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Looks good. I'm always looking for better ways to read reddit. I don't like their UI. I've been experimenting with the best way to read reddit. My first idea w

by FigBug 14y ago

Looks good. I'm always looking for better ways to read reddit. I don't like their UI. I've been experimenting with the best way to read reddit. My first idea was a specialized browser that has 5 tabs open. When you close one tab, another automatically opens with the next unread story from the current subreddit. That way, as fast as you could smack Ctrl+W, you'd get the the next unread story, already loaded. It worked ok, but wasn't great. https://github.com/FigBug/Allochthon https://github.com/FigBug/Allochthon https://github.com/downloads/FigBug/Allochthon/allochthon-setup.exe https://github.com/downloads/FigBug/Allochthon/allochthon-se... My next idea was the command line. Now I just type 'r subreddit_name' and it opens up to 30 unread links. Seems the fastest way to read reddit. https://github.com/FigBug/r https://github.com/FigBug/r

PommeDeTerre 14y ago
The biggest problems with reddit aren't so much how to read it, but rather what can be read there. Most of the major subreddits are no longer worth following, unless you're interested in hipsterism or curious about the meme-of-the-hour. The smaller subreddits generally have limited traffic, resulting in very slow discussion. Email mailing lists are far superior for discussions with this size of a community. Censorship has become an issue within some subreddits, too. It's not about getting rid of blatant spammers any more. Far too often we've seen contributing, albeit unorthodox, members of these communities banned for expressing views that may be controversial, but still worth expressing. Software won't fix these major problems. They're issues with the community itself.
- icebraining 14y ago
  Email mailing lists are far superior for discussions with this size of a community. Are there some worthy mailing lists for discussion out there? I´ve heard this opinion before, but I´ve never seen specific lists mentioned.
  - metl_lord 14y ago
    I would also like to know this. The mailing lists I'm on consist of calls for papers, low paying job postings, and out-of-office messages.
    - kanzure 14y ago
      Which ones are giving you calls for papers? I'd be interested in knowing. Here's what I subscribe to: http://heybryan.org/mailing_lists.html http://heybryan.org/mailing_lists.html I really like: http://www.neuroinf.org/mailman/listinfo/comp-neuro http://www.neuroinf.org/mailman/listinfo/comp-neuro http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/grg http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/grg http://postbiota.org/mailman/listinfo/tt http://postbiota.org/mailman/listinfo/tt https://groups.google.com/group/diybio https://groups.google.com/group/diybio
- Karunamon 14y ago
  >Software won't fix these major problems. They're issues with the community itself. Each sub is its own community. If you're having troubles like you mentioned above, you haven't found the right ones yet.
  - cryptoz 14y ago
    That's not a legitimate way of thinking about the problem, though. Some of the communities in question are very large and powerful places; making a popular comment there can have a large impact on a huge number of people's lives. And many of the subreddits are run by totalitarian dictators, so you end up with large and powerful subreddits that are curated by crazy moderators. It's not about finding the "right community" for you, it's about hosting a real and legitimate platform for discussion.
    - rjbond3rd 14y ago
      What do you mean by legitimate? I think you're just frustrated that thoughtful moderation is labor-intensive, and civility doesn't scale too well. But at any rate, haven't you undermined your own argument? You've found the community of HN is right enough for you. Anyway, I find your argument interesting nonetheless, especially if we substitute the word "country" for "subreddit" and so on. A country can be ruled illegitimately by dictator(s), and yet, if you can choose to switch, switching arguably may be a legitimate strategy or solution.
    - Karunamon 14y ago
      >That's not a legitimate way of thinking about the problem, though. Some of the communities in question are very large and powerful places; making a popular comment there can have a large impact on a huge number of people's lives. Perspective, please. I believe you seriously overstate the impact of having a popular post on an internet discussion board. In any case, that doesn't really change my point. >And many of the subreddits are run by totalitarian dictators, so you end up with large and powerful subreddits that are curated by crazy moderators. Step 1 to enjoying Reddit is to unsubscribe every single one of the default subs. They all have this problem (the reasons which and how seriously are up for debate, but that's another discussion.. for now, let's take it as given). Step 2 is to find a smaller sub for your interests. The readership of this site would probably enjoy r/sysadmin, netsec, programming, definitely more. It is a different kind of community, granted, but it's not near as negative or not "legitimate" as you claim.
- w1ntermute 14y ago
  > The smaller subreddits generally have limited traffic, resulting in very slow discussion. Email mailing lists are far superior for discussions with this size of a community. Not true. There are several smaller subreddits with excellent communities and excellent moderation. The major issue is discovery - it took me years before I (accidentally) stumbled across these subreddits.
- Posibyte 14y ago
  I think this is a radical idea, but hear me out: I fully believe the community could be better curated if they took the down-vote button away. (Or, at least, reserved it for the highest echelon of users) Looking from the island of HackerNews, back to the continent of Reddit where I wasted so many years of productivity, I've seen amazing wonders in the way HN uses its down-vote systems. In essence, it's there to "nudge" the discussion back into the right direction, and overall a great tool for curating a community from those that have been decided by their peers to curate. To me, a down-vote button puts an undue weight on the negativity of a discussion. There's three states: "I liked this", in which you up-vote, "I didn't like this", in which you ignore it, and "I didn't like this", in which you down-vote. Even reddiquette dictates that it should only be used for anything that doesn't contribute. It's very clear that's not how it's used, and in my opinion that can only be fixed by changing the official meaning of the button or restricting its use altogether. I think the latter has amazing effects on community discussion, as I've seen here on HN. Stuff I know I didn't discuss above: The effect of a non-focused forum discussion, abuse in voting systems, impacts of large communities.
  - kybernetyk 14y ago
    Why have voting at all? I think that this kind of pre-filtering content only encourages group think and isn't a good system at all.
    - heed 14y ago
      It order for reddit to be successful as a business it needs users. To gain and to keep users they incorporate addiction mechanisms such as voting.
  - mistermann 14y ago
    100% agree, the downvote button is really harming reddit outside of small niche subreddits.
- rmc 14y ago
  Censorship has become an issue within some subreddits, too. It's not about getting rid of blatant spammers any more. Far too often we've seen contributing, albeit unorthodox, members of these communities banned for expressing views that may be controversial, but still worth expressing. This is a good thing. Individual subreddits can and do have particular rules. For example, r/lgbt, r/transgender etc. all have rules banning homophobic or transphobic comments. In a world where trans people are killed for living as themselves (or driven to the edge of society and commit suicide), it's good to have a place where they don't have to continually verbally fight to support their human rights.
  - cryptoz 14y ago
    > This is a good thing. No, it's not. The moderators of r/conservative think that climate change is a hoax. If you write an on-topic, polite comment that even suggests that climate change is real, you will be banned. This is a terrible, terrible way to run a community. The conservatives on reddit live in a bubble where all science is banned. It's not a positive state of affairs. (Edit: I'm not conservative, but I frequent that subreddit to educate about science, climate, etc, and have been banned many times for these comments.)
    - koko775 14y ago
      That's their right, though. The same process that allows a teen to invade a subreddit and fill it with memes is the same thing that allows anyone to invade a subreddit and fill it with their opinions. No matter how valid that opinion is, it's still disruptive to a community. If subreddits are to be self-policing, they can't be obligated to not live in a bubble, however unfortunate that bubble may be, if that is what they have agreed upon. If you want to see an example of a heavily moderated forum done right, head to SomethingAwful. It has some lightly-moderated pressure valves, but the more topical forums keep a leash on discussions without chilling the conversation.
      - Karunamon 14y ago
        >It has some lightly-moderated pressure valves, but the more topical forums keep a leash on discussions without chilling the conversation. I really hope this is a joke. The moderators at something awful hand out bans and "probations" (arbitrary length bans from posting only) like candy and take personal offense when questioned why. Here's a fun game. Click on a random username to look at their "rap sheet" and see how many times they've been hit with various punishments. You can click on the incident to go to where and when it happened. Then try to figure out which of the site or board rules they broke to get those black marks. The wrong opinion in the wrong place will be punished just as harshly as on some of the more echo-chamberey subreddits, except worse since you can be globally banned and be out real cash for your trouble. All punishments apply sitewide. At least on Reddit if a moderator who feels personally insulted at your posting bans you, it's only from that sub. Something Awful is not my favorite website.
- redwood 14y ago
  I disagree. There's no doubt, however, that a static reddit experience (e.g. one where you don't change your usage patterns over the years) will leave you bummed, as you've been. If you continue to find the interesting subreddits -- and they're out there -- and cut the crap, you'll be fine! There as subreddits of essentially the same quality as HackerNews, for example, for many other subjects. Perhaps some subject areas are more lacking than others. On a non-subject basis, but simply for in-depth interesting reading, like reddit was back in the day, I recommend these subreddits: - r/truereddit - r/truetruereddit - r/foodforthought There's no doubt people are trying hard to keep things from getting worse (hence creating truetrue above on top of true). But if you remain part of the community I think you'll be surprised what an amazing ecosystems of subreddits have been created.
- redthrowaway 14y ago
  >Censorship has become an issue within some subreddits, too. It's not about getting rid of blatant spammers any more. Far too often we've seen contributing, albeit unorthodox, members of these communities banned for expressing views that may be controversial, but still worth expressing. Reddit's problem has never been spam. In fact, you alluded to it earlier in your post: it's quality. "Censorship", aka moderation, is necessary to promote quality content. Wikipedia, /., and SO are all heavily moderated. So, too, is HN. Without moderation (censorship, in your words), content regresses to the LCD. This is bad, and worth preventing. Moderation achieves that.
  - pekk 14y ago
    Moderation on the basis of ideological purity does not produce "quality content," just an artificial ideological uniformity.
    - willurd 14y ago
      I think you're on to something here. I'm going to ponder this for a while.
    - redthrowaway 14y ago
      I've been a redditor for something like 4 years. I've read thousands of complaints about Nazi mods banning people they disagree with. Upon closer inspection, I've found the vast majority of those who were banned deserved it. In only a handful of cases have I seen mods who legitimately were trying to censor opinions they disagreed with. People have a tendency to hide behind the principle of free speech as if it were all-encompassing and omnibenevolent. It isn't. Just because you have the right to speak your mind doesn't mean you have the right to be heard. Low-quality contributions can and must be suppressed if the level of discussion in a community is to remain high.
      - mistermann 14y ago
        Its not so much the moderators, its the downvotes. Reddit, imho, has a very particular and narrow opinion on many subjects - disagree with this opinion, even in legitimate good faith of open discussion, and your comment will be buried within minutes. The masses in the community have really lost their way.
- mikelat 14y ago
  The other problem is you can't really trust the bigger subreddits because of astroturfing and too many groups with something to gain. You can't know for sure who's up voting what you see who's down voting what you don't see. Often redditors will accept what they read as the rational voice of the people when it could be a corporate attempt to sway public opinion for example. Honestly there isn't anything reddit can do. Its a side effect of a popular website run by users.
brianfryer 14y ago
Have you checked out www.scrolldit.com?

by FigBug 14y ago

PommeDeTerre 14y ago

The biggest problems with reddit aren't so much how to read it, but rather what can be read there. Most of the major subreddits are no longer worth following, unless you're interested in hipsterism or curious about the meme-of-the-hour. The smaller subreddits generally have limited traffic, resulting in very slow discussion. Email mailing lists are far superior for discussions with this size of a community. Censorship has become an issue within some subreddits, too. It's not about getting rid of blatant spammers any more. Far too often we've seen contributing, albeit unorthodox, members of these communities banned for expressing views that may be controversial, but still worth expressing. Software won't fix these major problems. They're issues with the community itself.

icebraining 14y ago
Email mailing lists are far superior for discussions with this size of a community. Are there some worthy mailing lists for discussion out there? I´ve heard this opinion before, but I´ve never seen specific lists mentioned.
- metl_lord 14y ago
  I would also like to know this. The mailing lists I'm on consist of calls for papers, low paying job postings, and out-of-office messages.
  - kanzure 14y ago
    Which ones are giving you calls for papers? I'd be interested in knowing. Here's what I subscribe to: http://heybryan.org/mailing_lists.html http://heybryan.org/mailing_lists.html I really like: http://www.neuroinf.org/mailman/listinfo/comp-neuro http://www.neuroinf.org/mailman/listinfo/comp-neuro http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/grg http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/grg http://postbiota.org/mailman/listinfo/tt http://postbiota.org/mailman/listinfo/tt https://groups.google.com/group/diybio https://groups.google.com/group/diybio
Karunamon 14y ago
>Software won't fix these major problems. They're issues with the community itself. Each sub is its own community. If you're having troubles like you mentioned above, you haven't found the right ones yet.
- cryptoz 14y ago
  That's not a legitimate way of thinking about the problem, though. Some of the communities in question are very large and powerful places; making a popular comment there can have a large impact on a huge number of people's lives. And many of the subreddits are run by totalitarian dictators, so you end up with large and powerful subreddits that are curated by crazy moderators. It's not about finding the "right community" for you, it's about hosting a real and legitimate platform for discussion.
  - rjbond3rd 14y ago
    What do you mean by legitimate? I think you're just frustrated that thoughtful moderation is labor-intensive, and civility doesn't scale too well. But at any rate, haven't you undermined your own argument? You've found the community of HN is right enough for you. Anyway, I find your argument interesting nonetheless, especially if we substitute the word "country" for "subreddit" and so on. A country can be ruled illegitimately by dictator(s), and yet, if you can choose to switch, switching arguably may be a legitimate strategy or solution.
  - Karunamon 14y ago
    >That's not a legitimate way of thinking about the problem, though. Some of the communities in question are very large and powerful places; making a popular comment there can have a large impact on a huge number of people's lives. Perspective, please. I believe you seriously overstate the impact of having a popular post on an internet discussion board. In any case, that doesn't really change my point. >And many of the subreddits are run by totalitarian dictators, so you end up with large and powerful subreddits that are curated by crazy moderators. Step 1 to enjoying Reddit is to unsubscribe every single one of the default subs. They all have this problem (the reasons which and how seriously are up for debate, but that's another discussion.. for now, let's take it as given). Step 2 is to find a smaller sub for your interests. The readership of this site would probably enjoy r/sysadmin, netsec, programming, definitely more. It is a different kind of community, granted, but it's not near as negative or not "legitimate" as you claim.
w1ntermute 14y ago
> The smaller subreddits generally have limited traffic, resulting in very slow discussion. Email mailing lists are far superior for discussions with this size of a community. Not true. There are several smaller subreddits with excellent communities and excellent moderation. The major issue is discovery - it took me years before I (accidentally) stumbled across these subreddits.
Posibyte 14y ago
I think this is a radical idea, but hear me out: I fully believe the community could be better curated if they took the down-vote button away. (Or, at least, reserved it for the highest echelon of users) Looking from the island of HackerNews, back to the continent of Reddit where I wasted so many years of productivity, I've seen amazing wonders in the way HN uses its down-vote systems. In essence, it's there to "nudge" the discussion back into the right direction, and overall a great tool for curating a community from those that have been decided by their peers to curate. To me, a down-vote button puts an undue weight on the negativity of a discussion. There's three states: "I liked this", in which you up-vote, "I didn't like this", in which you ignore it, and "I didn't like this", in which you down-vote. Even reddiquette dictates that it should only be used for anything that doesn't contribute. It's very clear that's not how it's used, and in my opinion that can only be fixed by changing the official meaning of the button or restricting its use altogether. I think the latter has amazing effects on community discussion, as I've seen here on HN. Stuff I know I didn't discuss above: The effect of a non-focused forum discussion, abuse in voting systems, impacts of large communities.
- kybernetyk 14y ago
  Why have voting at all? I think that this kind of pre-filtering content only encourages group think and isn't a good system at all.
  - heed 14y ago
    It order for reddit to be successful as a business it needs users. To gain and to keep users they incorporate addiction mechanisms such as voting.
- mistermann 14y ago
  100% agree, the downvote button is really harming reddit outside of small niche subreddits.
rmc 14y ago
Censorship has become an issue within some subreddits, too. It's not about getting rid of blatant spammers any more. Far too often we've seen contributing, albeit unorthodox, members of these communities banned for expressing views that may be controversial, but still worth expressing. This is a good thing. Individual subreddits can and do have particular rules. For example, r/lgbt, r/transgender etc. all have rules banning homophobic or transphobic comments. In a world where trans people are killed for living as themselves (or driven to the edge of society and commit suicide), it's good to have a place where they don't have to continually verbally fight to support their human rights.
- cryptoz 14y ago
  > This is a good thing. No, it's not. The moderators of r/conservative think that climate change is a hoax. If you write an on-topic, polite comment that even suggests that climate change is real, you will be banned. This is a terrible, terrible way to run a community. The conservatives on reddit live in a bubble where all science is banned. It's not a positive state of affairs. (Edit: I'm not conservative, but I frequent that subreddit to educate about science, climate, etc, and have been banned many times for these comments.)
  - koko775 14y ago
    That's their right, though. The same process that allows a teen to invade a subreddit and fill it with memes is the same thing that allows anyone to invade a subreddit and fill it with their opinions. No matter how valid that opinion is, it's still disruptive to a community. If subreddits are to be self-policing, they can't be obligated to not live in a bubble, however unfortunate that bubble may be, if that is what they have agreed upon. If you want to see an example of a heavily moderated forum done right, head to SomethingAwful. It has some lightly-moderated pressure valves, but the more topical forums keep a leash on discussions without chilling the conversation.
    - Karunamon 14y ago
      >It has some lightly-moderated pressure valves, but the more topical forums keep a leash on discussions without chilling the conversation. I really hope this is a joke. The moderators at something awful hand out bans and "probations" (arbitrary length bans from posting only) like candy and take personal offense when questioned why. Here's a fun game. Click on a random username to look at their "rap sheet" and see how many times they've been hit with various punishments. You can click on the incident to go to where and when it happened. Then try to figure out which of the site or board rules they broke to get those black marks. The wrong opinion in the wrong place will be punished just as harshly as on some of the more echo-chamberey subreddits, except worse since you can be globally banned and be out real cash for your trouble. All punishments apply sitewide. At least on Reddit if a moderator who feels personally insulted at your posting bans you, it's only from that sub. Something Awful is not my favorite website.
redwood 14y ago
I disagree. There's no doubt, however, that a static reddit experience (e.g. one where you don't change your usage patterns over the years) will leave you bummed, as you've been. If you continue to find the interesting subreddits -- and they're out there -- and cut the crap, you'll be fine! There as subreddits of essentially the same quality as HackerNews, for example, for many other subjects. Perhaps some subject areas are more lacking than others. On a non-subject basis, but simply for in-depth interesting reading, like reddit was back in the day, I recommend these subreddits: - r/truereddit - r/truetruereddit - r/foodforthought There's no doubt people are trying hard to keep things from getting worse (hence creating truetrue above on top of true). But if you remain part of the community I think you'll be surprised what an amazing ecosystems of subreddits have been created.
redthrowaway 14y ago
>Censorship has become an issue within some subreddits, too. It's not about getting rid of blatant spammers any more. Far too often we've seen contributing, albeit unorthodox, members of these communities banned for expressing views that may be controversial, but still worth expressing. Reddit's problem has never been spam. In fact, you alluded to it earlier in your post: it's quality. "Censorship", aka moderation, is necessary to promote quality content. Wikipedia, /., and SO are all heavily moderated. So, too, is HN. Without moderation (censorship, in your words), content regresses to the LCD. This is bad, and worth preventing. Moderation achieves that.
- pekk 14y ago
  Moderation on the basis of ideological purity does not produce "quality content," just an artificial ideological uniformity.
  - willurd 14y ago
    I think you're on to something here. I'm going to ponder this for a while.
  - redthrowaway 14y ago
    I've been a redditor for something like 4 years. I've read thousands of complaints about Nazi mods banning people they disagree with. Upon closer inspection, I've found the vast majority of those who were banned deserved it. In only a handful of cases have I seen mods who legitimately were trying to censor opinions they disagreed with. People have a tendency to hide behind the principle of free speech as if it were all-encompassing and omnibenevolent. It isn't. Just because you have the right to speak your mind doesn't mean you have the right to be heard. Low-quality contributions can and must be suppressed if the level of discussion in a community is to remain high.
    - mistermann 14y ago
      Its not so much the moderators, its the downvotes. Reddit, imho, has a very particular and narrow opinion on many subjects - disagree with this opinion, even in legitimate good faith of open discussion, and your comment will be buried within minutes. The masses in the community have really lost their way.
mikelat 14y ago
The other problem is you can't really trust the bigger subreddits because of astroturfing and too many groups with something to gain. You can't know for sure who's up voting what you see who's down voting what you don't see. Often redditors will accept what they read as the rational voice of the people when it could be a corporate attempt to sway public opinion for example. Honestly there isn't anything reddit can do. Its a side effect of a popular website run by users.

brianfryer 14y ago

Have you checked out www.scrolldit.com?