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Agree on how the platform’s have changed. However, I don’t think Reddit is an exception. Popular is often filled with content that is driven by the feelings of

Agree on how the platform’s have changed. However, I don’t think Reddit is an exception. Popular is often filled with content that is driven by the feelings of fear and hate. Not something I’d like to continually expose kids or teens to.

api 8mo ago
Smaller subs can still be decent but I agree about popular and larger subs. They’re just brain rot and engagement bait now.
- rhines 8mo ago
  Yeah that's really the issue with all social media. If you restrict yourself to just checking what friends post on Facebook, or what people you subscribe to post on YouTube, those platforms are pretty healthy too. It's when you go to the infinite content feed that sites become an issue.
- Aurornis 8mo ago
  I don't know any more. Even the small subs I previously visited for good content have turned into their own little echo chambers, along with a lot of drive-by posts because small subs get recommended in other people's feeds now. In some of the hobby subreddits where I had good discussions in the past it's now just one big echo chamber of people parroting the same information around, whether it's true or not. If you want to participate you either need to toe the line of the accepted brands/methods/techniques or keep your mouth shut. Most of us just get tired and give up
Aurornis 8mo ago
I agree completely about Reddit. It's a clickbait factory with a misinformation density that makes my Facebook feed look downright informative. I was an early Reddit user. It felt like there was a distinct shift when the site went from programming and news topics to being meme-heavy. Then again recently when they started recommending niche subreddits into everyone's feeds so that even the small subreddits couldn't count on being islands of quality. Now it's just a doomerism factory. The young Redditors I've known feel like they've had their hope about the future hollowed out and crushed. They open the site and consuming a stream of content telling them that everything is awful and will continue to be awful, and anyone who disagrees is shouted down and downvoted. It's a real crabs-in-a-bucket website now.
- shevy-java 8mo ago
  > It felt like there was a distinct shift Yeah there definitely was a change in reddit, probably more than once. It changed indeed. To the worse, too.
whyenot 8mo ago
What I find particularly bad about Reddit is the platform is specifically designed to amplify group think and silence competing opinions. All it takes is five more downvotes than upvotes and a comment will lose visibility. It can turn subreddits into little bubbles where like-minded people upvote each other and almost never have to see dissenting opinions. That may not be a big deal on a gardening subreddit, but it can be a big problem or even dangerous elsewhere.
- Aurornis 8mo ago
  > That may not be a big deal on a gardening subreddit, I had to abandon my last few hobby subreddits because there were a few chronically online people who had to control the conversation in every single post with their opinions. If anyone didn't agree, their comments would mysteriously go to -3 or below within 30 minutes of posting. It's all little fiefdoms for chronically online people now.
  - Imustaskforhelp 8mo ago
    What are your thoughts on lemmy, maybe the hobby can be extremely niche but you can even be the moderator yourself on a lemmy instance and I think that a federated reddit alternative would be nice too! If I may ask, what are the hobbies that you are talking about?
    - NoMoreNicksLeft 8mo ago
      >What are your thoughts on lemmy, I was hopeful when I found out about it... The trouble I think, going forward, is that no matter how good the technology of a new forum might be, everyone is primed and ready to flock to it. How could anything be good if the same 500,000 redditors that turned it into shit show up the first week? Worse, even if they don't, there are all sorts of crackpots who try to preempt by colonizing new ones early hoping that they can sway the thing once it gets big (Lemmy and the commies). This is Eternal September.
      - Imustaskforhelp 8mo ago
oliwarner 8mo ago
I use old.reddit.com but I feel like I have complete control over what I see. It's new posts, I check them and then I leave. That's what I've lost on Facebook. It forces me to see things its algorithm thinks I like, but more often than not, it's things that make me want to argue. I don't have that on Reddit. Long may it last.
- shevy-java 8mo ago
  Funny that you use old.reddit.com. I used this too. I could not handle the new reddit - it was useless for me.
- arational 8mo ago
  Lately the algorithm for the front page sorted by hot or best has been changed. You'd see mostly threads from subreddit you recently visited. So you no longer have control over what you don't get to see.
  - GCUMstlyHarmls 8mo ago
    I use old.reddit on my desktop, new.reddit on my phone and new.reddit is constantly mashing in posts from a more niche "my-country" sub (eg: not the "main" /r/country) that's often got very baity posts (eg: guised "does anyone else hate immigrants??" posts). Same account, same behaviour, but the new site is really pushing "gross" stuff at me.
    - user34283 8mo ago
      [flagged]
      - computerthings 8mo ago
        [dead]
  - oliwarner 8mo ago
    Honestly, I don't use the front page. I frequent a diverse set of communities there but I can't imagine wanting to see all the posts mixed together. I go straight to subs' /new URLs.
UltraSane 8mo ago
I've been on reddit long enough to get sick of the constant reposts. They really should have a filter for that.
- AlexeyBelov 8mo ago
  But this is antithetical to what Reddit is. It's not like StackExchange websites, where the whole point is to create a database of canonical questions and answers. Reddit doesn't have some basic forum functionality by design. I've once talked to a person connected to someone at Reddit Inc, and they indirectly confirmed this (in retrospect it was very obvious).
  - UltraSane 8mo ago
    Why can't it be an option?

api 8mo ago

Smaller subs can still be decent but I agree about popular and larger subs. They’re just brain rot and engagement bait now.

rhines 8mo ago
Yeah that's really the issue with all social media. If you restrict yourself to just checking what friends post on Facebook, or what people you subscribe to post on YouTube, those platforms are pretty healthy too. It's when you go to the infinite content feed that sites become an issue.
Aurornis 8mo ago
I don't know any more. Even the small subs I previously visited for good content have turned into their own little echo chambers, along with a lot of drive-by posts because small subs get recommended in other people's feeds now. In some of the hobby subreddits where I had good discussions in the past it's now just one big echo chamber of people parroting the same information around, whether it's true or not. If you want to participate you either need to toe the line of the accepted brands/methods/techniques or keep your mouth shut. Most of us just get tired and give up

Aurornis 8mo ago

I agree completely about Reddit. It's a clickbait factory with a misinformation density that makes my Facebook feed look downright informative. I was an early Reddit user. It felt like there was a distinct shift when the site went from programming and news topics to being meme-heavy. Then again recently when they started recommending niche subreddits into everyone's feeds so that even the small subreddits couldn't count on being islands of quality. Now it's just a doomerism factory. The young Redditors I've known feel like they've had their hope about the future hollowed out and crushed. They open the site and consuming a stream of content telling them that everything is awful and will continue to be awful, and anyone who disagrees is shouted down and downvoted. It's a real crabs-in-a-bucket website now.

shevy-java 8mo ago
> It felt like there was a distinct shift Yeah there definitely was a change in reddit, probably more than once. It changed indeed. To the worse, too.

whyenot 8mo ago

What I find particularly bad about Reddit is the platform is specifically designed to amplify group think and silence competing opinions. All it takes is five more downvotes than upvotes and a comment will lose visibility. It can turn subreddits into little bubbles where like-minded people upvote each other and almost never have to see dissenting opinions. That may not be a big deal on a gardening subreddit, but it can be a big problem or even dangerous elsewhere.

Aurornis 8mo ago
> That may not be a big deal on a gardening subreddit, I had to abandon my last few hobby subreddits because there were a few chronically online people who had to control the conversation in every single post with their opinions. If anyone didn't agree, their comments would mysteriously go to -3 or below within 30 minutes of posting. It's all little fiefdoms for chronically online people now.
- Imustaskforhelp 8mo ago
  What are your thoughts on lemmy, maybe the hobby can be extremely niche but you can even be the moderator yourself on a lemmy instance and I think that a federated reddit alternative would be nice too! If I may ask, what are the hobbies that you are talking about?
  - NoMoreNicksLeft 8mo ago
    >What are your thoughts on lemmy, I was hopeful when I found out about it... The trouble I think, going forward, is that no matter how good the technology of a new forum might be, everyone is primed and ready to flock to it. How could anything be good if the same 500,000 redditors that turned it into shit show up the first week? Worse, even if they don't, there are all sorts of crackpots who try to preempt by colonizing new ones early hoping that they can sway the thing once it gets big (Lemmy and the commies). This is Eternal September.
    - Imustaskforhelp 8mo ago

oliwarner 8mo ago

I use old.reddit.com but I feel like I have complete control over what I see. It's new posts, I check them and then I leave. That's what I've lost on Facebook. It forces me to see things its algorithm thinks I like, but more often than not, it's things that make me want to argue. I don't have that on Reddit. Long may it last.

shevy-java 8mo ago
Funny that you use old.reddit.com. I used this too. I could not handle the new reddit - it was useless for me.
arational 8mo ago
Lately the algorithm for the front page sorted by hot or best has been changed. You'd see mostly threads from subreddit you recently visited. So you no longer have control over what you don't get to see.
- GCUMstlyHarmls 8mo ago
  I use old.reddit on my desktop, new.reddit on my phone and new.reddit is constantly mashing in posts from a more niche "my-country" sub (eg: not the "main" /r/country) that's often got very baity posts (eg: guised "does anyone else hate immigrants??" posts). Same account, same behaviour, but the new site is really pushing "gross" stuff at me.
  - user34283 8mo ago
    [flagged]
    - computerthings 8mo ago
      [dead]
- oliwarner 8mo ago
  Honestly, I don't use the front page. I frequent a diverse set of communities there but I can't imagine wanting to see all the posts mixed together. I go straight to subs' /new URLs.

UltraSane 8mo ago

I've been on reddit long enough to get sick of the constant reposts. They really should have a filter for that.

AlexeyBelov 8mo ago
But this is antithetical to what Reddit is. It's not like StackExchange websites, where the whole point is to create a database of canonical questions and answers. Reddit doesn't have some basic forum functionality by design. I've once talked to a person connected to someone at Reddit Inc, and they indirectly confirmed this (in retrospect it was very obvious).
- UltraSane 8mo ago
  Why can't it be an option?