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The internet is littered with dead Reddit alternatives, and very compelling live ones. I was into Voat for a little bit. Fact is, they dont have the critical m

The internet is littered with dead Reddit alternatives, and very compelling live ones. I was into Voat for a little bit. Fact is, they dont have the critical mass Reddit does, and never will until it is actually dead, not "dying" like it has been for half a decade.

fffv 3y ago
The generic Reddit alternatives like Voat, Saidit, Ruqqus, etc. haven't done too well, but there have been some successes when individual subreddits, or groups of subreddits, have migrated to their own sites and taken much of the userbase with them. Perhaps that is the better way forward than the aggregated approach of Reddit, going back to the old-school approach of separate forums with their own websites.
- brucethemoose2 3y ago
  Like, say, HN. Yeah, this would be great if users move and the right entities sponsor it. Again, HN is a good example, as YC seems to have the right incentives to keep this place nice.
tzs 3y ago
This time has a chance to be different. Perhaps not a large chance, but still quite a bit higher than sites like Voat had. The problem with Voat and many of the others was that they either started in response to Reddit changes that most users didn't care about and that of those that did care the majority favored the changes, or if they already existed they were small enough that the people who left Reddit for them due to those Reddit change quickly became the overwhelming majority of their users. Voat, for example either started because or got the majority of its users because Reddit got rid of /r/coontown and similar racist subreddits and got rid of a bunch of child sex subreddits. Those quickly reformed on Voat. People did make Voat groups for mainstream things like movies and science, and some people tried to make those decent alternatives to say /r/movies and /r/science but it did't work. Any decent discussion on /v/movies or /v/science you could also find on /r/movies or /r/science. But on /v/movies or /v/science you'd also have a bunch of the racist and antisemite discussions too which weren't on /r/movies or /r/science. For example see this Voat discussion of season 2 of The Mandalorian from /v/movies [1]. Here's an example from /v/science [2]. This time has a chance to be different because this time it won't be the dregs of Reddit leaving. It will mostly be decent people leaving. Those who remain might actually miss them instead of being happy they are gone, and so might consider actually following. [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20201225021055/https://voat.co/v/movies/4164913 https://web.archive.org/web/20201225021055/https://voat.co/v... [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20201223123156/https://voat.co/v/science/4152241 https://web.archive.org/web/20201223123156/https://voat.co/v...
- mustacheemperor 3y ago
  Oh my god, cognito hazard warning on those two links. Was there some brief moment in time where there was any quality content on voat? why else would anyone volunteer to say they tried that platform and found it compelling :| That is insane, it is like a screenshot of the old notorious white supremacist boards from the 00s. Yeah no wonder that reddit alternative didn't have a meteoric rise to popularity. TBH, it seems like Discord is a natural alternative for many reddit communities, many of which already have one. And it tends to be more strictly moderated in my experience.
  - brucethemoose2 3y ago
    Yeah, there were some nice corners of Voat... at first. But thats why I left, the cool art subs died holding back the nasty. It just wasn't worth the effort. I fear Discord replacing Reddit, as its so siloed off and insular. There literally could not be an effort to "backup" Discord like this post if (and when) the decline begins.

fffv 3y ago

The generic Reddit alternatives like Voat, Saidit, Ruqqus, etc. haven't done too well, but there have been some successes when individual subreddits, or groups of subreddits, have migrated to their own sites and taken much of the userbase with them. Perhaps that is the better way forward than the aggregated approach of Reddit, going back to the old-school approach of separate forums with their own websites.

brucethemoose2 3y ago
Like, say, HN. Yeah, this would be great if users move and the right entities sponsor it. Again, HN is a good example, as YC seems to have the right incentives to keep this place nice.

tzs 3y ago

This time has a chance to be different. Perhaps not a large chance, but still quite a bit higher than sites like Voat had. The problem with Voat and many of the others was that they either started in response to Reddit changes that most users didn't care about and that of those that did care the majority favored the changes, or if they already existed they were small enough that the people who left Reddit for them due to those Reddit change quickly became the overwhelming majority of their users. Voat, for example either started because or got the majority of its users because Reddit got rid of /r/coontown and similar racist subreddits and got rid of a bunch of child sex subreddits. Those quickly reformed on Voat. People did make Voat groups for mainstream things like movies and science, and some people tried to make those decent alternatives to say /r/movies and /r/science but it did't work. Any decent discussion on /v/movies or /v/science you could also find on /r/movies or /r/science. But on /v/movies or /v/science you'd also have a bunch of the racist and antisemite discussions too which weren't on /r/movies or /r/science. For example see this Voat discussion of season 2 of The Mandalorian from /v/movies [1]. Here's an example from /v/science [2]. This time has a chance to be different because this time it won't be the dregs of Reddit leaving. It will mostly be decent people leaving. Those who remain might actually miss them instead of being happy they are gone, and so might consider actually following. [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20201225021055/https://voat.co/v/movies/4164913 https://web.archive.org/web/20201225021055/https://voat.co/v... [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20201223123156/https://voat.co/v/science/4152241 https://web.archive.org/web/20201223123156/https://voat.co/v...

mustacheemperor 3y ago
Oh my god, cognito hazard warning on those two links. Was there some brief moment in time where there was any quality content on voat? why else would anyone volunteer to say they tried that platform and found it compelling :| That is insane, it is like a screenshot of the old notorious white supremacist boards from the 00s. Yeah no wonder that reddit alternative didn't have a meteoric rise to popularity. TBH, it seems like Discord is a natural alternative for many reddit communities, many of which already have one. And it tends to be more strictly moderated in my experience.
- brucethemoose2 3y ago
  Yeah, there were some nice corners of Voat... at first. But thats why I left, the cool art subs died holding back the nasty. It just wasn't worth the effort. I fear Discord replacing Reddit, as its so siloed off and insular. There literally could not be an effort to "backup" Discord like this post if (and when) the decline begins.