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I just opened my subs back up. I mod a few subs for a niche hobby -- there's probably a few tens of thousands of us in the US. The majority of us are not espec

I just opened my subs back up. I mod a few subs for a niche hobby -- there's probably a few tens of thousands of us in the US. The majority of us are not especially technically inclined, and the only other place where the community regularly gathers online is Facebook Groups, which many of us want nothing to do with anymore. I long ago largely stopped using reddit outside of the subs I mod, except browsing the front page briefly, or getting an answer from an internet search. Tbc, reddit as a platform means nothing to me, and I'll happily move to another site. But, for the time being, this is where the community is, and this is where we're able to share information, some of which is safety-critical. I see the time I spend trying to keep the subs I mod welcoming and mostly free from hostility as a way to give back to the community. I'm in the process of setting up a Lemmy server and plan to host similar forums there, but I intend to continue using reddit for at least as long as it's a primary gathering place for our community.

kibibyte 3y ago
Something I found dismaying was just how only a few of the subreddit communities I liked had any alternative platforms to go to: only the fountain pens community had a Discord server. And upon joining that server the day before the blackout, it was pretty clear just how much work had already gone into making that community feel immediately welcoming (looks like it took at least a year) and ready to handle huge influx of new users. Given that Christian Sellig made his criticism of the API changes public only 11 days prior to the blackout and made his decision to close down Apollo only 3 days prior, most subreddits just wouldn't have the chance to get started elsewhere, regardless of whether it's Discord or Lemmy or whatever. Discord arguably requires among the least amount of technical savvy to use among the alternatives, but ensuring it doesn't become instant chaos is a nontrivial social problem. And certainly, 11 days to break the inertia of 100k+ users to move elsewhere is nontrivial as well.
roflyear 3y ago
I always found that reddit was a really poor place for a community. Discord even seems better for the "community" bit. Reddit is okay for discovery.
lolsal 3y ago
Just wanted to point this out in case you really didn’t see it: > I long ago stopped using Reddit [except for volunteering to moderate free content for the platform], [consuming the main page content], and [using content from the platform in internet searches]. That’s a lot of usage for someone that stopped using it. Also: > Reddit as a platform means nothing to me, [except that it is the home of a niche hobby and we have no alternatives, or aren’t willing to relocate as a community]. Reading these statements really makes it seem like you contribute, use and rely on Reddit infrastructure, technology and platform as a whole.

kibibyte 3y ago

Something I found dismaying was just how only a few of the subreddit communities I liked had any alternative platforms to go to: only the fountain pens community had a Discord server. And upon joining that server the day before the blackout, it was pretty clear just how much work had already gone into making that community feel immediately welcoming (looks like it took at least a year) and ready to handle huge influx of new users. Given that Christian Sellig made his criticism of the API changes public only 11 days prior to the blackout and made his decision to close down Apollo only 3 days prior, most subreddits just wouldn't have the chance to get started elsewhere, regardless of whether it's Discord or Lemmy or whatever. Discord arguably requires among the least amount of technical savvy to use among the alternatives, but ensuring it doesn't become instant chaos is a nontrivial social problem. And certainly, 11 days to break the inertia of 100k+ users to move elsewhere is nontrivial as well.

roflyear 3y ago

I always found that reddit was a really poor place for a community. Discord even seems better for the "community" bit. Reddit is okay for discovery.

lolsal 3y ago

Just wanted to point this out in case you really didn’t see it: > I long ago stopped using Reddit [except for volunteering to moderate free content for the platform], [consuming the main page content], and [using content from the platform in internet searches]. That’s a lot of usage for someone that stopped using it. Also: > Reddit as a platform means nothing to me, [except that it is the home of a niche hobby and we have no alternatives, or aren’t willing to relocate as a community]. Reading these statements really makes it seem like you contribute, use and rely on Reddit infrastructure, technology and platform as a whole.