[HN Gopher] Don't let Reddit kill 3rd party apps
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       Don't let Reddit kill 3rd party apps
        
       Author : netfortius
       Score  : 81 points
       Date   : 2023-06-03 19:41 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (old.reddit.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (old.reddit.com)
        
       | tapper wrote:
       | This will fuck over a bunch of blind people. Using the site is
       | just not doable with a screen reader. There has bin aps made for
       | blind people to use and these will all stop working.
        
       | thih9 wrote:
       | Why is it such a problem to create a reddit clone?
       | 
       | I'm assuming it's the user base; most attempts I've seen are
       | either empty or focus on non-mainstream and often controversial
       | content.
       | 
       | Are there ways to address that? Or is there something else?
        
         | ronsor wrote:
         | I've written three of them. It's not technically difficult, but
         | good luck getting people to actually use it (and if you do, you
         | may end up with a userbase worse than 4chan).
        
         | regecks wrote:
         | There is years and years and years of amazing content and
         | community on Reddit. Rallying people around a replacement looks
         | challenging. I am hopeful that it happens.
        
         | hkt wrote:
         | Lemmy is pretty good, and is working towards full activitypub
         | federation:
         | 
         | https://join-lemmy.org/
         | 
         | As for the usage.. there's some, but it is niche. The average
         | user just won't move unless something goes from so-so-
         | satisfactory to offensive. This is how mastodon got its
         | (seemingly brief) user spike.
        
         | holler wrote:
         | There are dozens of Reddit clones, many have come and gone. In
         | my eyes they don't work because they aren't novel or
         | innovative. There's no reason to switch for the average user.
        
         | cabalamat wrote:
         | It's mostly the user base.
         | 
         | An idea: Twitter has lots of users, maybe Elon could build
         | Reddit-like features into it.
        
       | dimmke wrote:
       | Reddit, making a blatantly obvious case for why third party apps
       | are necessary on a post about stopping third party apps:
       | https://i.imgur.com/3yEJ4oX.jpg
        
         | puppable wrote:
         | I believe I encountered a situation like this before, and what
         | it _really_ means is that you just have to log in to see it,
         | and Reddit is just lying to you.
         | 
         | I may be wrong in this case, though.
        
           | ehPReth wrote:
           | seems to work when being logged in on the mobile site.
           | they're just really really damn pushy for that stupid app
        
         | batch12 wrote:
         | I have bypassed that in the past on mobile by switching to
         | desktop view (ugh).
        
           | Spivak wrote:
           | Switching to old.reddit works for me.
        
         | ok_dad wrote:
         | Yep, nearly any important posts seem to be labeled as NSFW so
         | you won't be able to see them other than how Reddit wants to
         | have you see them. This is the future we paid for with enormous
         | amounts of VC money.
        
           | dimmke wrote:
           | I have Reddit posts auto open in Apollo but specifically went
           | to this one in browser to see how bad it's gotten. It's not
           | just an annoying pop up. You literally cannot use most of
           | Reddit in a mobile browser now.
           | 
           | And I came from the link in this post which was supposed to
           | go to old.reddit
           | 
           | That's how dire things are. I have been a reddit user since
           | 2009, almost 15 years. But I'm not a nostalgic person. As
           | awful as it has gotten it's still the place where most
           | discussion on the internet happens (and has happened for over
           | a decade.) That can't just be replaced overnight. They're
           | sitting on a huuuuge amount of content that is fully indexed
           | by search engines too. This would be a huge blow to the
           | internet in general I think. All so they can have a Groupon
           | style IPO.
        
             | andrewflnr wrote:
             | old.reddit.com is tolerable on mobile.
        
       | acheron wrote:
       | I think we've beaten this horse to death now.
        
         | ehPReth wrote:
         | Apollo et al. are still under threat
        
           | paulcole wrote:
           | Can't they just charge an amount sufficient to cover their
           | costs and earn whatever profit they want and find out if they
           | have a viable business?
        
           | bmarquez wrote:
           | Also, this article talks about a protest (which is new
           | information, unlike previous HN submissions which only
           | reported the changes.)
        
         | Nullabillity wrote:
         | Problems don't go away just because you're bored of thinking
         | about them.
        
       | davidktr wrote:
       | Interesting interview with the developer of the most popular 3rd
       | part app about the issue.
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypwgu1BpaO0
        
       | dubcee349 wrote:
       | Just in Hacker news is the new reddit.
        
         | greggsy wrote:
         | With shitpost comments like this, perhaps, but I sure do hope
         | it doesn't.
         | 
         | I'm genuinely interested to hear any views from HN's admins
         | around traffic observations, and what their plans might be to
         | maintain the current level of sanity with respect to post and
         | comment quality.
        
       | MarcoZavala wrote:
       | [dead]
        
       | fallat wrote:
       | Yes, let the Big Tech eat themselves. This is how progress is
       | made.
        
         | andrewflnr wrote:
         | I can't see Reddit as "Big Tech". It's absolutely not in the
         | same weight class as Google, Facebook/Meta, et al. Which is not
         | to say it shouldn't be allowed to die, but if nothing else we
         | should keep the true scale in mind.
        
       | echelon wrote:
       | Reddit is trying everything it can to salvage its IPO and rescue
       | investors from being underwater.
       | 
       | https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/01/fidelity-reddit-valuation/
        
         | Magnusmaster wrote:
         | Reddit shouldn't even try to go IPO. It's basically a
         | collection of forums. They should be a private company that
         | makes a small profit hosting the forums instead of trying to be
         | like Facebook
        
         | ep103 wrote:
         | The enshitification continues
        
         | futhey wrote:
         | Ironically, Reddit doesn't have any interesting technology or a
         | novel product design; it fails to compete as an ad-tech
         | platform. They are just a community. Its value is the goodwill
         | of the Reddit members, and that's it. Their revenue is Reddit
         | awards and premium memberships.
         | 
         | Acting against the interests of their own users will make the
         | platform less valuable in the long-term if moderators and users
         | lose trust in the platform.
        
       | jhart wrote:
       | [dead]
        
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       (page generated 2023-06-03 23:01 UTC)