6 ms·

The best Reddit is the Reddit with no ads or selling of data or manipulating users into more clicks. The only way they can grow the business from here is to mak

The best Reddit is the Reddit with no ads or selling of data or manipulating users into more clicks. The only way they can grow the business from here is to make the product worse, which I fear will lead to its self-destruction. Reddit ideally should be a non-profit org funded with a generous endowment, like with Signal.

rjbwork 3y ago
Or something like Kagi. Nobody will pay for it now because of what spez has done during his most recent tenure, but there was a point in time where I truly think turning it into a paid service was viable. I've been on the site since 2005 and turned down the ability to buy the stock early, and intend on throwing a couple thousand dollars at shorting it. I don't trust the c-suite, admins, or devs at all anymore. Spez directly edited a user's comment in the database. Admins directly manipulated the /r/place database. I'm still there because...the fediverse sucks, and I can still use my hacked up Reddit is Fun client and old.reddit.com, but if that set of circumstances changes, I don't anticipate sticking around.
- flutas 3y ago
  Wait, I knew about the comment stuff. They edited the /r/place DB as well? > I'm still there because...the fediverse sucks, and I can still use my hacked up Reddit is Fun client and old.reddit.com, but if that set of circumstances changes, I don't anticipate sticking around. Same exact scenario (but with Reddit Sync) for myself.
  - rjbwork 3y ago
    > Wait, I knew about the comment stuff. They edited the /r/place DB as well? Yeah. At risk of making a drama/flame thread... https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/tv2lmx/reddit_adminmoderator_caught_cheating_in_rplace/i37t5vq/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/tv2lmx/redd... https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/marsey-the-cat https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/marsey-the-cat Please have mercy dang.
    - twic 3y ago
      The orange cat on the orange site at last!
- WaffleIronMaker 3y ago
  Just to add to the sample size, I abandoned Reddit as it got increasingly user-hostile, and I have been enjoying the fediverse. There's a lot of cool hackers on there, and I feel like I have a really good signal:noise ratio. Sorry to hear it wasn't a good experience for you tho.
- Zak 3y ago
  > ...the fediverse sucks Aside from a larger population or migration of communities that are important to you, what would improve it for you?
rtkwe 3y ago
Not sure how reddit exists without ads either though. Running huge websites with user video hosting is a non trivial expense that's hard to entice enough users to cough up money for to make viable.
- toomuchtodo 3y ago
  GenAI training data licensing. Forum participants get, at no cost, a curated venue that continues to operate in return. Chat amongst yourselves while the robot learns.
  - bredren 3y ago
    This. And HN greatly underestimates the public's tolerance for advertising.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  - mgraczyk 3y ago
    The content isn't worth nearly enough to cover costs, even if they could somehow prevent scraping. Look around at how much people pay for text data, it's not a lot.
- pluc 3y ago
  there are plenty of ads on reddit
  - rtkwe 3y ago
    Yes... and the person I was replying to was saying the best reddit is one without ads. If the best version of something can't exist because it would bleed itself dry paying for hosting it's not a real option to judge against.
- ok_dad 3y ago
  Don’t host media, just host text like they used to.
ZunarJ5 3y ago
I mean this is what Lemmy is. It's funded by NLnet. https://nlnet.nl/ https://nlnet.nl/

rjbwork 3y ago

Or something like Kagi. Nobody will pay for it now because of what spez has done during his most recent tenure, but there was a point in time where I truly think turning it into a paid service was viable. I've been on the site since 2005 and turned down the ability to buy the stock early, and intend on throwing a couple thousand dollars at shorting it. I don't trust the c-suite, admins, or devs at all anymore. Spez directly edited a user's comment in the database. Admins directly manipulated the /r/place database. I'm still there because...the fediverse sucks, and I can still use my hacked up Reddit is Fun client and old.reddit.com, but if that set of circumstances changes, I don't anticipate sticking around.

flutas 3y ago
Wait, I knew about the comment stuff. They edited the /r/place DB as well? > I'm still there because...the fediverse sucks, and I can still use my hacked up Reddit is Fun client and old.reddit.com, but if that set of circumstances changes, I don't anticipate sticking around. Same exact scenario (but with Reddit Sync) for myself.
- rjbwork 3y ago
  > Wait, I knew about the comment stuff. They edited the /r/place DB as well? Yeah. At risk of making a drama/flame thread... https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/tv2lmx/reddit_adminmoderator_caught_cheating_in_rplace/i37t5vq/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/tv2lmx/redd... https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/marsey-the-cat https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/marsey-the-cat Please have mercy dang.
  - twic 3y ago
    The orange cat on the orange site at last!
WaffleIronMaker 3y ago
Just to add to the sample size, I abandoned Reddit as it got increasingly user-hostile, and I have been enjoying the fediverse. There's a lot of cool hackers on there, and I feel like I have a really good signal:noise ratio. Sorry to hear it wasn't a good experience for you tho.
Zak 3y ago
> ...the fediverse sucks Aside from a larger population or migration of communities that are important to you, what would improve it for you?

rtkwe 3y ago

Not sure how reddit exists without ads either though. Running huge websites with user video hosting is a non trivial expense that's hard to entice enough users to cough up money for to make viable.

toomuchtodo 3y ago
GenAI training data licensing. Forum participants get, at no cost, a curated venue that continues to operate in return. Chat amongst yourselves while the robot learns.
- bredren 3y ago
  This. And HN greatly underestimates the public's tolerance for advertising.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- mgraczyk 3y ago
  The content isn't worth nearly enough to cover costs, even if they could somehow prevent scraping. Look around at how much people pay for text data, it's not a lot.
pluc 3y ago
there are plenty of ads on reddit
- rtkwe 3y ago
  Yes... and the person I was replying to was saying the best reddit is one without ads. If the best version of something can't exist because it would bleed itself dry paying for hosting it's not a real option to judge against.
ok_dad 3y ago
Don’t host media, just host text like they used to.

ZunarJ5 3y ago

I mean this is what Lemmy is. It's funded by NLnet. https://nlnet.nl/ https://nlnet.nl/