So just to preface my reply, I want to say that I have observed a fair number of Reddit alternatives that have popped up in the last three years - Voat, Hubski, Skimur, Snapzu, and now Tildes....
So just to preface my reply, I want to say that I have observed a fair number of Reddit alternatives that have popped up in the last three years - Voat, Hubski, Skimur, Snapzu, and now Tildes. Each one of these alternatives has had its own problems and challenges that made it difficult for them to truly compete with Reddit in one way or another, leaving me a little jaded when it comes to completely switching over to an alternative aggregator or discussion platform. Things like the rapid deterioration of discussion on Voat, which happened basically over the course of a week, brought to an end my and my friends' efforts to create a writers' group on it - we have sunk countless hours and brought together a sizeable group of people before the site was overrun by the alt-right posters. Skimur and Snapzu both shared a common sentiment with Tildes that I find concerning - a number of highly enthusiastic threads that would rave about the platform, but not much more than that. And the established group of posters on Hubski, however great, is so small that I do not feel the need to visit the site more often that once every couple of days. Each one of these sites has been (to a point) a nice addition to Reddit, but could never replace the variety of topics and the amount of content Reddit provides.
Now, what worries me about making a complete switch to Tildes is the following - a good chunk of discussion on here is about Tildes, not about the things outside of it. I realize that it is still early days, and that discussions will mature over the next few months, but a sizeable amount of comments and posts are either about the site's mechanics, suggestions for features that are already outlines in the Docs, or attempts at moderating discussion to achieve the desired level of discourse without much of a contribution outside of that. If that sounds overly critical, it probably is - I still consider Tildes the best possible Reddit alternative that can foster a great environment for in-depth posts and comments. However, too many of the posts on this site are currently an attempt to begin any sort of a general discussion that often devolves into people arguing about what constitutes an in-depth and civil comment rather than writing in-depth and civil comments themselves. The relatively small number of people on the site also results in a lack of discussion in topics that are highly specialized, be it in robotics, obscure cinema or antique chairs. As such, we are left with conversations about where we are from and what our favourite emojis are instead of something slightly more interesting.
For these reasons I cannot see myself switching over to Tildes full-time. I will, however, keep a keen eye on the site and try to aid it in the process.
I've been somewhat concerned about this as well. (Although, here I am contributing to it!) A lot of people are talking about what Tildes should be, but fewer people are making Tildes what they...
Now, what worries me about making a complete switch to Tildes is the following - a good chunk of discussion on here is about Tildes, not about the things outside of it.
I've been somewhat concerned about this as well. (Although, here I am contributing to it!) A lot of people are talking about what Tildes should be, but fewer people are making Tildes what they want it to be by posting content (be it link posts or discussion posts). As you say, that will change as the site grows and matures but, for now, it's a limiting factor.
"Come on in - the water's fine!" People can't find out what the temperature is like until they dive in. I've learned more in the past 2 weeks about the incipient culture here by unintentionally...
some people are lurking to learn the culture and what is or isn't welcomed here.
"Come on in - the water's fine!" People can't find out what the temperature is like until they dive in. I've learned more in the past 2 weeks about the incipient culture here by unintentionally bumping up against its limits while posting & commenting than I could ever have learned through months of observation.
Also, by participating rather than lurking, I have a slight chance of possibly influencing the culture here. "Be the change you want to see in the world."
This isn't directed at you, as such - it's my public appeal to all the lurkers reading this thread. :)
Lurk moar is a fundamental tenet of the internet and any good forum. It should be encouraged (though the process should be made as simple as possible) to ensure a healthy community.
Lurk moar is a fundamental tenet of the internet and any good forum. It should be encouraged (though the process should be made as simple as possible) to ensure a healthy community.
Lurking is good - up to a point. But you can only sit by the side of the pool for so long. Eventually, you have to dive in and try the water for yourself.
Lurking is good - up to a point. But you can only sit by the side of the pool for so long. Eventually, you have to dive in and try the water for yourself.
The 90/10 rule disagrees. There will always be many who will not participate for whatever reason. We shouldn't be chastising them simply because they don't use their voice.
The 90/10 rule disagrees. There will always be many who will not participate for whatever reason. We shouldn't be chastising them simply because they don't use their voice.
The 90:9:1 rule is interesting in that it applies not just to people overall, but also people's activity generally. If you are a lurker, then 100% of the time you are lurking. If you are a voter,...
The 90:9:1 rule is interesting in that it applies not just to people overall, but also people's activity generally. If you are a lurker, then 100% of the time you are lurking. If you are a voter, you typically only vote on 10% of the things you see. If you are a commenter or poster, you probably only comment on 1% of the posts you see.
I'm not sure if you are advocating for this, but this is a crazy idea. No one has a (good) opinion about every subject on Earth. If they do have an opinion, sometimes they don't want to voice said...
I'm not sure if you are advocating for this, but this is a crazy idea. No one has a (good) opinion about every subject on Earth. If they do have an opinion, sometimes they don't want to voice said opinion for various reasons, including insecurity, believing their opinion is not good, etc.
It's not a good approach. I don't know a lot about many controversial subjects in r/europe in-depth, only a small idea of what it is.
Immigrants going to EU, for example.
I certainly have empathy to saving lives in the middle of the ocean, but I also do believe you can't provide for every single refugee.
I should also say that I try to not be a lurker around here, but I never find interesting discussions around here, the kind of in-depth content and discussion that can happen in both Reddit and HNews.
Definitely! I'm trying to remind myself, currently, to post things (so far mostly a few discussion questions), and to comment as well. Part of that is asking open-ended questions, I think, or at...
Definitely! I'm trying to remind myself, currently, to post things (so far mostly a few discussion questions), and to comment as well. Part of that is asking open-ended questions, I think, or at least framing things in a way that'll get people to share their thoughts.
The type of content I enjoy posting isn't welcome here, and I'm not going to spend time and effort posting things that don't interest me. If and when Tildes welcomes the type of content that I'm...
fewer people are making Tildes what they want it to be by posting content
The type of content I enjoy posting isn't welcome here, and I'm not going to spend time and effort posting things that don't interest me. If and when Tildes welcomes the type of content that I'm interested in posting then I'll be happy to contribute.
I wasn't pointing the finger at anyone in particular. Unfortunately for you, I don't think the animal pics and funny gifs you enjoy posting will ever become a significant portion of the content here.
I wasn't pointing the finger at anyone in particular.
Unfortunately for you, I don't think the animal pics and funny gifs you enjoy posting will ever become a significant portion of the content here.
That's fine, but I still think it would be nice to have a humor group here for people who do enjoy such content. If it was opt-in, then only people here like myself who subscribed would see its...
That's fine, but I still think it would be nice to have a humor group here for people who do enjoy such content. If it was opt-in, then only people here like myself who subscribed would see its content. Tildes doesn't have an r/all page, so the users not subscribed to a humor group would never see that content.
This is what concerns me the most about this website. Too strong of curation will both stifle growth and scare people away. Then again, perhaps the goal of this platform is to stay small and guarded.
This is what concerns me the most about this website. Too strong of curation will both stifle growth and scare people away. Then again, perhaps the goal of this platform is to stay small and guarded.
I feel like that's the point, though. Tildes is here to foster in-depth and civil discussion while respecting privacy, but Reddit feels like a combination of community-specific news aggregate,...
Each one of these sites has been (to a point) a nice addition to Reddit, but could never replace the variety of topics and the amount of content Reddit provides.
I feel like that's the point, though. Tildes is here to foster in-depth and civil discussion while respecting privacy, but Reddit feels like a combination of community-specific news aggregate, advice seeking, and general chatter. To me, it feels like the sites have two different purposes.
There are only about 3.5k people here at the moment - but there was only about half that number when your post about '2001: A Space Odyssey' got 5 votes a couple of weeks ago. Based on what I've...
There are only about 3.5k people here at the moment - but there was only about half that number when your post about '2001: A Space Odyssey' got 5 votes a couple of weeks ago. Based on what I've seen around here, most posts get less than 10 votes, so 5 votes is about average.
You have to keep posting despite the low vote counts. At least you're pleasing those 5 people! :)
No. But, for now, everyone who signs up to Tildes is automatically subscribed to all groups and sub-groups. People will obviously unsubscribe from some of those groups, but I assume that the...
Is there an official tally somewhere?
No. But, for now, everyone who signs up to Tildes is automatically subscribed to all groups and sub-groups. People will obviously unsubscribe from some of those groups, but I assume that the sub-group people are least likely to unsubscribe from is ~tildes.official. Currently, there are 3,460 subscribers in ~tildes.official. I'm therefore safe in saying we have at least that number of people on Tildes in total, and I can reasonably assume that there are probably not too many more people here than that.
Pre-xactly. In fact, I find I post more links here on Tildes than on Reddit - mostly because, if I find something interesting to post, it's already been posted on Reddit but there's almost noone...
one of the best ways to bootsrap an aggregator is to cross post content.
Pre-xactly.
In fact, I find I post more links here on Tildes than on Reddit - mostly because, if I find something interesting to post, it's already been posted on Reddit but there's almost noone else posting Australian content here on Tildes (so far), so I've got free rein. I expect - and hope - that will change as the site grows and more Australians join but, for now, I'm happy to fly the Aussie flag while I do my bit to keep Tildes active.
I stopped completely being an active user since quite some time. Everytime I posted a comment I was constantly deleting it or if submitted, just hoping to not get a response because that goddamn...
I stopped completely being an active user since quite some time. Everytime I posted a comment I was constantly deleting it or if submitted, just hoping to not get a response because that goddamn orange envelope was meaning someone angry in 80% of the cases.
It's not being hard at all. I waste much less time as I come to tildes instead, check if there is some topic that interest me, and if not, leave anche check later in the day. Reddit and the like are built to have you waste time over there as you scroll through an image/gif after the other thinking "meh, let's see the next" but essentially leaving you with a sense of wasted time.
I just opened Reddit by mistake (icon side by side with tildes) and had some replies from the last time a commented to something on a programmer subreddit: 3 comment, old one liner jokes 1...
I just opened Reddit by mistake (icon side by side with tildes) and had some replies from the last time a commented to something on a programmer subreddit:
3 comment, old one liner jokes
1 suggesting something wrong
2 condescending comments about how I'm doing it wrong from the premises without any actual useful suggestion
Where/what were you posting that it was constantly getting deleted? I've spent a lot of time on reddit over the course of 6 years and the only time I had a comment deleted was in /r/thedonald
Where/what were you posting that it was constantly getting deleted?
I've spent a lot of time on reddit over the course of 6 years and the only time I had a comment deleted was in /r/thedonald
It looks like there was a misunderstanding. @crius was stating self deleting of comments, rather than moderator deletion, due to the desire to not have a salty asshole reply to it like a salty...
It looks like there was a misunderstanding. @crius was stating self deleting of comments, rather than moderator deletion, due to the desire to not have a salty asshole reply to it like a salty asshole.
Ah, okay, that makes more sense. Yea, I've dealt with my own fair share of toxic replies, but I suppose it never really bothered me enough for me to delete my comment.
Ah, okay, that makes more sense.
Yea, I've dealt with my own fair share of toxic replies, but I suppose it never really bothered me enough for me to delete my comment.
I've started my move from Reddit mostly due to privacy concerns, but also because the general masses are starting to come onto it and it's kinda turned into a textbook reply to every post. There...
I've started my move from Reddit mostly due to privacy concerns, but also because the general masses are starting to come onto it and it's kinda turned into a textbook reply to every post. There isn't a lot of discussion that happens there. I really hope Tildes.net takes off, because I think it has good potential. I just hope there is a good balance between moderation and freedom of speech. While I don't condone what some people say, they have a right to say it imo. It's ahrd to move away form Reddit completely though, just because it's so well established, kinda like how you mentioned in your post. I'm hoping I'll be able to get away from it completely though and the communities here start becoming more active.
EDIT: Also curious as to what other people are using, and what exactly they're using it for. Like what hobbies do you follow on it, what stuff do you keep up with using it, etc.
Not yet, tildes still has some growth before I can do that. I still visit this site daily and engage when/where I can though. Reddit has smaller communities that still come in handy for me (ie....
Not yet, tildes still has some growth before I can do that. I still visit this site daily and engage when/where I can though. Reddit has smaller communities that still come in handy for me (ie. /r/cars, /r/androiddev) with a large user base on a specific topic.
I've effectively quit reddit myself. All of the top comment threads are typically jokes, the user base has gotten toxic, and I frequently find myself feeling uncomfortable with posting anything...
I've effectively quit reddit myself. All of the top comment threads are typically jokes, the user base has gotten toxic, and I frequently find myself feeling uncomfortable with posting anything because while I want to engage in constructive discourse, it almost invariably ends up being destructive instead.
Since coming to Tildes, I've felt more comfortable posting than I ever did back on reddit and the discussions are so much more valuable and engaging. This community is far more welcoming and enjoyable than reddit ever was, at least since my time there. I haven't looked back :)
I'm part of too many niche communities to quit, yet. Stuff like specific game subreddits, unconventional hobbies, and discussion groups. But I have started to transition to RSS reader (Inoreader)...
I'm part of too many niche communities to quit, yet. Stuff like specific game subreddits, unconventional hobbies, and discussion groups. But I have started to transition to RSS reader (Inoreader) for general tech and gaming news. I'm not settled on a way to get political and world news just yet, using Google news in the meantime.
I'm only on Reddit and Facebook. I've dabbled elsewhere over the years, but those are the only two social media / forum sites that I've stayed with consistently. I have slightly reduced my Reddit...
I'm only on Reddit and Facebook. I've dabbled elsewhere over the years, but those are the only two social media / forum sites that I've stayed with consistently.
I have slightly reduced my Reddit activity as I've been spending more time here on Tildes, and I've even just culled one of my commitments there (that was on the cards even before Tildes turned up). However, I won't be jumping ship until Tildes can provide me all of, or at least most of, what I currently get from Reddit - and it's nowhere near that yet! It might take a year or more to get there, so I'll be on Reddit for a while longer. However, I expect that, over time, the portion of my "internet time" that I spend on Reddit will reduce as the time I spend on Tildes increases.
Even if we reach the point where I get what I want from Tildes, I have a couple of sentimental connections to Reddit that I would find it very difficult to finally cut the cord on: two subreddits that I've been moderating since they started, one as a founding co-moderator, one as a creator. I would feel extremely guilty if I abandoned those subreddits entirely - especially the one I created myself and built from the ground up. I feel responsible for those subreddits and for the people who use them.
I'm also aware that start-ups can flare and burn out, or go off the rails: I'm aware of voat and Imzy as prior attempts to create alternatives to Reddit that didn't become relevant to me. I'll see how things go here.
In the meantime, I've been trying to do my bit by posting content here and participating in discussions. (We can't spend all our time navel-gazing! We have to actually build up the site itself or it won't take off.) I've also been getting in trouble for my tone in some discussions, which is frustrating when I have no bad intentions.
The fucking tone thing is so dumb. I haven't had it happen to me yet, but I know it will with how I comment on other sites. Not everything has to be serious.
The fucking tone thing is so dumb. I haven't had it happen to me yet, but I know it will with how I comment on other sites. Not everything has to be serious.
I am going to disagree that tone is not important. An academic and serious tone ought to lead to meaningful discussions. And any interesting discussion will be held in those places where tone is...
I am going to disagree that tone is not important. An academic and serious tone ought to lead to meaningful discussions. And any interesting discussion will be held in those places where tone is measured.
Now, that doesn't mean that there aren't or shouldn't be places with a more casual tone, but I don't find them particularly worth the time investment. I realise that sort of place is for a different sort of people, and that's fine. Y'all can have it, just remember that there is a time and a place for the more serious variety of language.
time and place yea, i'm not going to go on a post about people dying and crack a joke. but some poeple take themselves WAY too seriously. it's not just a problem on the internet, people fucking...
time and place yea, i'm not going to go on a post about people dying and crack a joke. but some poeple take themselves WAY too seriously. it's not just a problem on the internet, people fucking everywhere take themselves too seriously, at least that's how i feel. idk. people just need to not have their panties in a wad. if someone cracks a joke that isn't funny, or kinda distasteful, just move on. don't jump the guy because you don't like.
There's still a lot on Reddit that I like reading that I don't think Tildes is going to have anytime soon. Stuff like the TV subs for example are something that I enjoy but there are also posts on...
There's still a lot on Reddit that I like reading that I don't think Tildes is going to have anytime soon. Stuff like the TV subs for example are something that I enjoy but there are also posts on there that I like that would be considered too low-quality like the trend of posting animal cosplays in The Handmaid's Tale subreddit. There's some mild posts like on r/amazonecho like posting videos of Alexa saying weird stuff that wouldn't seem to fit this crowd either.
There are also more niche subreddits like r/Esperanto that wouldn't have enough people to take off.
So for now I consider Tildes to be a supplement rather than a replacement.
It’s funny cause if you go to /r/digg top of all time it’s basically a time capsule from 8 years ago (I never used digg personally) and you can see exactly why people chose to leave it, namely...
It’s funny cause if you go to /r/digg top of all time it’s basically a time capsule from 8 years ago (I never used digg personally) and you can see exactly why people chose to leave it, namely mismanagement among the leaders, past controversies that never quite got settled, and the tipping point, a terrible redesign no one asked for that destroyed the ui and increased the amount of ads by orders of magnitudes while making them look like normal posts. Sound familiar?
I've stopped using reddit except for occasional mod stuff in listentothis and occasional skimming of certain niche groups that don't exist on tildes yet - like /r/vintageobscura,...
I've stopped using reddit except for occasional mod stuff in listentothis and occasional skimming of certain niche groups that don't exist on tildes yet - like /r/vintageobscura, /r/dndbehindthescreen, /r/patientgamers as examples. It's not that I 'hate reddit' or think it's not worth visiting... it's that I've given up on their management. It's a fossil frozen in place with management that has goals at-odds with the userbase. I've seen the death of the place coming for years, so what's the point of participating or caring about reddit? It's all wasted effort, nothing will ever come of it. I've simply lost faith in that company/group of people.
Tildes' over-emphasis on meta topics at the moment has me the most excited. There's a time to ponder and a time to get things done - right now it makes sense (on a month-young alpha) to take some time and think about the how and the why of the site's operation. Eventually that'll pass and we'll be on to building communities. That's going to be a blast. At least here I know my contributions will have some value going forward, unlike reddit. I know Deimos has the right mindset for this job, unlike reddit hq.
As soon as there are enough motorsports fans around, I'm probably going to say goodbye to reddit. It's nigh impossible to have a decent conversation in there these days, most subs are pretty toxic...
As soon as there are enough motorsports fans around, I'm probably going to say goodbye to reddit. It's nigh impossible to have a decent conversation in there these days, most subs are pretty toxic (and I'm active in just a few) and the same black or white attitude that we see in society is creeping up in there and it's hard to say anything without having to deal with the pitchfork idiot brigade.
I'm too addicted to cat gifs and other content that people here would consider "fluff" to give up reddit. I'm also a mod of several communities on reddit, so Tildes will continue to be a...
I'm too addicted to cat gifs and other content that people here would consider "fluff" to give up reddit. I'm also a mod of several communities on reddit, so Tildes will continue to be a supplement to reddit for the foreseeable future.
I've seen a couple people, like you, mention they're not ready to leave reddit because of the memes. I'm surprised most of you aren't using imgur for that. Is imgur just too random? Like, you only...
I've seen a couple people, like you, mention they're not ready to leave reddit because of the memes. I'm surprised most of you aren't using imgur for that. Is imgur just too random? Like, you only want to see cat gifs, no dogs allowed (they're good dogs bront)?
My dude, there is such a breadth of memes in today's economy that imgur would never satisfy a lot of people. I don't even think there's a way to sort on there; the best memes are the ones that are...
My dude, there is such a breadth of memes in today's economy that imgur would never satisfy a lot of people. I don't even think there's a way to sort on there; the best memes are the ones that are specific to your niche fandoms or hobbies.
Incidentally I think the planned tree structure here could lend itself to that nicely one day, something like ~music.rock.punk.memes, or whatever, while people that want to read punk.xyz and hate memes can avoid that node.
You must be like the Warren Buffet of memes! I guess I'm just not into them. I use Imgur for a nice quick trip to the toilet. That's about as far as I get into it. Some of the smaller subreddits I...
You must be like the Warren Buffet of memes! I guess I'm just not into them. I use Imgur for a nice quick trip to the toilet. That's about as far as I get into it. Some of the smaller subreddits I visit have no issues with them. They don't bother me, so long as the sub doesn't become a meme factory (looking at you /r/crusaderkings). I have noticed that memes on social media are often employed to fuel controversy, bullying, negativity, and hate without any actual discussion. Their ability to reach the lowest common denominator is quite astounding. Which is probably why they don't want that around here (for now).
Side note: On imgur there seems to be some correlation between meme consumption/addiction and depression. Maybe not be the best hobby!
I see it both ways, cause the definition of what a meme even is can be disputed now. I think that there are a lot of funny, creative people out there who pump these things out, and if they can get...
I see it both ways, cause the definition of what a meme even is can be disputed now. I think that there are a lot of funny, creative people out there who pump these things out, and if they can get a point across better in that format, why not? That said, you're correct in that those memes can be the minority. The question, I think, is the level of effort, not just something being a joke image or short video or not.
I don't think this site, especially being at an alpha stage, is what I need to ditch reddit. Reddit is still pretty big and has lots of wonderful content. In the past couple of year's, especially...
I don't think this site, especially being at an alpha stage, is what I need to ditch reddit.
Reddit is still pretty big and has lots of wonderful content.
In the past couple of year's, especially since the whole Ellen Pao scandal, content and moderation IMHO has stagnated or declined at an accelerated pace.
Reddit has become very mainstream and the influx of new users with poor content and terrible moderation (and double standards from the admins) makes Reddit the 'new Facebook'.
Hopefully a nice initiative like tildes will take over reddit, at least in my personal needs, soon. Really looking forward to this new project.
What country blocks reddit? The one country with the aptly named Great Firewall, doesn't. The others I can think of that might possibly want to block it: the Gulf states, Iran, Russia, Ethiopia....
What country blocks reddit?
The one country with the aptly named Great Firewall, doesn't.
The others I can think of that might possibly want to block it: the Gulf states, Iran, Russia, Ethiopia. Some of those are probably not too great for vacations.
Indonesia, huh? Thanks for the info. I have been hearing that Wahhabism is becoming more popular on Sumatra and Java, which probably doesn't bode well for the rest of the country.
Indonesia, huh? Thanks for the info.
I have been hearing that Wahhabism is becoming more popular on Sumatra and Java, which probably doesn't bode well for the rest of the country.
I am definitely still using reddit. I use reddit for a lot of image based content, and much of that is centered around smaller niches, like particular games. I know that I can go to the Cities:...
I am definitely still using reddit. I use reddit for a lot of image based content, and much of that is centered around smaller niches, like particular games. I know that I can go to the Cities: Skylines sub and see 10 or 20 new posts each day with images of user built cities that can inspire my own. Tildes is nowhere near the size needed to sustain that kind of sub, and is built around text rather than images.
I definitely use reddit less than I did previously, and I feel that the content I consume/produce is higher quality on ~ than it is for reddit. That said, I think in the future I will take a page from /u/go1dfish 's book and look into posting on both if I feel it is appropriate.
less so. what's keeping me checking every once in a while is some discussions on local stuff. tech stuff is better and faster either through HN, or people i follow on mastodon. i've found that...
less so. what's keeping me checking every once in a while is some discussions on local stuff. tech stuff is better and faster either through HN, or people i follow on mastodon. i've found that hobby stuff (even though reddit gets praised a lot for it) is better on specific blogs or youtube series, and reddit has been, to me, at most an inspiration in some cases.
and since non-english posts/news won't be allowed for a bit yet i guess i'll keep using reddit to check on those things, but honestly i find i'm not missing all that much. most of it is discussion of the news (which i read anyways) or some open questions, and those can be worth it.
I don't think Tildes will be a viable replacement/alternative until the user base grows substantially and users are allowed to create groups/subgroups. There's simply too little focus and...
I don't think Tildes will be a viable replacement/alternative until the user base grows substantially and users are allowed to create groups/subgroups. There's simply too little focus and specialization on Tildes right now, meaning that anything but the broadest categories of interests are completely under served.
Hi, I'm new here. This seems like a good place to start. Personally, I'm not ready to leave reddit because of the niche communities like /r/seaofthieves (or whatever game I'm currently playing),...
Hi, I'm new here. This seems like a good place to start. Personally, I'm not ready to leave reddit because of the niche communities like /r/seaofthieves (or whatever game I'm currently playing), /r/homelab, /r/netsec, /r/love2d. Pretty much every time I start a new project I look for a related subreddit. Reddit has replaced forums in this sense. I used to frequent a few forums, but reddit is just much more convenient.
I doubt I will ever completely abandon reddit for a variety of reasons. I know quite a few people there and interact with them through communities like century club. Part of the core function of...
I doubt I will ever completely abandon reddit for a variety of reasons.
I know quite a few people there and interact with them through communities like century club.
Part of the core function of reddit is to link people to things, sometimes without need of discussion. Memes, funny videos, etc. seem very counter to Deimos's vision. If I can't get them here, I'll get them somewhere else.
Reddit is much larger, and therefore has a lot more niche communities. I enjoy discovering and posting in some of these communities.
One aspect I actually enjoy on reddit is upvoting just about everything I see or read, unless it's inflammatory or otherwise. Currently the culture here isn't like that. Even though points don't matter, I'd like to think it puts a bit of a smile on someone's face, or at the least makes them feel validated to throw a vote their direction.
I’m not there yet. I’m a member of a professional sub so I do check in there from time to time for news and updates with the occasional networking opportunity. I hesitate to just start copying...
I’m not there yet. I’m a member of a professional sub so I do check in there from time to time for news and updates with the occasional networking opportunity. I hesitate to just start copying their posts since I feel like that defeats the purpose of moving away from that platform. I haven’t really decided on what way I’ll contribute here so I’m not too worried about splitting my time.
I’m also closely following the implosion of some related subs as a result of drama that’s been going on for months. I’m doing this because I’ve had some choice words for some of the mods and users in both places and it’s quite gratifying to watch them receive their comeuppance. It’s also petty. It’s strange I guess but I don’t feel bad about that at all.
I unsubscribed from r/news about a year ago. Imagine that. Talk about low quality. But I feel like even Google is folding up, too. (Narrowing it's depth if that makes any sense.) Last week when...
I unsubscribed from r/news about a year ago. Imagine that. Talk about low quality. But I feel like even Google is folding up, too. (Narrowing it's depth if that makes any sense.) Last week when the Korea Summit happened I searched in vain for a report on how citizens in South Korea were reacting to the news. Finally I just posted my question to r/Seoul and got sort of a reply. To me this was one of the deepest, most revealing questions the press could have asked. I'm thinking of going back to dogpile.com or some other aggregate search engine, because Google thinks it knows what I want to find, but too often misses the bill.
I guess I'm pretty fed up with cookie-cutter anything. Except maybe cookies (toll house, not third party). :)
I haven't deleted my Reddit, and don't plan to for a while, mainly because, Tildes being in Alpha, it's a little quiet right now. Though there are pros to the smaller userbase, it also entails a...
I haven't deleted my Reddit, and don't plan to for a while, mainly because, Tildes being in Alpha, it's a little quiet right now. Though there are pros to the smaller userbase, it also entails a higher chance of little activity. Besides, I do want to keep up with the Tildes subreddit!
So just to preface my reply, I want to say that I have observed a fair number of Reddit alternatives that have popped up in the last three years - Voat, Hubski, Skimur, Snapzu, and now Tildes. Each one of these alternatives has had its own problems and challenges that made it difficult for them to truly compete with Reddit in one way or another, leaving me a little jaded when it comes to completely switching over to an alternative aggregator or discussion platform. Things like the rapid deterioration of discussion on Voat, which happened basically over the course of a week, brought to an end my and my friends' efforts to create a writers' group on it - we have sunk countless hours and brought together a sizeable group of people before the site was overrun by the alt-right posters. Skimur and Snapzu both shared a common sentiment with Tildes that I find concerning - a number of highly enthusiastic threads that would rave about the platform, but not much more than that. And the established group of posters on Hubski, however great, is so small that I do not feel the need to visit the site more often that once every couple of days. Each one of these sites has been (to a point) a nice addition to Reddit, but could never replace the variety of topics and the amount of content Reddit provides.
Now, what worries me about making a complete switch to Tildes is the following - a good chunk of discussion on here is about Tildes, not about the things outside of it. I realize that it is still early days, and that discussions will mature over the next few months, but a sizeable amount of comments and posts are either about the site's mechanics, suggestions for features that are already outlines in the Docs, or attempts at moderating discussion to achieve the desired level of discourse without much of a contribution outside of that. If that sounds overly critical, it probably is - I still consider Tildes the best possible Reddit alternative that can foster a great environment for in-depth posts and comments. However, too many of the posts on this site are currently an attempt to begin any sort of a general discussion that often devolves into people arguing about what constitutes an in-depth and civil comment rather than writing in-depth and civil comments themselves. The relatively small number of people on the site also results in a lack of discussion in topics that are highly specialized, be it in robotics, obscure cinema or antique chairs. As such, we are left with conversations about where we are from and what our favourite emojis are instead of something slightly more interesting.
For these reasons I cannot see myself switching over to Tildes full-time. I will, however, keep a keen eye on the site and try to aid it in the process.
I've been somewhat concerned about this as well. (Although, here I am contributing to it!) A lot of people are talking about what Tildes should be, but fewer people are making Tildes what they want it to be by posting content (be it link posts or discussion posts). As you say, that will change as the site grows and matures but, for now, it's a limiting factor.
Yes, meta is death. But also, some people are lurking to learn the culture and what is or isn't welcomed here.
"Come on in - the water's fine!" People can't find out what the temperature is like until they dive in. I've learned more in the past 2 weeks about the incipient culture here by unintentionally bumping up against its limits while posting & commenting than I could ever have learned through months of observation.
Also, by participating rather than lurking, I have a slight chance of possibly influencing the culture here. "Be the change you want to see in the world."
This isn't directed at you, as such - it's my public appeal to all the lurkers reading this thread. :)
Lurk moar is a fundamental tenet of the internet and any good forum. It should be encouraged (though the process should be made as simple as possible) to ensure a healthy community.
Lurking is good - up to a point. But you can only sit by the side of the pool for so long. Eventually, you have to dive in and try the water for yourself.
The 90/10 rule disagrees. There will always be many who will not participate for whatever reason. We shouldn't be chastising them simply because they don't use their voice.
The 90:9:1 rule is interesting in that it applies not just to people overall, but also people's activity generally. If you are a lurker, then 100% of the time you are lurking. If you are a voter, you typically only vote on 10% of the things you see. If you are a commenter or poster, you probably only comment on 1% of the posts you see.
So in many ways, everyone is mostly a lurker.
I know the 90:9:1 rule - I've cited it a couple of times in discussions here.
But if we can encourage people to post, that's a good thing.
100% Agreed
I'm not sure if you are advocating for this, but this is a crazy idea. No one has a (good) opinion about every subject on Earth. If they do have an opinion, sometimes they don't want to voice said opinion for various reasons, including insecurity, believing their opinion is not good, etc.
It's not a good approach. I don't know a lot about many controversial subjects in r/europe in-depth, only a small idea of what it is.
Immigrants going to EU, for example.
I certainly have empathy to saving lives in the middle of the ocean, but I also do believe you can't provide for every single refugee.
I should also say that I try to not be a lurker around here, but I never find interesting discussions around here, the kind of in-depth content and discussion that can happen in both Reddit and HNews.
THe thing is if there's so little content it's quite a big hurdle to start posting, lest you take over an entire subgroup
Well, if noone posts, of course it's easy for one or two people to dominate a group or subgroup! That's why we need more people posting.
Definitely! I'm trying to remind myself, currently, to post things (so far mostly a few discussion questions), and to comment as well. Part of that is asking open-ended questions, I think, or at least framing things in a way that'll get people to share their thoughts.
The type of content I enjoy posting isn't welcome here, and I'm not going to spend time and effort posting things that don't interest me. If and when Tildes welcomes the type of content that I'm interested in posting then I'll be happy to contribute.
I wasn't pointing the finger at anyone in particular.
Unfortunately for you, I don't think the animal pics and funny gifs you enjoy posting will ever become a significant portion of the content here.
That's fine, but I still think it would be nice to have a humor group here for people who do enjoy such content. If it was opt-in, then only people here like myself who subscribed would see its content. Tildes doesn't have an r/all page, so the users not subscribed to a humor group would never see that content.
This is what concerns me the most about this website. Too strong of curation will both stifle growth and scare people away. Then again, perhaps the goal of this platform is to stay small and guarded.
You'll have to take that up with Deimos, and the future moderators of Tildes.
I already made a request for a humor group a month ago. FWIW, it got 34 votes:
https://tildes.net/~tildes/ha/can_we_get_a_humor_group_please_im_loving_the_news_tech_and_discussion_posts_but_some_lighter_fare
I feel like that's the point, though. Tildes is here to foster in-depth and civil discussion while respecting privacy, but Reddit feels like a combination of community-specific news aggregate, advice seeking, and general chatter. To me, it feels like the sites have two different purposes.
Edit: I just found this post by Deimos talking about this.
There are only about 3.5k people here at the moment - but there was only about half that number when your post about '2001: A Space Odyssey' got 5 votes a couple of weeks ago. Based on what I've seen around here, most posts get less than 10 votes, so 5 votes is about average.
You have to keep posting despite the low vote counts. At least you're pleasing those 5 people! :)
No. But, for now, everyone who signs up to Tildes is automatically subscribed to all groups and sub-groups. People will obviously unsubscribe from some of those groups, but I assume that the sub-group people are least likely to unsubscribe from is ~tildes.official. Currently, there are 3,460 subscribers in ~tildes.official. I'm therefore safe in saying we have at least that number of people on Tildes in total, and I can reasonably assume that there are probably not too many more people here than that.
Pre-xactly.
In fact, I find I post more links here on Tildes than on Reddit - mostly because, if I find something interesting to post, it's already been posted on Reddit but there's almost noone else posting Australian content here on Tildes (so far), so I've got free rein. I expect - and hope - that will change as the site grows and more Australians join but, for now, I'm happy to fly the Aussie flag while I do my bit to keep Tildes active.
I agree, but when none of the content I post to reddit is welcome here due to being considered "fluff" then it's a moot point.
I stopped completely being an active user since quite some time. Everytime I posted a comment I was constantly deleting it or if submitted, just hoping to not get a response because that goddamn orange envelope was meaning someone angry in 80% of the cases.
It's not being hard at all. I waste much less time as I come to tildes instead, check if there is some topic that interest me, and if not, leave anche check later in the day. Reddit and the like are built to have you waste time over there as you scroll through an image/gif after the other thinking "meh, let's see the next" but essentially leaving you with a sense of wasted time.
I just opened Reddit by mistake (icon side by side with tildes) and had some replies from the last time a commented to something on a programmer subreddit:
Oh yeah, not going back.
Where/what were you posting that it was constantly getting deleted?
I've spent a lot of time on reddit over the course of 6 years and the only time I had a comment deleted was in /r/thedonald
It looks like there was a misunderstanding. @crius was stating self deleting of comments, rather than moderator deletion, due to the desire to not have a salty asshole reply to it like a salty asshole.
I was writing and deleting comments as I was feeling it wasn't worth the hassle of going through theb potential toxicity of the replies.
Ah, okay, that makes more sense.
Yea, I've dealt with my own fair share of toxic replies, but I suppose it never really bothered me enough for me to delete my comment.
I've started my move from Reddit mostly due to privacy concerns, but also because the general masses are starting to come onto it and it's kinda turned into a textbook reply to every post. There isn't a lot of discussion that happens there. I really hope Tildes.net takes off, because I think it has good potential. I just hope there is a good balance between moderation and freedom of speech. While I don't condone what some people say, they have a right to say it imo. It's ahrd to move away form Reddit completely though, just because it's so well established, kinda like how you mentioned in your post. I'm hoping I'll be able to get away from it completely though and the communities here start becoming more active.
EDIT: Also curious as to what other people are using, and what exactly they're using it for. Like what hobbies do you follow on it, what stuff do you keep up with using it, etc.
Not yet, tildes still has some growth before I can do that. I still visit this site daily and engage when/where I can though. Reddit has smaller communities that still come in handy for me (ie. /r/cars, /r/androiddev) with a large user base on a specific topic.
I've effectively quit reddit myself. All of the top comment threads are typically jokes, the user base has gotten toxic, and I frequently find myself feeling uncomfortable with posting anything because while I want to engage in constructive discourse, it almost invariably ends up being destructive instead.
Since coming to Tildes, I've felt more comfortable posting than I ever did back on reddit and the discussions are so much more valuable and engaging. This community is far more welcoming and enjoyable than reddit ever was, at least since my time there. I haven't looked back :)
while tildes is nice to use due to a smaller community, i still use reddit because it has more conversation going on versus tildes.
I'm part of too many niche communities to quit, yet. Stuff like specific game subreddits, unconventional hobbies, and discussion groups. But I have started to transition to RSS reader (Inoreader) for general tech and gaming news. I'm not settled on a way to get political and world news just yet, using Google news in the meantime.
I'm only on Reddit and Facebook. I've dabbled elsewhere over the years, but those are the only two social media / forum sites that I've stayed with consistently.
I have slightly reduced my Reddit activity as I've been spending more time here on Tildes, and I've even just culled one of my commitments there (that was on the cards even before Tildes turned up). However, I won't be jumping ship until Tildes can provide me all of, or at least most of, what I currently get from Reddit - and it's nowhere near that yet! It might take a year or more to get there, so I'll be on Reddit for a while longer. However, I expect that, over time, the portion of my "internet time" that I spend on Reddit will reduce as the time I spend on Tildes increases.
Even if we reach the point where I get what I want from Tildes, I have a couple of sentimental connections to Reddit that I would find it very difficult to finally cut the cord on: two subreddits that I've been moderating since they started, one as a founding co-moderator, one as a creator. I would feel extremely guilty if I abandoned those subreddits entirely - especially the one I created myself and built from the ground up. I feel responsible for those subreddits and for the people who use them.
I'm also aware that start-ups can flare and burn out, or go off the rails: I'm aware of voat and Imzy as prior attempts to create alternatives to Reddit that didn't become relevant to me. I'll see how things go here.
In the meantime, I've been trying to do my bit by posting content here and participating in discussions. (We can't spend all our time navel-gazing! We have to actually build up the site itself or it won't take off.) I've also been getting in trouble for my tone in some discussions, which is frustrating when I have no bad intentions.
The fucking tone thing is so dumb. I haven't had it happen to me yet, but I know it will with how I comment on other sites. Not everything has to be serious.
I am going to disagree that tone is not important. An academic and serious tone ought to lead to meaningful discussions. And any interesting discussion will be held in those places where tone is measured.
Now, that doesn't mean that there aren't or shouldn't be places with a more casual tone, but I don't find them particularly worth the time investment. I realise that sort of place is for a different sort of people, and that's fine. Y'all can have it, just remember that there is a time and a place for the more serious variety of language.
time and place yea, i'm not going to go on a post about people dying and crack a joke. but some poeple take themselves WAY too seriously. it's not just a problem on the internet, people fucking everywhere take themselves too seriously, at least that's how i feel. idk. people just need to not have their panties in a wad. if someone cracks a joke that isn't funny, or kinda distasteful, just move on. don't jump the guy because you don't like.
There's still a lot on Reddit that I like reading that I don't think Tildes is going to have anytime soon. Stuff like the TV subs for example are something that I enjoy but there are also posts on there that I like that would be considered too low-quality like the trend of posting animal cosplays in The Handmaid's Tale subreddit. There's some mild posts like on r/amazonecho like posting videos of Alexa saying weird stuff that wouldn't seem to fit this crowd either.
There are also more niche subreddits like r/Esperanto that wouldn't have enough people to take off.
So for now I consider Tildes to be a supplement rather than a replacement.
It’s funny cause if you go to /r/digg top of all time it’s basically a time capsule from 8 years ago (I never used digg personally) and you can see exactly why people chose to leave it, namely mismanagement among the leaders, past controversies that never quite got settled, and the tipping point, a terrible redesign no one asked for that destroyed the ui and increased the amount of ads by orders of magnitudes while making them look like normal posts. Sound familiar?
I've stopped using reddit except for occasional mod stuff in listentothis and occasional skimming of certain niche groups that don't exist on tildes yet - like /r/vintageobscura, /r/dndbehindthescreen, /r/patientgamers as examples. It's not that I 'hate reddit' or think it's not worth visiting... it's that I've given up on their management. It's a fossil frozen in place with management that has goals at-odds with the userbase. I've seen the death of the place coming for years, so what's the point of participating or caring about reddit? It's all wasted effort, nothing will ever come of it. I've simply lost faith in that company/group of people.
Tildes' over-emphasis on meta topics at the moment has me the most excited. There's a time to ponder and a time to get things done - right now it makes sense (on a month-young alpha) to take some time and think about the how and the why of the site's operation. Eventually that'll pass and we'll be on to building communities. That's going to be a blast. At least here I know my contributions will have some value going forward, unlike reddit. I know Deimos has the right mindset for this job, unlike reddit hq.
As soon as there are enough motorsports fans around, I'm probably going to say goodbye to reddit. It's nigh impossible to have a decent conversation in there these days, most subs are pretty toxic (and I'm active in just a few) and the same black or white attitude that we see in society is creeping up in there and it's hard to say anything without having to deal with the pitchfork idiot brigade.
I'm too addicted to cat gifs and other content that people here would consider "fluff" to give up reddit. I'm also a mod of several communities on reddit, so Tildes will continue to be a supplement to reddit for the foreseeable future.
I've seen a couple people, like you, mention they're not ready to leave reddit because of the memes. I'm surprised most of you aren't using imgur for that. Is imgur just too random? Like, you only want to see cat gifs, no dogs allowed (they're good dogs bront)?
My dude, there is such a breadth of memes in today's economy that imgur would never satisfy a lot of people. I don't even think there's a way to sort on there; the best memes are the ones that are specific to your niche fandoms or hobbies.
Incidentally I think the planned tree structure here could lend itself to that nicely one day, something like ~music.rock.punk.memes, or whatever, while people that want to read punk.xyz and hate memes can avoid that node.
You must be like the Warren Buffet of memes! I guess I'm just not into them. I use Imgur for a nice quick trip to the toilet. That's about as far as I get into it. Some of the smaller subreddits I visit have no issues with them. They don't bother me, so long as the sub doesn't become a meme factory (looking at you /r/crusaderkings). I have noticed that memes on social media are often employed to fuel controversy, bullying, negativity, and hate without any actual discussion. Their ability to reach the lowest common denominator is quite astounding. Which is probably why they don't want that around here (for now).
Side note: On imgur there seems to be some correlation between meme consumption/addiction and depression. Maybe not be the best hobby!
I see it both ways, cause the definition of what a meme even is can be disputed now. I think that there are a lot of funny, creative people out there who pump these things out, and if they can get a point across better in that format, why not? That said, you're correct in that those memes can be the minority. The question, I think, is the level of effort, not just something being a joke image or short video or not.
I don't think this site, especially being at an alpha stage, is what I need to ditch reddit.
Reddit is still pretty big and has lots of wonderful content.
In the past couple of year's, especially since the whole Ellen Pao scandal, content and moderation IMHO has stagnated or declined at an accelerated pace.
Reddit has become very mainstream and the influx of new users with poor content and terrible moderation (and double standards from the admins) makes Reddit the 'new Facebook'.
Hopefully a nice initiative like tildes will take over reddit, at least in my personal needs, soon. Really looking forward to this new project.
Well, I’m now on vacation on a country where the government block reddit among others. So this tildes invite really comes in handy
What country blocks reddit?
The one country with the aptly named Great Firewall, doesn't.
The others I can think of that might possibly want to block it: the Gulf states, Iran, Russia, Ethiopia. Some of those are probably not too great for vacations.
Indonesia. I'm now in Bali
Indonesia, huh? Thanks for the info.
I have been hearing that Wahhabism is becoming more popular on Sumatra and Java, which probably doesn't bode well for the rest of the country.
I once ran into a block with an NSFW subreddit. HTTPS fixed it.
Interesting. I've been running HTTPS-only for years, so I haven't really noticed anything but the occasional slow-down.
Have you tried to use reddit with HTTPS?
I am definitely still using reddit. I use reddit for a lot of image based content, and much of that is centered around smaller niches, like particular games. I know that I can go to the Cities: Skylines sub and see 10 or 20 new posts each day with images of user built cities that can inspire my own. Tildes is nowhere near the size needed to sustain that kind of sub, and is built around text rather than images.
I definitely use reddit less than I did previously, and I feel that the content I consume/produce is higher quality on ~ than it is for reddit. That said, I think in the future I will take a page from /u/go1dfish 's book and look into posting on both if I feel it is appropriate.
less so. what's keeping me checking every once in a while is some discussions on local stuff. tech stuff is better and faster either through HN, or people i follow on mastodon. i've found that hobby stuff (even though reddit gets praised a lot for it) is better on specific blogs or youtube series, and reddit has been, to me, at most an inspiration in some cases.
and since non-english posts/news won't be allowed for a bit yet i guess i'll keep using reddit to check on those things, but honestly i find i'm not missing all that much. most of it is discussion of the news (which i read anyways) or some open questions, and those can be worth it.
I don't think Tildes will be a viable replacement/alternative until the user base grows substantially and users are allowed to create groups/subgroups. There's simply too little focus and specialization on Tildes right now, meaning that anything but the broadest categories of interests are completely under served.
Hi, I'm new here. This seems like a good place to start. Personally, I'm not ready to leave reddit because of the niche communities like /r/seaofthieves (or whatever game I'm currently playing), /r/homelab, /r/netsec, /r/love2d. Pretty much every time I start a new project I look for a related subreddit. Reddit has replaced forums in this sense. I used to frequent a few forums, but reddit is just much more convenient.
I doubt I will ever completely abandon reddit for a variety of reasons.
You're not alone. I upvote everything in sight.
o/
(I wonder if posting just those two characters would be frowned upon here since it's not really a discussion)
I’m not there yet. I’m a member of a professional sub so I do check in there from time to time for news and updates with the occasional networking opportunity. I hesitate to just start copying their posts since I feel like that defeats the purpose of moving away from that platform. I haven’t really decided on what way I’ll contribute here so I’m not too worried about splitting my time.
I’m also closely following the implosion of some related subs as a result of drama that’s been going on for months. I’m doing this because I’ve had some choice words for some of the mods and users in both places and it’s quite gratifying to watch them receive their comeuppance. It’s also petty. It’s strange I guess but I don’t feel bad about that at all.
I unsubscribed from r/news about a year ago. Imagine that. Talk about low quality. But I feel like even Google is folding up, too. (Narrowing it's depth if that makes any sense.) Last week when the Korea Summit happened I searched in vain for a report on how citizens in South Korea were reacting to the news. Finally I just posted my question to r/Seoul and got sort of a reply. To me this was one of the deepest, most revealing questions the press could have asked. I'm thinking of going back to dogpile.com or some other aggregate search engine, because Google thinks it knows what I want to find, but too often misses the bill.
I guess I'm pretty fed up with cookie-cutter anything. Except maybe cookies (toll house, not third party). :)
I haven't deleted my Reddit, and don't plan to for a while, mainly because, Tildes being in Alpha, it's a little quiet right now. Though there are pros to the smaller userbase, it also entails a higher chance of little activity. Besides, I do want to keep up with the Tildes subreddit!