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The Inside Story of Reddit's Redesign(wired.com)

over 5 years ago from Fernando Díaz

  • Rhys MerrittRhys Merritt, over 5 years ago

    THE FIRST VERSION of Reddit worked more or less like a link aggregator. It was a place for skimming the news, sharing memes, passing around lulz. Shortly after it first launched, the site introduced comments to encourage discussion on those links. The first comment? It was about how comments would ruin Reddit. In 2008, when the site launched subreddits, Redditors objected again, complaining that the new feature reflected Reddit's "schizophrenic approach" to displaying content. More changes followed: a bigger "comment" button, new ways to sort posts, those momentum arrows. You can guess how well those went over.

    It's funny that this is in the article.. It kind of jokes that people have pissed and moaned about most changes in the past. Here you are, doing it again.

    I'm not here to say whether you're right or wrong, because I don't have enough of an opinion to back either standpoint up. But since you do seem to have an opinion on it - could you enlighten me? What are Reddit misunderstanding with this redesign?

    5 points
    • Joshua TurnerJoshua Turner, over 5 years ago

      In my opinion the largest switch Reddit is making has nothing to do with their redesign, but rather the way you can follow content on the site.

      They're moving towards a model where you follow individual users rather than communities for content. Users with large followings have their posts immediately seen by their followers allowing all of their posts to have a better chance of gaining traction and climbing to the front page. Some users feel like this changes one of the most attractive points of Reddit - that your post isn't judged based on who you are, but rather the post content.

      Of course this change is being dramatically overblown by users who feel a strong attachment to Reddit "the way it is".

      3 points
      • John LeschinskiJohn Leschinski, over 5 years ago

        I'm on Reddit a lot, and have yet to come across this. Where is this user following model surfacing?

        3 points
        • Joshua TurnerJoshua Turner, over 5 years ago

          Here's the profile for one of the most prolific redditors, GallowBoob.

          If you're logged in you'll see a "Follow" button beneath his user photo. And if you look at the pinned post on his profile - you'll notice it isn't posted to any subreddit. It's posted to his profile - acting like the timeline on Facebook does.

          This moves to a model that the user posts their content on their page - rather than contributing it to a community based on topic.

          1 point
          • Jamie Diamond, over 5 years ago

            I don't see them favoring one or the other. Just giving you the option. I see no reason why people won't do both.

            3 points
          • Ben Haddock, over 5 years ago

            I see lots of pinned posts on his profile, but they're all posted within different subreddits. Which pinned post are you referring to?

            I remember a lot of moaning from people that Reddit was moving in this "user-following"direction, but I've seen no evidence that this is the case.

            0 points
            • Joshua TurnerJoshua Turner, over 5 years ago

              It looks like they have changed - I should have considered that.

              Here's the post that's posted to a profile rather than a subreddit.

              I don't think it's really debatable whether they're moving towards a user-following direction or not - simply because they've built it out and deployed it in the new profiles.

              I do agree that this isn't an issue. I use Reddit daily and I haven't found any of these features to be an issue, and I think the people that are freaking out about them are being unnecessarily dramatic.

              0 points