7 ms·

Poll: How do you browse Reddit without an excruciating experience?

26 points by bdcs 5y ago

hourislate 5y ago
Reddit it is a shit filled dumpster fire. If you need something specific then go to the individual sub directly. It's my hope bots decimate most of the non technology subs on that site.
thomassmith65 5y ago
I avoid any business that makes me fight it in order to enjoy it. Since Reddit is online, I can avoid it by blackholing anything hosted on 'reddit.com'
netsharc 5y ago
You should see the excruciating experience as a feature. 5 years ago I probably spent hours per day on reddit. Nowadays, maybe 30 minutes.
altairprime 5y ago
Special thanks to “ns.reddit.com” for No Suggestions mode!
leros 5y ago
I find the website and official app to be impossible to look at. I use Bacon Reader on my mobile devices.
throwawaynay 5y ago
I don't. I usually block it in /etc/hosts. Unblock it when I need to ask a question in r/cscareerquestions, in my country's subreddit or to look at a discussion I found while searching on google. Then I get sucked into it, browse the horrors of the front page for a while, get angry, and block it again. It's poison. The UI is not even the worse part(besides when you're trying to write a post), it's the content that's awful.
- op00to 5y ago
  I often feel bad after browsing Reddit. I don’t think I get a lot of positive benefit out of it, I may follow in your footsteps!
cyanydeez 5y ago
redditisfun
thebetatester 5y ago
I use the RIF Android app most of the time
BenjiWiebe 5y ago
RedReader on Android.
PaulHoule 5y ago
you don't.
- dredmorbius 5y ago
  This. As a decade+ user with a modestly successful personal subreddit ... when it became painfully obvious that Reddit would press to the point of pain in its new feature development, I signed out. That subreddit's "cake day" automated submission ... rather took the cake! https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/quxwoo/happy_cakeday_rdredmorbius_today_youre_8/ https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/quxwoo/happy_c... I've not completely abandoned Reddit. But I avoid the site where at all possible. Also relevant: "Don't contribute anything relevant in web forums" (2020) https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/ https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/ (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30328120 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30328120) Top comment on that thread specifically addresses Reddit.
  - toomuchtodo 5y ago
    So, I mod a subreddit that provides a somewhat important volunteer service for subscribers. The details aren’t important. My question is: what would be the most ideal off boarding experience to bring these folks to another platform from a subreddit? At first, I thought about forking teddit in such a way that the hosted app would have a domain, and would use teddit to proxy to the Reddit subreddit. I’d bootstrap existing users using oauth attestations, because the day will come where we’ll want to cut loose from Reddit but this would allow for sticky identities cross platform (unless I use Keybase instead for crypto identity attestation). And now I’m thinking about just using a mailing list and hosted Discourse instance, and I don’t think Mastadon is a fit for this use case. Thoughts?
    - dredmorbius 5y ago
      I'm partial to email lists, generally. They're still the open-standard leader, and offer the additional benefit that the directory is open, even to members, at least for active participants. I'd also strongly recommend setting up an independent blog, with an RSS/Atom feed. If nothing else, that's a contact and notification point for further communications. There's interesting stuff going on in the Federated space, but I don't see the options I've used (Diaspora*, Mastodon) as sufficient yet. These might be worth spinning up as an experiment though. See also Friendica and Hubzilla. The D Language discussion is based on, of all things, NNTP (Usenet), though it also presents a Web-based front-end. That might be worth looking at. I do have concerns over Usenet at scale, but within a closed organisation and with a moderated newsgroup or groups, it should be viable. Depending on your user-base, mobile support may be essential. That's ... something of a concern, though a good website design might be sufficient. Otherwise, I'm not really enthusiastic about much of anything at the moment.
hacknewslogin 5y ago
teddit.net
hitsurume 5y ago
I love old reddit, it doesn't clutter you with suggestions, and when you click on a thread, you know you're getting that thread only.
smolder 5y ago
Use old.reddit and only browse the niche subreddits that don't hit the front page. Helps avoid the bot farm spam content, manipulation by PR and marketers, etc. The eternal september on the site has gotten to be too much for me, but that's as much about me maturing as the sites demographic.
- patleeman 5y ago
  I'm so accustomed to old reddit that I don't think I could ever switch. old.reddit.com and old reddit redirect browser extension helps make it seamless.
cylinder714 5y ago
I use the mobile UI at i.reddit.com, or by appending ".compact" to the URL.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
throwawaycuriou 5y ago
Boost app on Android. RES on PC.
jagermo 5y ago
Baconreader.
claudiulodro 5y ago
I use 'rif is fun', though these days I never come away from a reddit session thinking "Boy, I sure got value out of that time spent", so maybe I should use the excruciating experience as a way to wean off reddit.
magios 5y ago
I use rtv, terminal reddit viewer
- dredmorbius 5y ago
  Really nice client, but unsupported AFAIU.
bennysomething 5y ago
i.reddit.com
thegeekpirate 5y ago
1) Use the extension which always redirects you to old.reddit.com (https://github.com/tom-james-watson/old-reddit-redirect https://github.com/tom-james-watson/old-reddit-redirect). 2) Only browse all.reddit.com, as there's no telling when a new subreddit will pop up that you'll enjoy. 3) Use the Reddit Enhancement Suite (RES) to filter out any subreddits you see that you're not interested in. I currently have 3,557 subreddits blocked. 4) Create backups of your RES settings in case of disaster. 5) Use the ability to tag users as often as you deem necessary, and block the truly heinous users. You'll see those tags pop up often.
- xeromal 5y ago
  FYI, RES is on life support and is no longer being actively developed. A sad day.
- cyanydeez 5y ago
  all, but switch to top and top within an hour. if you dont have those settings, use redditisfun
rg111 5y ago
Nobody has mentioned Infinity[0][1]- an open source reddit client for Android. It lets you download videos, hides all ads, and takes care of privacy concerns. I have used it for almost an year now. And I recommend it. [0]: https://github.com/Docile-Alligator/Infinity-For-Reddit https://github.com/Docile-Alligator/Infinity-For-Reddit [1]: https://f-droid.org/packages/ml.docilealligator.infinityforreddit https://f-droid.org/packages/ml.docilealligator.infinityforr...
- shostack 5y ago
  How secure are 3rd party clients? Could they be capturing your login credentials? What about reading private messages and such+I'm
xeromal 5y ago
Just an FYI to anyone who cares, RES is on life-support and is no longer being maintained. They are looking for people to take an active role in support and are open to PRs. They are also accepting donations if you feel gratitude for what they've provided over the years. I personally sent them $10, but they deserve more than that.
sixhobbits 5y ago
Libredd.it used to be my favourite but its been down for while. You can create your own at libredd.it/__repl Teddit.net is ok. i.reddit.com or old.reddit.com can be faster. Popular.pics if you just want images.
KnobbleMcKnees 5y ago
I assume that if 'reddit is fun' aka 'rif' was in this poll then it would be winning, as I've tried every other option in the poll and they are all horrid, bloated affairs bursting at the seams with the most pointless and unnecessary features. I like rif for the same reason I like hackernews, because it focuses on the experience of viewing content, not on banal social media features.
bloqs 5y ago
On android use Sync. On browser, login, save dark theme and ensure it's set to 'classic' view. After a short adjustment period it's very functional. I now find old reddit irritating.
tragictrash 5y ago
Reddit is a cesspool, nothing can make those endless pedantic comments palatable.
- Froedlich 5y ago
  I dunno, Stack Exchange is surely breathing down Reddit's neck in that category...
- m-p-3 5y ago
  It highly depends on the subreddits you visit. Some are relatively small and aren't run down to the ground by memes.
wanderingmind 5y ago
For desktop/laptop computers, Just use https everywhere to redirect reddit.com to old.reddit.com. It works like a charm. The difficulty I have is to redirect it to /.compact in mobile
- chii 5y ago
  use i.reddit.com (which redirects to the /.compact version of the urls).
jsnodlin 5y ago
karmakaze 5y ago
Make my own multireddits for groups of subreddits.
more_corn 5y ago
I added Reddit to my pihole blacklist. I am now no longer annoyed by Reddit UX dark patterns and bullshit.
anotherevan 5y ago
old.reddit.com on desktop. Redreader on Android. RSS feeds instead of subscribing. Goes straight to my feed reader with everything else.
m-p-3 5y ago
old.reddit.com, and third-party mobile apps (Apollo on iOS, Sync for Reddit on Android)

26 points by bdcs 5y ago

Reddit it is a shit filled dumpster fire. If you need something specific then go to the individual sub directly. It's my hope bots decimate most of the non technology subs on that site.

thomassmith65 5y ago

I avoid any business that makes me fight it in order to enjoy it. Since Reddit is online, I can avoid it by blackholing anything hosted on 'reddit.com'

netsharc 5y ago

You should see the excruciating experience as a feature. 5 years ago I probably spent hours per day on reddit. Nowadays, maybe 30 minutes.

altairprime 5y ago

Special thanks to “ns.reddit.com” for No Suggestions mode!

leros 5y ago

I find the website and official app to be impossible to look at. I use Bacon Reader on my mobile devices.

throwawaynay 5y ago

I don't. I usually block it in /etc/hosts. Unblock it when I need to ask a question in r/cscareerquestions, in my country's subreddit or to look at a discussion I found while searching on google. Then I get sucked into it, browse the horrors of the front page for a while, get angry, and block it again. It's poison. The UI is not even the worse part(besides when you're trying to write a post), it's the content that's awful.

op00to 5y ago
I often feel bad after browsing Reddit. I don’t think I get a lot of positive benefit out of it, I may follow in your footsteps!

cyanydeez 5y ago

redditisfun

thebetatester 5y ago

I use the RIF Android app most of the time

BenjiWiebe 5y ago

RedReader on Android.

PaulHoule 5y ago

you don't.

dredmorbius 5y ago
This. As a decade+ user with a modestly successful personal subreddit ... when it became painfully obvious that Reddit would press to the point of pain in its new feature development, I signed out. That subreddit's "cake day" automated submission ... rather took the cake! https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/quxwoo/happy_cakeday_rdredmorbius_today_youre_8/ https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/quxwoo/happy_c... I've not completely abandoned Reddit. But I avoid the site where at all possible. Also relevant: "Don't contribute anything relevant in web forums" (2020) https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/ https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/ (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30328120 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30328120) Top comment on that thread specifically addresses Reddit.
- toomuchtodo 5y ago
  So, I mod a subreddit that provides a somewhat important volunteer service for subscribers. The details aren’t important. My question is: what would be the most ideal off boarding experience to bring these folks to another platform from a subreddit? At first, I thought about forking teddit in such a way that the hosted app would have a domain, and would use teddit to proxy to the Reddit subreddit. I’d bootstrap existing users using oauth attestations, because the day will come where we’ll want to cut loose from Reddit but this would allow for sticky identities cross platform (unless I use Keybase instead for crypto identity attestation). And now I’m thinking about just using a mailing list and hosted Discourse instance, and I don’t think Mastadon is a fit for this use case. Thoughts?
  - dredmorbius 5y ago
    I'm partial to email lists, generally. They're still the open-standard leader, and offer the additional benefit that the directory is open, even to members, at least for active participants. I'd also strongly recommend setting up an independent blog, with an RSS/Atom feed. If nothing else, that's a contact and notification point for further communications. There's interesting stuff going on in the Federated space, but I don't see the options I've used (Diaspora*, Mastodon) as sufficient yet. These might be worth spinning up as an experiment though. See also Friendica and Hubzilla. The D Language discussion is based on, of all things, NNTP (Usenet), though it also presents a Web-based front-end. That might be worth looking at. I do have concerns over Usenet at scale, but within a closed organisation and with a moderated newsgroup or groups, it should be viable. Depending on your user-base, mobile support may be essential. That's ... something of a concern, though a good website design might be sufficient. Otherwise, I'm not really enthusiastic about much of anything at the moment.

hacknewslogin 5y ago

teddit.net

hitsurume 5y ago

I love old reddit, it doesn't clutter you with suggestions, and when you click on a thread, you know you're getting that thread only.

smolder 5y ago

Use old.reddit and only browse the niche subreddits that don't hit the front page. Helps avoid the bot farm spam content, manipulation by PR and marketers, etc. The eternal september on the site has gotten to be too much for me, but that's as much about me maturing as the sites demographic.

patleeman 5y ago
I'm so accustomed to old reddit that I don't think I could ever switch. old.reddit.com and old reddit redirect browser extension helps make it seamless.

cylinder714 5y ago

I use the mobile UI at i.reddit.com, or by appending ".compact" to the URL.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

throwawaycuriou 5y ago

Boost app on Android. RES on PC.

jagermo 5y ago

Baconreader.

claudiulodro 5y ago

I use 'rif is fun', though these days I never come away from a reddit session thinking "Boy, I sure got value out of that time spent", so maybe I should use the excruciating experience as a way to wean off reddit.

magios 5y ago

I use rtv, terminal reddit viewer

dredmorbius 5y ago
Really nice client, but unsupported AFAIU.

bennysomething 5y ago

i.reddit.com

thegeekpirate 5y ago

1) Use the extension which always redirects you to old.reddit.com (https://github.com/tom-james-watson/old-reddit-redirect https://github.com/tom-james-watson/old-reddit-redirect). 2) Only browse all.reddit.com, as there's no telling when a new subreddit will pop up that you'll enjoy. 3) Use the Reddit Enhancement Suite (RES) to filter out any subreddits you see that you're not interested in. I currently have 3,557 subreddits blocked. 4) Create backups of your RES settings in case of disaster. 5) Use the ability to tag users as often as you deem necessary, and block the truly heinous users. You'll see those tags pop up often.

xeromal 5y ago
FYI, RES is on life support and is no longer being actively developed. A sad day.
cyanydeez 5y ago
all, but switch to top and top within an hour. if you dont have those settings, use redditisfun

rg111 5y ago

Nobody has mentioned Infinity[0][1]- an open source reddit client for Android. It lets you download videos, hides all ads, and takes care of privacy concerns. I have used it for almost an year now. And I recommend it. [0]: https://github.com/Docile-Alligator/Infinity-For-Reddit https://github.com/Docile-Alligator/Infinity-For-Reddit [1]: https://f-droid.org/packages/ml.docilealligator.infinityforreddit https://f-droid.org/packages/ml.docilealligator.infinityforr...

shostack 5y ago
How secure are 3rd party clients? Could they be capturing your login credentials? What about reading private messages and such+I'm

xeromal 5y ago

Just an FYI to anyone who cares, RES is on life-support and is no longer being maintained. They are looking for people to take an active role in support and are open to PRs. They are also accepting donations if you feel gratitude for what they've provided over the years. I personally sent them $10, but they deserve more than that.

sixhobbits 5y ago

Libredd.it used to be my favourite but its been down for while. You can create your own at libredd.it/__repl Teddit.net is ok. i.reddit.com or old.reddit.com can be faster. Popular.pics if you just want images.

KnobbleMcKnees 5y ago

I assume that if 'reddit is fun' aka 'rif' was in this poll then it would be winning, as I've tried every other option in the poll and they are all horrid, bloated affairs bursting at the seams with the most pointless and unnecessary features. I like rif for the same reason I like hackernews, because it focuses on the experience of viewing content, not on banal social media features.

bloqs 5y ago

On android use Sync. On browser, login, save dark theme and ensure it's set to 'classic' view. After a short adjustment period it's very functional. I now find old reddit irritating.

tragictrash 5y ago

Reddit is a cesspool, nothing can make those endless pedantic comments palatable.

Froedlich 5y ago
I dunno, Stack Exchange is surely breathing down Reddit's neck in that category...
m-p-3 5y ago
It highly depends on the subreddits you visit. Some are relatively small and aren't run down to the ground by memes.

wanderingmind 5y ago

For desktop/laptop computers, Just use https everywhere to redirect reddit.com to old.reddit.com. It works like a charm. The difficulty I have is to redirect it to /.compact in mobile

chii 5y ago
use i.reddit.com (which redirects to the /.compact version of the urls).

jsnodlin 5y ago

karmakaze 5y ago

Make my own multireddits for groups of subreddits.

more_corn 5y ago

I added Reddit to my pihole blacklist. I am now no longer annoyed by Reddit UX dark patterns and bullshit.

anotherevan 5y ago

old.reddit.com on desktop. Redreader on Android. RSS feeds instead of subscribing. Goes straight to my feed reader with everything else.

m-p-3 5y ago

old.reddit.com, and third-party mobile apps (Apollo on iOS, Sync for Reddit on Android)