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This has reminded me how much my Reddit usage has dropped off a cliff after the third-party apps debacle. At first, it was as a futile protest, but then the in

This has reminded me how much my Reddit usage has dropped off a cliff after the third-party apps debacle. At first, it was as a futile protest, but then the inevitable addiction hunger kicked in. But this time, I had no choice to use the offical Reddit app. The sluggishness of that app added enough latency, that my Reddit consumption is now non-existent

romwell 2y ago
>The sluggishness of that app added enough latency, that my Reddit consumption is now non-existent As someone who's only been using the "old" interface (https://old.reddit.com https://old.reddit.com) on all platforms, I'm remaining blissfully unaware of the debacle. (And if you are reading this comment on HackerNews, that means you're absolutely OK with the "old"-style interfaces). Unfortunately, that means that my reddit usage time stays high.
- stouset 2y ago
  Unfortunately, the “old” web interface is nigh-unusable on mobile (no idea about “new”, I switch over every time). The targets are microscopic, and if you zoom in so they’re a reasonable size the text doesn’t reflow and you have to constantly horizontal-scroll. I was daily Reddit user, commenter, and poster until the third-party app shutdown. I still occasionally browse /r/$city anonymously, but other than that I haven’t returned. I don’t miss it in general, but I am sad to no longer see inspiration on home improvement, software engineering, and hobby subreddits.
  - adamzochowski 2y ago
    Why not change font zoom for old.reddit.com domain? In chrome and firefox: Settings accessibility text size.
    - stouset 2y ago
      I’m on Orion on iOS. I’ve glanced at if it’s possible, but frankly I’m fine with Reddit being a PITA to use. That just means I use it less.
- unethical_ban 2y ago
  Old is worse than HN. Unremovable sidebars, hard to click buttons unless you zoom. It's what I use on mobile but I mostly browse reddit on desktop. If I could only use mobil I would probably use it a lot less.
  - erkt 2y ago
    Hacker News is one of my absolutely favorite websites to use. I would argue MOST websites are worse than this blissfully simple text only interface. I would be hopelessly addicted to Reddit again if they had an HN-esque interface.
    - unethical_ban 2y ago
      I wish HN had a touch friendly comment/thread collapse UX, but otherwise it's pretty good. Slashdot is also surprisingly usable.
- was_a_dev 2y ago
  Prior to it all, the majority of my Reddit use was on mobile. So browsing Reddit on mobile via a desktop website is clunky enough to have the same effect as above
rootusrootus 2y ago
I'm curious how it has all played out since the debacle. Has there been a noticeable decrease in traffic? Anecdotally, the bot traffic is quite high now, but that was going up already. I refuse to install the app. Reddit aggressively tags random posts as NSFW and then offers "anonymous" browsing if only I install the app. What? That's silly. And creepy. Going to old.reddit.com still works if there is something I want to see, but I suppose eventually they will close that loophole. And thus will end my reddit experience. I already got rid of my own account ages ago, so I only read, and that cut my interaction time way down. Force me to use the app and we're done.
- hamandcheese 2y ago
  > Reddit aggressively tags random posts as NSFW and then offers "anonymous" browsing if only I install the app. What? That's silly. "Request desktop site" setting in mobile Safari also works for me to bypass this.
  - kevin_thibedeau 2y ago
    Old Reddit Redirect and Reddit Enhancement Suite on Firefox cut out all of their BS.
    - Onawa 2y ago
      Only for as long as they allow old.reddit.com to exist. The rug can get pulled at anytime.
      - red-iron-pine 2y ago
        once that rug is gone, so am I. I suspect several other folks in this discussion chain are of similar disposition
- tmpz22 2y ago
  Reddit stock price has been going up since the IPO I believe not as a result of user or ads growth but because they've been selling data to AI companies for training. IMO the quality of Reddit's product has never been a pillar of its valuation.
MisterTea 2y ago
A similar approach to curb mindless web surfing was to inject similar latency by disabling the URL bar from showing any suggestions. This way you have to type every website name in making it hard to e.g. type in a search terms starting with 'n' and having news.ycombinator.com pop up enticing me to check hn.
- david_allison 2y ago
  Is there an up-to-date tutorial on how to do this in Chrome?
  - MisterTea 2y ago
    I use Firefox mostly though I do use Chrome for my Google stuff but not casual browsing. I suppose there might be an extension?
brailsafe 2y ago
After reading the article, I was on my way to make similarly themed jab at Reddit i.e "didn't reddit already add 9000ms of latency to every interaction?" But now that I think of it, after just choosing to delete my account and go cold turkey, what keeps me from habitually returning is the same thing that would discourage me from spending time with friends I only drank with after having spent some time away, or what keeps me from moving back to my home town, or what keeps me from getting another car; not a lot changes, it's more apparent than ever nobody has anything interesting to say, and driving has always sucked. They're self-reinforcing cycles.
- ChainOfFools 2y ago
  > it's more apparent than ever nobody has anything interesting to say, Krugman's observation, so often maligned and mocked for the past 20 years, to the effect that he was ignorantly claiming to have seen through something he had not even seen, is starting to look more and more prescient: 'The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in “Metcalfe’s law”—which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants—becomes apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! '

romwell 2y ago

>The sluggishness of that app added enough latency, that my Reddit consumption is now non-existent As someone who's only been using the "old" interface (https://old.reddit.com https://old.reddit.com) on all platforms, I'm remaining blissfully unaware of the debacle. (And if you are reading this comment on HackerNews, that means you're absolutely OK with the "old"-style interfaces). Unfortunately, that means that my reddit usage time stays high.

stouset 2y ago
Unfortunately, the “old” web interface is nigh-unusable on mobile (no idea about “new”, I switch over every time). The targets are microscopic, and if you zoom in so they’re a reasonable size the text doesn’t reflow and you have to constantly horizontal-scroll. I was daily Reddit user, commenter, and poster until the third-party app shutdown. I still occasionally browse /r/$city anonymously, but other than that I haven’t returned. I don’t miss it in general, but I am sad to no longer see inspiration on home improvement, software engineering, and hobby subreddits.
- adamzochowski 2y ago
  Why not change font zoom for old.reddit.com domain? In chrome and firefox: Settings accessibility text size.
  - stouset 2y ago
    I’m on Orion on iOS. I’ve glanced at if it’s possible, but frankly I’m fine with Reddit being a PITA to use. That just means I use it less.
unethical_ban 2y ago
Old is worse than HN. Unremovable sidebars, hard to click buttons unless you zoom. It's what I use on mobile but I mostly browse reddit on desktop. If I could only use mobil I would probably use it a lot less.
- erkt 2y ago
  Hacker News is one of my absolutely favorite websites to use. I would argue MOST websites are worse than this blissfully simple text only interface. I would be hopelessly addicted to Reddit again if they had an HN-esque interface.
  - unethical_ban 2y ago
    I wish HN had a touch friendly comment/thread collapse UX, but otherwise it's pretty good. Slashdot is also surprisingly usable.
was_a_dev 2y ago
Prior to it all, the majority of my Reddit use was on mobile. So browsing Reddit on mobile via a desktop website is clunky enough to have the same effect as above

rootusrootus 2y ago

I'm curious how it has all played out since the debacle. Has there been a noticeable decrease in traffic? Anecdotally, the bot traffic is quite high now, but that was going up already. I refuse to install the app. Reddit aggressively tags random posts as NSFW and then offers "anonymous" browsing if only I install the app. What? That's silly. And creepy. Going to old.reddit.com still works if there is something I want to see, but I suppose eventually they will close that loophole. And thus will end my reddit experience. I already got rid of my own account ages ago, so I only read, and that cut my interaction time way down. Force me to use the app and we're done.

hamandcheese 2y ago
> Reddit aggressively tags random posts as NSFW and then offers "anonymous" browsing if only I install the app. What? That's silly. "Request desktop site" setting in mobile Safari also works for me to bypass this.
- kevin_thibedeau 2y ago
  Old Reddit Redirect and Reddit Enhancement Suite on Firefox cut out all of their BS.
  - Onawa 2y ago
    Only for as long as they allow old.reddit.com to exist. The rug can get pulled at anytime.
    - red-iron-pine 2y ago
      once that rug is gone, so am I. I suspect several other folks in this discussion chain are of similar disposition
tmpz22 2y ago
Reddit stock price has been going up since the IPO I believe not as a result of user or ads growth but because they've been selling data to AI companies for training. IMO the quality of Reddit's product has never been a pillar of its valuation.

MisterTea 2y ago

A similar approach to curb mindless web surfing was to inject similar latency by disabling the URL bar from showing any suggestions. This way you have to type every website name in making it hard to e.g. type in a search terms starting with 'n' and having news.ycombinator.com pop up enticing me to check hn.

david_allison 2y ago
Is there an up-to-date tutorial on how to do this in Chrome?
- MisterTea 2y ago
  I use Firefox mostly though I do use Chrome for my Google stuff but not casual browsing. I suppose there might be an extension?

brailsafe 2y ago

After reading the article, I was on my way to make similarly themed jab at Reddit i.e "didn't reddit already add 9000ms of latency to every interaction?" But now that I think of it, after just choosing to delete my account and go cold turkey, what keeps me from habitually returning is the same thing that would discourage me from spending time with friends I only drank with after having spent some time away, or what keeps me from moving back to my home town, or what keeps me from getting another car; not a lot changes, it's more apparent than ever nobody has anything interesting to say, and driving has always sucked. They're self-reinforcing cycles.

ChainOfFools 2y ago
> it's more apparent than ever nobody has anything interesting to say, Krugman's observation, so often maligned and mocked for the past 20 years, to the effect that he was ignorantly claiming to have seen through something he had not even seen, is starting to look more and more prescient: 'The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in “Metcalfe’s law”—which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants—becomes apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! '