4 ms·

Imagine if each subreddit was a separate forum with a separate account. People are lazy and want everything in the same place. Also it's not 1998 any more. Ru

by zirgs 3y ago

Imagine if each subreddit was a separate forum with a separate account. People are lazy and want everything in the same place. Also it's not 1998 any more. Running a forum is a full time job. Need to handle DMCA takedowns, deal with illegal content, think about ways to monetise the site and so on. It's much harder than simply moderating a subreddit.

rglullis 3y ago
> Imagine if each subreddit was a separate forum with a separate account. You can have a separate forum, but you don't need a separate account. You just need need these different sites to talk with each other. This is how email, Usenet and now ActivityPub works. > People are lazy and want everything in the same place. It doesn't have to be the same place for everyone. For me (and my friends and family), the "place for everything" would be the server I set up for them. For you, it could be a different server. For journalists from a media outlet, it could be an institutional server. Also, stop projecting. Instead of hiding yourself in the excuse of "people are lazy", just say that you are lazy and don't care about giving your freedoms away to faceless corporations. > Running a forum is a full time job. Need to handle DMCA takedowns, deal with illegal content, think about ways to monetise the site and so on. It's much harder than simply moderating a subreddit. This is the key principle behind the idea of "Small Web". Your servers will be serving your immediate circle only. By definition, you would be only dealing with content created by people who you actually know. - By not having to deal with thousands of users, the setup and maintenance is minimal. - There will be no problem that you can not solve by just picking up the phone or knocking on their door and talking with the person directly. - There is no need to "monetize" the site, because the operating costs are negligible and you are doing it only for yourself/your close circle.
- zirgs 3y ago
  For a small group like a family or a couple of friends it's simply easier to use apps like Discord, WhatsApp or Signal. But if you need something bigger then you can't avoid the problems that I mentioned. My country's gamedev community had a phpbb forum that was created 2 decades ago. But now it's dead and everyone is using discord instead.
  - rglullis 3y ago
    > For a small group like a family or a couple of friends it's simply easier to use apps like Discord, WhatsApp or Signal. None of them are can be composed into an open web of links, and you are still at the mercy of large corporations. > But now it's dead and everyone is using discord instead. And RSS was a big thing until Twitter killed it. Your point?
    - zirgs 3y ago
      Good luck convincing other people to use something else. My friends aren't going to leave Discord. And talking to myself isn't very fun.
      - rglullis 3y ago
        Look at your arguments from the beginning of the thread, look at your response here. It is the perfect example of how people rationalize their own laziness and unwillingness to challenge the status quo
        mtrower 3y ago
        > My friends aren't going to leave Discord. And talking to myself isn't very fun. While I agree with your vision, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss this. I've tried for decades to get people onto open platforms with me. Tooling pain doesn't help, but by and large, the issue is critical mass. If I were to drop out of <major communications platform here (currently Discord)>, no one would follow me except for my wife. I'm not really speculating, I know this to be true because I have tried it. Several times. You can see it outside of close social circles as well. At one point my condo association leadership decided they wanted to shut down (well, at least abandon moderation of and cut all ties with) the community Facebook group, and bring our web presence up to modern standards. We built out a website, with many features we felt would be useful --- membership directory, community knowledgebase (some questions just repeatedly come up over and over again), a forum for community discussion... and nobody used it. The reason? Turns out it was nothing to do with our implementation. It just came down to the fact that Facebook was already installed on people's phones, and they already spent their time there. That's it. Inertia and critical mass.

by zirgs 3y ago

rglullis 3y ago

> Imagine if each subreddit was a separate forum with a separate account. You can have a separate forum, but you don't need a separate account. You just need need these different sites to talk with each other. This is how email, Usenet and now ActivityPub works. > People are lazy and want everything in the same place. It doesn't have to be the same place for everyone. For me (and my friends and family), the "place for everything" would be the server I set up for them. For you, it could be a different server. For journalists from a media outlet, it could be an institutional server. Also, stop projecting. Instead of hiding yourself in the excuse of "people are lazy", just say that you are lazy and don't care about giving your freedoms away to faceless corporations. > Running a forum is a full time job. Need to handle DMCA takedowns, deal with illegal content, think about ways to monetise the site and so on. It's much harder than simply moderating a subreddit. This is the key principle behind the idea of "Small Web". Your servers will be serving your immediate circle only. By definition, you would be only dealing with content created by people who you actually know. - By not having to deal with thousands of users, the setup and maintenance is minimal. - There will be no problem that you can not solve by just picking up the phone or knocking on their door and talking with the person directly. - There is no need to "monetize" the site, because the operating costs are negligible and you are doing it only for yourself/your close circle.

zirgs 3y ago
For a small group like a family or a couple of friends it's simply easier to use apps like Discord, WhatsApp or Signal. But if you need something bigger then you can't avoid the problems that I mentioned. My country's gamedev community had a phpbb forum that was created 2 decades ago. But now it's dead and everyone is using discord instead.
- rglullis 3y ago
  > For a small group like a family or a couple of friends it's simply easier to use apps like Discord, WhatsApp or Signal. None of them are can be composed into an open web of links, and you are still at the mercy of large corporations. > But now it's dead and everyone is using discord instead. And RSS was a big thing until Twitter killed it. Your point?
  - zirgs 3y ago
    Good luck convincing other people to use something else. My friends aren't going to leave Discord. And talking to myself isn't very fun.
    - rglullis 3y ago
      Look at your arguments from the beginning of the thread, look at your response here. It is the perfect example of how people rationalize their own laziness and unwillingness to challenge the status quo
      - mtrower 3y ago
        > My friends aren't going to leave Discord. And talking to myself isn't very fun. While I agree with your vision, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss this. I've tried for decades to get people onto open platforms with me. Tooling pain doesn't help, but by and large, the issue is critical mass. If I were to drop out of <major communications platform here (currently Discord)>, no one would follow me except for my wife. I'm not really speculating, I know this to be true because I have tried it. Several times. You can see it outside of close social circles as well. At one point my condo association leadership decided they wanted to shut down (well, at least abandon moderation of and cut all ties with) the community Facebook group, and bring our web presence up to modern standards. We built out a website, with many features we felt would be useful --- membership directory, community knowledgebase (some questions just repeatedly come up over and over again), a forum for community discussion... and nobody used it. The reason? Turns out it was nothing to do with our implementation. It just came down to the fact that Facebook was already installed on people's phones, and they already spent their time there. That's it. Inertia and critical mass.