8 ms·

I'm sure George Carlin would love knowing one of his quotes prefaced an article about how a company can squeeze more advertising money out of it's user base. W

I'm sure George Carlin would love knowing one of his quotes prefaced an article about how a company can squeeze more advertising money out of it's user base. While I'm still complaining: "You now need an email to sign up..." You don't, you can just click 'next' without entering one. "The mobile experience was improved" It wasn't. It's designed to be so frustrating you just download the app.

Guthur 6y ago
+1 on the mobile, the constant push and underhanded tactics to get me to download app is exceedingly annoying. Reddit is not the only guilty one there, though feel more insistent than many.
- fumblebee 6y ago
  On the bright side, for me at least, the repulsive mobile web experience has meant I spend drastically less time on Reddit.
- PartiallyTyped 6y ago
  The situation with mobile reddit got out of control. It is impossible to browse anything without the app unless it is a post on r/popular or r/all. Out of spite I downloaded 'a' free reddit client and bought the full version. The constant stream of useless notifications of the official app is just disgusting.
  - Guthur 6y ago
    I've no idea what the official app is like, but they're pushing it so hard that I can't imagine it's for my benefit :)
    - PartiallyTyped 6y ago
      My cynicism backed hypothesis is that they want telemetry, location tracking and all that kind of stuff. Also knowing Tencent has a stake on Reddit [1], I am even more inclined to avoid it. [1] https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/02/08/tencent-invests-social-platform-reddit.aspx https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/02/08/tencent-invests-so...
    - trey-jones 6y ago
      I'm not a heavy reddit user - I don't subscribe to any subreddits or anything like that. But I do have an account and I occasionally post and comment. I had the mobile app installed for a few months and I thought it was pretty good. I uninstalled it because I was using it to kill time on my phone, and it was becoming habitual (nothing going on? open reddit app). My solution to those types of things is to cut the cord, and I don't ever miss them. I would call it an upside actually, that I don't even want to browse the site on my phone.
    - pbhjpbhj 6y ago
      I just assumed because most people don't be able to block ads. Is the app anything more than a webview that doesn't get sent the 'make it crappy' parts from the server?
  - harryf 6y ago
    https://old.reddit.com https://old.reddit.com is still out there and everything seems to work
    - forgotmypw17 6y ago
      Everything seems to work on the surface, until you actually start using it. Many newer features are half-implemented or not implemented at all. Some features which previously worked are broken. The setting for preference of the old.reddit interface is not stable, and gets reset sometimes. Even when the setting is preserved, there are nag messages to switch to the new one and/or the app. Also, I think just calling it "old." feels a bit condescending and patronizing to the user. It certainly communicates that its days are numbered, so why would I want to invest any more of my time into it?
      - oldHN 6y ago
        Just use the old reddit extension for Firefox.
        forgotmypw17 6y ago
        a) I don't use Firefox. I use a particular browser with accessibility accommodations which Firefox does not offer. b) I doubt that the extension you reference solves most of the issues I mentioned, in particular the broken features. c) I think beginning your advice with the word "Just" makes it sound condescending and dismissive. Please consider reading this article: http://archive.is/J2ODQ http://archive.is/J2ODQ
        jcims 6y ago
        I'm guessing it was coming from a place of frustration, but as an impartial observer I found your response just as condescending. They should add 'a bullet-list of critiques' to the article.
        forgotmypw17 6y ago
  - Macha 6y ago
    Yeah, when they follow Twitter and lock down third party apps will end half my Reddit usage and turning off old Reddit the other half. I would have said in the past that users like me who are resistant to introducing engagement mechanics/monetisation are why they're valued less than the likes of Twitter but recent stats I saw indicated old Reddit was like 15% of desktop users and the official app also had the majority of mobile users so looks like their plan to wait our the dilution of the long term user base is working so maybe that all changes in a few years. The unbundling suggestions seem like it'd hurt the long tail, a lot of the value that Reddit has to me is the smaller specialised communities which are able to get users because people can eventually get introduced to smaller subreddits from larger subreddits. Cut off that traffic growth path and many of these communities have a much reduced reason to set up on Reddit Vs elsewhere. The suggestions to move the focus from subreddits to users - it's something Reddit are subtly trying with redesigned profiles and more emphasis on people posting to profiles or following them, but to me it seems counter productive to what I like about Reddit. A subreddit can be kept on topic in a way a user cannot, and actually in many social circles there are pressures on people to make their views known on e.g. politics in twitter, where staying on whatever topic is actually discouraged
    - PartiallyTyped 6y ago
      I too am one of those users. I migrated to hackernews, but as you said, reddit offers much more in terms of communities around topics. These communities are absolute goldmines and, to me, it appears that they are the remnants of late 90s to late 2000s internet. I really liked the warez, infosec and hacker* communities of those times, unfortunately, I was too young and to be honest, I haven't gotten around to looking for such communities again.
      - ethbr0 6y ago
        Reddit is a monetization of Usenet. The farther they drift away from admitting that, the more tenuous their value proposition is going to be.
    - Mindwipe 6y ago
      > but recent stats I saw indicated old Reddit was like 15% of desktop users I have to believe that's the vast majority of the active userbase, and that Reddit just gets a lot of one off visits from Google search referrals.
  - bullfightonmars 6y ago
    I was a relatively happy user of the app until they started making text blink in comments. The endless stream of awards was bad enough, but blinking text is where I draw thr line.
  - lovegoblin 6y ago
    > The constant stream of useless notifications of the official app is just disgusting. I cannot imagine a world where I would allow reddit to send me any push notifications ever.
  - lostmsu 6y ago
    It's OK on Firefox for Android if you log in.
- throwaway-8c93 6y ago
  On Android, Reddit client RedReader is a great showcase of how pleasant and responsive modern applications could be, had they not been hobbled by tracking, ads, in-app purchase nudging, useless client-server roundtrips, etc. Minimalistic, but clear UI. Subreddits open nearly instantly. Discussion threads open instantly. Comments arranged by upvotes, not by Reddit's opaque scoring algorithm. No visual clutter. Minimal battery usage.
  - petepete 6y ago
    I've been a Sync user for years but I have a feeling that Reddit's API is going to be pulled in the not-too-distant future. Having an ad-free, clean, sensible UI isn't aligned with their current vision.
- everdrive 6y ago
  I don't even use Reddit on mobile, solely because of this.
- pbhjpbhj 6y ago
  Yes, the blocking of AskHistorians unless you install the app borders on copyright infringement IMO. If I were that subreddit I'd have my own website with blackjack[] and ... the whole share of the ad revenue. And use the money to promote History rather than just to make Conde, or whoever's, shareholders more wealthy. * but not actually blackjack, gambling advertising is awful.
  - lovegoblin 6y ago
    > the blocking of AskHistorians What are you referring to here?
    - pbhjpbhj 6y ago
      When I visit with a browser on my phone it says that AskHistorians is only accessible via the app, unless you use old.reddit.com or some other route.
- executesorder66 6y ago
  > the constant push and underhanded tactics to get me to download app The worst one I ever saw said something like "Use the app to avoid tracking" Like how fucking retarded are you? How is the tracking not 10000 times worse on the app, you lying assholes!?
anothernewdude 6y ago
rif is still the better app, as is offline reddit.
- spinningarrow 6y ago
  On iOS the Apollo app is truly fantastic. Also one of the best iOS apps I’ve used in general in terms of user experience.
villgax 6y ago
Worst is the lack of attention paid to saved posts, you can only scroll back to latest 1000 until you un-save or offload it you can't view older saved posts
corobo 6y ago
> "The mobile experience was improved" It wasn't. It's designed to be so frustrating you just download the app. This is an absolute joke yeah. The page even has a button overlay "This looks better in the app" which I would take as an insult if I was their web dev but each to their own.
- keanebean86 6y ago
  Sometimes the click detection on the continue button is off so it pretends I clicked "Open in app" which is beyond frustrating. I would just use another website but I can't find one that has a similar mixture of cat gifs, old memes, far left propaganda, and occasional science news.
  - RankingMember 6y ago
    > Sometimes the click detection on the continue button is off The way that it only does that with that button really makes it hard for me to believe it's not intentional
    - xNeil 6y ago
      This might help: https://www.theverge.com/22275453/reddit-app-pop-up-turn-off-view-page-mobile https://www.theverge.com/22275453/reddit-app-pop-up-turn-off...
- kitd 6y ago
  Settings on the mobile page has an option to switch off "Ask to open in app". I don't see the "Use app" button now.
  - monocasa 6y ago
    It pretty regularly forgets that setting for me.
- baxtr 6y ago
  Anyone why they try to get users into their app so hard? I mean if people are logging anyway tracking them is feasible on the web too.
Shivetya 6y ago
At least on iOS the Apollo app is a true alternative to the reddit site/etc
InvisibleUp 6y ago
https://i.reddit.com https://i.reddit.com is the old mobile layout, and it still works fine for basic browsing and commenting.
melomal 6y ago
Growth hacker of 8 years here. This smells like the brilliant plan of endless A/B testing that a unicorn did once, wrote about it on their company blog once it was used up, then everyone else followed. These are all growth 'levers' which on paper can drastically improve metrics which is what is needed to get those crazy valuations and huge funding rounds. In reality they make the experience poor for the user, however, outside of the tech world most people are not bothered by these tricks.
alasdair_ 6y ago
The mobile experience is atrocious. It's exactly what happens when you optimize for short-term value. Forcing people to download the app when they clearly don't want to is a great way to lose long-term users. I hate the new layout. I find the video player abysmal and I loathe the mobile experience. Some of the content is still very good, but I feel like it's lessening as the anti-user hostility intensifies. It's a damn shame.
bulibuta 6y ago
I use teddit.net now. Especially on mobile. Reddit has fallen pretty badly :(

Guthur 6y ago

+1 on the mobile, the constant push and underhanded tactics to get me to download app is exceedingly annoying. Reddit is not the only guilty one there, though feel more insistent than many.

fumblebee 6y ago
On the bright side, for me at least, the repulsive mobile web experience has meant I spend drastically less time on Reddit.
PartiallyTyped 6y ago
The situation with mobile reddit got out of control. It is impossible to browse anything without the app unless it is a post on r/popular or r/all. Out of spite I downloaded 'a' free reddit client and bought the full version. The constant stream of useless notifications of the official app is just disgusting.
- Guthur 6y ago
  I've no idea what the official app is like, but they're pushing it so hard that I can't imagine it's for my benefit :)
  - PartiallyTyped 6y ago
    My cynicism backed hypothesis is that they want telemetry, location tracking and all that kind of stuff. Also knowing Tencent has a stake on Reddit [1], I am even more inclined to avoid it. [1] https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/02/08/tencent-invests-social-platform-reddit.aspx https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/02/08/tencent-invests-so...
  - trey-jones 6y ago
    I'm not a heavy reddit user - I don't subscribe to any subreddits or anything like that. But I do have an account and I occasionally post and comment. I had the mobile app installed for a few months and I thought it was pretty good. I uninstalled it because I was using it to kill time on my phone, and it was becoming habitual (nothing going on? open reddit app). My solution to those types of things is to cut the cord, and I don't ever miss them. I would call it an upside actually, that I don't even want to browse the site on my phone.
  - pbhjpbhj 6y ago
    I just assumed because most people don't be able to block ads. Is the app anything more than a webview that doesn't get sent the 'make it crappy' parts from the server?
- harryf 6y ago
  https://old.reddit.com https://old.reddit.com is still out there and everything seems to work
  - forgotmypw17 6y ago
    Everything seems to work on the surface, until you actually start using it. Many newer features are half-implemented or not implemented at all. Some features which previously worked are broken. The setting for preference of the old.reddit interface is not stable, and gets reset sometimes. Even when the setting is preserved, there are nag messages to switch to the new one and/or the app. Also, I think just calling it "old." feels a bit condescending and patronizing to the user. It certainly communicates that its days are numbered, so why would I want to invest any more of my time into it?
    - oldHN 6y ago
      Just use the old reddit extension for Firefox.
      - forgotmypw17 6y ago
        a) I don't use Firefox. I use a particular browser with accessibility accommodations which Firefox does not offer. b) I doubt that the extension you reference solves most of the issues I mentioned, in particular the broken features. c) I think beginning your advice with the word "Just" makes it sound condescending and dismissive. Please consider reading this article: http://archive.is/J2ODQ http://archive.is/J2ODQ
        jcims 6y ago
        I'm guessing it was coming from a place of frustration, but as an impartial observer I found your response just as condescending. They should add 'a bullet-list of critiques' to the article.
        forgotmypw17 6y ago
- Macha 6y ago
  Yeah, when they follow Twitter and lock down third party apps will end half my Reddit usage and turning off old Reddit the other half. I would have said in the past that users like me who are resistant to introducing engagement mechanics/monetisation are why they're valued less than the likes of Twitter but recent stats I saw indicated old Reddit was like 15% of desktop users and the official app also had the majority of mobile users so looks like their plan to wait our the dilution of the long term user base is working so maybe that all changes in a few years. The unbundling suggestions seem like it'd hurt the long tail, a lot of the value that Reddit has to me is the smaller specialised communities which are able to get users because people can eventually get introduced to smaller subreddits from larger subreddits. Cut off that traffic growth path and many of these communities have a much reduced reason to set up on Reddit Vs elsewhere. The suggestions to move the focus from subreddits to users - it's something Reddit are subtly trying with redesigned profiles and more emphasis on people posting to profiles or following them, but to me it seems counter productive to what I like about Reddit. A subreddit can be kept on topic in a way a user cannot, and actually in many social circles there are pressures on people to make their views known on e.g. politics in twitter, where staying on whatever topic is actually discouraged
  - PartiallyTyped 6y ago
    I too am one of those users. I migrated to hackernews, but as you said, reddit offers much more in terms of communities around topics. These communities are absolute goldmines and, to me, it appears that they are the remnants of late 90s to late 2000s internet. I really liked the warez, infosec and hacker* communities of those times, unfortunately, I was too young and to be honest, I haven't gotten around to looking for such communities again.
    - ethbr0 6y ago
      Reddit is a monetization of Usenet. The farther they drift away from admitting that, the more tenuous their value proposition is going to be.
  - Mindwipe 6y ago
    > but recent stats I saw indicated old Reddit was like 15% of desktop users I have to believe that's the vast majority of the active userbase, and that Reddit just gets a lot of one off visits from Google search referrals.
- bullfightonmars 6y ago
  I was a relatively happy user of the app until they started making text blink in comments. The endless stream of awards was bad enough, but blinking text is where I draw thr line.
- lovegoblin 6y ago
  > The constant stream of useless notifications of the official app is just disgusting. I cannot imagine a world where I would allow reddit to send me any push notifications ever.
- lostmsu 6y ago
  It's OK on Firefox for Android if you log in.
throwaway-8c93 6y ago
On Android, Reddit client RedReader is a great showcase of how pleasant and responsive modern applications could be, had they not been hobbled by tracking, ads, in-app purchase nudging, useless client-server roundtrips, etc. Minimalistic, but clear UI. Subreddits open nearly instantly. Discussion threads open instantly. Comments arranged by upvotes, not by Reddit's opaque scoring algorithm. No visual clutter. Minimal battery usage.
- petepete 6y ago
  I've been a Sync user for years but I have a feeling that Reddit's API is going to be pulled in the not-too-distant future. Having an ad-free, clean, sensible UI isn't aligned with their current vision.
everdrive 6y ago
I don't even use Reddit on mobile, solely because of this.
pbhjpbhj 6y ago
Yes, the blocking of AskHistorians unless you install the app borders on copyright infringement IMO. If I were that subreddit I'd have my own website with blackjack[] and ... the whole share of the ad revenue. And use the money to promote History rather than just to make Conde, or whoever's, shareholders more wealthy. * but not actually blackjack, gambling advertising is awful.
- lovegoblin 6y ago
  > the blocking of AskHistorians What are you referring to here?
  - pbhjpbhj 6y ago
    When I visit with a browser on my phone it says that AskHistorians is only accessible via the app, unless you use old.reddit.com or some other route.
executesorder66 6y ago
> the constant push and underhanded tactics to get me to download app The worst one I ever saw said something like "Use the app to avoid tracking" Like how fucking retarded are you? How is the tracking not 10000 times worse on the app, you lying assholes!?

anothernewdude 6y ago

rif is still the better app, as is offline reddit.

spinningarrow 6y ago
On iOS the Apollo app is truly fantastic. Also one of the best iOS apps I’ve used in general in terms of user experience.

villgax 6y ago

Worst is the lack of attention paid to saved posts, you can only scroll back to latest 1000 until you un-save or offload it you can't view older saved posts

corobo 6y ago

> "The mobile experience was improved" It wasn't. It's designed to be so frustrating you just download the app. This is an absolute joke yeah. The page even has a button overlay "This looks better in the app" which I would take as an insult if I was their web dev but each to their own.

keanebean86 6y ago
Sometimes the click detection on the continue button is off so it pretends I clicked "Open in app" which is beyond frustrating. I would just use another website but I can't find one that has a similar mixture of cat gifs, old memes, far left propaganda, and occasional science news.
- RankingMember 6y ago
  > Sometimes the click detection on the continue button is off The way that it only does that with that button really makes it hard for me to believe it's not intentional
  - xNeil 6y ago
    This might help: https://www.theverge.com/22275453/reddit-app-pop-up-turn-off-view-page-mobile https://www.theverge.com/22275453/reddit-app-pop-up-turn-off...
kitd 6y ago
Settings on the mobile page has an option to switch off "Ask to open in app". I don't see the "Use app" button now.
- monocasa 6y ago
  It pretty regularly forgets that setting for me.
baxtr 6y ago
Anyone why they try to get users into their app so hard? I mean if people are logging anyway tracking them is feasible on the web too.

Shivetya 6y ago

At least on iOS the Apollo app is a true alternative to the reddit site/etc

InvisibleUp 6y ago

https://i.reddit.com https://i.reddit.com is the old mobile layout, and it still works fine for basic browsing and commenting.

melomal 6y ago

Growth hacker of 8 years here. This smells like the brilliant plan of endless A/B testing that a unicorn did once, wrote about it on their company blog once it was used up, then everyone else followed. These are all growth 'levers' which on paper can drastically improve metrics which is what is needed to get those crazy valuations and huge funding rounds. In reality they make the experience poor for the user, however, outside of the tech world most people are not bothered by these tricks.

alasdair_ 6y ago

The mobile experience is atrocious. It's exactly what happens when you optimize for short-term value. Forcing people to download the app when they clearly don't want to is a great way to lose long-term users. I hate the new layout. I find the video player abysmal and I loathe the mobile experience. Some of the content is still very good, but I feel like it's lessening as the anti-user hostility intensifies. It's a damn shame.

bulibuta 6y ago

I use teddit.net now. Especially on mobile. Reddit has fallen pretty badly :(