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Ask HN: Has Reddit Turned into Facebook?

25 points by frfl ↗ HN
There's always some outrage on the home page

The homepage UI has slowly become almost a clone of FB[1].

The quality of discussion has eroded and now it's almost useless to read any thread there, especially on popular subs.

I also found this discussion from yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39770288

[1]: https://i.ibb.co/kDkG9zB/reddit-is-fb.png

22 comments

[ 4.6 ms ] story [ 45.6 ms ] thread
ktosobcy
dunno... I'm usually not logged it, I don't see main page, I use old.reddit and follow couple of subs via RSS only and it works... just fine. and the threading model on old ui still makes sens, and it's not as annoying as what fb puts on groups posts...
ThrowawayTestr
How old is the redesign?
bencelaszlo
Which one? The current or "the redesign" which came after the "old" design?
frfl
The redesign formerly known as the new design which became the old design after the new new redesign not to confuse this with the old old design.
MaxHoppersGhost
The Reddit groupthink has made the site’s main subreddits unusable for a while. R/news is only news with a massive slant from one direction and any thought outside of the approved narrative is railroaded. Smaller subreddits are still kind of usable but suffer from similar issues on smaller scales.
krisboyz781
Groupthink is every social media site. You go on Twitter, it's primarily right wing group think. Go on certain forums, same thing. Even Hackernews is extremely slanted on topics and it's even funnier because some of you folks are clueless on the topics at hand.
farseer
Don't you mean some of "us"?
ActorNightly
Twitter is not primarily right wing group think. There is plenty of discussion of both sides on there.

The problem is that most modern algorithms tend to recommend most stuff that you engage in, so if you continuously comment against conservative viewpoints, you are doing to get more conservative stuff in your feed.

Hackernews is by far the best because it tends to self govern with downvoting/flagging baseless comments. People definitely have a bias, but you can post disagreement on things and actually have good discussion, whereas on Reddit you basically just get downvoted and people just tell you are wrong without any sort of justification.

interbased
I follow certain subreddits and the mobile version off the app is clean and doesn’t show any of the social networking features. This is a different experience from using the desktop version of the new website without custom subreddits. So, I’d say it depends on how you use it.
7355608
Ask HN: Has HN Turned into Reddit?
readyplayernull
Nah. It's mostly news about walled gardens with walking dead features.
747-8F
Fb is an understandable product to merit comparison. Perhaps a more accurate reddit comparison is digg
chung8123
I am pretty sure the bots are posting rage/echo chamber posts (not sure if it is for karma or a narrative). Look at a group like "fluentinfiance" where all the posts are the same. In groups like "AITAH" they posts are all so crazy they cannot be real.

Not sure how reddit is going to deal with this or if they even have to but main groups of reddit are impossible to trust.

al_borland
Pretty much. Last time I was there it was a lot of personal posts about family member's birthdays, childhood pictures, pets, etc. All of which seem better suited for Facebook, not a public forum for a world full of anonymous strangers.
8BitArmour
Yep,it has ,it used to be an underground platform and now it's gone mainstream. The same can be said for a lot of things,especially YC Earlier,it was hackers who made a product in their free time and then turned it into scalable,profitable products/companies,and now its MBA grads trying to get into YC by building ubers of somethings
findingMeaning
What is the alternative to YC that would still support hackers/builders?
frfl
Bootstrapping is one option that many still choose over external funding. In the lean startup sense, ie a slow burn, low burn rate.

Others may opt for non-VC financing (bank, personal loan, friends, family) or using their own savings as capital, where low burn rate isn't possible.

There's no silver bullet unless you're already rich.

jf22
Every sub is where people post their mundane situations, and the group responds with the most hyperbolic and over-the-top reactions.

Relationship has a small communication issue? Break up and go no contact. Family member disagrees? Never talk to them again. Marriage has problems? The other person is a toxic abuser. Divorce immediately. Boss has an expectation? They are hostile, and you need to quit. Company provides an product you don't like? Sue them and organize a boycott. Politician has an opinion other than yours? They are destroying a country, cancel them.

You are immediately downvoted and probably banned if you post anything that encourages moderation or patience.

I know this sounds very "boomer" of me, but I do think people raised with easily available echo rage chambers are growing into un-resilient and fragile people.

Wonnk13
AITA for divorcing my wife after she took a bite of my apple?

For real, I just remind myself the average age of the people posting on the frontpage is probably 16. I use old.reddit.com and a handful of very niche subs and my reddit experience is mostly fine.

jf22
Eating the apple is just a symptom of abuse! She's toxic, and you should upend your entire life for this violation! What happens when she eats your kids?
Desafinado
I thought Reddit was turning into the old Facebook in the sense that:

- people actually use it

- it's use is widespread

I haven't been on Reddit long but would say I'm still enjoying it. Where Facebook is a zombie that people use to sell trinkets on Marketplace.