I went back to Reddit this morning. Yeah I know, but I just wanted to check the place out after all the blackouts. As I was scrolling through my typical stuff I was down voting dumb things as is pure habit and it struck me… after being here only 2 days and not having any down vote button, what was just a pure habit suddenly felt a little dirty.
Those people I just down voted didn’t do anything wrong I just didn’t agree with them. But by down voting them I’m basically doing one little part in actually silencing them. It felt bad. In fact all of Reddit felt bad… like, it was just such a habit and I was ready to go back, but once I did it wasn’t as good as I remembered it.
All it took was 2 days away using a different platform that gives me essentially the same stuff I want to read and this no down vote thing somehow has resonated with me more than I would have thought. I actually went back and removed the down votes. Those people have the right to feel how they do whether I agree or not. I don’t need to silence and invalidate people over things that are so incredibly minor.
I’ve decided I will use Reddit only via Google search if it has the content I’m looking for, just like any other webpage, but I think Lemmy, and Beehaw specifically, are my new home. It no longer feels like “the alternative.” It feels like a place I actually chose to be. I wrote in my application that I wanted less toxicity in my life and I think that’s already happening. I’m really grateful to have discovered this place.
I popped into one of the few subreddits I participate in and the consensus was mostly, “Who cares about the API/third-party apps, I just want my Reddit back.” Whatever, they can have it.
I’ve been working to curate my RSS feed in the last couple of days so I never need to visit Reddit at all (outside of being directed there by a Google search result).
I’ve been working to curate my RSS feed in the last couple of days so I never need to visit Reddit at all
Ironically that would make Aaron very proud! He was one of the Reddit founder, but also a creator of RSS, and his prosecution for basically accessing an API led to his suicide…
Still don’t understand how “downloading too many scholarly articles” was a crime on a network with an open policy.
So many don’t understand that the mods need those tools, and don’t care about people who need the accessibility (although I suspect that argument is popular more for having the moral high ground).
Everyday users don’t understand all the work that goes into certain things sometimes. Mods really have a thankless benevolent job sometimes. We should appreciate what they do more instead of just going back to Reddit with our blinders on.
it doesn’t affect me so why should I care?
I’m not on an instance with no downvotes, as I do think they have SOME purpose (though you’re right that it is usually a bit of a disagree button rather than anything else), but I agree with the rest. The content here is certainly slower. On reddit, I could just refresh the main page and have dozens of new posts to interact with- here, not so much. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, though. I still get my mindless scrolling when I’m poopin or something like that, but I’m spending a lot less time online than I did. I’m reading more, I’m working on my novels, I’m WAY more productive at work. I used RiF exclusively on my phone, and so I decided pretty soon after the API announcement that I was done. All the protest and reddit’s hilariously mismanaged response has done has cemented my resolve.
I’m spending a lot less time online than I did
Removing Sync from my phone was huge in terms of changing my habits. Without ready access to the dopamine drip, I am using my phone so much less than I did even a week ago. And as you said, I’m reading more and scrolling less.
I’ll admit it’s very much like getting over an addiction.
My big thing was deleting redreader from my homescreen and putting Jerboa where redreader was stopped quite a few reflex clicks. Now when i do it i expect lemmy and the redreader app is buried in my app drawer where i dont really see it
[they] didn’t do anything wrong I just didn’t agree with them
And that’s why it’s disabled! That’s not what it’s meant to be for, it’s meant to be for things that don’t add to the conversation. If it’s factually wrong then fine - downvote, but don’t do it to suppress others’ opinions.
Yes, I completely agree with you. Reddit could become such a nasty place, and I fully admit that I was part of the problem. It didn’t feel like a problem because it was so socially accepted, even encouraged, within Reddit’s own culture, but I was definitely part of the problem down voting people into oblivion for “being dumb”. I never thought twice about it until the last two days. Now it feels dirty. Now I recognize I don’t want to be a part of that culture any longer.
Haha, I think I just had a little rant at you there even though you were saying the same things I was saying. Bad habits… I don’t think I’ll be on reddit much now, hopefully enough people stay around to make this place quite active still.
It should be fine - it was busy enough before the blackout, and of course all the good apps will stop working soon, along with a bunch of essential tools for modding, etc.
My habits on Reddit were to upvote if I liked it, ignore most of it, downvotes I mostly reserved for people being toxic.
What’s sad is that back in the old days of Reddit, Reddiquette was actually a thing and people followed that rule more. In recent years, though, it feels like Reddiquette is completely dead.
Post any kind of dissenting opinion and you’ll get downvoted into absolute oblivion. And I’m not just speaking about politics. You can write a well thought out comment in any sub that goes against the grain, and the culture is just totally to downvote for disagreement. I think my most downvoted comment of all time on Reddit was on r/juicing when I questioned whether carrot juice was actually effective for depression lol.
@polygon well, don’t go back.
If you felt bad about the way reddit has been treating its community, then why would you go back?Louis Rossman said something along the lines of “It’s like spending a weekend from an abusive spouse”. It’s not gonna do anything.
Stop using reddit. If they don’t change things before the 30th, delete the data on your account.
You’re right, the culture there has grown rotten.
The only reason I’ll be heading back is to wipe out my history and migrate my subreddit content here.
Shreddit is your best friend in that regard. I used it to wipe my account squeaky clean.
Thank you for the shreddit lead, I got some data to burn.
I think its a good example of how one platform with its ecosystem/culture can shapes our habits.
in my opinion, i think the feature of up voting and down voting in reddit are created to bring something relevant to the surface, while “hiding” something that deem not important to the discussions.
While over the years, this trend and culture changes just to silences someone that doesn’t share the way we see the world.
I do not like disabling the downvote button because of this, but i think it is better to disable it, if we tend to abuse it
I do not like disabling the downvote button because of this, but i think it is better to disable it, if we tend to abuse it
In theory voting things up and down for relevancy is a fine idea, a good one even. But human nature is often the reason why we can’t have nice things. It’s just way too easy to fall into that trap. Simply having an upvote button does allow the best ideas to rise to the top, but it doesn’t silence alternative opinions or encourage dog piling on someone with groupthink.
Everyone else has already hit the culture points, but I want to touch on how smooth and snappy lemmy’s web UI is. Maybe my home instance is just overpowered, but even old.reddit.com is a slug in comparison to how fast this feels. One of the most unexpected wins for me so far.
Same as the title for me but different than your thing. Just feels stale over there and I go into comments and it’s the same ol drivel over and over again lol. This community feels fresh and I’m really enjoying exploring the various communities and chatting casually about whatever…
Feels just very corporate place over there and I dunno. Just not feeling right anymore. I’m thinking maybe it’s been wrong all along I just didn’t realize. Hopefully lemmy’s growth continues but at a reasonable pace so that we don’t devolve in the same sorta rhetoric over and over again.
I definitely feel better over here now and while there are way less comments it really seems like the engagements are far better.
Maybe that’s what it is. By the time I look at a post over on reddit there are 1000s of comments and half of them just saying the same thing lol.
At least here you can contribute
Those are probably bots/account harvesting.
Based on usage statistics during the blackout where 99% of the site was unusable (and bots are known to post in that 1% of low traffic subs to farm karma,) I’m honestly wondering if it’s not just mostly bots at this point.
https://blackout.photon-reddit.com/
At any rate, I’m not going back. I like this community more, and the topics I care about will find a home here eventually.
Seems many people have gone back though, since kbin is much faster than it was this time yesterday.
Ernest might have also gotten up more servers to handle the load, noticing that cloudflare is off and we are federating again (this is a beehaw thread)
this is a beehaw thread
I was wondering what OP was talking about when they said they had no downvote buttons. I see a down arrow here on Kbin bruh!
Yup! I wanted to comment like “hey, don’t feel bad OP, you have 5 downvotes yourself” lol.
Also haven’t been back on Reddit and don’t plan on going back. It’s hard, I’m used to being on Reddit multiple times a day and have to fight the muscle memory to click on the app. But I’m realizing I’m really not missing out on anything by not being there. I’d rather stick with this community as we continue to grow. I don’t even use third party apps—it’s just the principle. Just doesn’t feel right to go back, feels scummy to support the site knowing that it’s owner doesn’t give af about its users.
Well I hate to admit I still browse reddit. I don’t comment or even log in, I just browse, just to see its demise.
