I’ve been on reddit for a long, long time and i’ve seen all the changes that have happened in the past decade. I spent a lot of time on Reddit, and have seen the slow infestation of bots, karma whores, and guerilla marketing disguised as posts.
I’m genuinely excited for the fediverse - it seems like an actual improvement over reddit, and not just a clone. There’s a learning curve, but there was one when joining reddit too.
I participated in the migration to Voat, and saw how/why it failed. I’m more optimistic about the fediverse for various reasons, and I’m dedicating my time to helping this thrive.
I was a lurker on Voat, but I’m trying to be active here. I don’t like modding, but I’ve even created my own community here, which is saying a lot given how lazy I am. Hope to interact with y’all more!
And if you’re still reading this, i hope you don’t mind a shoutout to my new community, maliciouscompliance - recreated this as it was one of my favorite places to lurk on reddit!
/c/maliciouscompliance@lemmy.world
https://lemmy.world/c/maliciouscompliance
!maliciouscompliance@lemmy.world
EDIT: since a few people asked - I posted in this comment below why I think lemmy has a much better chance than voat did
I have been a reddit since the great digg migration. I am enjoying the fediverse experience so far. It makes me realize how much reddit had slowly changed into a place i did not like as much.
What ruined it for me was hidden viral marketing and low-effort karmar whores. I think it was HailCorporate which highlighted just how many posts were straight up viral marketing attempts, and how many of these were posted from accounts with a strange comment history. I couldn’t unsee it after that.
As for karma whores… it’s funny to see a pun chain, but not when that’s the top comment for 99% of all popular posts.
Any examples?
well… go to /r/HailCorporate and sort by all-time top scores.
Here’s a specific example, although you may not be able to see the actual post until/if the sub is back up https://www.reddit.com/r/HailCorporate/comments/6cq3xe/i_told_popular_shaving_company_i_was_canceling/
I can’t stomach too much corporate content, so that’s why I asked if you had only one good example of it ^^
What happened to hailcorporate anyway ? I remember a few years back it was cited or showed up on my feed regularly, but you made me realize it stopped at some point.
It seemed like there was a backlash against it. At some point you would get downvoted for citing hailcorporate in comments. If I were more conspiratorial-minded, I would think that Reddit started throwing in downvotes at any comments mentioning hailcorporate, because it would hurt Reddit’s image and advertiser-friendliness. But I’ve noticed that, across social media, some folks seem to get really upset when you point out that a post is fake/marketing/staged. So maybe that’s just online culture now…
Edit: there were legitimate issues with people citing hailcorporate on posts that they just didn’t like. But that seemed relatively minor to me.
Certainly feels like there’s some ‘ignorance is bliss’ to it. Folks don’t want to hear something is an ad because it takes away the illusion that their feed is in their control. And they don’t want to feel gullible.
I find Lemmy generally more welcoming to post comments. Its likely because of the lack of bots and trolls. Let’s hope they stay clear from here.
i’m sure it’ll come, but we’ll deal with it then!
Yeah exactly. Being a a not-for-profit open-source project, I’d expect features to eventually be put into place to help moderate this kind of stuff in the future.
Mod bots exist on reddit already, I’m sure they can be ported over when needed
I’ve definitely also noticed the difference, I’d pretty much stopped commenting at all on reddit. But if feels different here, we’ll, not so much different but reminds me of those older Internet message board days.
The difference is also on Reddit, it felt like your comment would never be seen, because there were so many. It’s not the same here. Which makes commenting actually feel worthwhile.
People are much friendlier here as well so far
That’s partially what led to all the low effort posts.
Why bother making a thoughtful reply and get no response, when you can quickly post 20 puns and get 50 upvotes on at least 1 of them?
Yes! Same feeling for me.
It reminds me of the early days of Reddit like 2006-2009.
Seriously.
Going back to Reddit to read about the blackouts was jarring after spending the past few days on here. I didn’t realize just how negative, toxic, and mentally draining Reddit was until I stopped using it.
It really is like night and day. I quit reddit on Sunday when I noticed my feed was already looking empty. I’ve been here ever since and last night for the first time in a while I went to bed feeling happy with life. It’s amazing how I never noticed the toxicity that was seeping into my day.
I’m noticing the same, but at this point I’m not sure if it’s a coincidence or something real. Lemmy definitely feels like a breath of fresh air though.
certain right wing elements havent sunk their claws in yet. I hope it stays that way.
They can make their own instance and stay within their echo chamber.
Theres a way to link “instance agnostic” but im unsure
there also seems to be options to disable seeing bot activity - not sure if lemmy looks different with those enabled, as I am of the same mindset
I’ve yet to see a bot. So I’m keeping them on for now
Same story here. Probably about a decade using Reddit and it just aint what it used to be even 5 years ago, forget 10 years ago.
I started off just looking for an alternative but quickly warmed to the whole idea of the fediverse (after I figured out what it is lmao). Feels like it hits a really good balance between old-style internet forums and modern-style social media.
It made me realize we don’t have to settle for a 1:1 clone - we can build something better. Something that can’t be held hostage by a bunch of shareholders and execs, or run into the ground by one asshole.
I think there’s a chance to make something really fucking awesome here and I’d rather contribute to that than go back to doomscrolling on Reddit. At this point, I don’t think I’d go back even if they miraculously reversed everything.
Yes, this feels freer. It can’t be affected in the same way Spez is messing up Reddit. I’m waiting for more content (I will probably make some myself) that isn’t just talking about Rexxit or switching over.
I would like to hear more about the move to Voat, what caused the failure in your opinion? I was not part of that as I had other things going on at the time.
Not an expert, but it boils down to two main factors for me:
The biggest factor is the nature of the userbase that migrated. As with Voat, there are (i) people driven here by ideological means (“it doesn’t affect me but I believe the change is wrong”), and (ii) people who have no other option (“I need a new home because the change makes reddit less useful for me”). Of all the folks who belong to (i), i wouldn’t be surprised if majority move back to reddit quietly over the next 2 months. The reality is that people are used to reddit, and it contains a decade’s worth of information and social networks that lemmy doesn’t have. It’s simply easier to find info on reddit. That leaves (ii), which will probably make up the majority of long-term migrants. Unfortunately for Voat, (ii) was comprised of people who post/read actively on hate subs. /v/fatpeoplehate was one of the top, er… subs? at Voat. When your userbase is gathered around one specific, kinda-toxic purpose, it’s hard to see it succeed. For lemmy, (ii) consists of people with strong preferences for third-party mobile apps. I don’t know for sure, but I think these folks are (like me) long-time redditors, power users, and generally contribute more than usual. Third-party users are also more diverse, and don’t have one specific interest. That is a more self-sustaining community.
A smaller factor is the nature of the site. Voat was basically reddit, with less moderation. Literally no other improvements. The fediverse is interesting, and I think it’s better. Even if you disagree, it’s still objectively different. A relatively small site can’t succeed against a behemoth if it’s exactly the same.
I think you have a good point here. The type of user that migrates. Plus, since the api changes makes moderation harder, there might be a bunch of mods moving over, whom would tend to have a greater impact on their communities ( may it be more activity, or modding, etc )
we’ll only find out in a month or two!
I don’t use 3rd party apps, but still left. Partly it’s due to the (i) listed above, but it’s also due to the fact that I can see where this is headed. I rely on mods to keep the worst of reddit at bay, and if they either leave due to being treated like “noise” or because their unpaid job just becomes too much trouble without 3rd party tools, reddit will become an unbearable cesspool. I thought about how bad it is now and how much worse it would be if the good mods left. No thanks!
It’s so surprising that reddit didn’t learn from the past. There was another uproar over mod tools in the last few years.
I generally agree with your statement. In addition to the generally hateful community, voat was being manipulated (IMO) by external organization(s) to amplify the hate. Possible reasons were that voat was a honeypot for law enforcement and that a free voat was a threat to the already controlled corporate sites like reddit. Perhaps I’m being overly paranoid, but the antisemitism in particular never seemed entirely organic.
In the end, voat still had potential but it died for the same reasons reddit is failing - centralized ownership. The voat owner / host eventually just called it quits and shut it down. Why? Perhaps voat outlived it’s usefulness to the big three (CIA / FBI / NSA).
Guessing it failed because the migration was weighted towards people who were the least welcome on reddit, some maybe unfairly, but there are also good reasons to not want certain people/behaviors around.
It was a strange time, I saw communities I used to enjoy like r/conspiracy overran by contemporary politics and thinly veiled antisemitism. All the fun went out of it seemingly overnight.
Voat attracted quite a number of people that were on the extreme end of things.
That’s an understatement. It was the worst of the worst that moved there and thought they were going to have free reign. Then Voat clamped down on the extreme racism and the site died.
I saw someone edit a post title and it blew my mind. I’m liking it here so far too. There’s a few kinks to work out, but I don’t think the learning curve is too bad. The Jerboa app is fine too.
Wait, you can edit post titles? That’s so cool!
mhmm I’ve seen a few posts where people asked questions, and they changed the title to include [solved] when they got answers.
🤯
ooh there’s an app? down another rabbit hole I go…
yeeahh Jerboa for android and I think the IOS app is called Mlem
downloaded Jerboa, thanks!
It only gets more interesting with each day :)
looking forward to it!
Also an 11 year Redditor here haha.
I got my start browsing rage comics on iFunny and 9GAG, then began browsing Reddit around 2010/11. I finally made my account in 2012. I too watched as Reddit became overrun with bots. I watched as summer Reddit stopped ending and became the norm, people responding in comments with corrections and more information lessened, the obvious astroturfing increased, obvious propaganda took over almost all the defaults, and most importantly, they started shutting down subs that might possibly maybe make them look bad for an IPO.
They desecrated the grave of Aaron Swartz on spit on his name by removing him as a co-creator of Reddit. The cartoonishly evil decisions came one after another and I’ve had enough as well.
Voat didn’t stand a chance because the people who were migrating over were lurkers.
I genuinely believe in Lemmy because this time, it’s the mods. The people that actually keep the site running.
Fuck Reddit, fuck u/Spez, go Lemmy
I mean, didn’t help that the ones who weren’t lurkers on Voat were among the worst the internet has to offer
Welcome aboard and thank you for your service, SenatorBumCuckets 🫡
This feels super exciting like when I was alternating between digg and reddit before digg started dying in 2010.
yeah, and i haven’t even felt the need to check reddit for a day now!
I am also an 11-year Reddit vet making the move. Welcome! This isn’t my first Fediverse experience, but definitely my most promising (I don’t really tweet, so Mastodon is kind of whatever to me). This and kbin have been great.
I was also part of the Voat migration. I never left Reddit, as I didn’t mind them cracking down on some of the more questionable content, but I did check Voat out. I wasn’t part of the cesspool that showed up there, but I did enjoy participating in some of the smaller communities. I think what didn’t work was that it just got stale. Same reason I didn’t like Snapzu or some of the other “Reddit alternatives.” Even larger communities were just… dead. What made Reddit work was that everyone was there, and even small, niche communities had active users.
Yep, 11 year redditor, spent some time on Voat before it really became a cesspool, and use Mastodon. I am happy to see a Fedi-Reddit take off.
I’ve seen a little bit of the subreddit on my front page(?) already, kudos! Honnestly your aplomb to posting and trying to contribute, even recreating a favorite community, is very reassuring. I have high hopes for the Fediverse :)
aw thanks, just doing my part!
I’ve been trying to contribute here more than I did on Reddit, and honestly I’m amazed how smooth it’s been.
Lots of small UI frustrations, but I can already see the pull requests lining up, so I’m happy to wait.
Very excited for malicious compliance to be back. It was also one of my favorite subs. That, pettyrevenge, and prorevenge were some of my favorites.
oh yeah that was some good reading material!
I’m surprised by how quickly it’s become active. Most discussions are still about Reddit or Lemmy, but even that feels like it’s changing.
It’s insane how many people are filling in; I’ve been on the fediverse for about a year or so (under a different name), so it’s pretty cool to see it getting popular with people
I am with you 100%. Even though there is a learning curve, it’s not too bad. If the process gets simplified I think it might take off more. I forgot all about voat. I remember when the fatpeoplehate subreddit got banned they all went there.
11 year reddit lurker here too, trying to be more active on this platform. Welcome.
