I've seen a few discussions about the "failed" protests and wanted to talk about it
So I've seen a few posts regarding news outlets calling the protests a failure, and I don't really think that's the case. The protests have clearly made an impact, especially if the Reddit CEO is willing to oust MODS to reopen subreddits. I truly believe that something has been jump started here on Lemmy, Kbin, and all of the fediverse. What happened on Reddit has simply pushed those already on the fence, or looking for other social media platforms to jump ship. I truly believe the impact is greater than what the media and Reddit in general want us to believe. Something has started here on the fediverse that simply cannot be stopped, all we can do is inform others and show why it's the future of aggregated news boards and social media.
Whether or not it’s was a failure depends on what you expected from it. Reddit was not going to change its mind. The investors demand more money and will continue to squeeze Reddit for ever dime the can. It wasn’t going to die overnight either.
What did happen is a non-trivial amount of users left and found the Fediverse. Apps are currently being developed to make it more accessible to your average user. The Fediverse will no longer be some obscure thing for a niche group. I think it was a huge success and will have long term repercussions for Reddit.
I actually think it will be much bigger. I'd be surprised if there aren't a lot of users in the wait-and-see-how-bad-it's-really-going-to-be camp, although they probably won't start showing up until a few days after the 1st.
Yep, especially considering the clear improvements that are constantly being implemented and the higher activity levels than before, what makes Lemmy/kbin feel more like a good alternative where people should migrate to
Precisely how I feel on it. Would it have been magical if the protest resulted in every last user leaving reddit behind for better alternatives? Of course. But that was never something I thought was likely. However, it's caused a lot of us who were already unhappy to leave and come over to the Fediverse, and I do think that's a success.
It's not like Reddit was even likely to die. I think we all knew the best case outcome that was still grounded in reality was something like Reddit falling into a slow but certain nose dive.
I mean, even Twitter is still kicking despite all the horrible stuff that's gone on there. Reddit isn't Twitter levels of bad. A slow decline was the best we could have hoped for.
Honestly, we wouldn't have been able to scale to a massive migration, anyway. A slow migration is ideal for scaling and community building.
Just like Digg, digg is still technically around since the website is still up. Though it's not really Digg anymore. It's just some random news site now, you would never guess that it was once one of the most active forms on the internet.
That's where Reddit is headed, any arguments trying to push otherwise are pure cope by Reddit addicts, who just want to keep scrolling forever and don't want to have to start over from the beginning on a different platform that might be alien to them. They're going to have to though, even the people who were loyal enough to stay with Digg until the end had to move on at some point.
All very good points! So yeah, I'm taking what victories I can, in this case my victories are having found the Fediverse and no longer being on reddit ☺️
IDK I guess I kinda hoped that people would realize how stupid and exploitative the whole system of reddit is and the site would get overrun with spam and turned into an archive site. Was very disappointed in that pipe dream.
I know. Me too. It fucking sucks that we don't see larger, more consistent examples of unity over issues like this. Part of me is grateful for the amount of people that did port over, and part of me is mad at that grateful part, thinking that I should--we should--be able to expect more. And part of me wants to take the victories that I can. It's not a simple issue, so I'm trying to hold on to the faith that I have left that we'll figure all of this shit out and do what I can in the meantime.
It's a difficult thing to measure, since it won't necessarily be a leap from just one platform to another.
I saw a meme on Tumblr about redditors remembering they had "dual Tumblr citizenship" all along. A lot of people are exploring a bunch of different options simultaneously (me included) and that's pretty great.
It's going to be a long, slow process. The people who quit and deleted their accounts are part of it. The people who are just using it a lot less are part of it. The communities continuing to protest in their own unique ways to continue to raise awareness are part of it. The 3rd party app devs telling their sides of the story are part of it. People who get bored or curious when their communities slow down and go looking elsewhere will be part of it. The flurry of negative news is a big part of it. And the more all the other stuff continues, the more the negative press continues, and Huffman is doing himself 0 favors in any of his interviews.
I mean, kbin's been in development for a bit, but we only really started hearing about it generally in the Fediverse like a month ago? Maybe 6 weeks ago? Kbin.social is only a few weeks old.
The developer set up a testing environment, and then Reddit jumped aboard basically immediately.
I hit up kbin first but was having some issues with it, which makes sense as I was probably in the middle of the swarm. I jumped to shitjustworks, because it did what it said on the tin. I do think kbin would be a better fit, has it smoothed out any?
Yeah same. I've actually been using Mastodon a bit and so far enjoyed it a surprising amount. Had some casual but nice exchanges with folks over there. I think leaving reddit is helping me diversify my media consumption habits which is a really good thing imo, if only for the sake of my sanity. Like many others, I don't think I was quite aware of how reliant I'd become on reddit as a source of new, entertainment etc etc.
I still lurk. I expected the slow decline and change in character that others here have predicted.
What I have seen in the last 8 days floored me. Continues to floor me. Reddit is already a zombie platform. Front page is week-old posts. Bot generated reposts from 2 weeks ago.
And astroturf posts trying to spin the whole thing as a "what was that blip?" Or "glad those whiners are gone"
Oh, I think it's hurt Reddit more than it seems on the surface. Of course they will say "it's not working" but reading between the lines of this Engadget article [1], the number of ad impressions would be down rather significantly. Note the difference between time spent on site (seeing ads) and "visits" -- many of which were likely people checking on the site rather than participating in the site. I think this is taking a toll, and am hopeful this situation will serve as an example of poor leadership for the next generation (Digg being a previous example).
Honestly, I thought they might. Not to cancel the API fees entirely like some wanted, but to reach a compromise with developers that would increase Reddit's revenue and let the apps stay in business.
But it's become clear since then that killing the third party apps isn't an accident or side effect, but the explicit intention of the API changes. Now I can't see Reddit compromising as long as spez is in charge.
I still have a dim hope it could happen. The protests aren't over and Reddit is feeling it.
I really thought it was part of the plan, introducing expensive plan, and later reducing it to more acceptable level. Which should achieve the income they need and maintain public image.
Yes, I jumped ship to mastodont after Elon took over and Twitter is still a thing. It's slowly getting worse and worse but some users just don't want to leave.
Yeah, I first took a look at lemmy and others a few weeks ago, when everyone was asking "what's an alternative?" and at the time, despite so many people talking about the fediverse, there weren't that many people or threads. And now look how active some communities are becoming!