[thunkingdeep]

The only people I’ve ever known who actually thought Reddit ever really mattered was people in the HN sphere. Anecdata, but still. In terms of value per minute spent, it’s the same tier of slop as TikTok or Instagram, and I think most ordinary people hold that same view.

[thinkingtoilet]

The organizations/nation states/whatever who astroturf on reddit disagree with you. It definitely matters in shaping opinions. It's not as influential as tiktok of course, but that doesn't mean it's not influential.

[impossiblefork]

For mass shaping tiktok is probably more effective, but Reddit probably shapes people more deeply, since there's actual discussion.

I think people are more critical in this discussion though, so that an apparent consensus may be interpreted by the user as the thread being bot-infested rather than there being a consensus. Thus it may be harder to get a result there, and the really interesting people that you may want to affect might actually be immune because they approach the medium as critically as it should be.

[LtWorf]

On reddit opposing point of views get instabanned. The discussion is just between people who already agree.

[impossiblefork]

Only in places like /r/worldnews.

[LtWorf]

Also r/sverige r/sweden r/italy are very one sided. The right wing governments of those countries are finally now having some useless words about israel, but it will take a long time before the mods adapt.

[impossiblefork]

/r/Sverige is absolutely astroturfed, but if you ignore the obvious astroturfers you can have real discussion there, because you won't be banned.

/r/Sweden bans people, but is less astroturfed and you can still have real discussion there, except when the drug-liberals (for Americans speakers, think drug-libertarians) and other goons come out of their hiding holes.

I don't think either subreddit cares about Israel stuff at all, and they certainly don't care about what any Swedish government thinks. In both, everyone gets to have their say, whether he's Israeli public diplomacy or Qatari public diplomacy, although bots will of course downvote, and Reddit itself will sometimes remove comments.

[cosmicgadget]

*on/from particular subreddits

[thunkingdeep]

By that measure, the benches on my local sidewalks are of cultural importance.

You can spew ads and shit wherever they’ll let you, doesn’t enrich the environment by default.

I get what you mean, but I’m still unconvinced of Reddit as a meaningful platform.

[portaouflop]

what happens on the street is obviously of cultural importance

[thunkingdeep]

Yeah? I saw a homeless guy shit into the storm drain the other day. I’ll send you the picture… since it’s so culturally important

[askafriend]

Yes, TikTok and Instagram...some of the most valuable media, entertainment and communication businesses in history.

[runjake]

I can't tell. Are you countering OP's point or pointing out that slop is a lucrative business?

[askafriend]

Look the reality is yes Instagram and TikTok have extremely problematic incentives built into their products. But they're also remarkably useful, entertaining, and fun products too. Both are true.

Do you think multi-billion-user products can exist without "slop"? What do you think the average person wants to consume? The equivalent of salad? Have you met the average person?

I think people have fundamental misconceptions of the average person's desire.

[leptons]

>The only people I’ve ever known who actually thought Reddit ever really mattered was people in the HN sphere.

Most of reddit doesn't read HN, and there 100s of millions of people on reddit, so your perspective seems a bit narrow.

[pessimizer]

> The only people I’ve ever known who actually thought Reddit ever really mattered was people in the HN sphere.

They said the same thing about Quora and 3d TV.

That being said, TikTok and Instagram matter. Reddit probably matters more because it's so easy for motivated people and corporations to manipulate discussions on it; it's even weaker than Wikipedia.

50x as many people read Reddit than post on Reddit, and 10x as many people as read Reddit have gotten their opinions indirectly from people passing on stuff they (can't remember that they) saw on Reddit (but think they learned somewhere legitimate.)

[vipshek]

I find this perspective bizarre. Though I'm not happy about it all being centralized, the closest thing we have these days to the very niche phpBB forums of the 2000s is various subreddits focused on very specific topics. Scrolling through the front page is slop, sure, but whenever I'm looking for perspectives on a niche topic, searching for "<topic> reddit" is the first thing I do. And I know many people without any connection to the software industry who feel the same way.

[rambambram]

I would love to have some directory with all kinds of active (PHP) web forums. That was the heyday of the open web for me.

[ryoshu]

Major advertisers are trying to figure out Reddit now, but it's a mixed bag and the costs are high compared to other platforms. It's no longer a niche.

[scottyah]

I think they've found it in the form of astroturfing. A medium length post hyping up some brand is so common you've probably seen thousands

[Jaxkr]

> In terms of value per minute spent, it’s the same tier of slop as TikTok or Instagram

Insane take. Reddit hosts deep threaded discussions on almost any topic imaginable. In its prime it was the best forum on the internet. There’s a reason people commonly add “reddit” to the end of their search queries.

Unfortunately it feels like the community has gotten much dumber after they banned third party apps and restricted API access. It’s also lost almost all of its Aaron Swartz style hacktivist culture.

Reddit, in its prime, was incredible and beloved by almost everyone I know (most of which are far outside the HN sphere)

[JFingleton]

It feels like all those hacktivists moved to Discord... Which is even more "locked away" than Reddit.

I miss the old skool php web forums.

[portaouflop]

There are still many around - most of them die because admins give up or users leave - if you actually miss them it should be easy to find some for your interests

[rambambram]

I would love to have some directory with all kinds of active (PHP) web forums. That was the heyday of the open web for me.

Do you have any tips on how to specifically search for these forums? Without just googling for topics and browsing hours to find some. When I think about it, just googling/searching might be the only way.

[breppp]

https://www.google.com/search?q="powered+by+vbulletin"

[rambambram]

Nice one, thanks!

[some_random]

I have no idea how anyone could have seriously tried to use reddit and be on HN and come to that conclusion. Yes some of the reddit defaults are slop but many clearly have significantly more value than short form video, and that's before you start discussing the niche communities that live there.

[rexer]

Odd. Your take is the one I see most common on HN. My experience has been that Reddit has gone mainstream and most people find it quite valuable