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I almost hesitate to share these because I too found that Reddit's dark patterns were a large part of what helped me break that habit. I recently discovered te

I almost hesitate to share these because I too found that Reddit's dark patterns were a large part of what helped me break that habit. I recently discovered teddit.net which is a frontend for reddit with all dark patterns removed. There is also an alternative front end for twitter called nitter.net that you can use the same way to avoid the app / login.

__vim__ 5y ago
Is there no similar frontend for facebook? It seems like its impossible to view facebook posts and timelines without an account.
nemosaltat 5y ago
+1 for teddit.net, I discovered it because it’s a default Insight Browser extension, as is old.reddit.net.
swiley 5y ago
This is the same reason I don’t tell people how I get around HN’s “noprocrast.”
- Igelau 5y ago
  My trick for getting around noprocrast is being too dumb to set it up correctly.
- selfhoster11 5y ago
  Just log out, I guess? I don't comment very frequently, the links are what keeps me coming back.
Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
For reddit, IMO the simplest things you can do to improve the experience is to force the old reddit design (old.reddit.com) when on desktop, and use any app except the official app when on mobile.
- alexitosrv 5y ago
  Unfortunately, I think they are going to decommission that version eventually. Something that irritated me, for instance, was how they decided to remove the account activity panel, making revisiting recent links waaay harder. That coupled with the fact that they also remove a link from the front page too quickly is also making me to use the site less. So much for the dark patterns, heh.
  - nimvlaj30 5y ago
    I don't care, because as soon as they do that I'll be quitting.
- pantalaimon 5y ago
  The old mobile interface (i.reddit.com) works well too
  - blendergeek 5y ago
    You have changed my life. Thank you.
  - y-c-o-m-b 5y ago
    That's the one I use. The downside is you can't see pictures or gifs in comments nor the rules of a sub-reddit if you want to submit something. Also submit doesn't work correctly sometimes, especially when you need to tag a submission with flair.
- papreclip 5y ago
  I use old.reddit on mobile as well. Personally I prefer panning & zooming on the desktop version of a site to the mobile design in general
  - juniperplant 5y ago
    You might like i.reddit.com
- deleted 5y ago
bityard 5y ago
Android has a client called RedReader that makes Reddit highly tolerable: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.quantumbadger.redreader/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.quantumbadger.redreader/ Part of me wishes there was something as nice as this for the desktop, the other part of me thinks I already waste too much time on Reddit. (The signal-to-noise ratio is just largely not worth it compared to my hand-curated list of blogs I follow via RSS.)
- thereddaikon 5y ago
  I second red reader. To you SNR point, I think that is entirely due to the communities you join and how you manage it. Unsub from all of the default subs. They are all garbage. And any that gets beyond a certain size will inevitably fall to low effort reposts and click bait. Reddit is best as a platform for effortlessly making focused special interest forums. In the past these would have required a PHBB instance and hosting, would have nonexistent SEO and would be almost impossible to find. But they would have some of the best content the internet had to offer.
askafriend 5y ago
Using a 3rd party mobile client also does the trick - no ads either. Apollo on iOS is awesome.
yosito 5y ago
Thanks. I broke my reddit habit when I realized that most of the communities on reddit are just ideological echo chambers where you get banned for saying anything the community doesn't agree with. It lost most of it's value when honest conversations couldn't take place anymore. Now the only time I use reddit is when the only search results with the answer to a question I have point to reddit, and I've grown very weary of their tracking and harassing me to use their spyware app. Teddit is a nice way to get the information I'm looking for without being jerked around by those stalkers at reddit. We'll see how long it lasts before being blocked.
- ohhhhhh 5y ago
  the hive-mind propaganda circle jerk took over, and many dont even realize they are still jerkin'
  - treesknees 5y ago
    I'd argue that any site with like/dislike functions which influence the visibility of posts end up this way.
    - easton 5y ago
      A lot of it has to do with being able to see the points. People think “it has a lot of points so it must be right”, which is rarely true, especially on Reddit. HN hides the points on comments and has a bit of unpredictability to the sorting to allow things to float up provided they haven’t been flagged/downvote bombed. I think it is the largest reason HN is still healthy, other than the great moderation.
- whoaisme 5y ago
  It always cracks me up seeing the echo chamber criticism of reddit here. Like are you serious? Reddit is a cesspool but it is a utopia of free speech compared to HN.
- Akronymus 5y ago
  While HN definitely becomes a bit of an echochamber at times too, at least you can still voice opinions that go against it without people going through your history to attack you rather than your arguments. Occasionally you get downvoted/flagged enough that people can't reply anymore, but again: That stays with just that comment/thread.
fograte 5y ago
Second teddit Will mention though that I’ve had wholly uncontroversial HN accounts, with positive karma, deleted after suggesting teddit.net, only stating a link to the about page, in a thread. I am mostly unbothered by it since the bar of entry for creating an account on HN is so low, and you can read it without one, but am still confused. Perhaps there is auto moderation that deletes an account if it posts a comment with only a link?
- mkl 5y ago
  New accounts that post links often get auto-flagged, because they're mostly spammers. You can probably recover your account by emailing hn@ycombinator.com.
twobitshifter 5y ago
There’s also libredd.it
xtracto 5y ago
I always saw some comments of people saying "RIP Inbox" after one of their posts became popular in Reddit. I kid you not, it was not until earlier today that I found out that the reason for those comments is that apparenlty Reddit sends replies to your post to your email inbox. My reddit account is so old that it doesn't have a linked email, so I never realized that.

__vim__ 5y ago

Is there no similar frontend for facebook? It seems like its impossible to view facebook posts and timelines without an account.

nemosaltat 5y ago

+1 for teddit.net, I discovered it because it’s a default Insight Browser extension, as is old.reddit.net.

swiley 5y ago

This is the same reason I don’t tell people how I get around HN’s “noprocrast.”

Igelau 5y ago
My trick for getting around noprocrast is being too dumb to set it up correctly.
selfhoster11 5y ago
Just log out, I guess? I don't comment very frequently, the links are what keeps me coming back.

Sohcahtoa82 5y ago

For reddit, IMO the simplest things you can do to improve the experience is to force the old reddit design (old.reddit.com) when on desktop, and use any app except the official app when on mobile.

alexitosrv 5y ago
Unfortunately, I think they are going to decommission that version eventually. Something that irritated me, for instance, was how they decided to remove the account activity panel, making revisiting recent links waaay harder. That coupled with the fact that they also remove a link from the front page too quickly is also making me to use the site less. So much for the dark patterns, heh.
- nimvlaj30 5y ago
  I don't care, because as soon as they do that I'll be quitting.
pantalaimon 5y ago
The old mobile interface (i.reddit.com) works well too
- blendergeek 5y ago
  You have changed my life. Thank you.
- y-c-o-m-b 5y ago
  That's the one I use. The downside is you can't see pictures or gifs in comments nor the rules of a sub-reddit if you want to submit something. Also submit doesn't work correctly sometimes, especially when you need to tag a submission with flair.
papreclip 5y ago
I use old.reddit on mobile as well. Personally I prefer panning & zooming on the desktop version of a site to the mobile design in general
- juniperplant 5y ago
  You might like i.reddit.com
deleted 5y ago

bityard 5y ago

Android has a client called RedReader that makes Reddit highly tolerable: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.quantumbadger.redreader/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.quantumbadger.redreader/ Part of me wishes there was something as nice as this for the desktop, the other part of me thinks I already waste too much time on Reddit. (The signal-to-noise ratio is just largely not worth it compared to my hand-curated list of blogs I follow via RSS.)

thereddaikon 5y ago
I second red reader. To you SNR point, I think that is entirely due to the communities you join and how you manage it. Unsub from all of the default subs. They are all garbage. And any that gets beyond a certain size will inevitably fall to low effort reposts and click bait. Reddit is best as a platform for effortlessly making focused special interest forums. In the past these would have required a PHBB instance and hosting, would have nonexistent SEO and would be almost impossible to find. But they would have some of the best content the internet had to offer.

askafriend 5y ago

Using a 3rd party mobile client also does the trick - no ads either. Apollo on iOS is awesome.

yosito 5y ago

Thanks. I broke my reddit habit when I realized that most of the communities on reddit are just ideological echo chambers where you get banned for saying anything the community doesn't agree with. It lost most of it's value when honest conversations couldn't take place anymore. Now the only time I use reddit is when the only search results with the answer to a question I have point to reddit, and I've grown very weary of their tracking and harassing me to use their spyware app. Teddit is a nice way to get the information I'm looking for without being jerked around by those stalkers at reddit. We'll see how long it lasts before being blocked.

ohhhhhh 5y ago
the hive-mind propaganda circle jerk took over, and many dont even realize they are still jerkin'
- treesknees 5y ago
  I'd argue that any site with like/dislike functions which influence the visibility of posts end up this way.
  - easton 5y ago
    A lot of it has to do with being able to see the points. People think “it has a lot of points so it must be right”, which is rarely true, especially on Reddit. HN hides the points on comments and has a bit of unpredictability to the sorting to allow things to float up provided they haven’t been flagged/downvote bombed. I think it is the largest reason HN is still healthy, other than the great moderation.
whoaisme 5y ago
It always cracks me up seeing the echo chamber criticism of reddit here. Like are you serious? Reddit is a cesspool but it is a utopia of free speech compared to HN.
Akronymus 5y ago
While HN definitely becomes a bit of an echochamber at times too, at least you can still voice opinions that go against it without people going through your history to attack you rather than your arguments. Occasionally you get downvoted/flagged enough that people can't reply anymore, but again: That stays with just that comment/thread.

fograte 5y ago

Second teddit Will mention though that I’ve had wholly uncontroversial HN accounts, with positive karma, deleted after suggesting teddit.net, only stating a link to the about page, in a thread. I am mostly unbothered by it since the bar of entry for creating an account on HN is so low, and you can read it without one, but am still confused. Perhaps there is auto moderation that deletes an account if it posts a comment with only a link?

mkl 5y ago
New accounts that post links often get auto-flagged, because they're mostly spammers. You can probably recover your account by emailing hn@ycombinator.com.

twobitshifter 5y ago

There’s also libredd.it

xtracto 5y ago

I always saw some comments of people saying "RIP Inbox" after one of their posts became popular in Reddit. I kid you not, it was not until earlier today that I found out that the reason for those comments is that apparenlty Reddit sends replies to your post to your email inbox. My reddit account is so old that it doesn't have a linked email, so I never realized that.