2y ago

"It's the content, stupid" - some #chaoticgood ways to encourage people to get off of Reddit and onto Kbin

Jotting some quick notes I've observed so far from running /m/scifi for a couple of weeks and getting to 3K subscribers:

Even though most people will return to Reddit and it'll be 'business as usual' - the seeds of destruction are already in place.
No one is coming to a place where there's nothing to read / think about / interact with
The thing that made Reddit great is content - we came there for content. So when it comes to asking 'how can we grow Kbin?' the answer is simple: It's the content, stupid.
Reddit has tons of free content - in the spirit of being a #chaoticgood, we can grab the best parts of that content and use it to make Kbin an interesting, thoughtful place to be
Creating spaces with well-thought-out rules to encourage inclusivity, collaborate, and mutual respect. It's working out well for /m/scifi
Redditors know what's up - they're pissed at Spez but there's not much they can do about it. They'll vote with their feet if we give them a new place to come to.

Thoughts?

29 comments

@inkican Agreed. If we post it they will come...The good/bad thing is that we few have a responsibility to start the avalanche of posts...So I've been super-active on my lemmy instance, and here to an extent, toward that expicit end.

Users of Kbin and Lemmy should continually search for communities and magazines that will interest them and interact. There's places appearing all of the time. What you didn't find yesterday might be there today.
Most of the time I have Jerboa set to look for new posts within all instances. I'm surprised at what's out there after only four days. Sadly many don't have any comments after several hours, even days. Up votes are one thing but if someone took the time to post, written feedback is what will inspire someone to make more posts. Yes. I only comment when it's warranted but even a simple compliment can encourage more posts and discussion.
I've seen a bot running on an instance that's finding some of the best from reddit and posting. It identifies itself as a bot and links to the original content. It gives a url to the reddit post and when it was posted. This is something I can appreciate. I hope it can generate some discussion.
Now, more than ever, sorting by new and commenting on what interests you will help.
- Sometimes a post will say 0 comments, but if you click the rainbow fedilink, it'll take you to the post's original instance and there will be more comments.
- The bot you are talking about is archiving many posts from reddit, I have one running too, but mine is intended for mods that need to mirror content from their subreddit (only external links, like news) to a magazine or community.
  Here's the link if someone needs it: https://github.com/daniel-lxs/BotIt
- I agree. Written feedback is extremely important if you're not willing to be a poster yourself. I've been lurking Reddit for 16 years, I am trying my hardest to comment on almost every post I see on lemmy. I want this to work

That's what I been thinking, I know the Reddit drama is interesting but this platform won't last unless we forget about it and focus on creating content and engage with it.
- Reddit right now is like a car crash. It's hard to look away. However, there's a very good reason not to engage, the debate on reddit has become more artificial than most realise.
  Reddit's inflated numbers by using bots and fake accounts since day 1. A quick google will result in articles where they admit as much. We all know reddit's had increasing amounts of bots, posting content and increasingly comments, but I don't think people realise how bad it's become.
  It's not even that time that reddit's blog accidentally posted about Eglin Air Force base being one of the most reddit addicted cities. I think everyone knows (foreign) governments engage in influence operations online, and that this includes reddit. Even if it's just on an intellectual level, without truly realising that they've been semi-regularly interacting with bots while arguing on reddit. I also don't think anyone's naive enough to think that plenty of political content isn't artificially upvoted or promoted. Same thing goes for product placement.
  But the recent shit storm just illustrates reddit the company is part of the problem. Recently, I've seen twenty different accounts post the same comment about not needing third party apps, and dusting off their laptop. I've attempted to compare the current situation to the previous blackout. You know, when reddit hired someone who defended paedophiles as an admin. Deleted comment. Try an alt. Deleted comment. Posted in subs without karma requirements in a fresh account. Auto-deleted.
  When you're visiting reddit, you're no longer even watching a car crash. It's a simulacrum. An imitation of what's actually happening.
  And it's been like this for a while. I've seen naive redditers engaging with bot comments under bot promoted content, posted by bots on more than one occassion.
  Reddit has become worse than a hentai date simulator. I don't think anyone who plays those is particularly proud of it. But what to think of the lonely people who engage in reddit discussions with bots, and think they've had a genuine social interaction?
  It's all very dystopian and sad.
  
  I have noticed how many of the "I didn't know there were 3rd party apps" and "who cares" comments seem to phrase things very similarly and have wondered how many are being posted by bots. RIP Reddit, we'll remember what you used to be.
  
  Bots and paid actors are all over social media. It didn't strike me until I noticed how professional the photography was for a majority of posts. EDC, and Wicked Edge had some well designed still photos. Others too. And they all had links for buying the products.

Kbin really needs an app to become daily for most people I think. I've spent a lot of time on Lemmy because of Jerboa and the fact this whole thing came about because of Reddit screwing over app devs means people will be looking for that be alternative.
- Reddit screwing over app devs also potentially means app devs free to use their skills for Lemmy/Kbin.
- 55% of website traffic comes from mobile devices.
  Apps are definitely the "killer app."
- Supposedly Sync is coming
- I'm looking forward to a proper app with more functionality, but for now the progressive web app does work fine and I have it on my home screen on my phone in the place where Baconreader used to sit (and open it multiple times each day).
- This is true ! I do enjoy using the PWA app though
- I don't mind it on the browser. It doesn't feel that different from RiF when you play with the settings. I could use an infinite scroll.
- if other fedi projects are any indication, likely a unified API will develop. Mastodon's API is supported by most other fedi projects, so you can use mobile apps interchangeably. If Lemmy becomes dominant then kbin would have to implement an API to match.
  
  If kbin gets an API, maybe apps like rif is fun can be ported to it!

I love it! Allow me to contribute to #chaoticgood with this bot I've been working on
https://kbin.social/m/RedditMigration/t/69416
- This is disgraceful!
  How dare you use a bot to steal the content bots on reddit stole from insta/tiktok/twitter!
  LOL

Yes. Great thoughts.
I saw a comment on a reddit thread recently about the migrations, changes, etc saying (paraphrasing) "Remember how we used to see stuff on reddit and then a week later on other platforms? This place is about to become just another week-behind platform."
Spez has been pointing out (and clearly justifying to himself) that only a small minority of users are upset with their changes, but that ignores that it's the mods and content generators - the power users - who make up that small minority. Reddit is about to suck by losing the only thing that made it great. Yes, it's the content.

Reddit is the default and some of us have gotten used to lurking, since it was always big enough that someone else did the voting and top comments. I look at fediverse as an opportunity for change, and in return asking I become an active community member again. Post the latest you see, comment, explain, etc . At least up vote is the content is good.
As long as you are the mod of your /m/, you can make it clear that direct copy of Reddit is acceptable for your /m/. You're reposting the link in fediverse, with the intention to initiate conservation here because of better moderation. That sounds fine to me. Even the mod can lead by cross posting from Reddit. Yes, It's the content. Yes, Reddit is the biggest content source (for now). Don't shy away from leveraging it.
Consider who we are and who you want to be. The assumption that power users, tech savvy folks moved over to fediverse more openly. I think that is true. Think if you want to start being the "first" of the Internet. That's how digg was, that's how Reddit grew, even 4chan made a name being the place for the hottest trash takes and going viral once in a while. So post here, and then cross post into Reddit. If they want to be the adult company a layer higher, then so be it.

You're right.
I joined Lemmy two weeks ago, yet, I still spend most of my "Social network time" on Reddit. And the reason is that Reddit has more things to see, more interesting posts to interact with and so on.
I think that we that are already here should "prepare the place" so that others may come. And preparing the place means exactly creating posts and commenting. As simple as that.
- And preparing the place means exactly creating posts and commenting. As simple as that.
  It also means subscribing to remote groups so that they federate and populate in advance of more people arriving.
- I'm going cold turkey on Reddit for exactly this reason. I realised that if I allowed myself to use Reddit if I couldn't find the content I want elsewhere, then I'll never actually leave it.
  Instead I'm trying to now use Lemmy to find the communities that I'm interested it, and to make the content that I'd like to see.
  
  Some people are blocking reddit.com at the DNS level to help kick their addiction
  
  Smart. What's interesting about it is that the redditors who have left are pretty salty, so I've been accused of being a content farmer for posting content to m/todayIlearned. I was like, dude, there's no karma for posting links. I'm just doing this to be kind, no karma involved. People have a lot of PTSD from the culture of reddit.

29 comments