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Spez assumes he has more power than Reddit users. He is likely right. Sadly. I wish people would just stop using that site and go back to web forums, but that i

Spez assumes he has more power than Reddit users. He is likely right. Sadly. I wish people would just stop using that site and go back to web forums, but that is never happening. The average person enjoys the convenience of consolidation under one corporate overlord. I assume the ipo will allow him to eventually join the (multi-millionaire?) billionaire class. One would assume he would fight tooth and nail to make this happen. Considering his past unethical behavior, I don’t see him playing nice to get what he wants.

afiori 3y ago
Forums do not need to be centralised but they need to be interoperable if they wish to compete with reddit. Centralization is an easy way to do content aggregation, you can't compete if you lack good aggregation.
- zirgs 3y ago
  On reddit you can get banned from a bunch of subs, just because you post in a sub that their mods don't like. It's apparently against the reddit's rules, but nobody seems to give a shit. It'even easier to do that in the fediverse and it isn't against any rules. So there will be problems with interoperability, because of this.
  - worrycue 3y ago
    > It'even easier to do that in the fediverse and it isn't against any rules. So there will be problems with interoperability, because of this. Can’t you just create another account on a “compatible” server?
    - zirgs 3y ago
      Yes, and you can also create an alt account to post in subreddits that banned you. If I have to create a separate account for each server anyway then what's the point of the fediverse?
      - worrycue 3y ago
        > If I have to create a separate account for each server anyway then what's the point of the fediverse? You don't have to. Only when the servers you want to post to ban the server you registered on.
pmoriarty 3y ago
> The average person enjoys the convenience of consolidation under one corporate overlord. It's not that. Reddit is where much of the community is today, much like Usenet was where the community was in the 90's. People are going to go where most people are. Unless something can replace those network effects, nothing's going to change.
- jimcsharp 3y ago
  I checked, and my pre-Reddit Internet experience is still there. The networks are small, on-topic, you recognize people, (we're all 40 now), (all their user databases are on haveibeenpwned). These are all things "subreddit snobs" exalt about their lil' <100k user subreddits. I'm not seeing a super compelling reason not to go back to this mode of Internetting.
gniv 3y ago
> Spez assumes he has more power than Reddit users. He is likely right. There is a chance the protest wins. The interesting twist here is the moderators, which currently have unusual power. The sad part is that this power might go away down the line, as a result of this protest and irrespective of its outcome.
- tyg13 3y ago
  If the protest fails, there was nothing of value left to lose. Reddit has had ample opportunity to make things right in a way amenable to the people complaining. Instead, they've consistently signalled that they want to keep dumping the value that long time users see in the site down the drain. Personally, I have no interest in continuing as steward of the trash heap. Sad to mourn the loss of niche communities, but enough is enough.
eric-hu 3y ago
> I assume the ipo will allow him to eventually join the (multi-millionaire?) billionaire class. I would be pretty surprised if that happens. Digg sold for $500k. I'm expecting something similar.
brigandish 3y ago
> The average person enjoys the convenience of consolidation under one corporate overlord. I think the average person likes 1) only logging in once (even using an FB or Google login more than once, sign up etc, is too much friction) 2) a consistent interface 3) while being able to jump to another "forum" easily, which internal links obviously do. Solve those 3 things for decentralised forums (or whatever, seeing that Discord is touted as an alternative) and it breaks the hold of Reddit and FB etc.
- fsflover 3y ago
  Isn't this how Mastodon works?
  - brigandish 3y ago
    The confusing sign up seems to be a huge friction there.
    - fsflover 3y ago
      I don't see anything confusing. Choose any instance and it will federate with others. For the minimal friction, choose the mainstream one, mastodon.social.
      - brigandish 3y ago
        I'm glad that it works for you. The experience shared by many others, however, and that includes many commenters on HN, is different and would suggest that it is, indeed, confusing.
bsder 3y ago
> I wish people would just stop using that site and go back to web forums, but that is never happening. I can tell you that a bunch of the technical Reddits have just shut down. I suspect that's going to put a big dent in things because site:reddit.com is going to be dead in Google. And that's the only thing holding people on Reddit. Unfortunately, those technical sub-Reddits are almost always moving to Discord. :( Once "site:discord.com" becomes a thing, Reddit is cooked.

afiori 3y ago

Forums do not need to be centralised but they need to be interoperable if they wish to compete with reddit. Centralization is an easy way to do content aggregation, you can't compete if you lack good aggregation.

zirgs 3y ago
On reddit you can get banned from a bunch of subs, just because you post in a sub that their mods don't like. It's apparently against the reddit's rules, but nobody seems to give a shit. It'even easier to do that in the fediverse and it isn't against any rules. So there will be problems with interoperability, because of this.
- worrycue 3y ago
  > It'even easier to do that in the fediverse and it isn't against any rules. So there will be problems with interoperability, because of this. Can’t you just create another account on a “compatible” server?
  - zirgs 3y ago
    Yes, and you can also create an alt account to post in subreddits that banned you. If I have to create a separate account for each server anyway then what's the point of the fediverse?
    - worrycue 3y ago
      > If I have to create a separate account for each server anyway then what's the point of the fediverse? You don't have to. Only when the servers you want to post to ban the server you registered on.

pmoriarty 3y ago

> The average person enjoys the convenience of consolidation under one corporate overlord. It's not that. Reddit is where much of the community is today, much like Usenet was where the community was in the 90's. People are going to go where most people are. Unless something can replace those network effects, nothing's going to change.

jimcsharp 3y ago
I checked, and my pre-Reddit Internet experience is still there. The networks are small, on-topic, you recognize people, (we're all 40 now), (all their user databases are on haveibeenpwned). These are all things "subreddit snobs" exalt about their lil' <100k user subreddits. I'm not seeing a super compelling reason not to go back to this mode of Internetting.

gniv 3y ago

> Spez assumes he has more power than Reddit users. He is likely right. There is a chance the protest wins. The interesting twist here is the moderators, which currently have unusual power. The sad part is that this power might go away down the line, as a result of this protest and irrespective of its outcome.

tyg13 3y ago
If the protest fails, there was nothing of value left to lose. Reddit has had ample opportunity to make things right in a way amenable to the people complaining. Instead, they've consistently signalled that they want to keep dumping the value that long time users see in the site down the drain. Personally, I have no interest in continuing as steward of the trash heap. Sad to mourn the loss of niche communities, but enough is enough.

eric-hu 3y ago

> I assume the ipo will allow him to eventually join the (multi-millionaire?) billionaire class. I would be pretty surprised if that happens. Digg sold for $500k. I'm expecting something similar.

brigandish 3y ago

> The average person enjoys the convenience of consolidation under one corporate overlord. I think the average person likes 1) only logging in once (even using an FB or Google login more than once, sign up etc, is too much friction) 2) a consistent interface 3) while being able to jump to another "forum" easily, which internal links obviously do. Solve those 3 things for decentralised forums (or whatever, seeing that Discord is touted as an alternative) and it breaks the hold of Reddit and FB etc.

fsflover 3y ago
Isn't this how Mastodon works?
- brigandish 3y ago
  The confusing sign up seems to be a huge friction there.
  - fsflover 3y ago
    I don't see anything confusing. Choose any instance and it will federate with others. For the minimal friction, choose the mainstream one, mastodon.social.
    - brigandish 3y ago
      I'm glad that it works for you. The experience shared by many others, however, and that includes many commenters on HN, is different and would suggest that it is, indeed, confusing.

bsder 3y ago

> I wish people would just stop using that site and go back to web forums, but that is never happening. I can tell you that a bunch of the technical Reddits have just shut down. I suspect that's going to put a big dent in things because site:reddit.com is going to be dead in Google. And that's the only thing holding people on Reddit. Unfortunately, those technical sub-Reddits are almost always moving to Discord. :( Once "site:discord.com" becomes a thing, Reddit is cooked.