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I think the best example of this contrast is Reddit and its redesign. The old Reddit hosted a large variety of communities with each subreddit having its own d

I think the best example of this contrast is Reddit and its redesign. The old Reddit hosted a large variety of communities with each subreddit having its own distinct layout and color scheme. These diversities and distinctions were a main feature. All hosted subreddits retained their identities and acted as community forums where people bolstered their interests and had productive interactions. The Redesign made a huge departure from this, however, and introduced standardized layouts and made the site feel as close to conventional social networking sites as possible. It can be easily seen in the design decisions. Before the redesign, Reddit had paginated content and users at most used to browse one or two of the front pages to keep up and engage with trends. Now, it has a never-ending feed where users just keep scrolling indefinitely and waste time. They've just taken a page from Facebook and Twitter's books and made it an addictive train of mindless consumption instead of diverging from conventional social networks.

alfonsodev 6y ago
>The old Reddit hosted a large variety of communities with each subreddit having its own distinct layout and color scheme. These diversities and distinctions were a main feature. Yes! I think this is one of the elements that many people miss from the old web, it might be "uglier" but much more genuine, I'm thinking about MySpace, imagine how would it look if it was designed today, probably as the change in Reddit you are describing. Edit: Another memory that comes is Winamp's skins, compared with today's Spotify, Apple music apps, I know is not an orange to oranges comparison... but it's on the same trend.
Mediterraneo10 6y ago
Indeed. In the old design, there was a prominent sidebar on each subreddit, where the community could post a FAQ, useful links, etc. Not only did the redesign hide all that from most browsers, but Reddit seems hostile now to the idea of providing some small stable collection of information for users to consult first. It wants people to keep asking the same questions over and over again, because that means engagement. If you are a moderator who deletes repetitive questions or low-effort posts and refers the poster to a FAQ, you might get ousted as mod by higher-ups on Reddit for being against the spirit of the modern site.
meerita 6y ago
I'm still using the old reddit. The new one triggers my Macbook Pro cooling nonstop, it's slow as hell.
teekert 6y ago
Reddit? You mean that super confusing site that people sometimes link to and that always wants to force me into installing some app?
milhousevh 6y ago
Still use old reddit, will never change. If / when they force me to use the new design I won't return

alfonsodev 6y ago

>The old Reddit hosted a large variety of communities with each subreddit having its own distinct layout and color scheme. These diversities and distinctions were a main feature. Yes! I think this is one of the elements that many people miss from the old web, it might be "uglier" but much more genuine, I'm thinking about MySpace, imagine how would it look if it was designed today, probably as the change in Reddit you are describing. Edit: Another memory that comes is Winamp's skins, compared with today's Spotify, Apple music apps, I know is not an orange to oranges comparison... but it's on the same trend.

Mediterraneo10 6y ago

Indeed. In the old design, there was a prominent sidebar on each subreddit, where the community could post a FAQ, useful links, etc. Not only did the redesign hide all that from most browsers, but Reddit seems hostile now to the idea of providing some small stable collection of information for users to consult first. It wants people to keep asking the same questions over and over again, because that means engagement. If you are a moderator who deletes repetitive questions or low-effort posts and refers the poster to a FAQ, you might get ousted as mod by higher-ups on Reddit for being against the spirit of the modern site.

meerita 6y ago

I'm still using the old reddit. The new one triggers my Macbook Pro cooling nonstop, it's slow as hell.

teekert 6y ago

Reddit? You mean that super confusing site that people sometimes link to and that always wants to force me into installing some app?

milhousevh 6y ago

Still use old reddit, will never change. If / when they force me to use the new design I won't return