8 ms·

How Reddit crushed the biggest protest in its history

18 points by susanthenerd 3y ago

gAI 3y ago
And gave me the impetus to finally delete my 17-year-old account. Thanks, reddit!
- david927 3y ago
  Same. Daily user since the beginning. Haven't been back since.
- codeTired 3y ago
  I haven’t logged into Reddit since they killed the api. 14 years I think, moderated subreddit and massively contributed. I have much more time.
- FireBeyond 3y ago
  Yup. Avoided the site for a few days. Saw the company's response. Then saw them forcibly re-opening communities. Deleted my account. Reddit believes that they make the communities, when in reality the communities make Reddit what it is.
_hypx 3y ago
It didn't. It only forced many of its more important users off of Reddit. It is likely on the same path as Digg before it.
znpy 3y ago
Articles like this keep pushing the narrative that “users are angry” but I don’t see that anger in the local subreddit i visit the most (500+k subscribers, several thousands daily visitors) The past two weeks have been largely normal. I don’t think this narrative is truthful. Most likely is going to be a very vocal minority. Not sure they can be called “landed gentry” but surely I’ve seen some shady behaviours (like silencing political opinions not liked by the mods).
- gAI 3y ago
  Something like 1% of users contribute almost all of reddit's content. In other words, reddit's only value is a very vocal minority. And at least some of us left.
  - rngname22 3y ago
    on major meme subreddits, news subs, yes. on social / relationship / alt lifestyle discussion subs, hobby discussion subs, product review/discussion subs, etc. the balance is a lot more even. the power users submitting all the posts to /r/mildlysupercringeinfuriatingontwitter will pack up their toys and leave but the people using subreddits to discuss their niche outdoor hobby, their home reno DIY project, their alt sexuality, etc. will just keep on chatting away. would not mind at all if every sub with more than 1 mil subscribers just got wiped and had to be replaced with new ones (maybe go to read-only / archive for the google searchability). like a forest fire to clear up front page real estate for new growth.
    - gAI 3y ago
      I imagine any large social media site is doomed to be overrun by AI generated content imminently, so it probably won't matter much either way. We needed to drop massively social media as a society, anyway. And it's not like we were going to do that without being forced. So I guess one point AI in a round-about way.
      - brucethemoose2 3y ago
        If the bots pass the Turing test, does it really matter if they aren't human? Even if they are subliminally recommending hot singles in your area.
        gAI 3y ago
        I downloaded 17,000+ of my reddit comments before deleting, so I can fine tune Orca into a digital ghost version of me. It will haunt the corporate ad bots that live in what remains of the old web. Or more likely I will not do that.
Crontab 3y ago
Thanks to Reddit, I now use the Reddit mobile site instead of Apollo. It sucks in comparison.
- brucethemoose2 3y ago
  Don't do that to yourself... Use teddit or old.reddit.com at least.
  - dammitjim 3y ago
    [flagged]
EA-3167 3y ago
Dupe https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36540779 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36540779
- dredmorbius 3y ago
  HN's criteria for a dupe is there being "significant discussion", a threshold that's left vague, but in practice seems to be ~20+ comments on a post. Repeat submissions for stories falling below the threshold are permitted. <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10794767 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10794767> As the link you give here has only 5 comments, it doesn't meet that threshold, and this post wouldn't be considered a dupe.
arbus5672 3y ago
I’d like to thank Reddit for finally giving my back the time I needed in my day to get back to reading books… What Reddit makes and what Reddit sells are both made by unpaid users of the platform. If a company that is this beholden to the goodwill of its users can manage to piss off such a significant chunk of its users and still survive, then I worry about the how much we can influence larger companies through protest. Y’know, these companies that are taking over an increasing proportion of our lives
TheLoafOfBread 3y ago
Pyrrhic victory at best.

18 points by susanthenerd 3y ago

gAI 3y ago

And gave me the impetus to finally delete my 17-year-old account. Thanks, reddit!

david927 3y ago
Same. Daily user since the beginning. Haven't been back since.
codeTired 3y ago
I haven’t logged into Reddit since they killed the api. 14 years I think, moderated subreddit and massively contributed. I have much more time.
FireBeyond 3y ago
Yup. Avoided the site for a few days. Saw the company's response. Then saw them forcibly re-opening communities. Deleted my account. Reddit believes that they make the communities, when in reality the communities make Reddit what it is.

_hypx 3y ago

It didn't. It only forced many of its more important users off of Reddit. It is likely on the same path as Digg before it.

znpy 3y ago

Articles like this keep pushing the narrative that “users are angry” but I don’t see that anger in the local subreddit i visit the most (500+k subscribers, several thousands daily visitors) The past two weeks have been largely normal. I don’t think this narrative is truthful. Most likely is going to be a very vocal minority. Not sure they can be called “landed gentry” but surely I’ve seen some shady behaviours (like silencing political opinions not liked by the mods).

gAI 3y ago
Something like 1% of users contribute almost all of reddit's content. In other words, reddit's only value is a very vocal minority. And at least some of us left.
- rngname22 3y ago
  on major meme subreddits, news subs, yes. on social / relationship / alt lifestyle discussion subs, hobby discussion subs, product review/discussion subs, etc. the balance is a lot more even. the power users submitting all the posts to /r/mildlysupercringeinfuriatingontwitter will pack up their toys and leave but the people using subreddits to discuss their niche outdoor hobby, their home reno DIY project, their alt sexuality, etc. will just keep on chatting away. would not mind at all if every sub with more than 1 mil subscribers just got wiped and had to be replaced with new ones (maybe go to read-only / archive for the google searchability). like a forest fire to clear up front page real estate for new growth.
  - gAI 3y ago
    I imagine any large social media site is doomed to be overrun by AI generated content imminently, so it probably won't matter much either way. We needed to drop massively social media as a society, anyway. And it's not like we were going to do that without being forced. So I guess one point AI in a round-about way.
    - brucethemoose2 3y ago
      If the bots pass the Turing test, does it really matter if they aren't human? Even if they are subliminally recommending hot singles in your area.
      - gAI 3y ago
        I downloaded 17,000+ of my reddit comments before deleting, so I can fine tune Orca into a digital ghost version of me. It will haunt the corporate ad bots that live in what remains of the old web. Or more likely I will not do that.

Crontab 3y ago

Thanks to Reddit, I now use the Reddit mobile site instead of Apollo. It sucks in comparison.

brucethemoose2 3y ago
Don't do that to yourself... Use teddit or old.reddit.com at least.
- dammitjim 3y ago
  [flagged]

EA-3167 3y ago

Dupe https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36540779 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36540779

dredmorbius 3y ago
HN's criteria for a dupe is there being "significant discussion", a threshold that's left vague, but in practice seems to be ~20+ comments on a post. Repeat submissions for stories falling below the threshold are permitted. <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10794767 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10794767> As the link you give here has only 5 comments, it doesn't meet that threshold, and this post wouldn't be considered a dupe.

arbus5672 3y ago

I’d like to thank Reddit for finally giving my back the time I needed in my day to get back to reading books… What Reddit makes and what Reddit sells are both made by unpaid users of the platform. If a company that is this beholden to the goodwill of its users can manage to piss off such a significant chunk of its users and still survive, then I worry about the how much we can influence larger companies through protest. Y’know, these companies that are taking over an increasing proportion of our lives

TheLoafOfBread 3y ago

Pyrrhic victory at best.