ScubadiverJun 17, 2023
Dan Gillmor

Reddit's CEO keeps making inapt, inept, and ignorant analogies to describe its users -- especially the moderators, volunteers who have spent countless hours making the site's communities so valuable.

Here's an accurate analogy: Reddit regards these people as replaceable cogs in a machine owned and absolutely controlled by the company.

I won't use Reddit again unless the top management, and its attitudes, are replaced -- with a genuine community focus.

Meanwhile, I'm finding alternatives.

Jun 17, 2023 at 3:28amWeb
Show threadPhilJun 17, 2023
@dangillmor I agree. And I feel like it’d be so easy to get me back too. Acknowledge, apologize, and don’t act like the choice is all or nothing. Be reasonable, and respect your users. Twitter banning 3rd party apps drove me to Mastodon. And Huffman is driving me to seek alternatives as well. I’ve joined a few new Discord servers to replace subs. But frankly, I think fully replacing Reddit will be tough.
Show threadElías ChaoJun 18, 2023

@philcunningham @dangillmor

> I think fully replacing Reddit will be tough.

It will, but also keep in mind that websites don’t just die overnight; it’s the small things that will be driving away small contingents every now and then.

Until the site dies, and everyone has moved to a different thing.

Show threadNathan SimmonsJun 17, 2023
@dangillmor Their actions are ridiculous. I deleted my account tonight.
Show threadMichael VilainJun 17, 2023

@dangillmor I got an account on a kbin server (e.g. kbin.social or fedia.io). I don't know if there's a listing yet of kbin instances as it's still early days for the federated service.

I'm hoping I can find equivalent discussion groups on my server as those I participated in on Reddit.

Show threadAvocado ToastJun 17, 2023
@dangillmor I personally feel like Reddit as a "collection of memes" which is the capacity that I use it in is more readily replaceable, hopefully by a noncorporate alternative, than a lot of the other more network effect affected sites.
Show threadAvocado ToastJun 17, 2023

@dangillmor this is definitely the time to short Google I think. They're leaning into AI at the same time that generated content is threatening to make their search engine entirely useless, and if Reddit goes to the howling dogs, that'll end appending "Reddit" to your search query to get it to turn up something remotely relevant.

Seems like someone is going to need to invent an actual search engine again.

Show threadBenJun 17, 2023

@dangillmor It’s truly astonishing how bad his crisis management is, specially assuming he has a team around him that should know better. Red flag!

https://g0v.social/@b3n/110552400741750051

Ben Sahlmueller (@[email protected])

On #reddit #redditblackout #leadership Just read the verge interview with Reddit CEO Huffman, https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/15/23762868/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-interview. Considering the guy is in crisis mode and probably coached all day, it's astonishing what he's saying. He is almost... vile? His story is "Apollo etc. sell our (?) data via subscriptions and should hence pay us for our cost," which is - ok, I guess? Like, Reddit has infrastructure cost for their service and sure, that's what an API cost is for. But that's not the issue.

g0v.social
Show threadThat_guyJun 17, 2023
@b3n @dangillmor he's not in crisis. He is talking to investors, not the users. Sounds like Reddit is trying to find a buyer and acting like they have full control over the platform is a calculated financial risk.
Show threadBenJun 17, 2023
@that_guy @dangillmor Well, “crisis” just refers to an important and urgent high-stakes problem. Given how he toots media companies he’s probably feeling like king of the world, but I believe investors are also breathing down his neck.
Show threadBenJun 17, 2023
@that_guy @dangillmor Anyway, my main point was that he definitely has a whole team around him that is strategizing all day and night what to do, it’s ridiculous that this is what they come up with, and with everyone else probably a professional I assume he’s the problem.
Show threadEnderJun 17, 2023
@dangillmor I've settled on comfortably here and Kbin. It actually reminds me a lot more of an earlier Reddit and helped me really recognize how bad that place had become.
Show threadjust_eirikJun 17, 2023

@dangillmor I hope future mods are hard to find after the current ones leave or gets removed. Like, I hope no one wants to work for Reddit now.

And yes, it’s actual work! They are unpaid employees, as far as I’m concerned. I think they should unionize.

I don’t know the laws, so maybe that is impossible. But they should NOT be working for free like this, that is for sure!

Show threadRiverJun 17, 2023
@dangillmor Corporations will always dissapoint us. I think expecting anything different at this point is just a failure at basic pattern recognition! We have to start taking care of the things we value by ourselves. For human-centric message boards, I hope sites like Mastodon are the answer.
Show threadRichad AJun 17, 2023
@dangillmor Before Musk bought Twitter we gave them the benefit of the doubt. I think that was a mistake. I think the Twitter community should have stood up against the Musk Twitter acquisition but they didn't. The result is that Twitter has been destroyed and is now just a shell of what it was. That they say it lost 66 percent to 69 percent of its value shows that this is not a feeling, this is a reality.
That's relevant to Reddit because Huffman said that he admired what Musk has done, and would like to do the same for Reddit. Reddit is on the same course as Twitter.
There are alternatives like lemmy, kbin and there was one other that I forgot, at the time I write this.
In the 90s and the first half of the zeroes we had a diversity of choice, for online communities. I feel that we are returning to this diversity of choice now. The monoliths, the internet giants have had their day. I hope that we revert to smaller, more convivial communities. It will be nice to be on enthusiast funded social media, rather than venture capitalist funded media.
Maybe we can throw off the "internet users are addicts" insult away, at last.
Show threadxs4me2Jun 17, 2023
@dangillmor
Huffman has it all wrong, Reddit is a community and a service.
Take this stuff to public domain and be funded by public and community.
Wikipedia can do it.
Show threadMark HughesJun 17, 2023

@dangillmor as people move from yet another Island paradise turned slave camp, bear in mind that..

The fediverse (#Mastodon, #Kbin etc) is the lifeboat, #p2p will be the shore.

Show threadAnathema DeviceJun 17, 2023

@markhughes @dangillmor Wow, that’s an offensive analogy, considering there are still plenty of real slave camps, and people dying right now in ships as they try to escape.

I get the reddit thing is horrible, but can you please keep a sense of perspective in your language?

Show threadMark HughesJun 18, 2023

@anathema_device @dangillmor no. you can mute/block me rather than try to tell me what I can post and can't.

BTW I don't mind you telling me you were offended.

Show threadAnathema DeviceJun 18, 2023

@markhughes @dangillmor No, how it works is - you post something harmful or offensive in public, and other people who find it harmful or offensive tell you, in the hope you will stop hurting people who aren’t in a position to tell you about the harm you are doing.

I don’t care if you mind or not. The language you are using is belittling real human suffering and an ongoing desperate crisis for people fleeing trauma, war, and suppression. Reddit failing isn’t that

Show threadMark HughesJun 18, 2023
@anathema_device I'm glad you have accepted my position even though you appear to deny it.
Show thread@[email protected]Jun 17, 2023
@dangillmor There are all kinds of #fediverse applications now. #Lemmy or #KBin are examples of #Reddit alternatives that connect to the fediverse, so it all interconnects. I personally am on #beehaw (beehaw.org) which is a lemmy site. It has some growing pains, but I think it's going great personally.
Show threadShaneLeeJun 17, 2023
@dangillmor find alternatives
Show threadSimon 🌻Jun 17, 2023
@dangillmor I deleted my account last week.
Show threadSimon RingsmuthJun 17, 2023
@dangillmor What are some good alternatives?
Show threadAnn K.Jun 17, 2023
@dangillmor
I'm checking out kbin.social, which is tiny compared to reddit, but the community seems kind.
Show threadjanusfox 🍅Jun 17, 2023

@dangillmor I think maybe the hallmark of a good CEO might be someone who avoids creating footguns.

This guy is building a global footgun empire.

Show threadMaxJun 17, 2023
@dangillmor
Show threadMaxJun 17, 2023
@dangillmor
Show threadMaxJun 17, 2023
@dangillmor
Show threadMaxJun 17, 2023
@dangillmor
Show threadDrew MochakJun 17, 2023
@dangillmor 100%
Show thread⚙ARCJun 17, 2023
@dangillmor nothing wrong with going there to get ppl's content. just don't login, don't click any ads... even better scrape individuals content into your own aggregator
Show threadprozacchiwawaJun 17, 2023
@dangillmor i get very "artesian build" vibes from reddit's new ceo.
Show threadNaumJun 17, 2023
@dangillmor Ditto!
Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Jun 17, 2023

@dangillmor

Your choices are the rather new #Kbin or #Lemmy (as long as you don't pick one of the two servers managed by the developers:

https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/110528740373591807

Show threadAtomic FoxJun 18, 2023

@HistoPol @dangillmor

I think the SDF Public Access Unix System is starting up a Lemmy instance.

Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Jun 18, 2023

@dangillmor
@tsukkitsune

(1/n)

I had not heard of this site and could not find a reference to #Lemmy, however, if true, this #German branch sounds excellent:

https://sdfeu.org/w/

Due to the use of #Palantir against #journalists in some countries, carefully selecting the server's location is more important every day. (#TheFreedomOfThePressIndex)

From my perspective, in the West, the #US (1), the #UK (2), #France and #Denmark (3), #Poland, #Hungary, and potentially #Italy...

start [SDFeu.org]

Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Jun 18, 2023

@dangillmor
@tsukkitsune

(2/n)

...(#neofascist #PM) are off limits from my point of view...

Also, #DataProtectionLaws are essential to be considered. Generally speaking, the #EU' #GDPDR gives #EU citizens an extra layer of security.
Alas, several countries are not abiding already.

This said, a
#Scandinavian country looks best on this count, however #Norway not...

#lemmy #german #palantir #journalists #thefreedomofthepressindex #us #uk #france #denmark #poland #hungary #italy

Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Jun 18, 2023

@dangillmor

@tsukkitsune

(3/3)

...
being an #EU member and #Finland about to have a right-wing government, #Sweden seems the most secure.

/END

Further Sources

(1)
https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/110560082825355701

(2)
https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/110004494238876998

(3)
https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/110560044282418778

#dataprotectionlaws #eu #gdpdr #scandinavian #norway #lemmy #german #palantir #journalists #thefreedomofthepressindex #us #uk #france #denmark #poland #hungary #italy

Show threadPonygirlJun 18, 2023
@dangillmor I've never been on Reddit, but it sounds like trash to me.