this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2023
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Reddit Was Fun
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Memorial to "rif is fun for Reddit" Android app, aka "reddit is fun", shut down after June 30, 2023
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Reddit will survive. I hope it does- we (Lemmy) need it to.
Fact is, not every Reddit user is a good fit for Lemmy / is someone we want to bring over to Lemmy. Reddit has been intentionally courting a demographic that just wants quick content scrolling, like TikTok. I think that's a big part of why Reddit has gotten so much more hostile in the last few years- such people don't generally have open minds.
I want to migrate the people who are respectful, open-minded, who want a discussion and a debate. I don't want to migrate the people who just want to endlessly scroll through shiny videos and never produce an intelligent thought.
So I say let Reddit have those people- if Spez can monetize them, do it with my compliments. The site/company won't be nearly as valuable, but who cares.
In a way I wholly see your point. Who wouldn't want to surround themselves with more mature individuals with worldly perspectives whose first inclination at disagreement isn't "winning the argument" but rather the mutual pursuit of truth and a gentle "shifting" of views towards it in kind?
The only reason I'd disagree on this to some extent is it reproduces what is already a key problem with the internet / social media: Echo-chambers. Unfortunately for society to improve, we need to drag along the ignorant and inform them whatever way we can. The nice thing with Reddit is that you'd get a lot of overlap with "reasonable people," and those... Not so reasonable. I attribute this exposure to changing my views massively over the years (coming from a rural christian conservative background turned progressive non-religious). In my view somehow you need to court these folks so they can be exposed to a variety of outside opinions but also ensure they don't get... Unruly either.
Reddit has clearly decided that their strength is as a Generic Social Network, with a priority on content that will appeal to as many people as possible, and be as addicting as possible. I’m a broken record about this, but this is why you see so many negative communities and posts getting promoted by their algorithm.
Lemmy has the opportunity to be something even greater - a social network that is for the users, by the users, and of the users. No profit motive. No doomscrolling. No shitty videos. Just good discussions and funny memes.
That's what I've been thinking. Reddit the site will continue on, but it's slowly and painfully going to stop being reddit.
Based.