‘Front page of the internet’: how social media’s biggest user protest rocked Reddit

“We respect when you and your communities take action to highlight the things you need, including, at times, going private,” he said.

They respect it so much they forcibly remove mods to make them public again. That's so respectful.

Despite these concessions, dozens of Redditors promised to stop using the site altogether without access to their favorite browsing apps. But according to data from the website analytics firm SimilarWeb, traffic has largely remained consistent to the platform, aside from a pronounced dip during the blackout

Dozens of us!

Not one mention of where said moderators who left went to..

I don't post on reddit any more but I still look there now and then. I don't notice much change. From everything I've heard, the protest failed. A few snowflakes like me quit posting and/or moved to Lemmy, but mostly things at reddit were back to normal within a few weeks after the blackout.

Completely quit Reddit. It's a shame that the article fails to mention the fediverse as a new rising alternative in response to enshittification.

Completely stopped using Reddit since they blocked third party apps in July 2023. I never accessed Reddit through other channels than smartphone.

Leaving Reddit basically helped me use social media a lot less. And I'm proud of myself.

It is different. I had cause to go back a week or two ago to look for an old post of mine and I did have a bit of a poke about in my old subs too. It was like a war zone. Blatant no fucks given racism, incel level women hating, transphobia and ableism of the most vitriolic kind. And these weren't just the massive general subs, some of them were niche interest subs where I felt I belonged at the time. Has it changed to become like that since June or was I just so used to it before that that I'd never noticed how toxic it was? Did I just used to shrug and say to myself 'well, that's just reddit'. Literally everyone seemed angry and hateful.

I'm not claiming the fediverse is perfect or free from that sort of shit but either through the practicalities of federation, or better moderation or a smaller userbase or a more mature userbase or a mix of one or more of those things it doesn't feel exclusionary to me. I often see on posts like this some people calling Lemmy a left-wing echo chamber and whilst I do agree there's more people of a left-wing bent on here I think echo chamber is a bit much and is a phrase maybe used by those who live in a country without a functioning left-wing political party. I've not encountered a communist or tankie since Hexbear fucked off back to their kindergarten.

As for the Guardian article, they've fallen into the same trap as I'm concerned the fediverse might fall into by federating with Meta - assuming high numbers equal success or victory. If you have corporate/economics based mindset I can see how that works, but to me success equals a popular, useful community site entirely free from algorithms and other forms of manipulative control. One that isn't gathering data via ads and tracking on its userbase to sell on (lets remember that reddit weren't upset that AI were scraping reddit, they were upset that the company weren't seeing any money from that). A community that grows organically, with all that that implies - sometimes growth might be very slow, it might stop entirely for awhile, maybe even reverse - but the emphasis should be on the people making the community better.

Reddit forgot somewhere along the way that it was the users who made reddit what it was. Look at the stats for r/askreddit - in particular the posts per day and comments per day - look at the trend since 2020. There may well be the same amount of users on reddit, but we all know a certain percentage of them are bots and even if they weren't, just looking at those two graphs tells you everything about people's level of interest in participating on reddit.

The only thing high user numbers guarantee sites like reddit is ad revenue. Nothing else.

Despite spending around 15 years on Reddit, I found it surprisingly easy to quit. I do miss some niche subreddits that just won't get traction here, but overall my switch to Lemmy worked out for the best.

With that being said, Reddit is still going strong, and you're deluded if you think this will change their IPO fortunes. The quality will plummet, but once the shares are owned and sold they won't care.

I used to be a daily Reddit doomscroller, but now I just vibe on Lemmy. I only ever visit reddit now to experience my niches that don't yet have a community here, and that's just to watch, not contribute.

I look forward to the future, where communities aren't corralled into one website, where different interests can be free of anything overarching.

In response to such critiques, Reddit spokesperson Rathschmidt said he did not “know of an industry benchmark for scoring content quality”

Never before has the sheer inevitability of enshittification been so aptly summarized.

I used to spend hours a day on Reddit, if you add up all the little time waster breaks I take just scrolling on Baconreader.

Now i rarely visit the site.

Author didn’t seem to have a clue. Many of us didn’t protest or leave because of the fact that they implemented charges for their API - nope, was totally open to that! - it was the way they started charging.

I don’t think I’m alone either here. So many were open to paying fair prices for usage. But reddit repeatedly promised it’d be fair and reasonable. For months. And then when they finally dropped pricing info it was outlandish and would be taking effect before third parties had a chance to make appropriate changes.

This amounted to a power play meant to drive mobile users back to the reddit app. Why? Money and control. Bad for mods, users, and developers, it was a selfish play I will never forgive them for.

How did the author not know this, or if they did, why was it not front and center? Feels like they were parroting company talking points.

Eh it failed in the most reddit way imaginable: Most of the users are too addicted to astroturf accounts posting heckin puppers and epic memes to organise a boycott beyond a few days. Reddit ownership knew how pathetic the "protest" was going to be from the outset and didn't even bother trying to disrupt it beyond nudging out a few of the remaining holdouts on subs too small to matter in the grand scheme.

All the mods who thought they were irreplaceable just discovered their users are all the more happy to digest low quality slop moderated by amateurs who are more interested in the title than doing anything to protect the quality of said content.

People are even relenting and PAYING for access to the API to use previously-free apps.

I deleted a 13 yr old account due to spez's fuckery and I haven't been back. I used to be very active in several subs but now I want fedi to happen.

On the note of traffic, I still browse Reddit because it has niche communities that I want to interact with. However, I don't comment, post, or even up/downvote anymore. My interaction is now purely browsing, and I imagine it may be similar for other once-power users.

I only use reddit for tech related inquiries, but besides that I quit it.

I went from 8 hours of screen time a day to an average of 2 to 3 hours and Lemmy often isn't on the top. For me it has to do with a lack of content at some point, but I started enjoying it like that. If there's nothing new, I shouldn't have a reason to stick around in an app

I've been slowly getting back into reddit lately. While I want Lemmy to thrive and will keep contributing to help it do so it's still hardly a replacement for reddit. Compared to it, Lemmy is basically a single moderately active subreddit. If I had to name a type of person Lemmy at its current state is ideal for I'd say a left-wing activist type whose into tech and politics. While that has some overlap with what I'm interested about it still leaves out all my deepest passions and to be honest I feel really uncomfortable knowingly being in such an obvious echo chamber. I'd really wish there was more of the kind of users here that most of you probably dont want. Just to even things out a bit.

The changes that lead to the protest were only the preparations for an IPO. When that sale actually happens, I think things will get even worse with new corporate interests and influence. This story isn't over.

Maybe Reddit didn’t die, but what was Lemmy before this? And what is it now?

I was browsing reddit anonymously but have stopped since they killed 3rd party apps. Anyways all the news and posts are on Lemmy so no point of using reddit. Also fuck spez

Ohhhhhhh yeah - I remember reddit. Thats where thedonald nazis live right?

While traffic has not changed substantially, many users report the quality of content and the kinds of posts that are surfaced on user homepages now seem different. RamsesThePigeon said the content on some of Reddit’s most-followed pages, which he moderates, had “gone sharply downhill”.

This has been a long term process. I was on reddit since 2012 or so. In the early days I used it to help me change careers and grow as a developer, and keep track of tech and space news and other topics that mattered to me. But the reality is it wasn't even the API stuff that drove me away. The first thing that really got to me was when I couldn't get rid of r/all as a subscribed sub, and that was full of quick dopamine hits and clickbait. Then every sub seemed to go downhill in terms of content, filled with outrage and pictures of tweets as if I would use twitter if it only used images of text instead of raw text. By the time the blackout happened reddit had become a net negative time sink in my life and I figured it was time to cut it off for good.

I used to love Reddit, but I’ve totally abandoned it. It’s not one particular reason, but the broad effect is that I and many others no longer feel welcome.

We lost a lot of good users; people who contribute to topics, make good posts and comments. We also lost good moderators; people who cared about the content quality and vibe. The Reddit-appointed replacement mods by and large are not people who ran or SHOULD run communities.

Add in the fact that both subreddit mods and Reddit admins are going hog wild with the ban hammer on both subs and users, and it’s hardly a wonder that users aren’t having it. They’re trying to turn it into a gentrified Disneyland and that’s not what we want.

I’m hoping we can grow the Fediverse and prevent it from getting fucked by people with bad motives.

Crickets on the fact that so many users of 10+ years left, deleting their content on the way out? Seems writer didn't dig very deep. Not that Rodent would give them accurate numbers or anything.

While traffic has not changed substantially, many users report the quality of content and the kinds of posts that are surfaced on user homepages now seem different.

While traffic has not changed substantially

has not changed

It's long write up with a misguiding title. No numbers to back anything after a protest phase. And with problems with API access, there won't be any from unaffilated sources.

I did found my favorite communities dropped some in activity and I myself access it just like once in a week or two from a desktop, signed off. But it didn't die. Default subs can't care and most NSFW posters are still there.

The important thing though is that Lemmy grew a lot. And it's now enough to have a hit of that reddit poison. And, arguably, it feels a little bit more personal.

While traffic has not changed substantially,

This is a terrible thing for most social networks, which are expected to grow continually. When the IPO hits, who wants to buy stock in a stagnant social network? Especially one that has been described as stifling creativity?

yea lemmy is good now thanks reddit

I still use reddit on the browser, but I don't want their app. I simply don't enjoy the experience.

As long as old.reddit stays arround I'll still be there from time to time. But my commenting dropped from ~5 comments per day to ~5 comments per month and my clicks drooped to ~1% of what it used to be. I simply used it much more on mobile.

I want an internet where admins don't control the world. Where moderators don't become megalomaniacs that get to control the way submissions and comments get banned without reason.

I want a place where someone's passion for their unique hobby doesn't get stripped away by corporate interests, exploitative third parties, and ad agencies.

I know it might be a pipe dream but I'll keep trying to fight for what I believe.

I deleted all my posts and stopped using the place almost entirely. I go back, like, once a month because I moderate a niche subreddit that I haven't been able to find a home for on Lemmy.

Fuck the front page. The value of a book is the substance inside. Reddit should be renamed flyleaf because the first page is blank with only a minor function as part of the binding.

I removed reddit from my DNS whitelist on June 9th. It is dead to me.

Edit: 130 posts, 1030 comments on Lemmy since June 9th; 0 posts, 0 comments, 0 views on reddit.

I said I’d leave Reddit on July 12 and July 12 is when I left. Sure, I miss it, but it was an unhealthy, 4 hour per day/8 year addiction that’s been broken.

Now I scroll Lemmy for maybe 30 mins a day.

I think the most important problem with how this worked out is that many of those who left Reddit by deleting their content didn't find a place to transfer it to on Lemmy or other platforms...

I personally have been intentionally starting conversations recently...

I personally had no problem with them charging for API access, the rate was my bigger issue. I suspect they were basing it off of the money and hype behind the large language models that were previously training using their data for free rather than the relatively few 3rd party app users. I don't get how there weren't more people using them considering how bad the official Android app is, but there's no way it was substantially impacting their bottom line.

Charging comparable rates or even 2-3x what they would get from users of the official app seeing ads also wouldn't be an issue to me, paying to support software is generally good as it aligns user and developer interests. But with 20x higher rates than they'd get from the user using the official app that couldn't genuinely be the case.

“Technical tweaks”

Omg, understate much?

ironically, reddit banned me, which stopped me from using it pretty much entirely, which coincided with the "happening" if anyone is curious it was "violence" even though specific targeted satirical threats seem to be perfectly acceptable, generic statements of violence are not things that reddit seems to put thought into. Anyway little fun fact though, they don't delete your acc, and they dont stop you from using it, they just stop your posts/comments from showing up, to mine engagement i suppose.

for anybody looking for a bit of laugh, look at the ban appeal forum, i promise you there is a couple of days worth of amusement on it. (unless they changed it)

for me personally, the sheer unusability of reddit is why i dont use it. On desktop it leaks ram so bad it's worse than a java MC server, on mobile it's literally unusable, i just can't use it, that's how bad it is. It's bad enough to the point im starting to think that reddit is a programming based money laundering front, with some of the functionality that exists in it. I've pasted text into reddit before only for it to completely disintegrate. It's actually laughable how badly it's put together.

Though i dont think i'll miss reddit at all, these federated communities are much more my speed anyway.

I've cut down on my Reddit use by a lot since the protests. I only occasionally browse the site, and I don't comment on any subreddits save one niche one that hasn't moved over to any other site.

Anyways spez will go down as one of the innumerable examples of greedy hurensohns.

I don't like reddit and I never have. Their whole platform is designed to be anti speech and pro corporate. Once Swartz was out of the picture it was over for good. It has become a cesspit of corporate shills and anti free speech. It's a platform that should be avoided by anyone who values freedom.

Front page of the Ai bots.Not even feeling real some comments.

How does one simply incite viral popularity of an alternative like Lemmy? And what is reddit doing to hinder that?

This is the best summary I could come up with:

In June, thousands of Reddit communities plunged into darkness – making their pages inaccessible to the public in a mass protest of corporate policy changes.

With rumors of an imminent IPO swirling, the company is under pressure to make money – and CEO Huffman has acknowledged as much, stating at the time of the change: “Reddit needs to be a self-sustaining business, and to do that, we can no longer subsidize commercial entities that require large-scale data use.”

Stevie Chancellor, an assistant professor in the department of computer science and engineering at the University of Minnesota who has studied Reddit for years, echoed these sentiments.

“It bothers me that social media companies are increasingly restricting our abilities as researchers who care deeply about these sites and who believe they can provide many benefits for people,” Chancellor said.

Reddit’s corporate overlords were ultimately unmoved by the massive blackout, and most of the thousands of dark subreddits went back to normal after a few weeks.

Users who have long been dedicated to the site, some of whom have spent countless unpaid hours working to make it better, are exhausted and resentful – and many have simply left.

The original article contains 1,685 words, the summary contains 195 words. Saved 88%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Biggest issue with reddit are the abusive mods with no oversight.

That place has become nothing but a propaganda mill for whoever is in charge.

I have been permanently banned from it hahaha

Deleted my account but make another just for ... (work-safe material, if you work in it). Maybe it actually hasn't changed due to the protest but it seems worse. Maybe it's just changed as those people moved to ... (if you don't use water cooling in your computer you would use)

I miss /SuspensionPorn

"Rocked" ... notice it's in past tense.

I left Reddit to call their bluff. I stay away from Reddit because I want to help grow the fediverse. It's already better than when I joined. And I believe, perhaps naively, that it will continue to get better. I'd rather be the part of the beginning of something great than lingure around as a great thing rots.

Reddit is just like Digg to me now.

im only on reddit for 1 single subreddit that is a very small community

I requested my data (because your regular comments page only goes up to 1k comments) and replaced all my data with something semi-negative (generated by ChatGPT, because I'm lazy like that).

I really should just delete my account, but I somewhat still like the programming subreddit - about the last bastion that hasn't completely gone to shit over the years.

Well..clearly the guardian does get paid under the rocks to STFU about Lemmy and Raddle.me and I never "donated to them because I don't got much money but used to on common dreams(fuck them and Jake for not listening to obvious solutions and gripe with none of the answers I have and they don't listen to) and when I get paid enough, prolly in February, I'll be donating a little bit to Grist. Now, never will it be to theguardians.

I remember reddit was constantly advertised by their users as a more "elite" platform and everyone was moving to it at digg 2.0 times. What I seriously started getting curious about is: Did the collective IQ level drop on Reddit, way before the API golden shot? I sometimes share my opinion there and very interesting things happen. They clearly "don't get it". The scene of my native language (Turkish) went totally hopeless. Think like Storm Front for Turkish audience. It all happened in 3–4 years, they say, after Bitcoin madness.

Company entirely reliant upon an army of hard working volunteers makes some noise about listening. Noise is just air vibrations.