Does anybody feel like the quality of reddit has already dropped massively?
I see a lot of comments from bootlickers on how the protests are dumb and stupid and dont work and engagement metrics are still holding but the quality of posts and comments has noticeably depreciated imo. So much so that whenever I visit the site Im actually shocked at how bad it is.
I've been observing the creation, expansion, and slow heat death of Reddit for a long time now (had accounts there since it opened). I think that Reddit's decisions here accelerated a decline in content quantity and quality, but the trend had been happening for a while.
I think that the biggest issue behind this decline is infrastructure based. Reddit was designed around the basic concept that the desire to post and contribute to the discussion would be reward enough to drive participation. Karma is the point system for this participation, a number that only speaks to popularity, not the quality of a post or a contributor. When the community was small, this non-specific variable served the purpose of identifying content trends, but karma is very poor at describing WHY a post or comment is popular. Eventually, instead of karma being an indicator that someone had contributed to conversation, it's only meaningful metric became one of popularity or notoriety.
This meant that where once Reddit had been a haven for enabling discussion on any topic, it became a shouting match between who could get the most upvotes. This cultural shift became very apparent after the Digg exodus, and the trend accelerated as other social media copied Reddit's voting and karma system. Of course, Reddit began feeding off of their content, which was also popularity driven, and once the content algorithms started coming into play in the mid-2010s, it created a feedback loop of popularity driven schlock that drove most real discussion to fringes of the site.
We've recently seen this dynamic start to even affect Google, whose search results are getting hammered due to Reddit's blackouts, and whose search results have been significantly dropping in quality over the last few years.
As for myself, I still browse certain reddits that I haven't found equivalents for in the Fediverse, but it's pretty clear to me that Reddit's not really a positive place for contributors - whether they be moderators or posters. To some extent, I'll miss the reach of Reddit's audience, but lets face it, most of that audience is just shitposters and bots.
Will the same trend happen in the Fediverse? Possibly, but I think there's more potential here for positive change than there ever will be in a company led by the likes of Huffman, or for that matter any company or centralized authority. Besides, it took about 15 years for Reddit to condense from being a cool place full of new ideas to the condensed black hole of regurgitated shitposting it's become. I think the Fediverse has a bit more potential longevity than that.
I’ve stayed off it since the blackout started, but I did visit a sub yesterday that I used to read regularly about a topic I haven’t seen covered here. I left after a few minutes because it really seemed like no one there had anything intelligent or interesting to say, but maybe I’ve forgotten just how much crap I used to scroll through before landing on something decent. Either way, I’m OK with not going back.
It’s taking some time to get over the withdrawal, but despite the fact I really liked some subreddits, staying off has become the best internet habit-related choice I’ve ever made. The low signal-to-noise ratio you mention is one big factor. The other is I needed some obstacles to ease of use to make my choices more deliberate. I have found alternatives, sure. But now I spend maybe a tenth of the time on social media that I used to when I was redditing every day.
I stayed off of it for a bit after the first 48, because I needed one of the support subs there. Then the Titan news was going on and the wealth of shitty remarks about the people in the sub was too much for me. I get the whole ‘eat the rich’ mentality, but the sheer vitriol people had against someone they didn’t know didn’t exactly paint the commenters in a favourable light.
Hoping that such opinion is tempered somewhat over here.
What's goes around, comes around... That sentiment is not coming from a no where. Note how people didn't say similar staff about refugee boat sinking and actually calling media out for lopsided coverage.
These views only get more extreme as social fabric and economic conditions of the working people degrade.
These people spent more than most people will ever save up in their lifetime for a one time ride in a tube. Money that could go to feeding people, planting trees, etc. They had the US Coast Guard and Navy looking for them with helicopters and sonar buoys. One of them was a billionaire who could have done it right like Victor Vascovo, but instead chose to pinch pennies and ride in the Home Depot special.
They cost society massively, they won't pay shit for inheritance tax, their families will remain wealthier than I can ever dream of being. I make decent money and I drive past houses with river views and hot tubs and pools and boats and all sorts of rich people stuff I know I'll never have, those people can't dream of the amount of money these people have. I feel bad for the kid, that's about it.
Not to mention the fact that they are thrill-seeking at a mass grave where a horrific tragedy occurred. Similar circumstances, too. The first class survivor ratio compared to the "steerage" survivors... Kind of like how we pulled out all the stops for these rich fucks but can't be bothered by a boat full of refugees. It's a sign of the times and people have a right to be livid about it.
Silver lining: if not for these guys creating an actual need for search and rescue, the USCG would have to perform search-and-rescue drills at similar cost anyway.
these are the same morons who like to send everyone under the guillotine... don't ever try to direct them to history book to find out how the guillotine proponents actually ended in real life. trying to have discussion with someone who is 12 yo (mentally at least) is just a waste of time.
I agree. It’s pretty clear that trying to set any record straight (I looked up the philanthropic efforts of that one gent who went with his son) in these situations is a pyrrhic victory. At best you may have offered clarification on some inaccurate talking point they picked up that now someone else might not repeat further, but it only pokes the bear.
I left after a few minutes because it really seemed like no one there had anything intelligent or interesting to say
Reddit has always been that way to an extent. Half of the time it's just people making bad jokes and quirky references that border on derailing the thread to get that sweet karma dopamine boost.
It is a lost cause. I got into a discussion with one user about the API mess and this morning I look at my messages and he has reported me for suicidal behavior or something. There’s a lot of idiots there currently as the brain drain has already started. At this point I am enjoying all the popcorn goodness as the site melts down.
I got messaged so often by the suicide prevention bot, that I had to block it.
And yes, the site is going to shit faster and faster. I am enjoying the sight but also started shitposting in a more “fuck you” manner. Just got banned from r/pcgaming. These are my last days on Reddit and I don’t want to leave quietly. I want to shit on the couch on my way out.
I felt Reddit's quality started going downhill around 2021, which is not long after they introduced the official app and started allowing Google logins.
EDIT: Looks like the official app's been around longer than I thought. :O
I think its more likely that the posts on reddit are the same, and we are simply starting to become accustomed to the posts\quality of comments on the fediverse.
Do not ever believe this. This is an intellectual trap that once you dig in to it it's hard to dig out. People like Elon Musk are the type of people who think they see the world for what it really is, and look how stupid they are. Some truths are clearer than others, but you will always be chained down by your own perspective, unconscious biases, and way of thinking. Always keep your mind partially open to new perspectives and do your best to practice intellectual humility.
I think this is really what it is. I've spent a lot of my time here enamored with the quality of conversation, and when I joined it reminded me of the sort of discussion I used to scroll through on forums when I was a kid.
I hadn't seen it since, and I'd gotten so used to the bullshit that I barely remembered the difference. I'd really just chalked up the civility to the forum in question being several dozen regulars who knew each other too well to be dicks.
We need more content, but it's making me kind of averse to pushing so hard to get the rest over here, lest they just bring the shit behavior with them
People are going to wring their hands over admin-level, permiable serve blocks forever, but one of the things you can do with them as an admin is disconnect from Eternal September.
Obviously, general interest servers aren't going to want to do that, but more niche ones should be able to get away with it. And with some careful consideration for how blocks work, we can probably have environments where the good stuff reaches smaller, disconnected sites through intermediaries via cross-posting.
I've set up automatic news feeds from the BBC, NPR, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and CNN so far to their own magazines. That way you can subscribe to a specific magazine to get articles from the publishers you like. (I'm also still tweaking how much content gets pulled in so its not too much or too little). I also have a catch-all news magazine that I manually curate news article links for.
I plan on adding additional magazines that aggregate links from other websites (not just news) but I am waiting to hear from the community on what content they would like to see.
Ok, thats my like 30 second elevator spiel about my instance and my magazines. Definitely drop me some feedback if there is any additional content I should automatically add to dedicated magazines. Hope to see some new people jumping into discussions on posts over there!
shit behaviour is one thing the mods are another. I’ve seen plenty of communities on reddit where the users hated the mods and eventually left and formed their own sub. the fediverse already encourages multiple parallel communities for the same topic. so i hope we can get around the worst of reddit by seeking out and creating healthier communities. Leave the power mods behind.
the fediverse already encourages multiple parallel communities
this is first thing fediverse has to fix if it wants to get somewhere. for a community to be useful, you need people interested in the topic concentrated at one place, so you can profit from that crowd wisdom. 100 people spread over 80 communities is not going to be much useful.
100 people spread across 80 communities isn't useful, but neither is 100,000 in 1. It just creates an overwhelming amount of noise. Comments get filled with jackasses jockeying for attention, and niche posts get buried in floods of other posts.
Just because people have become used to it doesn't mean it's been good. It just means people have been blind to what they've lost, all because we have biases toward big numbers.
Niche interests won't be spread out. That's not how they worked before Reddit, and it's not how they'll work after it. Big popular groups will splinter, and it'll be a good thing.
that is true, but that is not the problem we are facing right now and it will take some time before we get to that point. while the first case (not a lot of people being spread out) is a problem right now and it needs a solution.
Yeah. You no longer get first mover's advantage by just taking the obvious forum name, so you no longer get remain the owner of a massive community by default. If people don't like the environment, they'll just find another space with the same name and use that instead.
There will be consternation over the overlapping names, especially by people who fear missing out on something someone is saying (even though they most certainly were not refreshing "New" on forums with 20M subscribers to see what wasn't getting up voted), but for many that'll go away once they realize they can pick "the good version" of a space.
I remember once, on a world building forum for a group of sci-fi nerds... I dropped a meme to troll trek nerds. (okay so it was a screen grab of the TOS episode where kirk and spoc crashland on that planet where Cochrain was staying with the energy-creature-hottie. You know the scene where spock is building a universal translator...)
Yeah, so the gist of the joke was that Star Wars was better than Star Trek because even Spock wanted a lightsaber.
After their outrage subsided the freaking nerds started trying to figure out a way to build an actual lightsaber. They got everything down 'cept the power source. It was glorious. And not something that would happen on today's reddit.
anyone with a brain is protesting. ask yourself who is even left posting. do you know anyone IRL that posts on reddit by the way? I'm telling you it's the age of fake content, shills, influencers, karma bots, scammers, culture war mongers. makes >90% of the content on reddit now
Who checks reddit anymore? I don't check the site at all. even if they did let third party apps back u/spez could always go back on his word. lemmy and the #fediverse where here to catch us when we became stranded!
Even if they allowed 3rd party apps to have free access and fired u/spez, I've lost all interest. Their policies are 100% unappealing to me as a consumer. I also like how lemmy.world doesn't tolerate hate speech, in stark contrast to reddit.
I was still checking it until today. At work I used old.reddit (which is probably on the chopping block), but mostly I used BaconReader from my phone and since I am not going to use the reddit app I figure I might as well just quit the site and so now I'm here.
Also lots of negative-to-hateful comments about how Lemmy is “a failure” and “only nerds like it”. The vibe has gotten way darker over there. It’s much nicer here: full of excitement, optimism, and hope.
Havnt checked so honestly wouldn’t know. Now that I think of it, it’s kind of crazy that Kbin replaced it so easily for me and I am on it far less (which is a good thing tbh).
It’s also testament to how good the experience here has been so far. And how crap reddits response as been.
Bro I swear I have been going through a lightweight meltdown after quitting Reddit cold turkey. I’m glad I found this place.
It really wasn’t giving me anything other than a few cool random factoids a day and a lot of distraction. Those were really the only positives any more.
I can already tell that my overall mental health is getting better (you know with some rough patches of course). I’m reading and working on projects again. I accidentally beat the new Zelda game halfway through the game.
On another hand I’m actually sleeping properly… I’m reading real news during lunch, learning Spanish.
Reddit was fucking sucking my soul up or something. I guess it was just such an easy time sink to turn to that I never really got anything done anymore. It feels kinda creepy reflecting back. You’re giving them subscriptions and all that so that they can dark pattern you into sticking around.
Thats what makes this place special. For now it’s just social and people talking with people. Until the advertisers figure this out I’m gonna really enjoy it.
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