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Reddit is trying to become Facebook, it seems. With all these new and invasive "features" I really wonder how much longer old.reddit will be available. It's bla

Reddit is trying to become Facebook, it seems. With all these new and invasive "features" I really wonder how much longer old.reddit will be available. It's blatantly obvious Reddit's new direction is off putting to longtime users of the site, if not outright hostile to the late Aaron Swartz's vision. Edit: I had assumed Reddit's main business model was controlling what people saw on "the front page of the internet" via astroturfing and manufacturing consensus. Anyone who has been on the site long enough can tell you r/popular and r/all are blatantly manipulated by a few dozen power users and political activists. Mainly the AOC crowd, doing exactly what r/The_Donald did to manipulate the site's algorithms but across several subreddits. Outside of politics, people on subreddits such as r/HailCorporate often point out how seemingly genuine posts are actually covert advertisements for things like Coke, McDonalds, Wendy's, etc. I do wonder if all these new features are a way to augment the propaganda model, or if they are merely an aside to get more revenue from harvesting data.

cyberlab 6y ago
> I really wonder how much longer old.reddit will be available I want it around for as long as possible. The new interface is a pain to use, and full of obstrusive Javascript.
- tolbish 6y ago
  I use teddit.net for an interface to reddit that isn't obtrusive.
- nerdponx 6y ago
  It will stay around for years as a "honeypot" for people to use who want to feel like they aren't being tracked & sold.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
wsinks 6y ago
Serious question here, I'm noticing that reddit is almost not worth the effort these days, after 10 years of good use. Any thoughts on better forums out there? I love HN, Product Hunt (although that's not really a forum..)
- matheusmoreira 6y ago
  Traditional forums are apparently gone. It's been so long since I've seen one with a significant amount of users. Anonymous image boards?
  - pavel_lishin 6y ago
    There are lots out there, but they aren't "centralized" like reddit subreddits are. It takes effort to seek them out. Many forums that are ostensibly about one thing frequently have other topical sub-boards; so you can join a poker forum, and talk about car repair, etc.
- dredmorbius 6y ago
  https://tildes.net https://tildes.net by an ex-reddit staffer. Small yet, but decent. Otherwise, HN, Metafilter.
- mariusor 6y ago
  I'm working on an alternative to reddit, which allows for federated interaction between smaller instances. It's not ready yet, but there is a demo instance up at https://littr.me https://littr.me
matheusmoreira 6y ago
Having to edit every reddit URL to get the old site is annoying enough. If they disable old reddit, I don't think I'll ever visit it again. The new interface is just too obnoxious.
- gruez 6y ago
  >Having to edit every reddit URL to get the old site is annoying enough you can get an addon to do that for you, or set an option in your user options (if logged in).
  - matheusmoreira 6y ago
    Mobile browsers don't have extensions and I rarely browse reddit while logged in. I almost always reach specific reddit threads via search results in incognito browser mode. Wish these search engines would simply rewrite the URL to old reddit so I didn't have to do it myself.
    - he7gff 6y ago
      Firefox Mobile has extensions; I use it because it has ad blocking. I believe you meant to say that Safari and Chrome don't have extensions on mobile, lol.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
rolicia 6y ago
As someone who's been on Reddit for a decade, the amount of astroturfing is astounding. Particularly active brands are mC'ds, coke - but there are so many others. I'm also now convinced that there is a lot of psyop intel type operations that aim to spread their goals via reddit. Either pro / anti a foreign policy position. I think these types of posts could probably easily be flagged and isolated but it doesn't seem to be a priority for reddit. I guess making money and invading users privacy is way more important for now.
- BitwiseFool 6y ago
  Also consider that the moderators and admins agree with the kind of messages being posted and turn a blind eye to it.

cyberlab 6y ago

> I really wonder how much longer old.reddit will be available I want it around for as long as possible. The new interface is a pain to use, and full of obstrusive Javascript.

tolbish 6y ago
I use teddit.net for an interface to reddit that isn't obtrusive.
nerdponx 6y ago
It will stay around for years as a "honeypot" for people to use who want to feel like they aren't being tracked & sold.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

wsinks 6y ago

Serious question here, I'm noticing that reddit is almost not worth the effort these days, after 10 years of good use. Any thoughts on better forums out there? I love HN, Product Hunt (although that's not really a forum..)

matheusmoreira 6y ago
Traditional forums are apparently gone. It's been so long since I've seen one with a significant amount of users. Anonymous image boards?
- pavel_lishin 6y ago
  There are lots out there, but they aren't "centralized" like reddit subreddits are. It takes effort to seek them out. Many forums that are ostensibly about one thing frequently have other topical sub-boards; so you can join a poker forum, and talk about car repair, etc.
dredmorbius 6y ago
https://tildes.net https://tildes.net by an ex-reddit staffer. Small yet, but decent. Otherwise, HN, Metafilter.
mariusor 6y ago
I'm working on an alternative to reddit, which allows for federated interaction between smaller instances. It's not ready yet, but there is a demo instance up at https://littr.me https://littr.me

matheusmoreira 6y ago

Having to edit every reddit URL to get the old site is annoying enough. If they disable old reddit, I don't think I'll ever visit it again. The new interface is just too obnoxious.

gruez 6y ago
>Having to edit every reddit URL to get the old site is annoying enough you can get an addon to do that for you, or set an option in your user options (if logged in).
- matheusmoreira 6y ago
  Mobile browsers don't have extensions and I rarely browse reddit while logged in. I almost always reach specific reddit threads via search results in incognito browser mode. Wish these search engines would simply rewrite the URL to old reddit so I didn't have to do it myself.
  - he7gff 6y ago
    Firefox Mobile has extensions; I use it because it has ad blocking. I believe you meant to say that Safari and Chrome don't have extensions on mobile, lol.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

rolicia 6y ago

As someone who's been on Reddit for a decade, the amount of astroturfing is astounding. Particularly active brands are mC'ds, coke - but there are so many others. I'm also now convinced that there is a lot of psyop intel type operations that aim to spread their goals via reddit. Either pro / anti a foreign policy position. I think these types of posts could probably easily be flagged and isolated but it doesn't seem to be a priority for reddit. I guess making money and invading users privacy is way more important for now.

BitwiseFool 6y ago
Also consider that the moderators and admins agree with the kind of messages being posted and turn a blind eye to it.