Reddit is searching for something, but I don't think they've introduced a single feature that makes it better since they added subreddits. They've added and removed community chat rooms [0], they still have some other kind of chat that I don't know if anyone uses, when I happen to visit new Reddit there's some kind of streaming broadcasts that I don't see anyone liking. And of course the redesign, but I suspect that their metrics show that a majority of users like it, so it's just old users like med that are put off by it. Recently they introduced Topics [1], but it's not supported by the API, so you need to use their apps.
I mean, a sizable enough number of us continue to use old.reddit.com that it seems like they realize they can't force us onto the new design and are relegated to maintaining the old one for essentially forever... which to me says something incredible about just how badly their design failed.
The redesign was a massive success. The goal was to turn reddit into a typical social media property, and it worked. Real conversation was pushed aside into niche subreddits, and was replaced by typical social media filler crap, like r/funny and pics and wholesomememes, etc. It was bad before, but I just feel like the redesign made it 100x worse. Try opening the reddit homepage, new design, no account, and tell me with a straight face that that is a place where serious, well-thought discussion happens. The content on the front page is exactly what I would expect to see on my Facebook timeline or on the Instagram explore page, which I see now was Reddit's goal from the start.
I suspect a Reddit PM is watching a usage of old.reddit.com metric and waiting for it to hit a certain threshold before canning it. Perhaps the migration has taken longer than they planned but I have no doubt in time old.reddit.com will be retired.
I think the redesign worked exactly as well as it was supposed to. Looking at this graph for a subreddit with approx. 4 million subscribers, the unique pageviews are quite high on the redesign. The official mobile app, however, blows them both out of the water.
Am I missing something here? old reddit on iphone is just unusable- need to pinch zoom for everything.
I so much prefer the new one at least on mobile.
> I don't think they've introduced a single feature that makes it better since they added subreddits
I think they've added plenty.
* Text only posts.
* Polls.
* Being able save individual posts instead of just threads.
* Friends. I use it to follow a few people who make stuff outside of Reddit but post intermittently on their respective subreddits. I don't use it at all for following my actual friends.
* Various features that prevent one subreddit from raiding others. np links are one, but there are others.
* Subreddit CSS.
* Mods being able to hide scores and the downvote button on their subreddit. It's a shame this isn't something done at the API level, as it means apps just ignore it.
* Suggested comment sorting. Can mitigate the natural tendency for a group to become an echochamber.
* Some of the features of reddit Gold are pretty good but considering you have to pay for them, they ought to be.
* Buying rewards is probably the least bad monetization scheme they could have come up with.
* While their image and video hosting is kinda crappy, it is there and it seems like imgur had to get less aggressive about forcing you to get an account.
Multireddits is a good feature that has been introduced after subreddits, because there is a limit of how many different subreddits you get on your frontpage (wich goes up with gold IIRC).
On of the worst thing they did (excluding the new design obviously) was removing the upvote/downvote counter.
Fun fact, multireddits existed very early on after publicly created subreddit launched, they just didn't have a UI for a very long time. But you could always do multiple reddits with a + between them. That's how we constructed your front page on the backend, we just didn't expose the URL.
I think Reddit would be better if they removed the karma counters completely. They can still use votes as a signal for sorting, but having numbers attached to posts and comments seem to affect people's opinions on that content too much.
I’ve watched/listened to a few people for 10-20 minutes at a time. I know that’s not much in the grand scheme of things, but I’ve never been even the slightest bit interested in watching streams.
I've been a Reddit user for about a decade and I really love RPAN, the streaming broadcast you refer to. I often find really interesting music made by talented artists, and I appreciate that the performances are done in a kind of off-the-cuff, low-key way.
Yes, I have never been much into the whole streaming thing, but for some reason, for now at least, RPAN seems to be hitting just the right amateurish tone to keep me engaged.
Though I dread the day when the people who made the new front page UI turn their attention to RPAN...
Reddit is an example of a product I'd pay for less of. Give me basic functionality, simple UI, and no growth hacks. I'll give you an annual subscription.
I don’t think Reddit needs any major feature other than search. When I search google, I basically append ‘Reddit’ to my query. It’s where all the real answers are, there are no more websites (who would have thought, the real rival to google is Reddit).
I don't either, but that's not how VC backed companies work. It's not good enough to stay usable for the current users, you need growth, and preferably as much as possible. I don't know what kind of service they're aiming for, but it's basically a meme feed now, with some political echo chambers thrown in.
It's mind-boggling. I can easily view videos on desktop or mobile hosted on youtube, streamable, clippuser, imgur, gfycat. All load and play really quickly even on an old, crummy phone. Meanwhile v.reddit.com is slow as hell, can't scrub, controls don't work in full-screen. And it's been that way for years with no improvement.
You know, v.reddit has never worked for me but I chalked it up to noscript/firefox/old-reddit idiosyncrasies. Crazy that its actually a global issue and has been for over a year. I'd really like to know the behind-the-scenes on this one.
works fine for me with firefox + old reddit + RES. breaking on noscript is probably expected because almost all web video players are js based. You might be able to mitigate that by navigating to the video file directly, eg. https://v.redd.it/1m6ye7yto4561 -> https://v.redd.it/1m6ye7yto4561/DASH_1080.mp4
Reddit introduced image/video hosting to fix the problem of all Reddit submissions eventually linking to content that 404ed.
That it’s not the best experience doesn’t completely damn it. A slowly loading video is better than a 404ing video in Reddit’s trove of aging but still relevant topics.
Also, users complaining that it’s not as fast as Youtube (your evidence) doesn’t mean it’s “not working out for Reddit.” It has perf/UX issues but it’s a huge boon for the users that click in to a topic with a video that would have otherwise 404ed.
Hmm, Reddit seems purpose-built for very recent and fresh discussions compared to a forum, where a thread could be active for years and years. I'm not sure I'm buying the 404 thing.
The videos work fine for me in the mobile app but almost never work right on the desktop Reddit. I’m still using the old layout, so maybe the issue Is fixed on the slow new design.
The videos usually just don’t start playing. I have to tap a second or two into the video, then toggle play/pause a few times.
Personally I find their video player annoying from a UX perspective (although I only use browser, mostly via old.reddit) and the performance erratic (from Switzerland). I'm guessing peering is a factor for example this post https://www.reddit.com/r/Enhancement/comments/drf7na/vreddit... ... that means for some people v.reddit will be great and for others awful, depending where you are in the world.
v.redd.it (which is just a domain for hosting their own videos) works fine on the reddit app and reddit.com (even old.reddit.com + RES works fine for me).
That might be a dumb question but why all companies are trying to grow outside their core product? From what I see from the comments, all previous attempts from Reddit to extends to new domains have more or less failed. Shouldn't they just invest and focus into making their core product better, slicker, faster, instead of absolutely trying to conquer new territory?
The question is not dumb, but I suppose the answer is simply a qualified "no", as in "we can't reach our targets by relying solely on our main/single property, so we need to find a way in the next X years to leverage it to meet them or we will close / be sold for peanuts / get fired (the management, I mean)"
If platforms are guaranteed to come and go, then maybe the concept of building a business model around a platform is what's wrong. It can usually work for a decade or two, but people move on. I'm sure some sizable group thought MySpace would be forever.
It's easy to make fun of UI changes but... reddit on mobile without using their app is near unusable. You can't see all the comments and both the top and bottom of the screen is telling you to use their app.
This is my theory - Dubsmash buyout by Reddit could be purely a bet on short form video content in Indian market. After TikTok was vacated forcibly, Dubsmash and other homegrown alternatives grew 155% in just 3 weeks[1] and with 30.4M users India is likely the largest market for it.
Reddit might even be able to get its ROI on Dubsmash from just the Indian market.
Reddit has always been shit since the redesign: broken scroll, broken video hosting, dark patterns up the wazoo.
I wonder if/how soon we'll see a degradation to similar poor usability in dubsmash, or if the people working there can manage to hang on to their product as it is...
Also their pathetic attempts to get you to use the app are half-baked. The deep links are broken most of the time and just send you to the app store even if the iOS client is installed, where you press open and it takes you to /r/all regardless of where you came from.
it's so hard for me to contemplate how they can not fix this. You restrict everyone from viewing your website unless they install your app then a basic redirection to the said app doesn't happen.
The amount of dark patterns Reddit has introduced in their web app is ridiculous.
At first, they would prompt you to install the web app every other page load, and now they don't even let you expand comment threads.
Why spend so much time and resources on rebuilding your web app if you're gonna cripple the experience so much? The funny thing is it makes conversion rates on the web app even worse, so they have even more reason to push you onto the native version.
Yeah, I remember them randomly enabling it for years, basically gaslighting users whenever they would bring it up saying that “we shouldn’t ask you to login, if it is doing it that’s a bug”. But clearly they were just A/B testing it to the point where they could enable this all the time.
The general public are reddits audience now not "early internet adopters". I know from running a geographically based small niche subreddit that users and post volume have gone up dramatically in the past 1-2 years.
The people who hate new reddit are a tiny minority I'm afraid to say, the majority of users on the site probably never even saw the old reddit design.
The "old" Reddit we loved is precisely what kept a lot of people away - it was walls of text with basic, minimalist design language. I personally loved it (hence why HN appeals to me) but I understand why lots of folks wouldn't "get it".
I introduced my S/O to Reddit ~6 years ago. It took a long time for the site to stick. What finally did it was having the iOS application.
I wonder if many of the new, non pc gaming users have seen either of the old or new site designs as opposed to one of the many mobile apps given how much interaction happens there and how strongly you’re pushed away to the official app.
For a platform that drives revenue through continued engagement, clicks, views, and activity... could functioning search be considered an anti-feature?
If I can't find what I want, I'll start a new post, or reply to a comment… leading to people getting notifications, leading to clicks, more replies, …
Recently they added notifications saying "multiple people are typing" and "see new comments!" which appear on posts even when newest comments are old. It's absolutely infuriating. I didn't want to cure my reddit addiction but they are trying real hard to help me with that.
Reddit's entire experience was always gonna be shit, it just takes a lot of users for that to become obvious.
Echo chambers, flame wars, brigading, etc. – all were inevitable results of the way the entire platform is structured, and are far worse than the UI having more whitespace.
Its a terrible thing to see companies failing to compete or in this case fix their shit then arrive at the conclusion buying up smaller companies will solve their problems. The SV mindset with deep pockets is a problem.
I hope the opposite. I haven’t installed Reddit’s app and never will. That only means that my engagement will drop (like it already happens when they want me to log in when opening a subreddit)
Glad someone got it, I always found it ironic that their nag popups say we "deserve the best" when I would have thought "the best" was an optimized mobile site like i.reddit.com
I wonder if the thinking is to extend RPAN into a bigger aspect of the site?
I'm a fan of RPAN, but I do wish that Reddit would stop messing with the formula. They had a great thing, and over time have been eroding it with the various re-designs and awkward app and sign-in requirements.
Readit News
[0] https://old.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/jwme40/deprecating...
[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/kb99yk/introduci...
I suspect a Reddit PM is watching a usage of old.reddit.com metric and waiting for it to hit a certain threshold before canning it. Perhaps the migration has taken longer than they planned but I have no doubt in time old.reddit.com will be retired.
However, teddit is limited to browsing. Can't reply / comment on it
https://i.imgur.com/o80v09J.png
I think they've added plenty.
* Text only posts.
* Polls.
* Being able save individual posts instead of just threads.
* Friends. I use it to follow a few people who make stuff outside of Reddit but post intermittently on their respective subreddits. I don't use it at all for following my actual friends.
* Various features that prevent one subreddit from raiding others. np links are one, but there are others.
* Subreddit CSS.
* Mods being able to hide scores and the downvote button on their subreddit. It's a shame this isn't something done at the API level, as it means apps just ignore it.
* Suggested comment sorting. Can mitigate the natural tendency for a group to become an echochamber.
* Some of the features of reddit Gold are pretty good but considering you have to pay for them, they ought to be.
* Buying rewards is probably the least bad monetization scheme they could have come up with.
* While their image and video hosting is kinda crappy, it is there and it seems like imgur had to get less aggressive about forcing you to get an account.
On of the worst thing they did (excluding the new design obviously) was removing the upvote/downvote counter.
I’ve watched/listened to a few people for 10-20 minutes at a time. I know that’s not much in the grand scheme of things, but I’ve never been even the slightest bit interested in watching streams.
The stickers you can give out is a cool monetization.
RPAN is pretty cool.
Though I dread the day when the people who made the new front page UI turn their attention to RPAN...
I do like their mobile app though
Google works just fine.
Spending the money to improve and code a new search function doesn’t gain them anything. They’d just lose money on the implementation.
Even disabling it doesn't get it to work for some reason unless I clear all my history related to it or something.
same for me
This likely means that they’re doing something so badly that they break something that already works. Good job.
That it’s not the best experience doesn’t completely damn it. A slowly loading video is better than a 404ing video in Reddit’s trove of aging but still relevant topics.
Also, users complaining that it’s not as fast as Youtube (your evidence) doesn’t mean it’s “not working out for Reddit.” It has perf/UX issues but it’s a huge boon for the users that click in to a topic with a video that would have otherwise 404ed.
The videos usually just don’t start playing. I have to tap a second or two into the video, then toggle play/pause a few times.
https://boards.greenhouse.io/reddit/jobs/2168814
For mobile:
reddit.com/.compact
Realistically old.reddit.com on mobile is usable but you end up having to pan and zoom all the time.
Reddit might even be able to get its ROI on Dubsmash from just the Indian market.
[1]https://sensortower.com/blog/tiktok-alternatives-growth-indi...
I wonder if/how soon we'll see a degradation to similar poor usability in dubsmash, or if the people working there can manage to hang on to their product as it is...
At first, they would prompt you to install the web app every other page load, and now they don't even let you expand comment threads.
Why spend so much time and resources on rebuilding your web app if you're gonna cripple the experience so much? The funny thing is it makes conversion rates on the web app even worse, so they have even more reason to push you onto the native version.
The people who hate new reddit are a tiny minority I'm afraid to say, the majority of users on the site probably never even saw the old reddit design.
I introduced my S/O to Reddit ~6 years ago. It took a long time for the site to stick. What finally did it was having the iOS application.
* Good search means you could find stuff easily
* Bad search means you're more likely to post again and continue the re-engagement circle.
If I can't find what I want, I'll start a new post, or reply to a comment… leading to people getting notifications, leading to clicks, more replies, …
Echo chambers, flame wars, brigading, etc. – all were inevitable results of the way the entire platform is structured, and are far worse than the UI having more whitespace.
Dead Comment
One can only hope.
I'm a fan of RPAN, but I do wish that Reddit would stop messing with the formula. They had a great thing, and over time have been eroding it with the various re-designs and awkward app and sign-in requirements.