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A lot of Redditors hate the Reddit IPO | Reddit warned us that its users were a risk factor, and boy do they sound excited about shorting its stock.::Reddit seems like a likely candidate for a meme stock. But the actual reaction suggests that r/WallStreetBets isn’t going to send the stock to the moon.

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 9 months ago (8 children)

I don’t get why, if these people hate Reddit so much and they want the IPO to fail, why are they still using the platform?

Once people get burned with that stock purchase email, they are going to have even more pissed off users.

[–] [email protected] 102 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I don’t get why, if these people hate Reddit so much and they want the IPO to fail, why are they still using the platform?

Could be several reasons:

  • they're addicted
  • they don't know any alternatives
  • they still like using the platform, they just disagree with the financial/executive decisions being made
  • the alternatives don't have equivalent communities
  • their communities don't want to move to an alternative
  • they like the alternatives even less than Reddit
[–] [email protected] 60 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Honestly, Lemmy just does not have the amount of niche content nor the large userbase of reddit. I don't even bother following communities here because there's barely enough on c/all.

The only reason I haven't gone back to reddit is because I know for a fact things are only gonna get worse on there. That, and pure unadulterated spite.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 9 months ago (1 children)

My biggest problem with lemmy is discovery.

I can't find shit I want unless it comes across all and I find it interesting.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago (4 children)

So what you're saying is you miss the algorithm.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Having an algorithm is something some people like. It isn’t as universally negative as some seem to think. The issue is when the algorithm is prioritizing engagement over enjoyment

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

You nailed it there, it's similar to targeted ads for me. I actually do like targeted ads because they might show me stuff I'm actually interested in or new products/new media in my wheelhouse. It's just that a lot of people can't help themselves and buy what they see on ads, I usually just use it as a jumping off point to do research into whatever product. I prefer seeing ads for games than for diapers.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

When the volume of potentially relevant and interesting content is enormous to the point that a standard human brain can't possibly hope to filter through all of it in reasonable time, the algorithm makes plenty of sense.

I just want a fair algorithm that represents what is best for me and us.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

No, what I miss are tools for searching for communities that actually work. While technically those use algorithms to find communities, but I don't miss "the algorithm".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

It makes curation a lot less difficult, but I also think making it the sole authority is reckless and bad design. I should be able to live my life without its sense of 'discovery' and Mastodon is in the right with their approach.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 9 months ago

Yeah that's the thing. Users stick to reddit because they have ties with the individual communities, not so much the platform itself.

People used to use Facebook for similar reasons. "Because all my friends are there". Not because Facebook was so great.

It can be difficult to leave communities behind that you feel a part of, even if you just lurk most of the time. The fact that reddit was turned into a corporate dystopic shitshow does bother users, but it hasn't outweighed their needs to still be part of their respective communities.

But seeing as official reddit sources claim that "they're still in the early stages of user monetization", it might not be long before we see what's left of the platform turn into the biggest dumpster fire the internet has ever seen.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Also, for some hobbies/interests, there really isn’t another space. For instance, if you’re into tactical gear, there’s really not another community like r/tacticalgear. Lemmy has the promise of being free from Reddit’s admin and moderator madness, but doesn’t have the user base and neither do any other sites.

TwoXChromosomes has the same problem, though of course it has a much wider appeal. The moderators there protested the API changes and the gradual decline of Reddit in general, but they face two bad choices, and I genuinely don’t know the right answer:

  1. Keep serving as a large and visible space for women within the confines of Reddit’s sinking ship

  2. Abandon Reddit (ship) and let Reddit powermods run a space that they may be uniquely unqualified to operate. those same powermods/admins don’t care about doing the right thing in every other sub they control, so why would they ensure that women are protected from, say, tracking their visits to Planned Parenthood and selling that data to “advertisers” or hostile governments.

We need Reddit to truly self-destruct to ensure an Exodus, and right now it’s crumbling but not broken yet. It’s honestly sort of a mirror to society in general. We’re in the Crumbles, and every day we inch closer to the final straw that breaks the camel’s back.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago (1 children)

FOMO.

Kept me on Reddit for a lot longer than it should have.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago (1 children)

As someone on wsb and totally going to short the stock. They named the sub in their Ipo and that we were going to short the shit out of them.

I think it would be rude not to deliver on said promise. Honestly from what I've gathered on the wsb discord we kinda just wanna see reddit on fire. At least that's the general sentiment I've perceived.

Also the main thought has been that as soon as they IPO they're gonna get their board taken over and kick us out first thing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Gotta wait a week after the IPO launches for options usually.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago

It's where a lot of centralized communities are for niche topics, so it's kinda hard to just drop it entirely. I haven't posted on Reddit since moving to Lemmy, but I still lurk on some of my old subs for news and events in my city or to keep up to date on some of my hobbies. I can get memes and news here, but for the hyper-specific stuff I can either lurk on Reddit or dust off my Facebook account and try to find a relevant Group. Given the choice, I'll take Reddit.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Reddit has a near-monopoly on forum communities. It is ranked 16 on similarweb and no other competitor comes even close in terms of community size. It's like Facebook in its dominance.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Is it though? Everyone I know aged 20 to 85 i on Facebook, some more active than others. I think I know 3 people irl that use reddit. Mind you I'm not in the US, where is more prevalent but most people I know have barely heard of reddit.

Sure, it has near monopoly on forum communities but that's a tiny niche on the internet

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Most normal people don't admit to using Reddit, and it is not a platform you use to connect with friends in real life. Facebook has a different use case entirely.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Fair enough, still feels like we are comparing nestle with your city's local chain of 7 minimarkets, sure I might have a few more acquaintances that use reddit but that is not 100% of them. I did a quick search from my phone, hope the sites is reliable and that I didn't fuck up anything

According to this reddit had just under 75 million daily active users in q3 2023 https://www.statista.com/statistics/1453149/reddit-quarterly-dau-by-region/

In the same q, Facebook had https://www.statista.com/statistics/346167/facebook-global-dau/ 2110

So reddit need to grow another order of magnitude for op statement that it is comparable to fb in its dominance to become remotely true. Ideally two orders of magnitude.

I get it, we have all spent too much time on reddit for years and feel like that's basically the whole of the internet but we are biased, there is a whole majority of people out there that don't even know that exists

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Your first sentence suggests you're disagreeing, but nothing you said after that is incompatible with anything gp said.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

They are saying it's like Facebook in its dominance, I'm saying it's not like Facebook, clearer now or you want me to come over with a whiteboard?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I don’t get why, if these people hate Reddit so much and they want the IPO to fail, why are they still using the platform?

Why do people still use Xwitter even though that entire platform has become a wasteland of bigots, assholes, and authoritarians?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

... Work? That's the only good reason I can think of. People use X and reddit for very different reasons. The platforms aren't similar at all.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Habit. Inertia. Ease

[–] pkill 7 points 9 months ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Because that's where the convo is.

But that's people. People make convo. We like people.

What we hate is the spider. Squatting on, manipulating, sucking the people.

Kill the spider.