This was the right call. I’d never been there before and just checked out the announcement post and it’s full of hatred, insults and bile towards this decision. Their users are calling this a “far left instance that hates free speech run by politically correct pussies”. What a nasty community.
They’re everywhere to the point where I wish I had an adblocker built into my eyeballs. Watching NHL there’s ads on the ice, the jerseys, the helmets, popping in from the sides, overlaying the score etc. it’s so out of control and that’s just one thing.
Either it’s a giant pyramid scheme that keeps getting money funnelled into it or if this shit really just works. The sheer amount of money spent on it is absurd, sometimes as much as the budget of some movies to promote said movies.
Because of how many sites don’t use RSS feeds as much anymore, I’ve found it hard to adjust to them. I’ve been trying out the app Artifact as a sort of replacement but it’s not ideal (and everything has ads when I click through).
Still looking for a good solution for up to date, aggregated info on some of my favourite topics. This site comes pretty close but is still missing some things (for now).
Something I’ve seen pointed out is that if Reddit ultimately does shift to a more “democratic” model of voting mods in and out, that could easily be abused by bot farms or for nefarious purposes. Everything about the future direction the site is heading sounds bleak and barely what it once was.
While I can’t see it dying in anytime soon in how many visitors it receives, the general “vibe” and communities of the site will differ I imagine and that’s what matters to me. The end of Apollo was it for me. Like you said, others can do whatever but I’ve left.
I agree, the Verge’s coverage has been much better on this subject. It isn’t about not paying for use, it’s about a reasonable price that isn’t so exorbitant to essentially bankrupt them and make them go away. Christian has addressed this point several times already.
Regardless of whether or not anything serious happens to Reddit, it’s just not the same for me anymore and I won’t be going back. I can see the vibe and audience further shifting ala Twitter. It’s too big to just fail, Digg, MySpace and other older sites still exist, they’re just shadows of themselves now.
I am deeply sorry about the abuse you experienced and think it’s unfair to paint an entire gender in that light. My mom was incredibly abusive and I would never blame all women for that, just her as an individual.