This is the official technology community of Lemmy.ml for all news related to creation and use of technology, and to facilitate civil, meaningful discussion around it.
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Rules:
1: All Lemmy rules apply
2: Do not post low effort posts
3: NEVER post naziped*gore stuff
4: Always post article URLs or their archived version URLs as sources, NOT screenshots. Help the blind users.
5: personal rants of Big Tech CEOs like Elon Musk are unwelcome (does not include posts about their companies affecting wide range of people)
6: no advertisement posts unless verified as legitimate and non-exploitative/non-consumerist
7: crypto related posts, unless essential, are disallowed
Well, user traffic has returned to normal, but we also have to consider that it's just traffic. Some of that traffic is also a bunch of people talking about Reddit, protesting, etc.
That being said, I don't think Reddit will die from this, but it doesn't need to in order for the Fediverse to succeed. All it needs is to push enough people onto federated services and kickstart it, just like Twitter did with Mastodon. We aren't going to all switch overnight, it will be a gradual process.
My own reddit traffic has dropped right off since I discovered Lemmy. For now this place has the feel of the early internet: democratic, distributed and friendly. It really makes clear how repugnant Reddit has become.
It really does have that feel!
As someone who was around back then, being in the fediverse actually makes me feel young and lighthearted again.
I hadn't fully realised quite how soul-sucking the corporate web 2.0 was until now I'm completely off it.
Exactly. People also forget that reddit didn't spring up overnight, and the great digg migration wasn't a one-time en masse thing either. It was a slow bleed for 2~3 years even after digg's v4 redesign. Those that stayed on digg turned it into one huge circlejerk about how reddit sucked and it would never take off, and people would end up back on digg eventually ... EXACTLY like what is happening on reddit now. It will take time for Feddi to grow, but it will as long as dedicated users stick around and create interesting content
This is a good point. Because even websites which replaced others, oftentimes the older one is still there. Like even Digg still alive after Reddit got more popular. Some people say Tumblr's dead but its really not especially for specific interests like games. The success of you isnt based on the failure of someone else, and its important to remember and not become cross because reddit still has users. Especially its been only like 10 days and a lot have already gone onto other sites.
The success of you isnt based on the failure of someone else
Totally agree. Also, that's just a great wholesome motto for life in general tbh hahah.
We should focus on building the community we want and people will come.
A lot of sentiment seems to suggest that for Lemmy or the fediverse to succeed Reddit has to fail.
I don't get that opinion at all. Reddit had become overwhelming bloated. A popular thread would have thousands of comments. Most of which would be near identical. Only the most up voted would ever be read and typically they had to have been commented while the thread was new.
The internet is vast, there is plenty of room for multiple social media to exist.
If you dislike what reddit has become then ignore it. If you still wish to use it then you can do so side by side with using Lemmy.
I also feel like, if Reddit died and all the users jumped to Lemmy, Lemmy would die rather quickly as well.
Lemmy still has a long way to go.
I think that it's important to note the 1% rule.
Most of the traffic of any given platform will be created by people who interact with it only passively; they mostly lurk and, for good or bad, they don't care about it. Admins this, mods that, who the fuck cares, my cat pics sprout spontaneously from the internet.
In the meantime the people who actually contribute with the platform will be a tiny fraction of it. They don't add traffic, but they add value - because they're the ones responsible for creating the content (posting), aggregating value to the content (commenting), sorting the content (voting and moderating). The admins' decisions and the mod revolts affected specially bad this group. And... well, not even the stupid like to be called stupid, and that's basically what the admins did.
Now consider the link. The lurkers are back to Reddit because there's still content to be consumed there, but eventually it'll run dry - because the contributors are leaving the site. As such, you don't expect the mod revolts to have a short-term impact on the site, but rather a long-term one: the site will become less and less popular over time, as the lurkers are looking for content there and... well, nobody is providing them jack shit. Eventually the site will be forgotten by the masses, just like Digg was.
So Reddit will die, mind you. But it won't be a sudden death; it'll be a slow bleeding.
I just wish that this process was slightly faster, specially before the IPO.
This lurker won't (trying to not lurk here). I am happy to get away from there, enough content (and better quality) is here.
Thank you! (We need more content. Specially about other stuff than Reddit.)
That reminds me a caveat of the reasoning above: the "lurker" and "contributor" aren't different people, but different interactions with a platform. Someone might be a lurker in one platform but a contributor, for example. The conclusion is still the same though, people avoid contributing to platforms that they feel to be hostile towards them.
Hey, the repost bots will still be there :-D !
The content will stay, at least in terms of posts. If the value-adders go to other sites, someone will just repost that value back to reddit.
It'll devolve into something like instagram, where it's literally impossible to discuss anything in the comments. Unfortunately that doesn't mean they stop making money.
The content will stay, at least in terms of posts.
Content loses relevance over time, and becomes increasingly harder to retrieve as noise piles up: pointless threads, re-re-re-reposts, "marketing opportunities" (i.e. spam), so goes on. Reddit Inc.'s actions pissed off specially bad the people who were removing that noise - moderators.
someone will just repost that value back to reddit.
Usually you'd have the contributors doing this; the lurkers don't care about sharing. But even if someone/something (AI) consistently keeps posting stuff from other platforms back into Reddit, those newer posts will be further removed from the original source, and they'll arrive later. Reddit stops being the "front face of the internet" to become "yet another bottom feeder of the internet".
where it’s literally impossible to discuss anything in the comments. Unfortunately that doesn’t mean they stop making money.
In Reddit's case, I think that it does. Reddit might've started as a link aggregator, but its main value was as a forum platform. Without the ability to discuss anything deeper than "two plus two equals GOOD! EDIT WOW THANKS FOR THE GOLD, KIND STRANGER!@!11ONE", it's just yet another link aggregator again.
Am I the only one who thinks that having only a 7% dip in visits and a 16% reduction in time spent on site is really unusual when over 99% of the site was dark for 48 hours? To me, that suggests that something fucky is going on with the count of real users vs bots on the site.
Huffman has fully torpedoed any credibility he held before this fiasco. I don't trust any statements he could exert influence over.
I'm going to continue using rif until it shuts down at the end of the month but there's no way I'm downloading their shitty app. I have a feeling a lot of people are in the same boat.
I'm not surprised, but you can't forget that a lot of people on reddit don't really post or comment a lot. I myself was one of them, I'm way more active here than I ever was on reddit though.
Same.
I feel like the people here are way more open for discourse, which makes it a lot less scary to voice your thoughts.
Still haven't posted anything though, I'm not a conversation starter, but rather a participant. XD
That's fine. I'm sure the passive masses will show back up.
The real problem is content creators and such are or have already left. And well, I'm here, as are all of you!
Passive consumers are a massive force, and will go where the wind blows. But they actively do little. And, about them... Who cares?
I don't think the content creators really left significantly, but the sentiment to users has certainly changed. This was never going to kill reddit, and was never gonna be a long term problem for them - for that the former mod and activist for r/jailbait was correct. But it creates negative user sentiment, which will make it easier to move people, or even make people just less excited to use the platform in the long term.
I don't think this applies to just people who support the protest either. People who just wanted to see their content and got mad at mods for shutting down subs now have more negative sentiment to the moderators and the users who may or may not support the protests.
This is a W in my books, as I never liked corporate ownership of people having conversations, which is expressly Reddit's sole product. Maybe a few hundred people will use the site less this week than last. Maybe an additional few hundred come the API changes, but the next controversy Reddit has will move more. And it'll snowball, just like Twitter's seen, and the content will change to reflect the worst who decide to stay and support reddit through it all.
the people still on reddit after the 30th when the third party apps close down, i personally believe can stay there indefinitely. these people, and i, do not exist on the same wavelength.
Only reason I'm still checking reddit is because RIF is still working. After that, I'll see how much I miss it.
Not completely normal. I deleted my account that was old enough to sign up for most websites on its own. I'm not the only one.
Haven't deleted either of both of my 14 yr accounts yet, but I haven't been on Reddit since the blackout and have plans to nuke it all after I navigate new subscriptions and think it through.
FWIW, I find the experience a refreshing re-start, just like when Digg and Slashdot fucked up and I'm already seeing shit posting, memes, and fresh content galore on Lemmy in just the last week. I doubt I'll go back to Reddit except for some esoteric solutions that I find in searches.
Why are all these posts about reddit being posted to /c/Technology? There are so many dedicated reddit communities. The "news" about whatever is going on (or not) over there doesn't need to keep cluttering up this community.
Especially when they are all the same thing. Either "zomg reddit is removing mods" or "zomg reddit is totally back to normal we promise, please come back if you haven't"
I am not sure I believe that, it might be that bots can be active again now that the subreddits are reopened, but I know that I am not back. And I won't be back, and I think a lot of people are staying away as well. That the traffic is now normal seems a bit sketchy.
I know that I am not back. And I won’t be back, and I think a lot of people are staying away as well. That the traffic is now normal seems a bit sketchy.
I'm afraid that's just bubble bias. Most people just don't care or haven't found a viable alternative yet. These +43k active users on Lemmy are huge for Lemmy, but not even a scratch for the other site.
After the initial exodus at the start of this month, you could see more and more comments demanding returning to business as usual.
"Returns to normal"... minus one user.
And my axe.
Yep that's a reddit throwback but I deleted my 14yo account 2 weeks ago and have actively avoided them since.
Don't know about you all, but I will continue to check reddit until Sync for reddit stops working. On July 1st, if it's no longer working, reddit is gone.
Without my daily traffic that's a fact.... Haven't been back there now for 3 to 4 weeks and was a daily consumer / contributor. My relationship with Reddit has ended and zero intention of going back. I have drawn my line in the sand and I'm not supporting the recent shenanigans ! They can kiss my ass.
I'm only using Reddit to check in on things until the 1st.
This article will age poorly in a week. And like milk in about a month.
I don't think so. Most people really are normies and don't care. If there's any change it will happen slowly as Reddit's content and culture go to shit.
I don't think most people understand the protests. I had to explain it to two people who use the platform.
I left and haven't logged in for a few weeks now, so I know at least my traffic is gone.
I deleted everything and I've not been on for weeks now. Good riddance!
maybe i'll use the web version for some time, not gonna use their app for sure
I'm not really surprised, I'd actually assume that sexy John Oliver and the other protests created a lot of additional traffic. People post like crazy and a lot of people want to see that, especially since it got some coverage on news sites. Add to that the big majority of people who do not care (remember that 80% of traffic was still reached) plus some who may have been sympathetic enough to join the two day protest but don't care enough to continue to stay away. It's really not surprising that we're back to normal numbers.
Thankfully this isn't the only impact people currently still make, so this isn't over. The real question now will be how else it might change Reddit.
Sure, the party won't stop, but the fun people already left, they are here!