Yep. It's not that Reddit is unusable in the official app, it's that it's a sign of more shit to come. I don't use other social media for a reason, Reddit doesn't have the command over my life that they think they do.
I used rif. I can't stand the official app. I get that reddit has to make money to survive, like any company, but in the process of chasing that profit you chase away a good chunk of your site you're not gonna be profitable. Also I can't stand the way Spez is saying we're a community while trying to dictate changes the community absolutely hates and then attacking those leaving.
I'm hoping RIF's developer ports it to work with fediverse instances, or even better makes connecting to them the default so all of RIF's users join the fediverse.
Reddit in particular has very little besides it's massive numbers to actually keep users on their platform. I don't use Twitter or Facebook anymore, but at least with those platforms there would be specific celebrity accounts or friends and family that would provide a reason to stay.
Because reddit was so focused on anonymity, you didn't need the "celebrity" accounts to move platforms to make the alternatives feel viable. Even with just a small portion of users moving here it feels completely natural.
That he's becoming increasingly more catty and loose with the truth by the day speaks to the protest's effectiveness. Aside from the dropping engagement numbers, the daily deluge of negative press from major media outlets isn't doing their valuation any favors, and as the person responsible for this decision, he's feeling the heat more than anyone.
Also, if they weren't having any effect, he'd simply maintain the previous party line from before the protests about how the community is free to express itself and protest in any way it sees fit.
Everyone who reads these mass media stories has got to be aware that both the quantity and quality of user interaction are going to impact the profitability and longevity of the site. Reddit already has longevity. It's trying to position itself as profitable. Seeing the CEO continually giving a big "fuck you" to a large fraction of the userbase (a fraction, yes, but a large one, when you're talking about quantity and quality of interaction) has got to give investors and potential investors pause.
What I’m suggesting as a pathway out is actually more democracy,”
This sounds like the same nonsense as Elon. All we'll end up seeing is targeted mobs of Reddit sycophants and randos who don't actually understand the stakes participating in bogus polls to make it appear like Reddit has a handle on the pulse of the community. Then Reddit can claim to be "fair" and "neutral" and…it's just absurd.
He's about two sentences away from saying the quiet part out loud. If he sees the mods as landed gentry how does he see the average redditor? the average admin team member? The average spez?
History teacher here. I find it incredibly ironic that a guy whose entire livelihood depends on unpaid workers to generate profits for him while he sits on his porch drinking sweet tea comfortable desk chair describes those workers as the "landed gentry."
With bigger subs, this strategy may actually work. A lot of Redditors just want to scroll, and they want their content. They don't care how it gets there.
The new spez company strategy will work because it has been tried and tested in many dictatorships in human history. The elites and workers (mods) in institutions (subs) critical to the state (company) regularly need to be purged of dissenters (protesters) to signal the strength of the dictator and make a coup (change in leadership) seem impossible. This lets those who are against the current course of the state lose their will to fight and pursue other avenues like flight (why I‘m here). It also gives a feeling of safety to those who don‘t care or support, since they need to see less of us dissenters.
Though, in the long run (and I mean many years), I think it will backfire. People like to read all kinds of comments, even those like mine though they are often cynical/paranoid mess. So without dissenters, it becomes a sludge of sameness that appeals only to the most boring people. Hopefully leading to a growth of decentralised platforms like this that could eventually surpass all corporate social media.
Yeah I'm seeing that a lot. Floods of comments about how dumb the blackout was and that they just want to browse Reddit. I know r/SquaredCircle pledged to go dark indefinitely and there was a lot of outrage about it. I'll be very interested to see if it comes back as that was a sizeable subreddit
I've read that, at times in the past, Reddit has used bots or plants in comment threads to stear the conversation. It makes me wonder if any of that is happening now. I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist, but at this point I have very little trust in the Reddit staff.
“I also have this somewhat egotistical view that I’m a pretty good leader. I will probably be in charge, or at least not a slave, when push comes to shove.”
federated social is a better way forward in every way possible that matters (to me). these entitled pricks believe they own the labour of the people that actually create the content.
if the mods are "landed gentry" then he is part of the reddit royal family and their reign has been rendered useless (to me). there is no democracy when the serfs are an afterthought to the king and court; the equivalent of monkeys trained to dance and press buttons.
It would be interesting to see what happens if some of the 3rd-party devs that are being screwed over by spez make some lemmy/kbin apps that are superior to the reddit app.
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