this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
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SNOOcalypse - document, discuss, and promote the downfall of Reddit.

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SNOOcalypse is closing down. If you wish to talk about Reddit, check out [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected].


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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I can only imagine we’re going to see it replaced with something altogether more exploitative.

The admin that posted that has been working on blockchain/crypto/NFT stuff for the last year… I can only imagine they have some awful plan relating to that.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

technically you aren't wrong...

there was an APK teardown once the API changes happened that showed the following information because Reddit broke for a bit:

Android authority page on it here: link to article

Fake internet points are finally worth something! Now redditors can earn real money for their contributions to the Reddit community, based on the karma and gold they've been given. How it works: Redditors give gold to posts, comments, or other contributions they think are really worth something. Eligible contributors that earn enough karma and gold can cash out their earnings for real money. Contributors apply to the program to see if they're eligible. Top contributors make top dollar. The more karma and gold contributors earn, the more money they can receive.

Not just anyone can be a contributor. To join and stay in the program, contributors need to meet a few requirements: Be over 18 and live in the U.S. Only Safe for Work contributions qualify Earn xx gold and karma each month Provide verification information. You must have at least 10 gold and 100 karma to begin verification. NSFW accounts aren't eligible for the Contributors Program

Provide the following information to get verified for the program and start earning: Email Personal Information Tax and bank account information

Once you hit the payment threshold, you'll automatically be paid out via your Stripe account. Approximate calculation before fees. Exchange rate and payment thresholds are subject to change

apparently these are already active in r/cryptocurrency and r/eth or w.e the Ethereum subreddit is...

definitely not looking good and I'm glad I switched to lemmy when I did

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

That'll be very interesting. I always forget about the NFT shit despite having been a redditor for years. I don't want to give them ideas, but I'm guessing they would let people "reward" each other those fugly ass avatar NFTs.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They never actually replace things that they kill though. They just say they have something better lined up and then you never hear about it again. They said the same thing when they removed the setting from your profile to disable the constant app nagging in your browser. They said "we have something better planned", removed the toggle, and that was it. That was like a year ago.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

They have no incentive to improve the user experience, it's a money machine where you're the product and advertisers are customers. When you use their app they can track you and serve ads more effectively.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

My bet is a "buy karma with money" program, mirroring the "sell karma for money" one, but geared towards advertisers. That means native, built-in advertisement in the platform, that you can't block through ad blockers because it behaves the same as the content there.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I saw a post over here earlier today about someone data mining the Reddit app code and finding monetization options for top contributors. Literally paying people to shitpost.

Hopefully someone not on mobile can link it here. Seems like it’s already set in stone.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (8 children)

So, any bets on what's the next feature that's getting killed?

My money's on old.reddit.com.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That and the mobile website. They're already running an A/B test where they just flat out block mobile users and instead demand they download the app. That fucking app man... They'll try anything to push the app, anything except making it actually enjoyable to use that is.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Blocking mobile browser users will be the beginning of the end. Very few casual read-only users will download the app just to read some content on Reddit. Reddit is highly ranked in search engines and the kind of users that flock into Reddit via Google and the likes for sure make up a decent percentage (perhaps the majority?) of traffic on Reddit. I for sure hope they will enforce this policy, that will only increase Reddit's downfall.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My money's on automod. It's yet another of those "pesky tools" used by the "landed gentry" against advertisement disguised as content.

I also predict that a few subreddits criticising corporations might get banned, such as r/hailcorporate and perhaps r/assholedesign.

I don't think that they'll get rid of old.reddit now because the ghost of Digg still haunts Greedy Pigboy.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think you might be right about the removal of anti-corporate or anti-capitalist subreddits. They're not exactly suited for ad placement, so they're pretty much worthless to reddit at this point.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Seems like you could sell a whole lot of anarchy bumper stickers in those subs.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Don't give them ideas.

Or do, i moved here anyway

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't think I need to give them ideas. Seems like they've got the whole "destroy reddit" thing covered.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I'm surprised old wasn't next after third party apps. I'm surprised they decided to kill the literal "give us money" button.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

The only way to browse Reddit, but I say let it die. Let the whole thing crash and burn.

We have mlmym.org now. Old Reddit can live on in a new life outside of its greedy creator.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

For those that don't want to give Reddit traffic, this is the post by the reddit admin:

Hi all,

I’m u/venkman01

from the Reddit product team, and I’m here to give everyone an early look at the future of how redditors award (and reward) each other.

TL;DR: We are reworking how great content and contributions are rewarded on Reddit. As part of this, we made a decision to sunset coins (including Community coins for moderators) and awards (including Medals, Premium Awards, and Community Awards), which also impacts some existing Reddit Premium perks. Starting today, you will no longer be able to purchase new coins, but all awards and existing coins will continue to be available until September 12, 2023.

Many eons ago, Reddit introduced something called Reddit Gold. Gold then evolved, and we introduced new awards including Reddit Silver, Platinum, Ternium, and Argentium. And the evolution continued from there. While we saw many of the awards used as a fun way to recognize contributions from your fellow redditors, looking back at those eons, we also saw consistent feedback on awards as a whole. First, many don’t appreciate the clutter from awards (50+ awards right now, but who’s counting?) and all the steps that go into actually awarding content. Second, redditors want awarded content to be more valuable to the recipient.

It’s become clear that awards and coins as they exist today need to be re-thought, and the existing system sunsetted. Rewarding content and contribution (as well as something golden) will still be a core part of Reddit. We’ll share more in the coming months as to what this new future looks like.

On a personal note: in my several years at Reddit, I’ve been focused on how to help redditors be able to express themselves in fun ways and feel joy when their content is celebrated. I led the product launch on awards – if you happen to recognize the username – so this is a particularly tough moment for me as we wind these products down. At the same time, I’m excited for us to evolve our thinking on rewarding contributions to make it more valuable to the community.

Why are we making these changes?

We mentioned early this year that we want to both make Reddit simpler and a place where the community empowers the community more directly.

With simplification in mind, we’re moving away from the 50+ awards available today. Though the breadth of awards have had mixed reception, we’ve also seen them - be it a local subreddit meme or the “Press F” award - be embraced. And we know that many redditors want to be able to recognize high quality content.

Which is why rewarding good content will still be part of Reddit. Though we’d love to reveal more to you all now, we’re in the process of early testing and feedback, so aren’t ready to share official details just yet. Stay tuned for future posts on this!

What’s changing exactly?

- Awards - Awards (including Medals, Premium Awards, and Community Awards) will no longer be available after September 12.
- Reddit Coins - Coins will be deprecated, since Awards will be going away. Starting today, you’ll no longer be able to purchase coins, but you can use your remaining coins to gift awards by September 12.
- Reddit Premium - Reddit Premium is not going away. However, after September 12, we will discontinue the monthly coin drip and Premium Awards. Other current Premium perks will still exist, including the ad-free experience.
    - Note: As indicated in our User Agreement past purchases are non-refundable. If you’re a Premium user and would like to cancel your subscription before these changes go into effect, you can find instructions here.

What comes next?

In the coming months, we’ll be sharing more about a new direction for awarding that allows redditors to empower one another and create more meaningful ways to reward high-quality contributions on Reddit.

I’ll be around for a while to answer any questions you may have and hear any feedback!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We mentioned early this year that we want to both make Reddit simpler and a place where the community empowers the community more directly.

The community isn't empowered at all. u/spez is a dictator who doesn't care about the community.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yep the leaked coming moves will be the death of Reddit. Screwing your users doesn't really matter because the vast majority will obviously continue to tolerate it.

This will just make Reddit a shitty place to be. They just need to admit that there's no viable business model.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I think “there’s no viable business model “ is where they are, yeah. I think if they had taken a different path… I don’t know, several years ago… they might have found one, but they just keep throwing away their assets.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Well. There are no coins here. Are they really needed?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Purged by creator

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's so on-brand for Reddit to announce killing these features without any explanation of what is to take its place. Just a vague mention of more communication "in the coming months".

How exciting.

Reminds me of when they killed Reddit Gifts/Secret Santa.

Reddit and Twitter are racing to see who can kill themselves faster.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Nothing is coming. You'll get nothing and you'll like it!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yeah got this pm from Reddit:

* I only have premium because I was awarded Platinum. No way in hell I'd buy it.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Soon: "Buy NFTs of your favourite comments and posts! The creators get crypto worth $0.50 for every purchase!"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It hurt itself in its confusion

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

is reddit trying to kill their platform on purpose?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

This is only good news for the lemmiverse

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ugh, they're gonna replace awards with NFTs and crypto aren't they?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It's possible. But another possibility is that they gave up the idea that users would give Reddit money, and instead they want advertisers to buy upvotes with RL money.

Fake currencies like Reddit coins are useful when you're milking users, as it's harder for them to determine the real cost of their actions. For example: how much money would you need to spend to award your own post to become the most awarded post of a subreddit? (A: it depends on which coin package you bought, which award you're granting, in which sub you're posting, etc.) It's probably more expensive than the user thinks, i.e. the "sucker tax".

This backfires for advertisers because they will run the maths and notice your outrageous prices, and they won't pay the "sucker tax". And any additional loop between money and service raises their suspicion, thus the risk that they associate with your platform. When dealing with them, you're better off streamlining everything, and getting rid of things that they might see as risk-increasing uncertainty.

And one of those risk-increasing uncertainties is the value of awards vs. votes in the visibility of a post (i.e. a potential ad). How many users sort by "top" vs. "awarded"? Are you better off buying awards or upvotes? Reddit just removed those two uncertainties, plus one loop (buy Reddit coins to buy stuff → buy stuff directly).

If my reasoning above is correct, bots running rampant in Reddit will be the least concern. Expect stuff like the top post in r/linux being Microsoft "informing" you on the "risks" of running Linux, and the moderator responsible for correctly marking as spam to be "relieved" from his "duties". r/cooking will be full of nothing but advertisement for food chains, r/youtube with an "exclusive promotion for Snoos who buy YT Premium", stuff like this.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I gave all my coins away this morning to people who didn't need them. Thousands of coins from hundreds of awards over the years were distributed to the least deserving replies. Wewt! Bye, reddit.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I always disliked the crazy number of awards when they came our, it felt like they all suddenly became meaningless when there were so many. I will miss gold though, getting that shit always made you feel like a celebrity

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