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Reddit has steadily declined over the past few years and it seems to have sped up since pissing off the mod community last year.

SlimyHog 2y ago
I deleted my account once they killed 3rd party apps and whenever I visit I've noticed that the quality of comments is WAY worse than I remember.
- Zambyte 2y ago
  Funnily enough I didn't even use any third party apps at the time (just the old web client) but that whole fiasco was enough for me to finally curb my addiction. I also noticed the quality of comments seeming very bad whenever I go to something on Reddit (once every few months at this point). I don't think the quality has actually gotten much worse recently though; I think it was just so normal to me when I was using it. I think it has been a pretty slow decline over the last decade or so, to the point where it is now.
  - al_borland 2y ago
    The web client has become less and less useful as they try and force users into the app.
    - SlowRobotAhead 2y ago
      It's getting there, but the day that old.reddit doesn't work is the day I never go back even for small community stuff.
      - drivers99 2y ago
        It's barely limping along. URLs with underscores get broken (with an extra backslash) when posted from certain apps but only for old.reddit users. There's some kind of inline images that just says "image" that you have to click on to see. There are some kind of emojis or something that only show up as digits between colons. People talk about profile pictures that I don't see. Sometimes the zooming keeps zooming back out when you're trying to zoom in, and if you follow a link and go back, it will automatically scroll you somewhere else on the page besides where you left off.
- SkyPuncher 2y ago
  It’s absolutely terrible on the big subs now. Smaller subs seem to be okay, but it seems a lot of the content has gone elsewhere.
criddell 2y ago
Past few years? I've been reading about the decline of Reddit since Condé Nast Publications bought it in 2006.
- gipp 2y ago
  One of my higher-voted comments on Reddit was in response to some thread bemoaning the decline of the site towards lowest-common-denominator meme content and recycled jokes. My comment was pointing out that people had been saying that for years, with multiple links to past, nearly identical threads. I made that comment in 2012.
CSMastermind 2y ago
For discussing entertainment like specific video games, movies, book series, TV shows, sports teams, etc. there simply isn't a good alternative to Reddit. I hate the site and have limited the time I spend on it but there aren't good alternatives for certain communities.
- jjcon 2y ago
  I find that discord has far better communities than Reddit ever did
  - layer8 2y ago
    The issue with Discord, besides UI gripes and excessive chattiness, is that it’s not discoverable.
  - lanfeust6 2y ago
    Discord is like reinventing IRC with more noise. It's not a substitute for forums.
    - drivers99 2y ago
      You can have forums in discord now as well, not just chat rooms.
      - anononaut 2y ago
        Can they be accessed and indexed without being invited to the channel?
  - ewoijfawoifj 2y ago
    I can't find discord comments on Google.
- akuchling 2y ago
  For most entertainment topics, the-avocado.org has some lively discussion (based on Disqus).
Workaccount2 2y ago
Reddit has enshitified, and I would also guess that their usage numbers are way up. The goal is to compete with tiktok, instagram, youtube for average everyday people. From our hackernews perspective, the website sucks now. From the average user perspective, reddit is another fun app full of dopamine hits.
- idiotsecant 2y ago
  I know it's unfashionable in HN circles to admit it but there is still tons of high quality niche content (technical and otherwise) on Reddit that can't be found anywhere else.
  - leetrout 2y ago
    Very true and Google is surfacing more of it. But both things can be true: great, deep, obscure info and general worse (dare I say, hostile) user experience.
ravenstine 2y ago
Reddit was getting shitty way before the past few years. Honestly, I don't think pissing off the mods has made that big of a difference. Yes, some subs shut down, but otherwise I haven't seen a meaningful cultural change in Reddit as a result of that whole issue. In fact, one of the reasons I believe Reddit is so crappy is specifically that they bow to mods in many ways. Many communities are run by, frankly, psychos who are way too happy with the power they have over their little ponds. I've lost count of how many times my posts have either been removed or my user banned despite having followed the explicit rules of a sub. Communities vary, but I've found this "you should have read our minds" attitude to be commonplace. Yes, you can spin off your own sub, but then you're taking a gamble as to whether the original community is going to come after you; they seem to win at least half the time by convincing Reddit that your [relatively pissant] community is toxic in some way. Good luck if your community is blamed for creating "drama" even when there's a lack of brigading.
- tivert 2y ago
  > I've lost count of how many times my posts have either been removed or my user banned despite having followed the explicit rules of a sub. Communities vary, but I've found this "you should have read our minds" attitude to be commonplace. I'm not a mod or anything, but I think there are actually a lot of legitimate reasons for a mod to have that attitude. It's unreasonable to expect a volunteer to create a comprehensive rules of behavior and enforce it in a lawyerly way and keep a community on track and not burn out. I've seen more than a few online communities have serious problems with certain users that would have been best handled with a "we're sick of dealing with you, enjoy your ban." Then, there's also the fact that if a community is too popular, a mod can only scale by being more brusque.
  - ravenstine 2y ago
    Yeah, I'm not really saying that mods shouldn't have discretion or flexibility, but a community is not healthy when its mods decide to remove any posts/comments that contain the word "frank" because they don't like a guy named Frank. Yes, that is a real world example I've encountered. And if I get banned because I can't read the minds of the mods, then I welcome said ban. I'm not on Reddit to play childish games or to join cults.
ilikehurdles 2y ago
Killing the API access made detecting and tracking spam bots impossible. There was a whole subreddit called thesefuckingaccounts where the latest tactics in spam and karma farming were being tracked.
lelanthran 2y ago
> Reddit has steadily declined over the past few years and it seems to have sped up since pissing off the mod community last year. Maybe depends on the subs you read, because I have not noticed an appreciable difference before and after the "going dark" thing.

SlimyHog 2y ago

I deleted my account once they killed 3rd party apps and whenever I visit I've noticed that the quality of comments is WAY worse than I remember.

Zambyte 2y ago
Funnily enough I didn't even use any third party apps at the time (just the old web client) but that whole fiasco was enough for me to finally curb my addiction. I also noticed the quality of comments seeming very bad whenever I go to something on Reddit (once every few months at this point). I don't think the quality has actually gotten much worse recently though; I think it was just so normal to me when I was using it. I think it has been a pretty slow decline over the last decade or so, to the point where it is now.
- al_borland 2y ago
  The web client has become less and less useful as they try and force users into the app.
  - SlowRobotAhead 2y ago
    It's getting there, but the day that old.reddit doesn't work is the day I never go back even for small community stuff.
    - drivers99 2y ago
      It's barely limping along. URLs with underscores get broken (with an extra backslash) when posted from certain apps but only for old.reddit users. There's some kind of inline images that just says "image" that you have to click on to see. There are some kind of emojis or something that only show up as digits between colons. People talk about profile pictures that I don't see. Sometimes the zooming keeps zooming back out when you're trying to zoom in, and if you follow a link and go back, it will automatically scroll you somewhere else on the page besides where you left off.
SkyPuncher 2y ago
It’s absolutely terrible on the big subs now. Smaller subs seem to be okay, but it seems a lot of the content has gone elsewhere.

criddell 2y ago

Past few years? I've been reading about the decline of Reddit since Condé Nast Publications bought it in 2006.

gipp 2y ago
One of my higher-voted comments on Reddit was in response to some thread bemoaning the decline of the site towards lowest-common-denominator meme content and recycled jokes. My comment was pointing out that people had been saying that for years, with multiple links to past, nearly identical threads. I made that comment in 2012.

CSMastermind 2y ago

For discussing entertainment like specific video games, movies, book series, TV shows, sports teams, etc. there simply isn't a good alternative to Reddit. I hate the site and have limited the time I spend on it but there aren't good alternatives for certain communities.

jjcon 2y ago
I find that discord has far better communities than Reddit ever did
- layer8 2y ago
  The issue with Discord, besides UI gripes and excessive chattiness, is that it’s not discoverable.
- lanfeust6 2y ago
  Discord is like reinventing IRC with more noise. It's not a substitute for forums.
  - drivers99 2y ago
    You can have forums in discord now as well, not just chat rooms.
    - anononaut 2y ago
      Can they be accessed and indexed without being invited to the channel?
- ewoijfawoifj 2y ago
  I can't find discord comments on Google.
akuchling 2y ago
For most entertainment topics, the-avocado.org has some lively discussion (based on Disqus).

Workaccount2 2y ago

Reddit has enshitified, and I would also guess that their usage numbers are way up. The goal is to compete with tiktok, instagram, youtube for average everyday people. From our hackernews perspective, the website sucks now. From the average user perspective, reddit is another fun app full of dopamine hits.

idiotsecant 2y ago
I know it's unfashionable in HN circles to admit it but there is still tons of high quality niche content (technical and otherwise) on Reddit that can't be found anywhere else.
- leetrout 2y ago
  Very true and Google is surfacing more of it. But both things can be true: great, deep, obscure info and general worse (dare I say, hostile) user experience.

ravenstine 2y ago

Reddit was getting shitty way before the past few years. Honestly, I don't think pissing off the mods has made that big of a difference. Yes, some subs shut down, but otherwise I haven't seen a meaningful cultural change in Reddit as a result of that whole issue. In fact, one of the reasons I believe Reddit is so crappy is specifically that they bow to mods in many ways. Many communities are run by, frankly, psychos who are way too happy with the power they have over their little ponds. I've lost count of how many times my posts have either been removed or my user banned despite having followed the explicit rules of a sub. Communities vary, but I've found this "you should have read our minds" attitude to be commonplace. Yes, you can spin off your own sub, but then you're taking a gamble as to whether the original community is going to come after you; they seem to win at least half the time by convincing Reddit that your [relatively pissant] community is toxic in some way. Good luck if your community is blamed for creating "drama" even when there's a lack of brigading.

tivert 2y ago
> I've lost count of how many times my posts have either been removed or my user banned despite having followed the explicit rules of a sub. Communities vary, but I've found this "you should have read our minds" attitude to be commonplace. I'm not a mod or anything, but I think there are actually a lot of legitimate reasons for a mod to have that attitude. It's unreasonable to expect a volunteer to create a comprehensive rules of behavior and enforce it in a lawyerly way and keep a community on track and not burn out. I've seen more than a few online communities have serious problems with certain users that would have been best handled with a "we're sick of dealing with you, enjoy your ban." Then, there's also the fact that if a community is too popular, a mod can only scale by being more brusque.
- ravenstine 2y ago
  Yeah, I'm not really saying that mods shouldn't have discretion or flexibility, but a community is not healthy when its mods decide to remove any posts/comments that contain the word "frank" because they don't like a guy named Frank. Yes, that is a real world example I've encountered. And if I get banned because I can't read the minds of the mods, then I welcome said ban. I'm not on Reddit to play childish games or to join cults.

ilikehurdles 2y ago

Killing the API access made detecting and tracking spam bots impossible. There was a whole subreddit called thesefuckingaccounts where the latest tactics in spam and karma farming were being tracked.

lelanthran 2y ago

> Reddit has steadily declined over the past few years and it seems to have sped up since pissing off the mod community last year. Maybe depends on the subs you read, because I have not noticed an appreciable difference before and after the "going dark" thing.