as possible, as quickly as possible. But Reddit doesn't need more users. It stopped needing more users a long, long time ago. It needs better users and healthier communities. And less incentive for mods to collect hundreds of subreddits and use them for self-interest. Sidenote: Look at the growth of r/WallStreetBets https://subredditstats.com/r/wallstreetbets https://subredditstats.com/r/wallstreetbets from January (less than 2 million users) to the beginning of February (almost 9 million users). There is no way the mod team could handle that, given the resources and tools they have available (I'm not affiliated with WSB).