Reddit protest

You know, it's odd that I don't mention reddit very often here considering how much time I spend on that website. Maybe I feel embarrassed about how much time I've wasted, or maybe it's because browsing reddit can get pretty exhausting - especially if you're not tailoring the content to your interests - and I just don't have the energy to write something about all the posts I've read.

Now seems like a good time to write about reddit, because as of today, there's a huge protest going on and many of the largest communities are "blacked out" in solidarity with 3rd party apps being forced out by API changes. It's a little bit complicated, and I haven't really delved too much into the details, but the gist of it is people are angry because reddit is charging developers for access to the content whereas before it was mostly free. So these apps will no longer work. It's kind of boring to talk about, but I agree with the protest because reddit is trying to limit how we interact with the content we, as internet denizens, create for free.

Anyway, it's kind of interesting to see masses of people agreeing to protest this, and reddit is definitely far less interesting at the moment, which is a blessing in a way for me because I spend way, way too much time on there just endlessly scrolling.

I don't post or comment very often because although reading all this content is exhausting, getting into internet arguments is exponentially more so. And also, the fake internet points that you get from other people upvoting or downvoting what you write can get pretty silly. If you say something that redditors in a particular echo chamber disagree with - even if you're clearly contributing to the discussion! - you'll find your comment buried and with a negative score. And they're just fake, internet points, I know, but it still feels like you're being told "no, what you wrote isn't valid".

On the other hand, you can learn and have really interesting discussions with people, or learn vicariously through the really interesting discussions that people post, and I feel that's when reddit is at it's best: a place where people can share and discuss with some degree of anonymity and you get to see how others view the world, essentially.

I personally have filtered out a lot of content on there. I really despise the public shaming aspect of reddit, where endless videos of people doing stupid shit gets uploaded and they get all the visibility because, well, it's shocking and gets people talking. I try and avoid political communities too, and just overall places where there's too much negativity and not enough room for constructive discussion.

Among some of my favourite communities are the "what is this" communities, where people post pictures of plants, or insects, or man-made objects and ask for help in identifying them. It's really cool seeing the process of these things being identified in real time by casual hobbyists or even experts, and I don't end up feeling overwhelmed by negativity.

I also like the gaming subreddits, because there's no better place to find hidden strategies, or to discuss how fun a game is than these forums. Plus it's easy to help out noobs, and feel a small sense of accomplishment in helping them discover a game that you love. The Path of Exile daily discussion thread comes to mind. The gaming subreddits can get toxic, however, so watch out.

Anyway, it'd be nice if this reddit protest accomplishes something, but given the corporate nature of reddit now, it's hard to say what will happen. Either way, it's got me thinking critically about how I engage with the site that I use Every. Single. Day.