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github/redlib: Reddit has decided to force everyone to log in · Issue #609 (github.com)
submitted 5 days ago by to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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Github redlib thread still unfolding. From reddit shareholder letter,

And a key piece of work to retain new audiences is shifting Reddit to a logged-in-only experience.

Most on lemmy know the privacy and bot-infested dumpster fire reddit is. So it's very easy to think good riddance. But that misses an important point. IMO.

Inspite of the dumpster fire, it also contains a huge body of knowledge not found anywhere else. Example. Many times I have searched for a super obscure error message and the only good hits were a reddit thread in a tech sub. This is formerly open knowledge, accessible privately, now being closed and locked behind logins.

In old web forum days, weird niche info was distributed all over. That made it robust. Big tech social media displaced most of that world. It all got centralized. No matter hjow awful their algorithms are, no matter how toxic, those sites do have riches of knowledge.

We ARE losing something, if open access to niche info created by normal ppl is cut off.

"Ppl will figure a way around" you may say. There is no way to win that fight in the long run.

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[–] 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (19 children)

Maybe this will encourage or entice people within or outside that wall to come to places like Lemmy

People say stuff like this all the time. History tells us that will not happen. There was a sitewide protest when they killed the API but no one left. History tells us there is fucking nothing these social media corporations can do to get people to leave. Because they have tried over and over again in recent years and it always fails. Maybe 1% finds somewhere else to spend their time.

E: you people need to familiarize yourself with the concept of hyperbole. I wasn't looking for your anecdotes.

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  • [–] 13 points 5 days ago* (1 child)

    How do we know for sure? The site is infested with bots that may create traffic to compensate the activity by the actual human users, who fleed their service. Afaik even spaz confirmed that most of the traffic on Reddit is generated by bots.

    More recently, I've seen tons of comments about Proton that seemed like numerous copies of the same idea shared with less than one minute intervals. It detinitely felt suspicious when reading similar ideas time and time again.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 days ago*

    Because despite what everyone says, bots are still very easy to spot, and aren't capable of creating the type of high quality submissions that keeps users there. And because I talk to people IRL every day that still use it. I'm yet to meet anyone in person who knows what the fediverse is.

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  • [–] 10 points 5 days ago (5 children)

    There was a sitewide protest when they killed the API but no one left.

    Before the API protest, Lemmy had less than 1000 Monthly Active Users. Right after the protests, it shot up to just under 70,000 and then settled down to around 38,000 users. It currently has around 31,000 Monthly Active Users with another 7,000 between Piefed and Mbin.

    then:

    now: https://fedidb.com/software/lemmy

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  • [–] -5 points 5 days ago (2 children)

    Oh well only a hundred million to go!

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  • [–] 5 points 5 days ago

    There was a sitewide protest when they killed the API but no one left.

    I’m no one important and I left. I think a lot of people are fed up with being monetized at every turn.

    If there really are more bots than real people participating as others claim, then the real people are going somewhere. Maybe they will stumble in here.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 days ago

    That is not true. I made a Lemmy account around the time they started fucking with the API, if I remember correctly. I wasn't that active here because I felt like the content was very limited and the people too radical.

    Now that my Reddit account has been restricted because "you need to verify your age" 🤡 Not just NSFW stuff restricted, the whole site is restricted for my account. Can't even access my account settings anymore. (I really should figure something out but alas I care too little).

    That's why I have become more active here. No other options.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 days ago

    Nothing?

    I have been on Lemmy for years after they blocked apps.

    It is called getting a spine and sticking to their principles.

    I lost sympathy for those that keep persisting with that shit hole for all kinds of excuses.

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