I was actually somewhat ok with going back to certain Reddit communities (although NOT just mindless scrolling) after the blackout. There’s a lot of communities where (I thought) there’s literally no alternatives.

Then came his latest wave of interviews attacking people that did their jobs for them (mods, Devs making a usable mobile app) and making insane hypocritical statements about “democracy” (everyone would gladly kick you out given the chance) and “landed gentry” (dude, if the mods are the out of touch landed gentry, that would make you the out of touch king, right?)

Why is he still giving interviews? Not like I even care about the company but seriously what good can he possibly do at this point, every day thousands more people leave for good.

Anyway, I seriously don’t think I can use Reddit with a clear conscience, at all, anymore, at least for now. Every time I interact with the site (even with adblock) I can’t help but think the entire time I am helping this millionaire megalomaniac’s company keep continuing on.

I guess there’s always the chance the board is letting him self destruct to offer him as the sacrificial lamb.

I honestly don’t know if this will last in terms of me not using reddit at all, but every day this idiot opens his mouth is another day I’m not using reddit and another day I’m searching for and interacting with alternatives.

  • 3Melvi@kbin.social
    2·
    1 year ago

    Same. Now that the CEO revealed the mindset that drives reddit behind the curtains, the problem shifted from a matter of convenience (access from APIs) to a matter of principles:

    1. the corporation has an authoritarian style of problem-solving;
    2. it has no respect for the userbase or the developers, thus it is not transparent,using underhanded tactics to push a narrative and hide their real goals;
    3. it wants to control every aspect of our interactions to make the userbase receptive to aggressive marketing;
    4. it has no qualms to limit access to content that is 100% created by users, not to use unpaid labor (the mods) to maximize its profits;
    5. it sees the userbase and the mods as expendable when they voice an objection on a policy, despite being those they exploit to make their model profitable (reddit is nothing without the moderation and the user-made content)

    This type of aggressive capitalism is becoming a poison for the web.
    It is going too far, destroying what has made the internet a special place to share information: no limits to exploration, to sharing, to expression. Now they want to create isolated bubbles behind login walls where they can be owners of the info and controllers of the space to sell data, product placements and ads.

    Perhaps these new technologies like the fediverse are the answer, the solution to put a brake on this ugly phenomenon.
    I hope decentralization will be the beginning of a new “Internet Renaissance”, bringing back a bit of the spirit of the 90s.