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Honestly, at this point I think the post Reddit internet very well could be a return to lots of independent PhpBB powered forums and Discord groups. Unlike whe

Honestly, at this point I think the post Reddit internet very well could be a return to lots of independent PhpBB powered forums and Discord groups. Unlike when Digg destroyed itself there just really isn’t a single heir apparent.

hombre_fatal 3y ago
If a bunch of independent traditional forums was such a compelling experience, you have to ask yourself why Reddit was so successful despite them. The hay day of even large forums like Neogaf and SomethingAwful has also passed. The reality is that registering to N forums to discuss M topics isn't very compelling. And even a large forum with a diverse off-topic section can't compete with the long tails of Reddit subreddits where people can come together to make a forum on any topic at any time with zero friction participation. So traditional forums will keep losing to something like Reddit in the future just like they did in the past, though they still have their own niche.
- bunkerbewohner 3y ago
  One thing that’s different today is authentication options. Modern APIs (eg WebAuthn), Oauth, passkeys, WebID… Also password managers were not as ubiquitous as they are today. I think there’s the potential to make using many different sites a lot more frictionless nowadays. Maybe the only missing part would be an aggregator to keep track of the different communities.
  - chongli 3y ago
    Those technologies may be frictionless for users to sign on, but they're not frictionless for administrators to deploy. Creating a new subreddit is as simple as clicking a button and filling in half a dozen fields or so, plus toggling some checkboxes, and you're done! Plus it's really easy for users to find your new subreddit via the site search. Just think of what it takes to get a new forum going: purchasing a domain name, setting up hosting, installing the forum software, setting up the aforementioned authentication APIs, dealing with SEO so people can actually find your site on Google (that one seems almost impossible now). It's absolutely dizzying. At least something like Lemmy solves all of this for you, bringing you back to a Reddit-like level of effort.
- hellcow 3y ago
  Potentially ActivityPub fixes this. I can comment and like on any Lemmy/kbin server from my own account on a totally different server. If we wanted a forum, it would just need a new UI layer fit for purpose, reminiscent of phpbb, and be super easy to spin up.
- edgyquant 3y ago
  > you have to ask yourself why Reddit was so successful despite them No you don’t. The answer is that Reddit started out more as a topsite system than a forum; then was subsidized by billionaire VCs to capture the old forum ecosystem. Per usual as soon as they captured the market they began to transform from what made them their name. It wasn’t like people left old forums for modern Reddit because it was a better system.
krick 3y ago
As much as I love the hype, I don't think we re in "the post Reddit internet" era now...
carlosjobim 3y ago
A humongous message board like reddit creates interesting discussion just because of the diverse perspectives and experiences of the users, and once a place becomes a general forum it invites for weird, abstract or ephemeral topics. Stuff that will never be discussed in a smaller forum, but have great value. Without a huge "town square" place like reddit, those topics simply won't be discussed in a meaningful way. The internet used to be only for geeks and academics, so forums were a mostly for hobbyist stuff. We moved past that long before reddit arrived, so it makes no sense to go back to it. While smaller forums have higher average quality, there is much that will be lost - including very high quality material. I'd rather have a town square where I can get everything from the best to the worst, than just a small shop with a limited offer of fine quality stuff.

hombre_fatal 3y ago

If a bunch of independent traditional forums was such a compelling experience, you have to ask yourself why Reddit was so successful despite them. The hay day of even large forums like Neogaf and SomethingAwful has also passed. The reality is that registering to N forums to discuss M topics isn't very compelling. And even a large forum with a diverse off-topic section can't compete with the long tails of Reddit subreddits where people can come together to make a forum on any topic at any time with zero friction participation. So traditional forums will keep losing to something like Reddit in the future just like they did in the past, though they still have their own niche.

bunkerbewohner 3y ago
One thing that’s different today is authentication options. Modern APIs (eg WebAuthn), Oauth, passkeys, WebID… Also password managers were not as ubiquitous as they are today. I think there’s the potential to make using many different sites a lot more frictionless nowadays. Maybe the only missing part would be an aggregator to keep track of the different communities.
- chongli 3y ago
  Those technologies may be frictionless for users to sign on, but they're not frictionless for administrators to deploy. Creating a new subreddit is as simple as clicking a button and filling in half a dozen fields or so, plus toggling some checkboxes, and you're done! Plus it's really easy for users to find your new subreddit via the site search. Just think of what it takes to get a new forum going: purchasing a domain name, setting up hosting, installing the forum software, setting up the aforementioned authentication APIs, dealing with SEO so people can actually find your site on Google (that one seems almost impossible now). It's absolutely dizzying. At least something like Lemmy solves all of this for you, bringing you back to a Reddit-like level of effort.
hellcow 3y ago
Potentially ActivityPub fixes this. I can comment and like on any Lemmy/kbin server from my own account on a totally different server. If we wanted a forum, it would just need a new UI layer fit for purpose, reminiscent of phpbb, and be super easy to spin up.
edgyquant 3y ago
> you have to ask yourself why Reddit was so successful despite them No you don’t. The answer is that Reddit started out more as a topsite system than a forum; then was subsidized by billionaire VCs to capture the old forum ecosystem. Per usual as soon as they captured the market they began to transform from what made them their name. It wasn’t like people left old forums for modern Reddit because it was a better system.

krick 3y ago

As much as I love the hype, I don't think we re in "the post Reddit internet" era now...

carlosjobim 3y ago

A humongous message board like reddit creates interesting discussion just because of the diverse perspectives and experiences of the users, and once a place becomes a general forum it invites for weird, abstract or ephemeral topics. Stuff that will never be discussed in a smaller forum, but have great value. Without a huge "town square" place like reddit, those topics simply won't be discussed in a meaningful way. The internet used to be only for geeks and academics, so forums were a mostly for hobbyist stuff. We moved past that long before reddit arrived, so it makes no sense to go back to it. While smaller forums have higher average quality, there is much that will be lost - including very high quality material. I'd rather have a town square where I can get everything from the best to the worst, than just a small shop with a limited offer of fine quality stuff.