I guess you’ve heard the buzz. Reddit is being boycotted by many subs for unreasonable prices for using their API. So - where do I go to get for my daily dose of stupid things from the internet? This forum is certainly not the right place, here it’s only friendly people being resaonable and saying interesting things. I DO like to have some input from certain subs and topics that are outside the v1e-forum. Do I have to use discord actively? Or should I more actively use youtube as a content source?
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There aren’t any exact alternatives. None of them have the same power, at least.
Some people have been saying we are headed back to usenet.
There is a fediverse link sharing alternative. Lemmy: Lemmy - Join a Server . I haven’t joined that yet.
Hackernews is still the same: https://news.ycombinator.com/
Mastodon is still more of a twitter alternative. But I find some decent sources there. I am @jeffeb3@mastodon.social. I don’t post that much.
Don’t forget traditional news sources. I feel like recommending any of them is going to quickly turn political. But you know who they are. There are still excellent journalists out there with well moderated news.
It definitely seems like reddit is doing this no matter what. They would rather shrink and kill their subreddits than lose control.
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I haven’t understood what fediverse actually is. It’s the same feeling I had when DIGG was going downhill and people were pointing towards Reddit. The whole Reddit-thing seemed old-fashioned and difficult to handle, with a strange and clunky user interface.
Today I follow many niche subs. I enjoy them alot, because they lets me follow up on things I normally would never be able to keep up with. The latest updates and issues on Synology? No prob, just follow the Synology sub! And so on. The ability to exclude all the subs that push memes and random trash is great, my Reddit experience is curated in a nice way. And of course I use 3rd party apps, when on the phone… The new web-interface is decent enough, but on the phone it’s a disaster.
I don’t understand the marketing approach behind Reddits way of dealing with the API controversy. They don’t seem to care about all the free time moderators spend running the subs. Without the community, reddit is empty of interesting content and interaction. People blame it on u/spez, but he can’t do this without a board being behind him.
As for general news, there are quite a few decent news channels in Norway. Of course there’s tabloid populism here as well, but it’s not as blatant.
It’s interesting how a website/service/community offers a kind of familiarity. (from a sociological or anthropological perspective).
A website is not only the GUI that appears in front of you on your screen. It’s a habit, it’s a way of acting in my daily life, it’s a place where I can focus my thoughts and formulate a question, a reply or share a thought. I don’t have a strong opinion on reddit in itself, but I really wonder what to do if I quit, where I’ll go/what I’ll do when randomly opening my phone. Reddit has been one of the most common “go-tos” for the last ten years. (in addition to this forum and instagram.(I use instagram for inspiration and hobbies, no family members sharing dinner pics!!))
Perhaps it’ll be good for me to narrow down the sources of distraction? Sometimes I’ve actually deleted my reddit app for lent 
perhaps this’ll be a more permanent lent? But then I won’t know what happens in the prusa world, synology world, blacksmith world, microcontroller world, and so on…
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I don’t get it completely. But the main idea is the server data is sort of shared between many different servers. So there isn’t some huge company like twitter that owns everything. Each server is responsible for its own moderation, data and storage. It is usually donation based. Not ads. But I don’t think that is a requirement. Each server can choose their own stuff. But the api is standard and open so it would be hard for any one entity to own it.
It is sort of like email that way. You pick a server for email and who you want to email. But all email works together. But instead of email it is twitter like posts, or link sharing, or videos.
Ultimately, where the users go will determine what the replacement is. And it will probably be fractured. Reddit took years to accumulate that community.
I’m just guessing. But they want the app because they get the data and they can force ads on people. They are taking back control of their income. They may be running out of VC money and they are trying to become profitable before an IPO. They know the mods are valuable. They know the users are valuable. But they also know they need to have control on their income. They are probably going to lose some users, but not under critical mass. They are probably big enough they won’t collapse. They will cash out and be mediocre forever.
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This thread and this weekend has got me thinking. I spend way too much time on reddit sifting through a lot of useless nonsense. (even though I have excluded most of the worst default subs)
While mowing grass (it was A LOT, I should’ve had a tractor…) I listened to a Homelab podcast. I really enjoy well made podcasts with interesting content. Even though I don’t care that much about the specific topic at hand, listening to wise people talking related subjects in an insightful matter, is comforting and suprisingly entertaining. Debian 12 is just released, and it’s great! (they say) I’m actually excited to hear about it
So - perhaps I should cut out reddit, and instead follow a few well curated podcasts to stay in the loop. I like Homelab very much. I commute 25 minutes each way every day, so instead of listening to the same music over and over again, I can spend that time keeping up to day, and leaving reddit out. I like the thought!
What podcasts do you folks listen to?
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Lol, couldn’t resist.
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It has happened. Strange. I’m not sad, just surprised that it actually has happened. Too bad for all the reddit based communities that will receive fewer visits. I’ll check in once in a while, when in front of a computer. As for mobile reddit browsing, one less bad habit and more free time!
A few months have passed since my reddit habits changed radically. I sometimes still miss the daily mindless thumbscrolling. But to be honest, all those weekly hours are now being used for better things! I’ve read Dune I-IV this summer, and I think that I’m more present with my family.
Some thoughts after these months:
- I miss the small reddit communities that I’m not in contact with otherwise.
- Other sources of tech/maker content: Podcasts! Jeff didn’t want to list podcasts, since politically biased topics should be avoided here. I think it’s relatively harmless to list the podcasts that don’t have a political position (even though some opinions on homelabs, privacy and open source can get quite spicy). I’ve become a regular listener to Hacakday, Linux Unplugged and Self-Hosted. I enjoy those a lot, the hosts are friendly and the topics are engaging. Hackaday is sometimes way over my head, but I enjoy the company still.
- Reddit is really going downhill(as with several other SoMe’ platforms). If I don’t log in, the front page is full of “am I ugly”-posts, and stupid relationship “am I the asshole”-posts. I could actively use my login and curate the reddit feed more aggressively, but I honestly feel like it’s not worth it anymore.
So - what are the alternatives? Should I just skip these smaller communities? Or should we participate in the migrating towards fediverse and mastodon?
Or should I be thankful that my daily (ab)usage habits are more limited? I’m sure my wife and kids would prefer me to stay away from further new rabbit holes…
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Honestly it seems to have all blown over. All the communities that boycotted all moved back to open. I still use it.
When I left twitter, I got a bit into mastodon. But it doesn’t have the same addiction. I like it a lot better, but that might be because I don’t use it nearly as much. Theoretically I like the connections I made there. But when I feel better in their absence, that is a bad sign. I want more social interaction with people who have similar hobbies. But I don’t like doing it through these apps.
You guys are still cool though. 
.
I may be getting old.
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It’s all so time consuming - the 3d printer crowd at Twitter is a combination of long time community members and wannabe influencers with egos bigger than X.
Today’s buzz:- “I can’t talk about my fabulous new Bambu yet, but wow!”, next week it will be “I’m sending it back because the new Creality copy changes everything!” It’s all so predictable and boring but like a moth to a flame I pop in every so often anyway, just to make myself angry (angrier?)
I just wish there was somewhere (other than here) to get a broad review with genuine criticism but I don’t think there is.
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There are a few marking everything as NSFW though…
Me too! I actually made a new friend this year. He’s into rc, woodworking and stargazing. We have many projects in planning, it’s really nice with real life friends!
- But you guys are still great!!
I guess this forum, some podcasts and a few real life friends should be more than enough. So can X and whatnot sail on on it’s own. (I’m on insta though, I like it for the projects inspiration stuff)
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My boss went to a networking event and later FB suggested friending a bunch of people from the event. He was trying to figure out how FB knew he was with them. He doesn’t have the FB app or messenger on his phone.
But someone reminded him that he had instagram installed. None for me, thanks.
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Same. I’ve not been on Reddit since the kerfuffle and I don’t miss it now.
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A colleague of mine was semi-stalking a famous scholar in Norway. No common friends. One day this scholar was suggested as a new friend/contact. I’m sure Meta uses all the data accessible across their services. I don’t have a Facebook account, so I’m not exposed to all that.
Instagram is quite nice in my situation. Living quite far away from bigger maker-communities, and having a job that is not tech-related at all - using Instagram let’s me keep in touch with acquaintances, friends and people in the maker scene, in a non-committing kind of way. I’d prefer not using a Meta product, but Instagram seems like the least evil. Snap and TikTok is not an option…
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You could play Fortnite and try to get those kids to do sth with their lives…
Voice-chat in Fortnite: “did you know of all the amaaazing things you can build with a microcontroller and some motors!? Robots, toys, vehicles, planes and drones. It’s amaazing”
Same here. No thanks.