Reddit protests

[Banks2Skook]

I’m a 8-year reddit user and a good friend is a mod. In the past 2 years it feels like ads and bot posts have increased and quality content has gone down. There are still some high-value subs such as r/whatsthissnake but they are becoming rare. I miss the older reddit vibe which felt unique and community based, and I loved stumbling onto subs with knowledgeable posters - I always learned something. Now it feels more like same-old-same-old internet content and that’s just sad.

 

[JoeWras]

I’m a 8-year reddit user and a good friend is a mod. In the past 2 years it feels like ads and bot posts have increased and quality content has gone down. There are still some high-value subs such as r/whatsthissnake but they are becoming rare. I miss the older reddit vibe which felt unique and community based, and I loved stumbling onto subs with knowledgeable posters - I always learned something. Now it feels more like same-old-same-old internet content and that’s just sad.

I pretty much agree.

Reddit is an odd beast. There are roots of Reddit that are distasteful to me, primarily in their political stances, and a history of strong anti-theism. Yet, each sub is unique, so one can't paint with a broad brush.

I have put up with some of the blatant suppression of people's speech done by brigade voting. I'm trying to not be hypocritical in that I think "canceling" is out of control, so I've been using a service that I disagree with at the heart of it.

However, this recent nonsense has me wondering why I'm using it, because of both the corporation's and the users' behaviors.

It's probably time to just leave.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I've visited Redditt only a few times. Can someone give me the Reader's Digest condensed version of the controversy?

Same here - despite having moderators it reminds me of the old Usenet, for those of us who are old enough to remember that. Kinda wild-west....

I started on Usenet around 1997 and have fond memories of it. It was kind of wild. I remember around the turn of the century there were groups with a .mod extension created to try to mitigate the wildness, but it seemed the unmoderated groups were still the place to be, until it went completely bananas a few years later.

 

[MRG]

I've visited Redditt only a few times. Can someone give me the Reader's Digest condensed version of the controversy?



I started on Usenet around 1997 and have fond memories of it. It was kind of wild. I remember around the turn of the century there were groups with a .mod extension created to try to mitigate the wildness, but it seemed the unmoderated groups were still the place to be, until it went completely bananas a few years later.

Some of the best subs are still protesting by making themselves NSFW. This minimizes the moderators' work and also makes the sub not display ads. I imagine the loss of revenue is the real reason.

Of course, the sub is now overrun with blurred images, some SFW and many NSFW. So places like r/interestingasf*ck are pretty useless. Of course I did learn something new by opening one post.

Other subs are still shut down, and some have altered their operations, making them almost useless.

 

[jim584672]

Reddit should just ban the mods pulling this stuff.

 

[Aerides]

I've visited Redditt only a few times. Can someone give me the Reader's Digest condensed version of the controversy?

For years, mods and users have been able to utilize several free-ware 3P tools that make their life easier using the site. Reddit has now said "nope" to most of these, forcing utilization of their own API, at a cost. Mods and users who believe they have spent plenty of time working on their subs and helping build reddit as a community, now feel side-swiped.

Initially even, the change included all tools, even those that offered quality-of-life improvements, for example, ones that make it easier for sight-impaired folks to participate. Reddit quickly backtracked on those tools to allow continued access but that's only a few.

As a result of these actions, some mods took their subs "dark" - private, only members can see/post in them, which impacts Reddit because private stuff doesn't show in Google, and loses eyeballs and ad revenue.

 

[athena53]

I've visited Redditt only a few times. Can someone give me the Reader's Digest condensed version of the controversy?

The link below is lengthy but a good explanation. Briefly, Reddit allows outside companies access to its content for various uses of the data (apparently including training AI models) and also for developing apps than many Reddit mods use. Reddit is about to go public and has announced a steep increase in costs for these outside companies and developers. Moderators and users are concerned that this will scare away the developers. I'd love to know what Microsoft pays Reddit to access its discussions since so many end up as "news" items.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/16/red...nt-moderators-protest-api-price-increase.html

 

[Qs Laptop]

For years, mods and users have been able to utilize several free-ware 3P tools that make their life easier using the site. Reddit has now said "nope" to most of these, forcing utilization of their own API, at a cost. Mods and users who believe they have spent plenty of time working on their subs and helping build reddit as a community, now feel side-swiped.

This reminds me of when Twitter locked out all third party Twitter apps and instead forced everyone to use the official Twitter produced app. That definitely sucked as I was a longtime user of Fenix 2, a third party Twitter app that was ad-free, highly customizable, plenty of features and a clean user interface.

As a result of these actions, some mods took their subs "dark" - private, only members can see/post in them, which impacts Reddit because private stuff doesn't show in Google, and loses eyeballs and ad revenue.

This brings up the question--who owns the servers that these Reddit groups are hosted on? If the mods of individual subreddits can "go dark" do they have access to the servers that host the sites? Or are they simply throwing a big "OFF" switch that blocks anyone from posting?

It seems to me that Reddit could claw back all these groups if they own the servers.

 

[Qs Laptop]

The link below is lengthy but a good explanation. Briefly, Reddit allows outside companies access to its content for various uses of the data (apparently including training AI models) and also for developing apps than many Reddit mods use.

Reddit "allows" outside companies to access its content... This seems to say that Reddit owns the hardware that their content is hosted on. Do they?

Also, what's to stop someone, anyone, to access Reddit content via an internet browser, like Chrome or Edge? That's how I've accessed Reddit the few times I've done so in the past.

Are there some subreddits that require user registration to gain access? To post?

Reddit is about to go public and has announced a steep increase in costs for these outside companies and developers. Moderators and users are concerned that this will scare away the developers.

One moderator in the article cited said that it would cost him $20M a year to keep his Apollo third party app active. That's insane!

 

[Aerides]

It seems to me that Reddit could claw back all these groups if they own the servers.

But they are not going to be able to staff the moderation. And just imagine how well THAT will go...Just like ER.org, each sub on reddit has a mod team.

 

[Ready]

The sub I participate in took a vote whether to stay open or shut down. The majority voted to keep it open. But the mods still have an axe to grind with Reddit so they made the sub “NSFW” - Not Suitable For Work, and announced that it’s now OK to use profanity. In addition, making the sub NSFW makes it ineligible for advertising, so this is the next tactic after reopening to deny Reddit their advertising revenue.

The maturity level in this sub is just so disappointing it makes me want to just forget the whole thing.

 

[tenant13]

I'm a reddit user but 90% of my visits are to forums that probably shouldn't exist in the first place The remaining 10% are questions that Google fails to answer satisfactory.

It's about time for decentralized web3 to take off - we should remain owners of the content we create and be compensated for its use. If I spend my time to freely share opinions about the best restaurants from my hometown that serve traditional local food, it should not be Reddit, its mods, Facebook, Twitter, Google or ChatGPT that end up profiteering from it.

 

[kcowan]

I used to enjoy the internet and look forward to spending three hours a day getting caught up. Now after being retired for 20+ years, I have heard it all and discussed it all.

People suggest alternatives and I just have lost the initiative to go and find them.

 

[Koolau]

I used to enjoy the internet and look forward to spending three hours a day getting caught up. Now after being retired for 20+ years, I have heard it all and discussed it all.

People suggest alternatives and I just have lost the initiative to go and find them.

Well, I for one am happy to see you posting here again, Keith. I hope you come back and straighten us all out! Heaven knows, we need it. I really miss your wisdom - especially about expat living.

Can I say "Welcome Back!?"

 

[USGrant1962]

I used to enjoy the internet and look forward to spending three hours a day getting caught up. Now after being retired for 20+ years, I have heard it all and discussed it all.

People suggest alternatives and I just have lost the initiative to go and find them.

Hey, I was wondering what happened to you. You know when those "where is XXXX" posts come up? One of those was going on recently and I thought of you. Welcome back to posting!

 

[Murph]

Ditto

Who cares? I don't understand the "protest". Maybe we get lucky and Reddit goes away forever.

I gave Reddit the old “college try”. Gave up after a few months after finding it to be an utter waste of life.

 

[ken830]

The problem is that Reddit threads are where a lot of technical knowledge lives.

For instance, Google recently started enforcing their Enterprise accounts' "as much as you need" storage to be 5TB and so I am in the process of bringing up a new RS2423+ NAS to serve as my off-site backup and I've had many instances of needing to look up something regarding Synology, DSM7, Docker containers, Plex, etc... and the first Google result is ALWAYS a Reddit thread of someone asking/discussing the same topic. If I'm lucky, I can read Google's cache of part of the thread, but some just don't have data cached and not all the replies are shown in Google's cached page.

 

[angelfly55]

Reddit Alternatives

I ran across this https://lifehacker.com/the-four-bes...tter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2023-06-23

 

[kcowan]

Hey, I was wondering what happened to you. You know when those "where is XXXX" posts come up? One of those was going on recently and I thought of you. Welcome back to posting!

Well, I for one am happy to see you posting here again, Keith. I hope you come back and straighten us all out! Heaven knows, we need it. I really miss your wisdom - especially about expat living.

Can I say "Welcome Back!?"

Thank you gentlemen. Yes I never got disconnected. Kind of like Nords! Been away but just being selective now, i.e. No how much is enough threads.

Sadly expat living is escalating in costs just like at home living. So we are adopting the same strategies in Mexico as we have at at home. Our net worth was up 13.5% YTD a week ago so we are doing something right. I don't look every day. Still anticipate a dip.

 

[Nords]

Thank you gentlemen. Yes I never got disconnected. Kind of like Nords! Been away but just being selective now, i.e. No how much is enough threads.

These days I spend most of my writing time at a paid forum hosted by John Nardini, the ESIMoney blogger.

Ironically we're still debating how much is enough.

 

[kcowan]

I heard that if you are not jealous of the people around you, then you have enough. I agree with that sentiment.

 

[Koolau]

I heard that if you are not jealous of the people around you, then you have enough. I agree with that sentiment.

Heh, heh, ONCE in a while I find myself having JUST a bit of envy. I've mentioned passing the big houses up on the Ko'olau ridge that overlook the Pacific. (I too have a nice view, but nothing like these mansions.) I honestly kick myself for that envy because I know how blessed I am. I seek forgiveness and am immediately reminded: I HAVE ENOUGH!