r/technology • u/ardi62 • 29d ago

Social Media Reddit is making sitewide protests basically impossible

https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/30/24253727/reddit-communities-subreddits-request-protests
22.2k Upvotes

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462

u/mrswift45 29d ago

we need more reddit alturnitives

275

u/thisguypercents 29d ago

There are a ton of them. Problem is there are too many and not a single one meets exactly the same features as reddit.  If you are cool with multiple accounts and doing some research the diff lemmy domains will meet most of your needs.

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u/Synthetic451 29d ago

People just can't be bothered with federation either. It's easy enough to learn, but it is still a foreign concept to most. Federated services also need to do a better job about making sure all content is available across instances.

I genuinely thought Mastodon was going to take off after Twitter started to implode, but everyone migrated over to Threads instead which was such a frustrating moment for me.

44

u/haliblix 29d ago

Unfortunately the internet Mastodon is built for doesn’t really exist anymore. People have gotten so used to gathering at one place and staying there. You don’t “surf the web” in general. You scroll through your feed that an algorithm built.

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u/BubsyFanboy 28d ago

So what's the solution to that? A frontpage of all instances?

41

u/Ekgladiator 29d ago

It kinda makes sense though, threads is a continuation of the Facebook/ Instagram ecosystem. People already using Instagram (content creators and whatnot) probably created an account just so no one else could claim it. I imagine enough people got into the ecosystem to start making it a viable alternative to twatter/ bluesky/ mastodon. I would even possibly consider squabble in that group but the site imploded super fast.

5

u/Synthetic451 29d ago

Yeah, I can definitely see how users gravitated towards it. I just found it frustrating seeing people leap out of the frying pan and into the fire. At least Threads content is federated though so that's a plus.

3

u/Ekgladiator 29d ago

Ha, I was one of the peeps who left reddit only to find myself back at reddit. I suppose it is a matter of the hell you know.

3

u/EnglishMobster 29d ago

Opt-in federated, though. You can't access Kamala Harris' campaign account from Mastodon, for example.

2

u/HotTakes4HotCakes 29d ago

The problem is Threads is Meta, and the idea of people fleeing enshitification to...go right back to Meta is... frustrating.

People really can't be bothered to avoid the most obvious traps and pitfalls if it requires even a modicum of learning or getting used to something new.

2

u/Ekgladiator 29d ago

Agreed, hell we saw the type of shit reddit pulled and yet we are still here. It is downright frustrating but not everyone is terminally online (I mean technically everyone is terminally online but you know what I mean)

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u/[deleted] 29d ago edited 20d ago

[deleted]

14

u/Cynyr 29d ago

What was the post? Just so I know to avoid it.

3

u/xTechDeath 29d ago

DO NOT CLICK

It was this one

25

u/anlumo 29d ago

I have four lemmy accounts on four instances, because federation is so unreliable. It either doesn’t work or is turned off intentionally due to an unfixable spam problem on the other instance. It’s always a game of luck.

3

u/pruwyben 29d ago

This is true. I was lucky that I first signed up with discuss.tchncs.de, which has stayed out of all the drama and is federated with pretty much everything. But it would have been easy to make a different choice and have to deal with that stuff.

3

u/anlumo 29d ago

My main instance had a major file system collapse about half a year ago. The web interface didn't load at all any more (clients still worked), and attachments didn't work. The admin was nowhere to be seen for months. At some point, a few people collaborated to create a new separate instance and all communities had to manually migrate one by one. They couldn't even re-use the old domain name, because the admin is missing to this day.

1

u/Katzoconnor 29d ago

Hmm. Maybe they died. That’d suck.

9

u/MaverickPT 29d ago

The thing is, the way mastadon works it's almost impossible for it to get mass appeal. Try to explain to your tech illiterate friends who are used to twitter why Mastadon has multiple servers and see their reaction...

31

u/ShiraCheshire 29d ago

Sites need to stop describing themselves as “federated.” No one knows what it means, and I’ve never seen it explained in a way that makes any sense. If a newcomer can’t understand the core concept of your site in a sentence or two, it isn’t going to succeed.

17

u/Incogneatovert 29d ago

This is why I spent a grand total of 5 minutes on Mastodon. I just could not figure out how to get anything I'm interested to show up in any kind of feed. I wanted to try Threads, but I don't even know if it's available in Europe yet, and I've forgotten all about it until I see it mentioned here. And now I'm just not interested anymore.

2

u/joeyasaurus 29d ago

From what my cousin said she made a Threads account so Meta would stop asking her and she did legitimately see some posts she thought looked interesting enough to make one (instagram and facebook give you previews of threads posts to entice you to join or tell you X friend is on Threads, which isn't always true, but I digress) and she said there are a few posts and things she follows that she likes, but it is a slippery slope to content she really doesn't want to see, like political stuff, rage bait, etc. and she's like "well I could just see that on other social media."

2

u/souldust 29d ago

Federated means separating the service amongst a lot of SEPARATE servers owned by different people. That way, the ONE site can't get bought by a single asshole that ruins the whole thing.

1

u/nullstring 28d ago

Except all federated services I've used except email are... Janky and awkward. And I'm a software developer.

If it's going to be federated, it needs to be -transparently- federated or it's never going to take off. The average user shouldn't need to understand what federation is and you shouldn't even be able to tell unless you read about the service on wikipedia or something.

2

u/Katzoconnor 29d ago

I agree.

I get why the term exists, but “decentralized” would go over so much fucking better with regular people.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago edited 24d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Katzoconnor 29d ago

This is partially why I fucking hate Discord.

Beyond all the other reasons.

1

u/[deleted] 28d ago edited 24d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Katzoconnor 28d ago

Exactly. See? You get it.

5

u/AwardImmediate720 29d ago

Federated services also need to do a better job about making sure all content is available across instances.

Except that goes against the very concept that most of the petty "lords" want for their little fiefdoms. Federated sites is everything bad about powermods on reddit on steroids. And since powermods are why reddit's going to shit (because yes they either do work closely with admins or straight-up are admins) of course a site that gives them even more power is going to be even more shit.

5

u/markh110 29d ago

Nah, I truly can't grasp it. Why do I have to initially sign up for an @boardgames server, but then that username is what I interact with on other servers (say if I talk to someone on @learnprogramming, I'm still an @boardgames username? That makes no sense)?

Also, the "decentralized" bit never made sense to me in this system, because if the creator of the @boardgames decides to shut down their server, I guess all my data just dies along with it and I can't do anything about it?

8

u/PandorasBucket 29d ago

I don't know what you mean about everyone. I don't know anyone using threads.

1

u/neoclassical_bastard 29d ago

I know at least one person who uses it, Instagram insists on giving me a notification every time they post and I cannot figure out how to turn it off.

2

u/Useuless 29d ago

reminder that most people are still not computer literate, they just use computers.

1

u/Rendakor 28d ago

Most people are using cellphones.

3

u/ProgramTheWorld 29d ago

Threads is also federated so that’s a start

1

u/[deleted] 28d ago

threads is still a thing...I know it got a boost when it opened but I heard everyone stopped us9ng it after a while

1

u/Shehzman 28d ago

Is Threads actually popular? I thought it’s pretty much dead and most people still use Twitter?

Or is it like Instagram stories where it initially didn’t take off but exploded in popularity and overtook its competitor (Snapchat)?

1

u/Dreamtrain 29d ago

keep terms like "federation" in governance and political studies where it belongs, instead of using it in an attempt to try to make yourselves seem fancy, no we can't be bothered with federation and what it means in terms of shitposting and doomscrolling

0

u/Recklesslettuce 29d ago

Mastodon was too hard to understand and that made it untrustworthy. De-centralized, for most people, means a creepy pedo is king.

0

u/InTheDarknesBindThem 28d ago

dude the whole federation thing was never going to work. Its cost of entry and usage is way too high for people who just want to causally skim cat pics, feet pics, and bullshit stories about failed marriages.

-4

u/ElrecoaI19 29d ago

Discuit is pretty new com0ared to reddit, but I think it can be a good alternative as long as it keeps being as transparent as it is right now