Is Reddit Unstoppable?

[Ice Tea]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddit

As of February 2018, Reddit had 542 million monthly visitors (234 million unique users), ranking as the #3 most visited website in U.S. and #6 in the world, according to Alexa Internet, with 57.4% of its user base coming from the United States, followed by the United Kingdom at 7.5% and Canada at 6.3%

That is some serious amount of traffic , i knew that they must be high in the rankings but i didn't realize they were that high as you never hear anyone say anything nice about reddit...

[MrRockliffe]

Reddit can be good, but most of the mainstream stuff is full of children that can't comprehend someone might have a different opinion to someone.

Definitely a place for children, rather than adults.

However, some of the smaller stuff is great, and you can find some really helpful information on there.

[peterb]

Don't think I have ever used it - at least can't remember doing so.

[Gerrard]

Whilst I don't actually use it, I do find a few useful things in it as a result of a Google search.

[spacein_vader]

Reddit can be good, but most of the mainstream stuff is full of children that can't comprehend someone might have a different opinion to someone.

Definitely a place for children, rather than adults.

However, some of the smaller stuff is great, and you can find some really helpful information on there.

I disagree it's for or full of, children. Reddit is what you make of it. It's essentially the world's biggest internet forum so you need to find the subforums that appeal to you.

I tend to use it for software advice and tips, in particular the subreddits for Pi-hole, Emby, Borderless Gaming (forces Borderless windowed for games that don't have the option,) Ubuntu and Docker have all been invaluable.

For instance through those I learned that newer versions of Borderless Gaming started including advertising so I switched to a known good older version on GitHub and turned off updates. /PiHole helped me find which domains I needed to block to stop my TV showing ads in menus and phoning home.

It's also good for some games, there's a small but dedicated mod scene for Motorsport Manager for example, I'm sure there are others.

[MrRockliffe]

I disagree it's for or full of, children. Reddit is what you make of it. It's essentially the world's biggest internet forum so you need to find the subforums that appeal to you.

I tend to use it for software advice and tips, in particular the subreddits for Pi-hole, Emby, Borderless Gaming (forces Borderless windowed for games that don't have the option,) Ubuntu and Docker have all been invaluable.

For instance through those I learned that newer versions of Borderless Gaming started including advertising so I switched to a known good older version on GitHub and turned off updates. /PiHole helped me find which domains I needed to block to stop my TV showing ads in menus and phoning home.

It's also good for some games, there's a small but dedicated mod scene for Motorsport Manager for example, I'm sure there are others.

Upon re reading my post, it does read like this. I'd like to adjust it a little; I don't think all of it is for children at all, just that my limited experience with the larger sub-forums has demonstrated that there are quite a few keyboard warriors on there. I then went on to say that there are plenty of great sub-forums, many of which I use on a daily basis.

[Jonj1611]

I have never used it. Only heard it referenced occasionally.

[Spud1]

Unstoppable? no not at all. Before reddit was popular, Digg was the big thing (and closest equivalent imo). Digg has pretty much vanished now and reddit has taken over the mantle...eventually something else may likely do the same - such is the fickle nature of the internet!

I really like reddit as a resource though - as has been said it is essentially the world's biggest forum, crucially with generally good, but not overly intrusive, moderation. Something that other mega forums such as 4Chan et al don't have.

It's a brilliant resource for tech help, discussing issues, hints/tips, and also making friends. It's no more full of "children" or "keyboard warriors" than any other internet site that accepts comments - it's just bigger so you see more of it. If you want to see real uncensored foul drivel then go and browse 4chan for 20 seconds - it makes Reddit look like a world of common sense and politeness!

[dannyboy75]

Much like Game of Thrones, I sometimes think I'm the only person in the world who doesn't 'do' Reddit, but I've managed fine without it for 43 years, so don't feel any need to start now.

[peterb]

Much like Game of Thrones, I sometimes think I'm the only person in the world who doesn't 'do' Reddit, but I've managed fine without it for 43 years, so don't feel any need to start now.

You are not alone in either! (In fact wen I first heard about Game of Thrones, I thought it was an online game - which caused me to lose interest immediately!)

[Gerrard]

You are not alone in either! (In fact wen I first heard about Game of Thrones, I thought it was an online game - which caused me to lose interest immediately!)

When people talk about Jon Snow, I think of the Channel 4 news presenter!

[dannyboy75]

Lol, yes me too. C4 news is much more my kind of thing, boring old fart that I am

[Ttaskmaster]

The number 3 website?

What were Nos 2 and 1? Google and Pornhub?

[jim]

It is a brilliant site once you get down to the communities that you are actually interested in.

Looking at the front page, it is mostly gifs and news stories etc, which are fine as a 'front page of the internet' but not so much somewhere I would spend time and contribute.

Reddit's strength is its number of communities, and how easily new ones are spawned. So if an area becomes very congested, it will naturally have new subdimensions spawned (e.g. discussion specific to the UK aspect of the first community). On the flipside, if somewhere is no longer frequented because it isn't being well moderated, then people will shift over to a different community.

And because you can format your subscriptions, it would be entirely possible to customise your feeds to see information about Tottenham Hotspur, Low Carb Recipes, Running, and ham radio. Few platforms can offer such a curated and refined list of interests so easily. And of course, consequently, you can easily chop out things that you're not interested in.

I've spent time curating a list of subreddits that I'm interested in, and then a second tier of wider stuff, so usually I've got a fair chunk of reading material by the time on the train.

As for being unstopppable, no. I think they're struggling to monetise, and the new redesign that they've launched is annoying a lot of the older users (me included) who prefer now to use old.reddit.com to see the old interface. Of courser though, the old interface is not as friendly to inserting promoted links / advertising, which means there's a bit of a stand-off. It wouldn't take much for them to destroy the platform and the goodwill, and then the next competitor will appear.

[Jonj1611]

I found the site confusing to navigate so didn't really bother going back

[peterb]

When people talk about Jon Snow, I think of the Channel 4 news presenter!

Is there another?