this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2023
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Technology

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hey everyone. if you want to post links or discuss the Reddit blackout today, please localize it to this thread in order to keep things tidy! Thanks!

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Spez has told Reddit staff that the Reddit blackout “will pass”.

He’s right, it will. And that’s the problem.

A two day blackout means nothing to Spez and Reddit. What it tells them is “we can treat the userbase and developers like shit and they’ll still use our platform for the other 363 days of the year”.

The only thing that will force Reddit to the negotiating table is blacking out indefinitely. Not a single protesting subreddit opens back up until they realise what made the company so attractive to investors in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

There are a couple of subreddits that will go blackout indefinitely. I think r/video is one of them, and it's quite big. This can be annoying for the platform.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

They can, and probably will, replace the mods I wager

But a bunch of people will be permanently gone by then I hope

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

As others mentioned, if any worthwhile subreddit goes dark, then the mods will be replaced and it'll be brought back.

Creating some noise works only if anyone is listening and willing to respond and enact change. Absolutely not in this scenario. The sad reality is the vocal ones are in the minority in the grand scheme of things. The 50k people leaving is, probably, pocket change and aren't the ones that the platform is geared towards nowadays.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Excellent, I can only hope more join them.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don't expect anything to change at reddit and I don't need it to. All I need is for the shitshow to bring kbin/Lemmy up to an amount of users where they keep some form of forward momentum when this is over. If that happens, reddit's death certificate is signed, just for a future date.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Agree. It is not about negotiating. The point is we need a open Forum platform. Usenet use to be that platform, and it got shutdown basically by ISPs that did not want the cost and hassle. Then everything fragmented into separate websites, then it re-consolidated around one commercial platform for each segment. I.E. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Youtube, Instagram, ... That is the fundamental problem. The Fediverse frankly is the only thing I have seen to at least makes a credible try to change that. ALL of these should be decentralized or federated, one or the other.

Other point I would make, Forums have a lot less network effect then friends networks like Facebook. My point is that less scale is required.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I think lemmy is pretty much at the number of users now where it can self propagate. I dont care what happens to reddit past this point, as long as lemmy stays active

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Being out for a few days or a week could be enough for a disapera to form and go elsewhere. For me, I am finding Lemmy and Mastodon are more usable. If even 1% go to Lemmy or Masatadon, a critical mass might be established and people will stay.

[–] Bobert 3 points 1 year ago

Blacking out indefinitely won't change a thing. Reddit has before and will again, if threatened this way, re-open shuttered subs if they believe it is valuable for their bottom line.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Agreed, but I don't think negotiating is going to do anything. If they were to negotiate, it would likely only work temporarily. They would likely just changes the terms of the deal when it suits them.

I really feel like Reddit is in "pumping money out of the users" mode at their own expense.

Sadly the only solution feels like parting ways with them.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Maybe so. It wouldn't be the first time - I've left platforms that have gone downhill before and I'll do it again. But it is psychologically difficult to let go of a site that I've used for over a decade and made so many connections through. That's how they get you I suppose, the sunk cost fallacy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

For sure. I feel the same way. I feel like I've developed hobbies from niche subreddits I've discovered over the years. Makes me wonder what other interests I could get into if I stuck it out. But I won't be doing that with their horrible mobile app, or to be spammed to use the mobile app every time I access the site from a mobile browser.

I've made my peace with it and I'm going to move on.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Not to mention, it doesn't feel like the blackout did anything either. I opened up r/all on Sync just now and it didn't feel any different than it did a week ago besides a bunch of posts that say that Reddit is killing 3rd-party apps.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I noticed the same. All it really showed me was how many subs didn't black out…

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Some subs went into restricted posting mode and made it so the only post in the past 2 days is that Reddit is killing 3rd-party apps. I'm not sure how you are expecting r/all to actually look. Even if every major subs closed their doors forever, as long as there is any activity on the site r/all will be populated.