The appeal of reddit

[flexy]

For the longest I found reddit the most awful thing on the internet. I couldn't understand why people would go there. I found the site just awful to navigate, nothing made sense.

For two weeks or so, I find myself being on reddit almost exclusively, many hours, just reading all kinds of subs. I first started only with a couple subs I was interested in (VR related), but I now I am also reading many other subs.

I think I "get" reddit now and what the appeal is.

Similar as on a forum, what you get there is information pure. (Ok, most of the time, that is). No distracting elements, no ads, very few if any images. No clicking through crap. No pages with stupid lists where 300 words are spread over 5 pags for ads. It is fascinating in a strange way.

 

[olds]

"I found the site just awful to navigate..."
I still do

 

[disappoint]

Due to it's popularity, there is an enormous amount of content on Reddit. Also, it's popularity is due to the enormous amount of content.

 

[Carson Dyle]

The interface is horrible. The discussion niches, though, are endless. Like disappoint says, lots of content.

So many things I don't get about the interface ... like why they can't simply show post times in your local time zone instead of requiring you to mouseover the time to see the local time. It's almost like they intended to make it bad.

 

[Zeze]

I don't get the hate against reddit. It's either old farts or edgelords complaining.

Their subreddits are nice due to enormous size of communities.

 

[Anubis]

TBH the only thing that annoys me about it is that things are not sorted by date like a normal forum but that can be fixed

also 99% of subreddit styles are terrible but you can turn them off

 

[Ns1]

How to find yourself visiting Reddit a lot: getting banned from ATOT for a few days.

 

[lxskllr]

Reddit discussion sucks, but it's a good resource for a wide variety of things to read.

 

[slayer202]

agree with you guys, and it's grown on me a bit lately. it's still kinda shit though, the restrictions for new members are obnoxious

 

[Elixer]

The interface is horrible. The discussion niches, though, are endless. Like disappoint says, lots of content.

So many things I don't get about the interface ... like why they can't simply show post times in your local time zone instead of requiring you to mouseover the time to see the local time. It's almost like they intended to make it bad.

You said it, this is why a rarely use it.
Just so annoyed at that interface they have.

I even tried the FireFox reddit addon, which makes some things better, but, I get so annoyed at clicking at the title, only to be taken away to some other site, instead of going to the comment section that I wanted.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I have the app on my phone. I like it. I'm not a member of reddit. There's millions of people there and nothing of substance I could add really so I just check it out to kill a little time.

 

[destrekor]

Forums have just as many quirks, we've just had ages to adjust to the conventions. Reddit has many flaws when it comes to UX and, comically, search (outside of Google-based systems, we've all experienced on basically every forum of any style). It's search, however, is leaps and bounds ahead of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, so, there's that.

In terms of content, it is legendary. It's as if a forum like Anandtech became *the standard* and 90% of all internet conversation moved to it. Except Reddit actually succeeded in becoming the center hub of most conversations on the internet, becoming more so over time. I actually loathe when standard forums with the answers show up on Google, but some technical discussions still sit about half in, half out of Reddit.

edit:

Time will tell if it improves though with the new profile system, because the biggest PIA is sometimes determining the best subreddit based on content, but also considering user base for said subreddit. Sometimes the best are barely active, maybe weeks between comments. I can't stand that, so when I can't figure out a good topic, I weigh weather it could still do better on a general off-topic board like ATOT or one of our sub-forums. Otherwise, yeah, Reddit is the first place I think to post a new question, generally get better responses than here, if nothing else because you have numerous different takes from people who may have experience due to the vast user base, whereas here you may have one or two people knowledgeable of that obscure subject or odd specific.

 

[Murloc]

I like the interface and the variety of subs about everything with a big quantity of people, but I have to say that the quality of discussion in the bigger ones is lower than AT forums. The stupid stuff is better on ATOT. There is always someone who does a stupid comment on reddit.

That said, it's not like P&N is better than the reddit big subs...

 

[lxskllr]

That said, it's not like P&N is better than the reddit big subs...

P&N has all the fuckery of /b without the humor. Reddit is like a Victorian discussion club in comparison.

 

[tommo123]

am i wrong in my impression that reddit has subreddits for various TV shows (flash/arrow etc) but not for movies? they fall under various movie related subreddits in a general sense?

 

[lxskllr]

am i wrong in my impression that reddit has subreddits for various TV shows (flash/arrow etc) but not for movies? they fall under various movie related subreddits in a general sense?

Probably depends. There's not much to say about a movie. It's usually a one shot deal. For kicks, I looked up Harry Potter, and there's a sub for that. If there's something missing, you could start one yourself.

 

[tommo123]

a big task though. take thor ragnarok, a lot of it is in the marvel section, a marvel cinematic universe section and a general movies section. no point in starting one if it's not the norm to look for a specific subreddit for that 1 movie.

plus, if you just want to ask a question then like in the old imdb forums there might already be an answer to your question. in the current layout it's not really something i can look for.

 

[snoopy7548]

The wealth of information there is incredible, but it can be such a massive time sink and addiction. I do hate the regurgitated and played-out responses, but those are typically only on the popular subreddits.

You ever venture into r/spacedicks?

 

[brianmanahan]

there is an ATOT sub:

http://reddit.com/r/atot

 

[Red Squirrel]

Reddit is good for the huge variety of info/discussions and fact that there's just generally a lot of people there so pretty much any subject will have some good discussion because of all the various sub reddits. But it ends there as the interface is not as good as a normal forum. I would prefer a mega forum that each sub reddit is just a sub forum.

Actually, I wonder if there is such place or if one would work out if it was created. Would really not be that hard to do. You basically allow people to create a sub forum which they become admin of and assign their own moderators. They would not show up on the main list but people could search them and then add them to their list if they want to.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I get so annoyed at clicking at the title, only to be taken away to some other site, instead of going to the comment section that I wanted.

I was going to say... that is my #1 peeve. I freaking HATE that. I knocked up some alternative CSS for the site that highlights the "N comments" link and I've more-or-less trained myself to always use that link instead of clicking on the thread subject.

 

[Kaido]

I have mixed feelings about reddit.

Lots of great content. Some subreddits are just superb. There have been some amazing knowledge contributions.

There's literally a subreddit for pretty much anything you can think of, no matter how niche it is, which is nice because there's not always a normal bulletin board available for some topics. Like /r/vive is my go-to place for VR stuff.

Big fan of a lot of very unique subreddits with content that you really wouldn't quite find anywhere else...AskReddit, AMA, iAMA, etc. There also also stupid ones that are ridiculously appealing, like /r/unstirredpaint/

I don't like the overall vibe. It's like imgur, but with more trolls. No real sense of community, save for a few subreddits in particular. I also like the nerd aspect of ATOT, and there are a lot more, ah, "normal" people who use reddit. With ATOT, you pretty much know you're on the same geeky level as most everyone else, so a lot of thread replies click well.

I don't like that older threads can't be edited or replied to. I had a very active Jeep Renegade lemon thread, just barely a year old, but it is already archived & you cannot reply to it anymore. I still get PM's from other Renegade owners on a regular basis about it, especially for users who find it through a google search:

https://www.reddit.com/r/JeepRenega...yone_successfully_lemonlaw_their_renegade_or/

I know that a lot of reddit's design is driven by upvoting (re: psychology), but I'm not a huge fan. Posting a great reply & then getting anonymously downvoted for reasons unknown is somewhat disheartening. At least on ATOT, people have the courtesy of actually replying to tell you that your post is dumb

reddit has its place. I've been spending more time over there over the last year or two for staying in the loop on things like VR, food (IP, sous vide, bento, etc.), and so on. It's almost like Engadget for tech news, but for more specific things that don't necessarily have a "news" site or a "what's the latest" website.

 

[Kaido]

I was going to say... that is my #1 peeve. I freaking HATE that. I knocked up some alternative CSS for the site that highlights the "N comments" link and I've more-or-less trained myself to always use that link instead of clicking on the thread subject.

Yeah same, I've had to learn the habit of clicking on the Comments sub-link to avoid that. Very annoying!

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Yes. Yes. And Yes. Did I mention Yes?

I fucking hate Reddit's UI, and I have no idea what people see in it.I will admit, that the feature of creating subforums easily is slightly appealing for certain topics that are harder to find and talk about, but the overall interface is shitty, unorganized, and overall craptacular. I visit one subredit on occasion and that's pretty much it.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

I don't like the UI of either Reddit or Voat that much, but the content is there.