My habit for the last few years has just been adding “site:reddit.com” to my Google searches. It’s more often than not given me real human answers to the questions I had, way more often than a standard search. I don’t know how I’m going to adjust if Reddit just fully falls apart.

I initially balked at the idea when I read about it here but then realized how toxic it can be. I thought about and realized that the short burst of enjoyment I got out of downvoting especially hateful, bigoted, stupid etc. comments was not really very healthy. The original concept of downvoting in Reddit was supposed to be about downvoting content that didn’t contribute to the conversation rather than content you didn’t like. But in practice, the people who post constant negativity and hate aren’t deterred by the downvoted anyway, often enjoy farming for the downvotes, and end up getting promoted anyway through the “controversial” sorting alrgorithm.

I really miss the days of MySpace. It was such a simpler time. I loved customizing my page, curating the music playlists, etc. I truly miss the late 90s early 00s Internet.

You say “at the moment” - does that imply that it’s an open question being considered? I’ve thought about it both ways and can understand the pros and cons either way. Initially I thought it would be inherently “unfair” in instances where other people were downvoting, but then I considered that the whole point was to try to encourage people to reflect on why they didn’t like the content and respond accordingly.

Hi everyone and thanks Beehaw for the easy registration. I’ve been on Reddit for a very long time and while I’m not very seriously attached to it in any meaningful way, it does make me extremely sad to see the direction it’s going now. I found so many niche communities that I could spend my time in that were such a fun part of my day. I don’t have many IRL friends and don’t really have any online friends, but interacting with the strangers in the subs I carefully curated over the years was so enjoyable. I hope I can find something similar here.