Poll of the Day > Reddit now threatening to forcefully reopen subreddits closed in protest

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/16/23763538/reddit-blackout-api-protest-mod-replacement-threat

outright going against what they said about protests a few days ago

fair, next

They've also apparently restored posts that people have deleted.

It's almost as if the protest was extremely poorly thought out and organized, and a lot of the subs that closed down did so without community feedback or knowledge, so people complained.

It doesn't help that a lot of them openly announced that they would only protest for 2 days, in a big brain move completely defeating the purpose

papercup posted...

and a lot of the subs that closed down did so without community feedback or knowledge,

the majority of subs i've seen that closed down allowed extensive discussion on the issue before they committed

like after r/pics was forced to come back online, they held a poll on whether they should resume normal activities or only allow pics of John Oliver looking sexy, and the latter won 10 to 1. public opinion is pretty clearly on the side of the moderators in general

the only reason force is being threatened is because the protest has actually been effective or they would just ignore it

Yellow posted...

It doesn't help that a lot of them openly announced that they would only protest for 2 days, in a big brain move completely defeating the purpose

the 2nd and 5th most active subreddits had announced they would indefinitely be protesting until change happened

I can pretty much guarantee that any sub reopened this way is going to be trolled to hell and back by users supportive of the blackout. Whatever replacement mods decide to take on those subs are going to regret that decision pretty quickly, especially given that it's a volunteer position.

I'd imagine they would. It's been fairly annoying given this is a niche issue most people don't care about it's bizarre that most of the top search results from google I've searched recently end up going to a link that says "this is private"

BlackScythe0 posted...

I'd imagine they would. It's been fairly annoying given this is a niche issue most people don't care about it's bizarre that most of the top search results from google I've searched recently end up going to a link that says "this is private"

Which actually makes it a pretty effective protest. Laypeople don't necessarily need to know what's going on and pick a side to have an impact here, they just need to not use Reddit, and that's exactly what happens when Reddit links from Google searches don't go anywhere. This whole decision is an effort from Reddit to pump up their perceived value ahead of their IPO, and losing traffic does exactly the opposite of that (especially when that traffic is lost due to the actions of the userbase in response to corporate efforts to improve the site's value, meaning they can be expected to happen again if efforts are made to raise the value post-IPO). This is a case where public opinion isn't actually needed, just an impact to Reddit's bottom line.

adjl posted...

I can pretty much guarantee that any sub reopened this way is going to be trolled to hell and back by users supportive of the blackout. Whatever replacement mods decide to take on those subs are going to regret that decision pretty quickly, especially given that it's a volunteer position.

Exactly this. Reddit is just making its problem bigger by attacking the people who actually make the site usable

agesboy posted...

outright going against what they said about protests a few days ago

But doing exactly what most intelligent people have predicted they'd do right from the very beginning.

"They're just going to demod you all and forcibly reopen the larger subreddits anyway" came up a lot in most of the discussions in subreddits that chose not to remain private after the initial protest.



adjl posted...

I can pretty much guarantee that any sub reopened this way is going to be trolled to hell and back by users supportive of the blackout.

I don't know. At the end of the day I think a lot of people are just going to be fairly resigned about it all. Because right now there are a lot of users who think this entire thing is just kind of stupid, and wish it would go away.

The longer the protest goes on, it's not really turning more people against Reddit, it's turning more people against the ones protesting. The more people turn against it, the more they'll be sympathetic or just apathetic to whatever Reddit does in response. Expect "It's their platform after all" to come up a lot.

Sure, there'll probably be some people trolling, but there's always been trolls on Reddit. The banhammers might get a bit more of a workout for a while, but in the end this likely doesn't end with eternal protests and civil disobedience.

I think the people most passionate about the issue will be more likely to try and go off and start alternatives elsewhere, like people tried to do with Mastodon when the Twitter BS erupted. But in the end, I think it will mostly go back to business as usual, which is exactly what happened after the Twitter BS erupted.

adjl posted...

Which actually makes it a pretty effective protest. Laypeople don't necessarily need to know what's going on and pick a side to have an impact here, they just need to not use Reddit, and that's exactly what happens when Reddit links from Google searches don't go anywhere. This whole decision is an effort from Reddit to pump up their perceived value ahead of their IPO, and losing traffic does exactly the opposite of that (especially when that traffic is lost due to the actions of the userbase in response to corporate efforts to improve the site's value, meaning they can be expected to happen again if efforts are made to raise the value post-IPO). This is a case where public opinion isn't actually needed, just an impact to Reddit's bottom line.

Uh... I think the longer it goes on the more people are going to support reddit rather than a few people trying to piss everyone off to get their way.

I don't understand why people don't just leave if they disagree with a website or service. That's how the internet worked before like 2007. Websites would grow from nothing into a household name and then would fade into obscurity within an entire time span of 5 years. We need more of that, websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit need to fail and make way for something new.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


This is not a compelling statement, Reddit isn't doing anything wrong. If they were objectively in the wrong it would be one thing... but you're not owed access to their data.

apparently spez has been in contact with elon musk... this might be an attempt to "alt-rightify" reddit as a whole

Lokarin posted...

apparently spez has been in contact with elon musk... this might be an attempt to "alt-rightify" reddit as a whole

i doubt it, since the main drama spez is known for is abusing admin rights by editing comments critical of him to attack the_donald mods instead

faramir77 posted...

I don't understand why people don't just leave if they disagree with a website or service. That's how the internet worked before like 2007.

Because society has raised an entire generation of narcissists suffering from main character syndrome.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Because society has raised an entire generation of narcissists suffering from main character syndrome.

don't say narcissist these days... it reeks of jordan peterson's latest malding

faramir77 posted...

I don't understand why people don't just leave if they disagree with a website or service. That's how the internet worked before like 2007. Websites would grow from nothing into a household name and then would fade into obscurity within an entire time span of 5 years. We need more of that, websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit need to fail and make way for something new.

Nah Just keep them the same. I hate making new social media profiles I like keeping in touch with friends and family. And when the new social media site pop up, I gotta make a whole new profile to keep up with some people Ill be fine if Facebook stays around (and active) for a while longer Or even until I die And I like Reddit. Why switch to a new Reddit when this one has worked so well (until recently? We already have plenty of posts, and so many niche subreddits. Whats the point of doing it all again under a new name? Especially when many posts will start off being some of the exact posts already on Reddit (since they would want the same conversation there if it isnt already there)

reddit has been hemorrhaging money due to the blackouts, since they can't blast ads in your face if everything is private.

Did other people really have a lot of trouble with ads? They seemed very non-intrusive to me Half the time, I thought the as was a post, and usually went past it without a second thought

BlackScythe0 posted...

Uh... I think the longer it goes on the more people are going to support reddit rather than a few people trying to piss everyone off to get their way.

That's the thing, though: Most people aren't aware of the situation. Without knowing what's going on, they just know that Google results that point to Reddit are unreliable now. The longer it goes on, the more likely they are to just scroll past them and not bother trying, even well past the end of the protest. It gives Reddit a reputation of being unreliable, which stands to hurt their traffic in the long run.

Reddit also knows this, which is why they're getting uppity about subs being dark. If this goes on for too long, their reputation (and therefore value) will suffer.

faramir77 posted...

I don't understand why people don't just leave if they disagree with a website or service. That's how the internet worked before like 2007. Websites would grow from nothing into a household name and then would fade into obscurity within an entire time span of 5 years. We need more of that, websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit need to fail and make way for something new.

You've kind of answered your own question. The modern Internet has become too centralized around a small number of sites for people to simply leave if something happens that they don't like. For many subjects, finding a community somewhere other than Reddit is all but impossible. That means leaving is not simply "go somewhere else," it's "stop talking to people about this subject you like." Discord has kind of changed that, but Discord has a ton of disadvantages compared to Reddit and the like (notably, if you search Google for information on a subject, content that's pinned in a Discord channel somewhere will not show up) and fills a very different niche. There simply isn't enough competition for people to be able to bounce between communities when the service hosting them does something wrong, which is a very real problem.

LinkPizza posted...

Nah Just keep them the same. I hate making new social media profiles I like keeping in touch with friends and family. And when the new social media site pop up, I gotta make a whole new profile to keep up with some people Ill be fine if Facebook stays around (and active) for a while longer Or even until I die And I like Reddit. Why switch to a new Reddit when this one has worked so well (until recently? We already have plenty of posts, and so many niche subreddits. Whats the point of doing it all again under a new name? Especially when many posts will start off being some of the exact posts already on Reddit (since they would want the same conversation there if it isnt already there)

I hope they die off eventually (hell, lets kill off social media in general), too much centralization is a bad thing

Muscles posted...

I hope they die off eventually (hell, lets kill off social media in general), too much centralization is a bad thing

I have never understood the Kill off social media thing, tbh Kinda dumb If you dont like it, dont use it. But its helpful to many people Plus, depending on what you consider social media, it would be next to impossible to kill it all off without just isolating a lot of people

That said, killing off social media sounds like it would just help with more centralization, which you said it bad And while centralization can be bad, it can also help with knowing where to find certain content, like all the niche groups on Reddit. Even for smaller games, I can usually find a sub for it. And for most games, the questions I have are usually answered somewhere on the site

LinkPizza posted...

Did other people really have a lot of trouble with ads? They seemed very non-intrusive to me Half the time, I thought the as was a post, and usually went past it without a second thought

they cluttered up feeds, but people being annoyed by them isn't the point

ads are how reddit gets the majority of its money, and if people aren't seeing them then reddit is not getting paid

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

I'm saying they should have not announced ahead of time that it would be over in 2 days, making it a less disruptive/threatening strike

The point of a strike is that it's supposed to go on until X happens

They could make it a regular thing, like "we'll strike half the days of the week until x happens", but 2 days is a derp move tbh

Yellow posted...

The point of a strike is that it's supposed to go on until X happens

the point of a strike is be disruptive to bring attention to a matter most people aren't thinking about, in order to bring about X

it's not even genuinely that disruptive if you know that putting "cache:" before a reddit link will bring up the information you want to find anyways

I think it's funny that an announced short term strike caused spez to freak out and demand the volunteer mods do their jobs and get back to work...

ya, literally can't handle a 2 day break

agesboy posted...

the point of a strike is be disruptive to bring attention to a matter most people aren't thinking about, in order to bring about X

it's not even genuinely that disruptive if you know that putting "cache:" before a reddit link will bring up the information you want to find anyways

I'm going to not give you any apples until you clean your room. Up until 1 hour from now. Then you can have all the apples you want and you don't have to clean your room. I won't do this again in the future.

Will you clean your room?

I need to take my allergy medicine, I'm allergic to winning any advocacy movements. That felt really mean. I'm sorry. Oh, you're just removing the ability for mods to do strikes, oh, ok.

I'm gonna tell you all what though, the only way you're all going to deal with the shitty capitalist aspects of all your favorite companies is to invest in some distributed social media frameworks. The ones that exist kind of suck though, so I'll admit this one's on me and the rest of the programmers to fix.

Lokarin posted...

I think it's funny that an announced short term strike caused spez to freak out and demand the volunteer mods do their jobs and get back to work...

ya, literally can't handle a 2 day break

June 12th was the start date so it is far longer than two days. They deserve it for lying about how long they would do it for.

Add reddit to the list of "omg how the fuck do you use this without addons/third party apps" services that I'm perfectly fine using the default settings for.....

Yellow posted...

I'm going to not give you any apples until you clean your room. Up until 1 hour from now. Then you can have all the apples you want and you don't have to clean your room. I won't do this again in the future.

Will you clean your room?

what a pointless non-sequitur misunderstanding of how protests function

the last one objectively worked anyways, despite being on a much smaller scale: https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/24/22348255/reddit-moderator-blackout-protest-aimee-knight-uk-green-party

Revelation34 posted...

June 12th was the start date so it is far longer than two days. They deserve it for lying about how long they would do it for.

some said they were going on indefinite hiatus to begin with, the others opened back up and held polls on whether to continue indefinitely or one time a week. the protesting subs aren't a monolith, and two days was always just the starting point

Ok you clearly don't know how this works and are trying to be smart about it

That's not comparable because she's not crucial to their business plan

Revelation34 posted...

June 12th was the start date so it is far longer than two days. They deserve it for lying about how long they would do it for.

The point is that they're supposed to be disruptive.

Revelation34 posted...

June 12th was the start date so it is far longer than two days. They deserve it for lying about how long they would do it for.

How dare the volunteers not provide their services in a manner that is optimally convenient for you and you specifically! The sheer, unmitigated gall of it!

Ill be happy if they force open the subs I would like to read some of the old posts about a show I once watched And some game stuff

adjl posted...

How dare the volunteers not provide their services in a manner that is optimally convenient for you and you specifically! The sheer, unmitigated gall of it!

If they said two days then it should be two days.

Revelation34 posted...

If they said two days then it should be two days.

If they're volunteering their time, they can volunteer their time on whatever terms they want. It's Reddit. Nobody's going to die if they decide they don't want to run their sub for a couple extra days.

adjl posted...

If they're volunteering their time, they can volunteer their time on whatever terms they want. It's Reddit. Nobody's going to die if they decide they don't want to run their sub for a couple extra days.

Then they can be replaced for lying deservedly so.

Changing your mind in response to changing circumstances isn't lying.

After not being allowed there anymore, I thought I was through.... But..............

....
... Nah.... I've had my fun, and Reddit is garbge .

Revelation34 posted...

Then they can be replaced for lying deservedly so.

This isn't a job my man, if they don't want to deal with it, they don't have to.

r/interestingasfuck has decided to just become mostly porn at this point

VampireCoyote posted...

r/interestingasfuck has decided to just become mostly porn at this point

But the memes there are great

shadowsword87 posted...

This isn't a job my man, if they don't want to deal with it, they don't have to.

Which is why they're getting replaced.

strange how they only care when they're being directly protested against

the visual novels subreddit has been held hostage for years by a lead admin who spends 9/10ths of the time absent and the rest of the time causing absolute chaos, like banning anyone who voices an opinion against him or outright telling people to pirate from a company he has a personal beef with. this has been going on for years and many have complained

VampireCoyote posted...

r/interestingasfuck has decided to just become mostly porn at this point

Egg_irl is only posting pictures of eggs.