8 ms·

We're joining the Reddit blackout from June 12th to 14th

125 points by defenestration 3y ago

throwaway81523 3y ago
As soon as it says "June 12th to 14th" instead of "June 12th til hell freezes over", you know the blackout is doomed.
- mvdtnz 3y ago
  Yeah for real. Especially for a F1 subreddit. Monday and Tuesday is the quietest period and it's not even coming off a race weekend. If they want to make an impact this should at least stretch into the weekend of the 17th.
- Bilal_io 3y ago
  Some subreddits, specifically r/cars says till the 14th and maybe beyond. It shows that they're willing to continue the blackout after the 14th if r/reddit doesn't change course.
braza 3y ago
Personally I feel bad for all those folks that moderates/contributes in Reddit and at Stack Overflow. Imagine pour hundreds of hours for the sake of enjoyment, sharing or nurturing a community and due to some market circumstances not having a saying in any decision. To be honest, seeing those movements from those companies makes me feel that the future of open communities (but some how walled) it’s bleak.
- that_guy_iain 3y ago
  Honestly, I don't. There is a lot of talk of the price being unreasonable. Realistically, it's rather reasonable. The problem only comes in when these apps have failed to monetize subscriptions. In some cases, these apps are monetized by ads and therefore directly competing with Reddit for the ad buy. Seriously, I am meant to feel bad that someone who decided to directly compete with a company is now being charged money for the very thing that makes the app viable? There is a lot of talk of these apps being forced to shutdown due to the overhead of $2.50 a user per month. That is an extremely low overhead so low that a $5 a month subscription solves the entire drama very quickly. This isn't about Reddit being greedy. This is about Reddit users being too cheap to pay for something they want and used on a daily basis. There are free ways to use the site if you want to use an API that avoids monetizing then it seem fair you pay. This isn't like Twitter where apps charging $20-99 a month had trouble paying. This is apps charging $1.50 to very few users and relying on another company to foot the bill for their freemium model - while directly competing with them.
  - Raicuparta 3y ago
    I'm guessing you don't know much about the subject, and didn't read too deeply into it. Third party apps are only a part of the problem (which you're also misrepresenting), and not the one referenced in the comment you answered to. I suggest following the links in the post to understand the full depth of the problem.
    - that_guy_iain 3y ago
      I've read deeply into the problem. And I've come to the conclusion the problem is cheap reddit users who don't want to pay for software. There are complaints that the offical app isn't accessible. Ok, pay for accessible software or complain enough to Reddit to fix their app. There are laws I believe to force them to have an accessible app. Mods use tools to moderate. Ok. You want to have a little hobby of moderating a community. Fair enough, pay for your hobby. If not. Let Reddit fix the spam problem when it becomes a problem, because it will become a problem and Reddit will be forced to fix it because the users will hate it and it'll harm growth. If not, pay for the software to do your little hobby. Just because someone has a different opinion doesn't mean they haven't read into it. It's that they have a different opinion than you. I think software should cost money. Because I write software for a living and I think people should value what I do to the point they pay money for it. I know a lot of techies like to make our work worthless but I don't.
      - voxelghost 3y ago
        Mods use tools to moderate. Ok. You want to have a little hobby of moderating a community. Fair enough, pay for your hobby. If not. Let Reddit fix the spam problem when it becomes a problem, because it will become a problem and Reddit will be forced to fix it because the users will hate it and it'll harm growth. If not, pay for the software to do your little hobby. Actually, I think this is one point where Reddit could score some good will points by letting moderators use the API for free to access the communities they moderate.
        that_guy_iain 3y ago
- 1letterunixname 3y ago
  This is the failure of wishful thinking of users and of a mainstream culture that condones corporate takeover of all areas of the commonwealth (common good). The best move is to not play with corporations and to move towards well-run nonprofits and social ventures that can deliver a useful utility. There aren't many existent examples of this.
- johnnyanmac 3y ago
  This is at least the 3rd blackout being planned en masse, and while I hate being pessimistic: I don't think much will be done here if history serves. Most people will stay and be unaware, some (maybe many) contributors will leave, we will probably get one or two winds on some alternatives that then get overrun by unsavory folk that makes it unwelcoming to anyone who cares about their personal reputation, and the dust settles with not much change overall. But yea, that's why I never did any real "passion work" up to this point, even if I've been interested. If I'm going out of my way for that, it has to at the bare minimum be portfolio work for a job, or to garner community reputation to leverage for a future project that is paid. It's a cynical way to look at what should just be done for the sake of others. Some would call it "clout chasing" and they aren't entirely wrong (not entirely right either, but there's similarities). But you always gotta look out for yourself first. From my decades here, the Internet sure won't. Quite the contrary; it's extraordinary how quickly communities can turn on something if you brush it the wrong way.
  - lubujackson 3y ago
    Maybe this will just be it for Reddit. I know if the app I use (Reddit Is Fun) goes away, as it is planning to do, I won't use Reddit on my phone any more and by extension, I will rarely use it at all. No big drama or boycott from me. It is just another community circling the drain via planned obsolescence.
- tennisflyi 3y ago
  I'm a mod on one subreddit and I squat a couple more. I think most subs are relatively small, so it doesn't require much effort. It probably takes me no more than 30 minutes a week, at the most!
- davidguetta 3y ago
  To be blunt it's would be a bit dumb to "expect" to have a say in business affairs when all you do is something like moderating a cat subreddit for your own enjoyment.. Be happy while it lasted is the good approach. Cover contracts are bad in general but in this case this would just be insane
ChrisArchitect 3y ago
/r/formula1 is the We here
- fragmede 3y ago
  I wish that were in the title
albatross13 3y ago
[flagged]
- godsfshrmn 3y ago
  What the?
  - maxbond 3y ago
    It's a troll. They're performing a hyperbolic caricature to make the targets of their ire look ridiculous. Just ignore them.
- dang 3y ago
  We've banned this account for trolling. Please don't create accounts to break HN's rules with. It will eventually get your main account banned as well. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - albatross13 3y ago
    [dead]
_madmax_ 3y ago
Let reddit die.
- racl101 3y ago
  Part of me looks forward to not being on Reddit anymore cause I cannot stomach their own mobile app or website.
- silisili 3y ago
  My biggest fear is that if it dies, some subset of users will seek refuge here instead...
lockhouse 3y ago
It amazes me how little Reddit's leadership understand about their own history. Reddit essentially took off because Digg screwed the pooch so hard with their redesign and just general mismanagement of their community.
- midoridensha 3y ago
  "Those who fail to understand history are doomed to repeat it." Personally, I'm looking forward to Reddit going the way of Digg.
  - xattt 3y ago
    There’s a few posts that are pretty valuable and should be archived in some form or another.
    - midoridensha 3y ago
      I'm sure the same was true for Digg, but those posts were all lost anyway. That's the danger of using a centralized, for-profit corporation's message forum service. By contrast, we can still look up posts from decades ago on USENET.
  - tester457 3y ago
    Same, but there's no viable replacement yet.
    - soupfordummies 3y ago
      I feel that, we’re already on the closest one IMO. I already spend way more browsing time here than Reddit these days. That said, it does lack focused topic discussion for things like, your favorite band for instance. I guess we will all just use a million fragmented discords most likely
      - midoridensha 3y ago
anonred 3y ago
We don’t need a separate HN post for every subreddit that’s doing this.
armchairhacker 3y ago
This should link to the full albeit incomplete list: https://www.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/comments/1401qw5/incomplete_and_growing_list_of_participating/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/comments/1401qw5/incomplet...
freitzkriesler2 3y ago
I hope that this leads to the demise of reddit and the resurgence of xenforo self hosted forums. In a way, I miss vbulletin.
- activiation 3y ago
  Need someone spinning up a reddit clone

As soon as it says "June 12th to 14th" instead of "June 12th til hell freezes over", you know the blackout is doomed.

mvdtnz 3y ago
Yeah for real. Especially for a F1 subreddit. Monday and Tuesday is the quietest period and it's not even coming off a race weekend. If they want to make an impact this should at least stretch into the weekend of the 17th.
Bilal_io 3y ago
Some subreddits, specifically r/cars says till the 14th and maybe beyond. It shows that they're willing to continue the blackout after the 14th if r/reddit doesn't change course.

Personally I feel bad for all those folks that moderates/contributes in Reddit and at Stack Overflow. Imagine pour hundreds of hours for the sake of enjoyment, sharing or nurturing a community and due to some market circumstances not having a saying in any decision. To be honest, seeing those movements from those companies makes me feel that the future of open communities (but some how walled) it’s bleak.

that_guy_iain 3y ago
Honestly, I don't. There is a lot of talk of the price being unreasonable. Realistically, it's rather reasonable. The problem only comes in when these apps have failed to monetize subscriptions. In some cases, these apps are monetized by ads and therefore directly competing with Reddit for the ad buy. Seriously, I am meant to feel bad that someone who decided to directly compete with a company is now being charged money for the very thing that makes the app viable? There is a lot of talk of these apps being forced to shutdown due to the overhead of $2.50 a user per month. That is an extremely low overhead so low that a $5 a month subscription solves the entire drama very quickly. This isn't about Reddit being greedy. This is about Reddit users being too cheap to pay for something they want and used on a daily basis. There are free ways to use the site if you want to use an API that avoids monetizing then it seem fair you pay. This isn't like Twitter where apps charging $20-99 a month had trouble paying. This is apps charging $1.50 to very few users and relying on another company to foot the bill for their freemium model - while directly competing with them.
- Raicuparta 3y ago
  I'm guessing you don't know much about the subject, and didn't read too deeply into it. Third party apps are only a part of the problem (which you're also misrepresenting), and not the one referenced in the comment you answered to. I suggest following the links in the post to understand the full depth of the problem.
  - that_guy_iain 3y ago
    I've read deeply into the problem. And I've come to the conclusion the problem is cheap reddit users who don't want to pay for software. There are complaints that the offical app isn't accessible. Ok, pay for accessible software or complain enough to Reddit to fix their app. There are laws I believe to force them to have an accessible app. Mods use tools to moderate. Ok. You want to have a little hobby of moderating a community. Fair enough, pay for your hobby. If not. Let Reddit fix the spam problem when it becomes a problem, because it will become a problem and Reddit will be forced to fix it because the users will hate it and it'll harm growth. If not, pay for the software to do your little hobby. Just because someone has a different opinion doesn't mean they haven't read into it. It's that they have a different opinion than you. I think software should cost money. Because I write software for a living and I think people should value what I do to the point they pay money for it. I know a lot of techies like to make our work worthless but I don't.
    - voxelghost 3y ago
      Mods use tools to moderate. Ok. You want to have a little hobby of moderating a community. Fair enough, pay for your hobby. If not. Let Reddit fix the spam problem when it becomes a problem, because it will become a problem and Reddit will be forced to fix it because the users will hate it and it'll harm growth. If not, pay for the software to do your little hobby. Actually, I think this is one point where Reddit could score some good will points by letting moderators use the API for free to access the communities they moderate.
      - that_guy_iain 3y ago
1letterunixname 3y ago
This is the failure of wishful thinking of users and of a mainstream culture that condones corporate takeover of all areas of the commonwealth (common good). The best move is to not play with corporations and to move towards well-run nonprofits and social ventures that can deliver a useful utility. There aren't many existent examples of this.
johnnyanmac 3y ago
This is at least the 3rd blackout being planned en masse, and while I hate being pessimistic: I don't think much will be done here if history serves. Most people will stay and be unaware, some (maybe many) contributors will leave, we will probably get one or two winds on some alternatives that then get overrun by unsavory folk that makes it unwelcoming to anyone who cares about their personal reputation, and the dust settles with not much change overall. But yea, that's why I never did any real "passion work" up to this point, even if I've been interested. If I'm going out of my way for that, it has to at the bare minimum be portfolio work for a job, or to garner community reputation to leverage for a future project that is paid. It's a cynical way to look at what should just be done for the sake of others. Some would call it "clout chasing" and they aren't entirely wrong (not entirely right either, but there's similarities). But you always gotta look out for yourself first. From my decades here, the Internet sure won't. Quite the contrary; it's extraordinary how quickly communities can turn on something if you brush it the wrong way.
- lubujackson 3y ago
  Maybe this will just be it for Reddit. I know if the app I use (Reddit Is Fun) goes away, as it is planning to do, I won't use Reddit on my phone any more and by extension, I will rarely use it at all. No big drama or boycott from me. It is just another community circling the drain via planned obsolescence.
tennisflyi 3y ago
I'm a mod on one subreddit and I squat a couple more. I think most subs are relatively small, so it doesn't require much effort. It probably takes me no more than 30 minutes a week, at the most!
davidguetta 3y ago
To be blunt it's would be a bit dumb to "expect" to have a say in business affairs when all you do is something like moderating a cat subreddit for your own enjoyment.. Be happy while it lasted is the good approach. Cover contracts are bad in general but in this case this would just be insane

ChrisArchitect 3y ago

/r/formula1 is the We here

fragmede 3y ago
I wish that were in the title

albatross13 3y ago

[flagged]

godsfshrmn 3y ago
What the?
- maxbond 3y ago
  It's a troll. They're performing a hyperbolic caricature to make the targets of their ire look ridiculous. Just ignore them.
dang 3y ago
We've banned this account for trolling. Please don't create accounts to break HN's rules with. It will eventually get your main account banned as well. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- albatross13 3y ago
  [dead]

_madmax_ 3y ago

Let reddit die.

racl101 3y ago
Part of me looks forward to not being on Reddit anymore cause I cannot stomach their own mobile app or website.
silisili 3y ago
My biggest fear is that if it dies, some subset of users will seek refuge here instead...

lockhouse 3y ago

It amazes me how little Reddit's leadership understand about their own history. Reddit essentially took off because Digg screwed the pooch so hard with their redesign and just general mismanagement of their community.

midoridensha 3y ago
"Those who fail to understand history are doomed to repeat it." Personally, I'm looking forward to Reddit going the way of Digg.
- xattt 3y ago
  There’s a few posts that are pretty valuable and should be archived in some form or another.
  - midoridensha 3y ago
    I'm sure the same was true for Digg, but those posts were all lost anyway. That's the danger of using a centralized, for-profit corporation's message forum service. By contrast, we can still look up posts from decades ago on USENET.
- tester457 3y ago
  Same, but there's no viable replacement yet.
  - soupfordummies 3y ago
    I feel that, we’re already on the closest one IMO. I already spend way more browsing time here than Reddit these days. That said, it does lack focused topic discussion for things like, your favorite band for instance. I guess we will all just use a million fragmented discords most likely
    - midoridensha 3y ago

anonred 3y ago

We don’t need a separate HN post for every subreddit that’s doing this.

armchairhacker 3y ago

This should link to the full albeit incomplete list: https://www.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/comments/1401qw5/incomplete_and_growing_list_of_participating/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/comments/1401qw5/incomplet...

freitzkriesler2 3y ago

I hope that this leads to the demise of reddit and the resurgence of xenforo self hosted forums. In a way, I miss vbulletin.

activiation 3y ago
Need someone spinning up a reddit clone