Personally I think the format of upvoting posts to decide what people talk about, upvoting comments to decide what information/opinions get more visibility, and branching comment threads so you can have multiple conversations about the same topic is just a much nicer format than forum threads just being bumped because someone posted “bump” and having multiple conversations trying to keep track of each other in one single comment thread. Unfortunately that formula can be easily replicated so really it was just a matter of time before similar alternatives popped up. Same thing happening with Twitter and Threads, all you did was give people a different way to post Facebook statuses, you didn’t really “invent” anything so much as iterate on an existing concept and nothing about the idea was that difficult to replicate once it was legitimized as a tried and true formula.
“Unfortunately that formula can be easily replicated so really it was just a matter of time before similar alternatives popped up.”
I disagree on the unfortunate part. I think it’s good that alternatives are easy to make. That means I don’t have to put up with the shenanigans to have the type of forum I’ve enjoyed.
Well yes, what I meant by that word choice was “unfortunately for Reddit”, but good for you and me! I’m loving that people seem to be realizing that it’s really not hard making an alternative to what is essentially a text-based website.
The thing that is truly unfortunate is how much harder the same is to do for data-heavy sites for sharing images, videos, etc.
Ease of use for the moderators and end users. How many user names and passwords would I have to keep track of before? The effort isn’t much, but it adds up.
I brilliantly solved this problem by having same username and password for all the forums I was participating in. But that was way before digg even was a thing, I don’t even remember where I should start looking again
I had a common usename and a common first 6 letters of the password. Then 3 numbers that were different from each forum and that was written down. Not great, but it would take some serious leaps of logic even if my system was compromised. I also took password generation more seriously if it was attached to a payment system, so things like Amazon, ebay or PayPal had much larger, more random passwords.
In my 10+ years of using Reddit never once did I visit a NSFW sub. It’s always been a forum for sharing information for me.
You missed so much
The golden days of gone wild were wild.
Yeah, it was great before OnlyFans blew up.
Even /r/OnlyFans was awesome in its own way
Gone; wild.
Every now and then there were a couple I would check in on.
But I figured why bother when there are dedicated sites just for porn.
With a good app and a dedicated account it was possible to create a curated selection that was easy to ‘browse’ one handed.
same here but shorter time. why did it flourish more than forums though!? that’s the mistery
Personally I think the format of upvoting posts to decide what people talk about, upvoting comments to decide what information/opinions get more visibility, and branching comment threads so you can have multiple conversations about the same topic is just a much nicer format than forum threads just being bumped because someone posted “bump” and having multiple conversations trying to keep track of each other in one single comment thread. Unfortunately that formula can be easily replicated so really it was just a matter of time before similar alternatives popped up. Same thing happening with Twitter and Threads, all you did was give people a different way to post Facebook statuses, you didn’t really “invent” anything so much as iterate on an existing concept and nothing about the idea was that difficult to replicate once it was legitimized as a tried and true formula.
“Unfortunately that formula can be easily replicated so really it was just a matter of time before similar alternatives popped up.”
I disagree on the unfortunate part. I think it’s good that alternatives are easy to make. That means I don’t have to put up with the shenanigans to have the type of forum I’ve enjoyed.
Well yes, what I meant by that word choice was “unfortunately for Reddit”, but good for you and me! I’m loving that people seem to be realizing that it’s really not hard making an alternative to what is essentially a text-based website.
The thing that is truly unfortunate is how much harder the same is to do for data-heavy sites for sharing images, videos, etc.
reddit awards were an invention and great idea tbh, especially in subs like ELI5 and r/math. Gold or star awarded comments were really dope
For a lot of people: Porn, and easy access to otherwise obscure interests.
I think ease of use helped a lot.
Ease of use for the moderators and end users. How many user names and passwords would I have to keep track of before? The effort isn’t much, but it adds up.
I brilliantly solved this problem by having same username and password for all the forums I was participating in. But that was way before digg even was a thing, I don’t even remember where I should start looking again
I had a common usename and a common first 6 letters of the password. Then 3 numbers that were different from each forum and that was written down. Not great, but it would take some serious leaps of logic even if my system was compromised. I also took password generation more seriously if it was attached to a payment system, so things like Amazon, ebay or PayPal had much larger, more random passwords.
Smells funny
There was a subreddit for that
NSFW subs used to show up in /r/all so they were easy to stumble upon and learn about without even having to intentionally look for them.
If I remember correctly they never actually displayed the images (or thumbnails) themselves in the all feed unless there was an option to allow it.
Right?
I feel like the only person who used reddit for conversation.
Thankfully it seems like many of the wittier reddit users moved here (at least until they’re drowned out.)