d0om on 13/6/2023 at 18:49
So I've been absolutely terrible at checking in on TTLG for the past like, 15 years. But with the Reddit Blackout and API changes blocking 3rd party apps I remembered that forums were really where it all should take place!
Is anyone else giving up Reddit for these two days?
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SD on 13/6/2023 at 20:06
I had no idea what it was all about. A quick Google shows, surprise surprise, it's about a bunch of freeloaders trying to get something for nothing.
d0om on 13/6/2023 at 20:15
Not really, the API is currently used extensively by the people who moderate the Subreddits. They are all unpaid volunteers.
Reddit is charging ridiculously high prices with only 30 days notice; so all the third party apps which let Reddit function are going to go away.
The 3rd party apps made Reddit much better, and they could have simply put adverts into the API feed if income was the issue.
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Aja on 13/6/2023 at 21:41
Well, the Reddit CEO seems to think that Reddit's value is somehow independent of its users. I'm a regular user, but I deleted my app and probably won't use it again at least until something changes. I guess I never really considered that the content posted there is wholly owned by the company to use as they see fit, and that's on me, but if nothing else this situation has been a wake-up call that I should try to restrict my online presence to venues that aren't actively trying to harvest my data. And while Reddit is occasionally a useful resource, in general it's more of a time waster than anything.
Tocky on 14/6/2023 at 01:37
Way ahead of them. I got suspended five days ago and have two days left before I can post again. A Russian propaganda shill admitted it to one poster so another poster asked how much they were paid and they said 1000 a month. I said what is that US? About five dollars? And that they wouldn't be getting the Putin potatoes this month because they admitted it.
The r/LookatmyHalo admin charged me with harassment. Nothing done to the admitted paid propagandist. Nobody at the appeals helm. So yeah, fuck those admins. I hope they cry so hard their Putin potatoes rot.
I think a lot of the conservative ones are run by Russians. r/bestconspiracymemes for certain.
Nameless Voice on 14/6/2023 at 01:49
Reddit's a kind of strange site.
On the one hand, it's kind of a nice idea to have a "centralised forum", so you don't have to sign up to various different fora each with their own credentials, theme, layout, etc.
But... the site itself is rather terrible. The UI is pretty bad unless you use the RES extension - mostly because it won't show you which posts are new unless you either use an extension or, presumably, pay.
Also, the upvote/downvote thing kind of forces homogenised opinions on the larger subreddits. Say things that are popular to farm upvotes, say anything that isn't popular and get downvoted to oblivion.
There's also the fact that a lot of the larger subreddits are pretty toxic, especially gaming ones, and that's amplified by the voting system - though that probably has more to do with the sad fact that most large gaming communities seem to be toxic in general, regardless of platform. Other subreddits with different communities can be perfectly nice.
demagogue on 14/6/2023 at 02:23
It really depends on the subreddit. For a lot of them, they're trying to make a little community just for that subreddit, at least the ones that don't have too many people. But you really don't have people sticking around and posting that much for them to work like that, and I think a subreddit by itself just isn't enough to sustain anything community-like. I mean it's not like I remember people's names from subreddits, except a few times when people wanted to "be friends", and that creeped me out because I don't post there all that often anyway.
Facebook groups are the only other new outlet I know that's gotten closer to the ideal, but the ones with regular good content have too many people to really make those work. Once you get too many people it's going to start getting toxic.
Forums like this are supposed to have been dead since like 2006, but really this is still probably the best model to have people actually talking with each other for the long haul. Anyway we seem to have pulled it off for as long as we have.
Okay, some Discord groups are pretty good, although they're probably the most "forum like" of the Internet 2.0 kind of platforms anyway.
Cipheron on 14/6/2023 at 03:07
Quote Posted by SD
I had no idea what it was all about. A quick Google shows, surprise surprise, it's about a bunch of freeloaders trying to get something for nothing.
That's really not what's going on.
The subreddit moderators are unpaid volunteer labor that totally make Reddit function. It's the company getting something for nothing.
The APIs allow tools that make moderation easier and less time-consuming. Now, Reddit wants to charge the users of the APIs for having those tools.
So basically they want to turn their unpaid labor into a profit factory, by creating a situation that makes it as annoying as possible to be a volunteer unless your sub ponies up some cash to have some helper bots.
Maybe they can justify that it's to prevent scammers using bots ... but since they're merely charging for the privilege now, then only scammers or other groups who have a net positive revenue stream will be able to afford to run the bots.
As an example of a basic bot, look at subs where there's an automatic message posted each time a post goes up, with some reminders and housekeeping. Under the new system, Reddit will expect the sub to PAY for that message being printed.
So, imagine the situation going forward where every API access is charged ... then someone comes along and spams your sub with a ton of bullshit troll posts, and you as the moderator have ZERO way to stop that happening, then the auto-message goes up and Reddit charges YOU every time it's printed, because that used the "API", whereas the dickhead who troll spammed your sub doesn't have to pay, and Reddit gives you no way of preventing that.
Tocky on 14/6/2023 at 03:11
I agree. It's not really conducive to friendships. I have read single posts that touched me as honest and deep and made me reach out to them in the next comment but then we go our separate ways. But I never talk to anyone in the messages section except to thank them for an award. And I have never followed anyone. I haven't even followed anyone back. It's creepy. And it makes me really suspicious to gain a lot of followers suddenly. I think of it more as picking up a bunch of enemies on my trail. Like they want to follow and downvote or stalk to report infractions, even BS ones because reddit never actually checks appeals, because they know I will expose them for what they are and they need to get rid of me.
I rarely change my opinion and sure as hell not because of downvotes. If I see anyone downvoted that I agree with I'll come in on their side. Some conservative forums like antivax ones I will get blocked from replying because I can't hold back truth for long and can only come in to downvote the stupidity but I still do that out of spite. I've also been blocked on super left sites because I'm honest. I recall there was one on r/witchesvspatriarchy where someone was upset the hormones she was taking to level out her emotions were called birth control. I made the point that if she were that upset by something so innocuous they apparently were not working anyway. Blocked. I thought it was a perfectly fair observation. I could make such an observation here and it would be taken for the smart assery but possibly worth consideration statement it was with no repercussion.
There I have so much karma I never consider downvotes but I didn't in the beginning. I even went negative for a time. But even if I'm eventually banned there I wouldn't miss it like I would if I were banned here. This is family. I can be myself here, not that I'm not there but here I feel comfortable I will be judged fairly and by people who know me. If I'm judged harshly here I likely deserve it and will take it to heart.
Pyrian on 14/6/2023 at 03:17
I get new Reddit followers almost every day. They're just trying to promote their OnlyFans or some such. Often their account is gone by the time I look at it, lol.
