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

over 5 years ago from Fernando Díaz

  • 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