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> Reddit changed the way people interacted online and how online content was aggregated, people often append “reddit” to their google results to get higher qual

> Reddit changed the way people interacted online and how online content was aggregated, people often append “reddit” to their google results to get higher quality content. Nah. People already interacted that way back in the Usenet days. And we used Usenet search engines to get results from it specifically. Reddit's only claim to fame is that happened to be there at the moment Digg became unusable.

echelon 2y ago
> Reddit's only claim to fame is that happened to be there at the moment Digg became unusable. And up until now every competing Reddit-type effort attracted the wrong crowds. There may be an opportunity for a new Reddit now that Reddit at scale attracts super young users that aren't as interested in long form discourse. Reddit's desire for growth has alienated a lot of high signal contributors. There's huge opportunity here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Infographics/comments/1fb8xll/most_visited_social_media_platforms/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Infographics/comments/1fb8xll/most_...
- kiba 2y ago
  I hope we return back to internet forums. There are still internet forums that are thriving today and perhaps even growing, but it is my understanding that forums has largely died away.
  - Loughla 2y ago
    They're way more niche now than ever before. I have a forum for classic nes games and collecting, woodworking, and woodworking tools. It's people who I can name, and in the case of old iron, have met in person at an actual get together. They're still out there, but hidden. And quiet.
  - gspencley 2y ago
    I miss forums too, and I blame the "mobile revolution" for their demise. Forums are ideal for long-form discussion in text-format. But they don't really work well on mobile devices where typing is cumbersome and reading a lot of text to catch up on a thread isn't all that enjoyable. And you remember when forums were trying to be mobile friendly by introducing things like infinite scroll? It just didn't work. Meanwhile "the masses" were flocking to sites like Twitter where content was delivered in short bites and they could doom scroll until they got bored. Forums still exist they are just niche now and it's harder to attract a user-base when so many people prefer to use social media for their "discussions" because that is better suited to small talk on a smart phone.
seper8 2y ago
Usenet was used by about almost exclusively people with an IT or engineering background. Reddit is used by a far wider and larger audience, both relatively and absolutely.
- randomdata 2y ago
  Sure, which is also approximately representative of who was using the internet in general at the time, but we're not about to credit Reddit with bringing the internet to the masses.
- bryanlarsen 2y ago
  Usenet was widely used by the IT adjacent as well. For example, by non-technical people at companies where Usenet was widely used. It's lack of use by non-technical people was likely due to lack of exposure and/or access rather than lack of appeal.
  - seper8 2y ago
    You are grossly overestimating or misremembering how user friendly usenet was for anyone who doesn't know what a server or port is
    - bryanlarsen 2y ago
      "Tech-adjacent" is the group of people who have a tech to do all that stuff for them.
      - seper8 2y ago
        It's adoption failed because you needed understanding of underlying protocols in order to get it to work A literal monkey could post on Reddit. That's the difference and that's why usenet never got widespread adoption
        bryanlarsen 2y ago

echelon 2y ago

> Reddit's only claim to fame is that happened to be there at the moment Digg became unusable. And up until now every competing Reddit-type effort attracted the wrong crowds. There may be an opportunity for a new Reddit now that Reddit at scale attracts super young users that aren't as interested in long form discourse. Reddit's desire for growth has alienated a lot of high signal contributors. There's huge opportunity here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Infographics/comments/1fb8xll/most_visited_social_media_platforms/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Infographics/comments/1fb8xll/most_...

kiba 2y ago
I hope we return back to internet forums. There are still internet forums that are thriving today and perhaps even growing, but it is my understanding that forums has largely died away.
- Loughla 2y ago
  They're way more niche now than ever before. I have a forum for classic nes games and collecting, woodworking, and woodworking tools. It's people who I can name, and in the case of old iron, have met in person at an actual get together. They're still out there, but hidden. And quiet.
- gspencley 2y ago
  I miss forums too, and I blame the "mobile revolution" for their demise. Forums are ideal for long-form discussion in text-format. But they don't really work well on mobile devices where typing is cumbersome and reading a lot of text to catch up on a thread isn't all that enjoyable. And you remember when forums were trying to be mobile friendly by introducing things like infinite scroll? It just didn't work. Meanwhile "the masses" were flocking to sites like Twitter where content was delivered in short bites and they could doom scroll until they got bored. Forums still exist they are just niche now and it's harder to attract a user-base when so many people prefer to use social media for their "discussions" because that is better suited to small talk on a smart phone.

seper8 2y ago

Usenet was used by about almost exclusively people with an IT or engineering background. Reddit is used by a far wider and larger audience, both relatively and absolutely.

randomdata 2y ago
Sure, which is also approximately representative of who was using the internet in general at the time, but we're not about to credit Reddit with bringing the internet to the masses.
bryanlarsen 2y ago
Usenet was widely used by the IT adjacent as well. For example, by non-technical people at companies where Usenet was widely used. It's lack of use by non-technical people was likely due to lack of exposure and/or access rather than lack of appeal.
- seper8 2y ago
  You are grossly overestimating or misremembering how user friendly usenet was for anyone who doesn't know what a server or port is
  - bryanlarsen 2y ago
    "Tech-adjacent" is the group of people who have a tech to do all that stuff for them.
    - seper8 2y ago
      It's adoption failed because you needed understanding of underlying protocols in order to get it to work A literal monkey could post on Reddit. That's the difference and that's why usenet never got widespread adoption
      - bryanlarsen 2y ago