It's a Thursday that feels like a Friday, when it should be the weekend.

[rogueslayer452]

++ Real life has been kicking my ass this month, but it's all good.

++ So, Reddit is currently in a blackout, with thousands of communities having gone private since Monday in protest of the site's newest API policies. While the CEO seems to be dismissing the whole thing, we've all seen this happen before. If you piss off your userbase or don't listen to when they have legitimate complaints, never mind minimizing and trivializing these concerns and the people it is affecting, they will abandon your site and go elsewhere. Already places such as Tumblr and even DW are extending a welcoming hand to Reddit refugees during the blackout protest, which is great, but at the same time it's pretty depressing that this even has to happen. While the place could be a cesspool depending on where one was located (much like anywhere on the Internet, lbr), I'll admit to lurking at certain subreddits, sometimes for the laughs but also for information, advice, and different opinions people had on things. It's also one of the rare places online these days that operates like a forum with different moderators, which is quite concerning since there's been a lot of worry surrounding the future of the Internet because of these particular changes some sites are doing.

Will this blackout, which is essentially a strike, be successful? Will the CEO give in or continue to double down? Only time will tell.

++ I'm absolutely tickled by the fact that House M.D. has made a fandom resurgence, at least on Tumblr anyway. I'm intrigued by what randomly selected older fandom gets resurrected by current fandom platforms. Obviously it's word-of-mouth, and I remember posts circulating about with people giving out of context examples of what shenanigans House (both the show and the character) would get up to, leading to a lot of confusion which at this point has led to people either rewatching or discovering the show for the first time. It's just wild to see, really. I watched House when it aired. Not throughout its entire run, but definitely during the earlier seasons. That was part of my appointment television watching schedule. So witnessing newcomers experience it for the first time, their live reactions, it's been equally amazing and amusing. I'm also seeing an uptick in gifsets and other fanworks for it, too. Which I'm sure already existed, but it's nice to see it coming across my dash.

Comments

[profiterole_reads]

I didn't use Reddit, but on several occasions, Google searches for book recommendations led me to Reddit threads with interesting answers. I also followed links to a few AMAs by book writers.

[rogueslayer452]

Oftentimes when I am looking for something in particular there will most likely be a Reddit post/thread recommended to me, as well. I have found that sometimes Reddit can provide what a lot of other places cannot, and I have to admit it makes me miss the forums/message boards and, hell, even the whole back-and-forth commenting even from places like Amazon.

[author_by_night]

hile the place could be a cesspool depending on where one was located (much like anywhere on the Internet, lbr), I'll admit to lurking at certain subreddits, sometimes for the laughs but also for information, advice, and different opinions people had on things. It's also one of the rare places online these days that operates like a forum

Right? That's what I LOVE about Reddit. The problem is who runs it.

It's also why I miss more individual forums, that were run by the people with those interests, rather than the CEO of EZBoards, for instance. tl;dr get off my lawn. ;)

I do hope the CEO backs down.

[rogueslayer452]

I really hope so, too. Sadly, it seems like he is not just doubling down, but also downplaying the protest as something frivolous and acting like the blackout isn't going to hurt them in any way. It's like, way to shoot yourself in the foot there, dude.

[facethestrange]

In addition to the Yellowjackets subreddit (which is my only actually active fandom space right now), mental health subreddits are INVALUABLE. I haven't seen anything comparable anywhere else on the internet, in how comprehensive and vast and factual and supportive they are. I am glad that most of them didn't do the blackout because I already had a time during the blackout where I needed specifically this type of support and information.

I haven't seen the House resurgence yet (I haven't been to tumblr for a million years), but the ATLA resurgence a few years back was fun to see. :D I watched House when it aired on tv too, but not really on purpose, just when I caught it, so I know some parts of it really well and most of the other parts I don't know at all.

[rogueslayer452]

Yeah, I really like that mental health and other health related subreddits exist because not only do they offer a variety of support and advice, they're great resources to double and triple check certain things that one may be uncertain about, say, if you have a medical condition and are feeling alone and you can see others suffering from it too and how they're handling things, their journeys, etc. I think the blackout protest is a good thing and I like that people have been sticking it out for as long as they are, but having certain resources like mental health subreddits remain open is also good, too, for people's emotional and mental stability even if the cause for the blackout is for something good, y'know?

[haebin]

...Real life has been kicking my ass this month...
*hugs*
♥

[rogueslayer452]

Thank you. *hugs back*

[sunshine304]

I enjoy lurking around on reddit, mostly the general movie sites. But some subreddits are very entertaining, and there are so many others that are actually incredible ressources for all kinds of things. I've also heard that there are some that truly help when someone is in a tight spot money-wise, or Random Acts of Kindness subreddits. So, if that site actually vanished, it would be an enormous loss.

It might lead to a resurgence of old-style forums/message boards, though, since subreddits basically are that. I wouldn't mind that; I'm still semi-active in two German forums that have been running since what feels like the dawn of time. XD But it would be more difficult to coordinate and keep track off.

Coming to DW also doesn't seem far-fetched, as communities could serve as a substitute for subreddits. Also, the reddit userbase that migrates to tumblr seems to fit in quite well, adapting well to the weird culture there.

And tbh, the way that shitty asshole CEO behaves, it serves him right. It'll be interesting to see how this develops. By now, they've removed mods from still closed subreddits and replaced them with others to reopen those subreddits. Yikes. With such a huge userbase, it's incredibly stupid to piss them off so much...


Haha, I haven't yet seen more House MD on my dash, but it might happen at some point. I like these returns of old fandoms - perhaps also caused by the way streaming services have behaved recently, with cancelling even popular shows left and right so that people are pissed off and start watching old stuff that's at least finished and has several seasons of content.

[cruel_summer]

I'm glad you posted this here because I had no idea about the Reddit blackout! I tried to look something up on there, and thought it was weird that there were private communities, but then when it happened again a few days later in a totally different community I was even more confused. Now I know! xD I hope it's successful and gets resolved soon!