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Spammers have been heavily targeting reddit for years and site:reddit.com is still useful. Why Google have not bought reddit, I don't know (beyond moderation i

Spammers have been heavily targeting reddit for years and site:reddit.com is still useful. Why Google have not bought reddit, I don't know (beyond moderation issues, but AMZN made it work with twitch).

tmpz22 3y ago
I don't think Reddit has ever been a clean acquisition - either because they've raised at high valuations many times or because of an undesirable content/moderation problem.
candiddevmike 3y ago
I've become really skeptical of Reddit comments around products for this reason. Searching "best X site:reddit.com" and going off the top comment recommendation seems really sketchy when that top comment is only 5-10 points. Maybe I'm just really paranoid these days, but I would bet looking at searches with Reddit in them and creating threads or commenting on old ones and paying for up votes is probably lucrative.
- whiterknight 3y ago
  You should be skeptical. Every marketing professional knows and uses Reddit. Sentiment is casually discussed in meetings etc.
- echelon_musk 3y ago
  Reddit has been astroturfed for a good 10yrs at this point. EDIT: https://old.reddit.com/r/HailCorporate/ https://old.reddit.com/r/HailCorporate/
- ShamelessC 3y ago
  User reviews are useless without some sort of vetting process. As far as I know there isn’t a platform available today that provides this.
arccy 3y ago
why would they buy a cesspool of bots and memes? google is for finding content, not hosting content (unless you want it shut down)
- dylan604 3y ago
  > google is for finding content where does this notion come from? google is for them to find out what you think you want so they know what ads to serve you. if it was for finding content, they would show you the results that were actually related to your query.
shagie 3y ago
Do you believe that Google would have been a better custodian of Reddit than say Deja News ( https://www.wired.com/2001/02/google-buys-deja-archive/ https://www.wired.com/2001/02/google-buys-deja-archive/ ) aka Google Groups ( https://www.pcmag.com/news/end-of-an-era-google-groups-to-drop-usenet-support https://www.pcmag.com/news/end-of-an-era-google-groups-to-dr... )?
- stuartjohnson12 3y ago
  Google acquisitions suck because the thing gets left to rot. The last thing Reddit needed was all of its recent changes towards crypto and engagement-bait nonsense. I think they'd have it in better shape than it is now.
  - isthatafact 3y ago
    reddit has done a great job of letting itself rot -- for example, the moderation system tends to result in a hostile experience for users who attempt to participate. On the other hand, if google owned it, getting banned from a subreddit would possibly mean getting locked out of all of your google accounts.
    - drngdds 3y ago
      The moderation system is pretty much the same as any forum. You just have to read the sidebar rules first when you're posting on an unfamiliar subreddit, as you would when joining any community.
      - peppermint_gum 3y ago
        On most forums there's no automated system that automatically shadowbans users for using a blacklisted IP. They also don't quietly remove comments in a way that is invisible to a user for triggering some keyword in AutoModerator or a spam filter. And there are usually no minimum karma or account age requirements for posters.
overstay8930 3y ago
Google hasn’t bought Reddit because it’s literally only downsides. Bad PR, low profit margin, etc… I mean does anyone actually like Reddit anymore? Front page is almost entirely bots reposing and reusing the same comments that have been used for years.
- scubbo 3y ago
  > I mean does anyone actually like Reddit anymore? I do like the good parts, deeply hidden, that can often be surfaced with a Google search. Case in point, I had a bug with some installed software yesterday, to which the only viable solution I found was in a Reddit post from a few months back. But the experience of actively browsing the "leading edge" of the site? Absolutely not. I purposely-deprecated my credentials a year or so back and haven't regretted it.
- teruakohatu 3y ago
  > I mean does anyone actually like Reddit anymore? Yes, but if there was a better alternative I would switch in an instant … but those network effects.
  - rglullis 3y ago
    Come to Lemmy and follow Reddit content though one of the mirror instances.
- treflop 3y ago
  Using reddit with the default front page is like getting a podcast app and only listening to the top 5 most subscribed podcasts.
- altdataseller 3y ago
  You’re living in a bubble because Reddit is probably among the top 50 most visited sites in the world. You may not like the experience, hate the spam, hate what it stands for, but a lot of people still visit it and use it daily
  - 3y ago
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
ikiris 3y ago
Nothing would ruin reddit faster than being a google "bet"
randmeerkat 3y ago
> Why Google have not bought reddit, I don't know… My guess is that too many people at Google are on Reddit and didn’t want to see it go to the Google graveyard the day after acquisition.
- 0ckpuppet 3y ago
  How many times can it jump the shark?
- scoofy 3y ago
  I don't think the google graveyard is a concern, because it's obviously a valuable, profitable product they could sell, but if you haven't been horrified by the current enshitification of reddit, you haven't been paying attention. I was a moderator of some very large subreddits, and due to reddits pigeonholing me into an app vs new mobile layout, I'm leaving those moderator positions (note: I am not complaining about the api issues). I don't want to participate in a community that is catering to the lowest common denominator such that the term "redditquitte" is a joke. I've thought long and hard about it, and I think companies are intentionally creating Eternal Septembers in their products, because it's just easier to just put big pictures on the homepage to get clicks, when that type of UX only invites the type of people who see the site as something only to consume and not to contribute to. I've been invited to multiple "moderator feedback" focus groups, that were worse than awful. After they defaulted an "annoying look here" icon in the right corner to try and get us to work more, I said "fuck this, I'm out." My point here isn't just to bitch and moan, it's to point out that site:reddit.com only works because the community is one that actively values contribution over consumption... that's going away, and the usefulness of site:reddit.com will go away as that culture changes.
  - akdaadensb 3y ago
    Reddit was enshitified circa 2014 or 2015, this is not a new thing. It's been garbage for a long time and I'm surprised it's taken so many this long to notice. In fairness if you kept to subreddits that were eminently unpopular and off the beaten path then it wasn't as obvious. I guess the mobile app was what really broke the camels back but the quality of the posts had been on a downward trend in a severe way since at least Obama's second term, when I think both political parties recognized it as important and began to manipulate it. This is made easier by the partitioning of the site into subreddits. I hopefully don't have to explain here why that makes automated sockpuppeting much more effective and easier to accomplish. It's a fundamental design flaw (if we were to assume the design of Reddit was intended at all to provide a space for authentic personal takes on real issues and by real humans). There is a danger of the same thing happening to HackerNews but I hope the lack of financial incentives to allow that sort of thing does some work to mitigate it, along with the lack of partitioning of the community.
Hnrobert42 3y ago
This scares me. What happens when HN becomes the next spammer target? Where do we all migrate?
- haint_ 3y ago
  lobste.rs maybe.
  - matheusmoreira 3y ago
    Looks like you need to know someone to get in there, though. I'm not sure I do.
    - withinboredom 3y ago
      [dead]
andsoitis 3y ago
> but AMZN made it work with twitch). I don't know that the Twitch acquisition was smart. What was the strategic reason to acquire? Amazon announced cutting 35% of Twitch staff (500) in January to stem losses after two rounds of layoffs last year.

tmpz22 3y ago

I don't think Reddit has ever been a clean acquisition - either because they've raised at high valuations many times or because of an undesirable content/moderation problem.

candiddevmike 3y ago

I've become really skeptical of Reddit comments around products for this reason. Searching "best X site:reddit.com" and going off the top comment recommendation seems really sketchy when that top comment is only 5-10 points. Maybe I'm just really paranoid these days, but I would bet looking at searches with Reddit in them and creating threads or commenting on old ones and paying for up votes is probably lucrative.

whiterknight 3y ago
You should be skeptical. Every marketing professional knows and uses Reddit. Sentiment is casually discussed in meetings etc.
echelon_musk 3y ago
Reddit has been astroturfed for a good 10yrs at this point. EDIT: https://old.reddit.com/r/HailCorporate/ https://old.reddit.com/r/HailCorporate/
ShamelessC 3y ago
User reviews are useless without some sort of vetting process. As far as I know there isn’t a platform available today that provides this.

arccy 3y ago

why would they buy a cesspool of bots and memes? google is for finding content, not hosting content (unless you want it shut down)

dylan604 3y ago
> google is for finding content where does this notion come from? google is for them to find out what you think you want so they know what ads to serve you. if it was for finding content, they would show you the results that were actually related to your query.

shagie 3y ago

Do you believe that Google would have been a better custodian of Reddit than say Deja News ( https://www.wired.com/2001/02/google-buys-deja-archive/ https://www.wired.com/2001/02/google-buys-deja-archive/ ) aka Google Groups ( https://www.pcmag.com/news/end-of-an-era-google-groups-to-drop-usenet-support https://www.pcmag.com/news/end-of-an-era-google-groups-to-dr... )?

stuartjohnson12 3y ago
Google acquisitions suck because the thing gets left to rot. The last thing Reddit needed was all of its recent changes towards crypto and engagement-bait nonsense. I think they'd have it in better shape than it is now.
- isthatafact 3y ago
  reddit has done a great job of letting itself rot -- for example, the moderation system tends to result in a hostile experience for users who attempt to participate. On the other hand, if google owned it, getting banned from a subreddit would possibly mean getting locked out of all of your google accounts.
  - drngdds 3y ago
    The moderation system is pretty much the same as any forum. You just have to read the sidebar rules first when you're posting on an unfamiliar subreddit, as you would when joining any community.
    - peppermint_gum 3y ago
      On most forums there's no automated system that automatically shadowbans users for using a blacklisted IP. They also don't quietly remove comments in a way that is invisible to a user for triggering some keyword in AutoModerator or a spam filter. And there are usually no minimum karma or account age requirements for posters.

overstay8930 3y ago

Google hasn’t bought Reddit because it’s literally only downsides. Bad PR, low profit margin, etc… I mean does anyone actually like Reddit anymore? Front page is almost entirely bots reposing and reusing the same comments that have been used for years.

scubbo 3y ago
> I mean does anyone actually like Reddit anymore? I do like the good parts, deeply hidden, that can often be surfaced with a Google search. Case in point, I had a bug with some installed software yesterday, to which the only viable solution I found was in a Reddit post from a few months back. But the experience of actively browsing the "leading edge" of the site? Absolutely not. I purposely-deprecated my credentials a year or so back and haven't regretted it.
teruakohatu 3y ago
> I mean does anyone actually like Reddit anymore? Yes, but if there was a better alternative I would switch in an instant … but those network effects.
- rglullis 3y ago
  Come to Lemmy and follow Reddit content though one of the mirror instances.
treflop 3y ago
Using reddit with the default front page is like getting a podcast app and only listening to the top 5 most subscribed podcasts.
altdataseller 3y ago
You’re living in a bubble because Reddit is probably among the top 50 most visited sites in the world. You may not like the experience, hate the spam, hate what it stands for, but a lot of people still visit it and use it daily
- 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

ikiris 3y ago

Nothing would ruin reddit faster than being a google "bet"

randmeerkat 3y ago

> Why Google have not bought reddit, I don't know… My guess is that too many people at Google are on Reddit and didn’t want to see it go to the Google graveyard the day after acquisition.

0ckpuppet 3y ago
How many times can it jump the shark?
scoofy 3y ago
I don't think the google graveyard is a concern, because it's obviously a valuable, profitable product they could sell, but if you haven't been horrified by the current enshitification of reddit, you haven't been paying attention. I was a moderator of some very large subreddits, and due to reddits pigeonholing me into an app vs new mobile layout, I'm leaving those moderator positions (note: I am not complaining about the api issues). I don't want to participate in a community that is catering to the lowest common denominator such that the term "redditquitte" is a joke. I've thought long and hard about it, and I think companies are intentionally creating Eternal Septembers in their products, because it's just easier to just put big pictures on the homepage to get clicks, when that type of UX only invites the type of people who see the site as something only to consume and not to contribute to. I've been invited to multiple "moderator feedback" focus groups, that were worse than awful. After they defaulted an "annoying look here" icon in the right corner to try and get us to work more, I said "fuck this, I'm out." My point here isn't just to bitch and moan, it's to point out that site:reddit.com only works because the community is one that actively values contribution over consumption... that's going away, and the usefulness of site:reddit.com will go away as that culture changes.
- akdaadensb 3y ago
  Reddit was enshitified circa 2014 or 2015, this is not a new thing. It's been garbage for a long time and I'm surprised it's taken so many this long to notice. In fairness if you kept to subreddits that were eminently unpopular and off the beaten path then it wasn't as obvious. I guess the mobile app was what really broke the camels back but the quality of the posts had been on a downward trend in a severe way since at least Obama's second term, when I think both political parties recognized it as important and began to manipulate it. This is made easier by the partitioning of the site into subreddits. I hopefully don't have to explain here why that makes automated sockpuppeting much more effective and easier to accomplish. It's a fundamental design flaw (if we were to assume the design of Reddit was intended at all to provide a space for authentic personal takes on real issues and by real humans). There is a danger of the same thing happening to HackerNews but I hope the lack of financial incentives to allow that sort of thing does some work to mitigate it, along with the lack of partitioning of the community.

Hnrobert42 3y ago

This scares me. What happens when HN becomes the next spammer target? Where do we all migrate?

haint_ 3y ago
lobste.rs maybe.
- matheusmoreira 3y ago
  Looks like you need to know someone to get in there, though. I'm not sure I do.
  - withinboredom 3y ago
    [dead]

andsoitis 3y ago

> but AMZN made it work with twitch). I don't know that the Twitch acquisition was smart. What was the strategic reason to acquire? Amazon announced cutting 35% of Twitch staff (500) in January to stem losses after two rounds of layoffs last year.