Here’s the list of highlights from the article, as it’s a good TL;DR:

  • The Reddit app-pocalyse is here: Apollo, Sync, and BaconReader go dark
  • How Reddit crushed the biggest protest in its history
  • Reddit will remove mods of private communities unless they reopen
  • Reddit CEO Steve Huffman isn’t backing down: our full interview
  • Why disabled users joined the Reddit blackout
  • Apollo’s Christian Selig explains his fight with Reddit — and why users revolted
  • A developer says Reddit could charge him $20 million a year to keep his app working
  • OpenStars@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Not all that many actually. Even traffic itself has only gone down by ~7-14% iirc, and by some metrics it has actually gone UP since the start of the protests!

    One main reason is that the technology here is not the same as there - this place does not give that feeling that “daddy will take care of you” that Reddit does. Server outages, constant errors in trying to access content, or vote, or follow someone, you actually have to read a manual to understand stuff, things don’t work so intuitively especially for those wanting an exact replacement (making a “post” won’t work as expected, for that you need a “thread”), and perhaps worst of all, there’s that initial hump of which instance to even sign up to in order to get started (after which it gets much easier, but I bet that legit turns people away). People keep saying that you can transfer over to a new place if you want to later, but that conveniently leaves out how that functionality does not exist yet. So like if you accidentally signed up to lemmy.ml not really how shitty it is and decided that you wanted to join kbin.social instead - kidding btw:-P - you’ll have to leave all the posts and comments and such behind.

    We are early adopters here - we like this feeling of “newness” - but we should not delude ourselves: this place is not for everyone, not yet. (and it is an open question whether it should be made to be thus, even?)

    Other reasons include people replacing & then deleting their accounts still counts as traffic, and all those pics of sexy John Olivier still count as “content” atm. People have not yet started to feel the burn of subs that no longer have moderators, or that have objectively shittier ones, and many are content to wait out the blackouts for those that are still down (like r/firefox - oh wait that’s back up now, though pointing people to come to kbin, leaving the Reddit community to discuss cute “red pandas” aka “fire foxes” going forward). Until people actually EXPERIENCE the consequences of Reddit’s decisions first-hand, it looks like many have just decided to stay put.

    Also, I’m keeping my account there. I’ll check it <1 hr per week instead of multiple hours a day (as a former mod), but I will continue to check in on both, to help my small gaming community deal with this ongoing crisis. Sometimes people will say like “it sucks but what are you going to do?”. For them, again, Lemmy/Kbin is not close to being an option yet. Until apps get better - happening RIGHT NOW - and maybe when old-reddit is killed off too.

    • Threadsdeadbaby@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I used red dit for over ten years. After these changes, I’m never going back. I’m not going to be forced to look at dumbass ads or pay $7/mo. Scumbag fucks. Yeah I’m bitter, so what? ;)

    • Crismus@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Good write-up.

      It took me a while until I got up to speed. The web ui was a lot easier to handle than old.reddit on a phone. Once I downloaded Liftoff, it was just like how Relay worked for me.

      Yea, the content hasn’t hit a critical mass, but I like being an early adopter again. I’m just surprised how fast Lemmy is moving. I haven’t felt the need to really browse Reddit in almost a fortnight now. Still missing some things. But I have hope for this place.