David Ogren
John GruberMicrosoft should create and launch a Reddit clone, keep the API completely open for client developers (but not data miners), pay top Reddit moderators to move their communities over, and use the project’s data for continuously training their own AI models.
Matt ⎊ 
Joe Rodricks@gruber …on top of ActivityPub
Chris@gruber they would never allow the nsfw content. That, regardless of what people say, is a major draw to sites like Reddit. Remember what happened to tumblr?
Mike Edey@ChrisAnemone @gruber it’s so much easier to be the player coming in to migrate the “desirable” demo as you don’t have to deal with the backlash. And the root issue for many many subs - moderating tools using the API(s) to manage high volumes - applies to high engagement subreddits. Like support groups.
This would be such a non-issue for an incoming player and the other demos will find somewhere else; just like they always do.
Better PR to offer a refuge than it is to make new refugees.
Parkscope Joe :RCID:@gruber hell yeah
Aaron 
@gruber If Teams is any indication, their ability to copy anything is sub-par.
Tim Holmes
Paul Haddad 
Paimon Sci Fi Con
chris overcash
Alex
Luke Hakken
Nick Collins
Andres
Christian Huffman
RG
Thomas
Kevin Patrick Doyle 🍅🥫@gruber wouldn’t it be easier for them to just buy Reddit?
@TPOHolmes if Microsoft can acquire Activision then really they can buy anyone when it comes to HR and culture
@Kevin Touché
@TPOHolmes Satya Nadella is a wild man
Roadskater, Ph.D.@Kevin @TPOHolmes They haven't closed the deal yet, last I heard, so the "technical debt, HR issues, culture clash, and brain drain" are yet to occur.
@roadskater @TPOHolmes true, but I was referencing the intent to do so rather than the actual act of integrating
Dan@Kevin I suspect it’s be a lot cheaper to clone, like they did to Slack with Teams. Plus, Reddit itself is chock full of NSFW content. Microsoft doesn’t want that.
Kevin Boyd (he/him) 🇨🇦@gruber should they?
@gruber This is actually a brilliant idea. As well as one I fully support!
Sean Payne@gruber
While it sounds like a good idea in theory, I suspect that this will lead to deep biases and probably loads more misinformation, based on my experiences on Reddit. Just this morning I was thinking that training AI on socially-sourced data is probably not a good idea in the long run.
While it sounds like a good idea in theory, I suspect that this will lead to deep biases and probably loads more misinformation, based on my experiences on Reddit. Just this morning I was thinking that training AI on socially-sourced data is probably not a good idea in the long run.
hearthing_dev@gruber No thank you. We need more open software out in the wild, not less. I would much rather see a replacement in the Fediverse.
Olav
ryb@Hearthing Don’t worry, they’ll put it on GitHub.
FreediverX@gruber
No more closed platforms run by billionaires, thanks.
No more closed platforms run by billionaires, thanks.
@freediverx You don't think Microsoft is doing a good job running GitHub?
@gruber
They seem to be, but that's a developer tool, not a social network.
My distrust of corporations in general and Microsoft in particular is based on a long term view. For example, recall when MS offered free unlimited cloud storage only to later pull the rug out from users and announce it was switching to a paid business model after the fact.
Apple is expensive, but they aren't known for deceptive tactics like that.
@freediverx It's a social network for developers.
@gruber
Perhaps, but that's one positive example set against a long history of shady behavior.
Perhaps, but that's one positive example set against a long history of shady behavior.
Janne Moren@gruber
Neat idea to consider. Unworkable in practice of course. Communities don't transplant.
Neat idea to consider. Unworkable in practice of course. Communities don't transplant.
@jannem My Twitter community transplanted here.
@gruber May be easier when the community is following you, specifically.
Reddit communities are less focused. There's not one specific thing that defines them. If you tried moving, say, r/coffee or r/japanlife somewhere else you may or may not create a live, functioning community there. But it won't be the same community, or anything very close to it.
gormster@gruber like Mixer?
Chris Drumgoole@gruber Interesting idea.. it would actually make good sense for Msft to do that. But, paying a subreddit moderator to come over is one thing, but will the users follow? Some may, sure, but for this to work, you’d need a critical mass of subreddit users to come over for it to work. And that’s a user behavior change issue, which is risky to rely on.
Damien Sorresso@gruber This would be like inflicting 1990s Microsoft on to a company that couldn't deserve it any more. Fabulous idea.
Emma Builds 🚀@gruber so Microsoft should steal people's labor for their AI?
Don Martigood point. DeviantArt has already been through this controversy, and MSFT can/should avoid their early errors and copy the approach they ended up with: let the people who want to contribute to AI training do it, but make it an affirmative choice by the user
"All deviations [original artworks] on the platform are not authorized for inclusion in third-party datasets used to train artificial-intelligence models — unless you choose to opt in."
https://www.deviantart.com/team/journal/UPDATE-All-Deviations-Are-Opted-Out-of-AI-Datasets-934500371
Arun@gruber I doubt big companies would want to be associated with NSFW content at the scale of Reddit.
@monsterlooper Peave the NSFW content to Reddit itself.
David MacDonald 
@gruber I would sign up for this so fast. The Fediverse Reddit clones I’ve tried are all terrible. Imagine all the confusion of Mastodon instances multiplied by the proliferation of subreddits. So there can be a separate r/Apple on _every instance_. Some stuff needs centralization.
Preston de Guise 🏳️🌈✍🏼@gruber “Clippy Social” has a nice ring to it.
MΛSΞY@gruber This.
Craig Hockenberry@gruber Reddmondit
Robert J. Berger@gruber Don’t give them any ideas… Microsoft controls too much already. And they are infinitely untreatable.
@rberger They’ve done right by GitHub, no?
@gruber Microsoft:
* Developers, Developers, Developers
* Embrace and Extend
* Capturing Developer Tooling via VSCode & Github
* Stealing from the commons with Github Copilot
* Developing Stanglehold of Generative AI with Azure / OpenAI
* An inherent monopolistic mentality
* Untrustworthy
* Developers, Developers, Developers
* Embrace and Extend
* Capturing Developer Tooling via VSCode & Github
* Stealing from the commons with Github Copilot
* Developing Stanglehold of Generative AI with Azure / OpenAI
* An inherent monopolistic mentality
* Untrustworthy
Daniel Tucker@gruber this is such a huge opportunity for someone. I’m not sure I trust Microsoft to not fuck things up and cancel it in a year, but hopefully someone does.
Ms. Penny Oaken@gruber Microsoft is notorious for Embrace Extend Extinguish, so this would be simultaneously on-brand for MS and something that the tech-core of Reddit wouldn’t fall for.
The gamers, though —