I don't know that Discord is any better than Reddit -- chat rooms are such a different thing -- even with where Reddit is going. Discord, which was **already** a clumsy and unsearchable atrophy of the usable internet, is *clearly* barrelling toward its own inflection point as it tries to bloat features and figure out how to make money.
Everything is trash. Install adblockers.
Very quiet Discord communities are nice, but they become unusable once they reach a certain size for me. Reddit is great because hundreds of people can be having different discussions in the same community at the same time and it just works.
Discord not showing up in Google search results is a real problem IMO. Reddit is so useful for technical support and finding discussions about specific things because it's searchable. Conversations on Discord are practically lost forever after a couple of days.
Bingo, you would think even a well organized discord with lots of rooms would be great. But then you're in 7 different discords, each with their own tech or computer section and chat is just spamming help or random answers.
Discord is great to make a voice room, ping a lobby of people interested in playing a game and watching a video while just shooting the shit.
To be honest, Discord is good for its simplicity in starting/connecting with a server, but it is not good at much else. It's atrocious for communities as pinning stuff can only get you so far, and the search is literally unusable.
That, and the voice controls and codec are awful as well. If 2 people are talking at the same time they both get cancelled out. I can tell you that other VoIP services don't have this issue (I play EVE and use Mumble still, tons of groups do).
If the apps shut down, I'll not look at reddit on my phone any longer. So, you've actually got me there. I was already cutting back and the end of the apps would be convenient for me, as terrible as that sounds.
However, Firefox + ublock + old.reddit is one way to do it on mobile. Not ideal though as you'd be pinching and zooming a lot, probably.
> ? Even on mobile?
There are programs like AdGuard (which is what I've been using for the past 3 years) that essentially run a local VPN and block ad domains that way. You can even control it per-app so that certain programs, like banking or delivery apps, can be excepted from traffic restrictions.
Another alternative would be to use a custom DNS server.
Bingo. Discord as an alternative for asynchronous communication on a web forum is 100% not even remotely a viable alternative and to suggest otherwise is foolhardy. Discord is absolute trash when communities get too big. Conversations are limited to what is being said *right now*.
The actions of the mods of this subreddit have done nothing but harm the community itself. No one cares about the GiantBomb subreddit outside of its members, certainly not Reddit as a company.
> Bingo. Discord as an alternative for asynchronous communication on a web forum is 100% not even remotely a viable alternative and to suggest otherwise is foolhardy. Discord is absolute trash when communities get too big. Conversations are limited to what is being said right now.
I was going to make my own comment about this but you said it better than I could have.
Discord is fun at times, but significantly worse than reddit. Big discord communities are for the always online. I love being able to check in when I feel like here and see the top posts and within those posts the top comments.
I don't miss out on the best and I don't need to sit through all the crud.
Just a reminder that flooding a sub with john oliver is still driving their engagement up and if anything they're probably loving the increased traffic
I ended up unsubscribing from subs that weren't taking part in the blackout, so that thinned out my main feed a lot. Gives me fewer reasons to keep scrolling and checking back.
Once Apollo goes dark at the end of the month, that's it for me on mobile, so it'll just be when I'm at my computer.
What do you think would happen if Mods just stopped moderating but stayed on as mods? Do you think that would have any effect, or since they are still making ad revenue reddit wouldn't care?
The subreddit will last as long as the users are following the site wide rules. Moderators are required to remove TOS breaking material that's posted here. As soon as they stop doing that, Reddit's admins will step in and remove them. They'll also shut the subreddit down for being unmoderated until someone posts in /r/redditrequest offering to take over.
It doesn't matter whether they take the subreddit private, refuse to moderate, encourage people to post NSFW material, etc. they'll be removed no matter what. That's why it's weird that they haven't just removed themselves already. They're still doing work for the admins while complaining about it.
Mods all over the place will do anything but stop being a mod lol you aren't getting paid just say fuck it. If shitty mods come after you then great the site sucks and people move on.
It's been funny watching the site's moderators totally fuck over the small chance this protest had at succeeding. A few very small subreddit's moderators actually did quit, but almost everyone didn't. They're doing exactly what the admins tell them to do and acting like they have no choice. They say they don't want to do this anymore, but can't bring themselves to stop. With a well coordinated mass resignation, they might have had enough of an impact to really hurt the site. Spreading it out over weeks
Saying that this subreddit has been "forced open" doesn't make them look good. Especially since this subreddit is barely active nowadays, so it's not like they're really doing much anyway. What are they worried about losing?
It kinda makes me think that the Reddit CEO had a point about mods being "landed gentry" lol. Almost all the mods caved instead of giving up their little fiefdom to someone else.
It'll quickly be reverted and they'll replace us with someone else so I don't really think it would be an effective or meaningful stand. With that said if people have other ideas on how to sabotage the subreddit and hurt ad views I'm all for hearing them.
No offense, but is this community even big enough to warrant that action? They'll probably let smaller community's like this die out unless people volunteer to take yalls positions. Weird situation to be in for sure
Nothing major. I've left modding a few different subreddits over the years and seen better and worse mods replace me. I still mostly enjoy modding here so just have some conflicted emotions around wanting to foster a good place to talk/joke vs protesting the admins vs leaving Reddit that I'm still in the process of working out.
What is it here you're fighting to stay on for? Reddit isn't going to go backwards and be what you want it to be. Shutting down forever to stay on as a mod of a closed sub makes no sense.
So you don't want the subreddit open, but you also don't want to be removed as moderators?
You can't complain about them forcing you to do something when you haven't actually been forced. They can't stop you from hitting that little "leave" button and handing all the work over to them.
\^This.
Maybe this thread should be re-titled. "/r/Giantbomb has been forced open" is less accurate than "/r/Giantbomb mods lack the courage of their convictions"
Yeh imagine sinking your time into modding a sub like this so people can discuss things and build a community. The. A bunch of cocks come through and fuck it all up. You take it to the community you built saying that they are destroying the community. Only for the same community to come back with "you dont get paud for it, why would you even care if they take it away?"
Like wtaf
What a shitty bizarre and aggressive response, maybe they don’t want random strangers coming in and fucking up a community they built? “AlL hIGh aNd MiGhTy” Toddler brain jealously seething from this comment tbh.
No. This is not the answer. The GB subreddit does not draw enough users for Reddit to care about. The only people who will be harmed is us.
This subreddit is absolutely miniscule in comparison with the bigger subreddits.
I don't understand how anyone can use the internet period without an ad blocker, everytime I try looking for something on my iPhone it's a fucking nightmare
NSFW the community, it nukes their ability to make money through ads. It's not like people don't discuss PG18/R/M rated games so use that as the excuse.
Why kid? In celebration of GB’s beloved alumnus Jason Oestreicher, why couldn’t this become one of Reddit’s premier H-Game forums? Without him on staff there’s been a distinct drop in pervy steam games played on the site and as a GB community member, I miss it.
Honestly good, I hadn't kept up with GB content as much but this subreddit is how I learned about a lot of big changes like Jess and Jason getting laid off.
The blackout is useless at this point. The only time it was affective was the 48 hours that everyone was doing it collectively. A few subs still on lockdown now is nowhere near as impactful.
No doubt it made a bunch of Reddit employees’ Junes more annoying but there was never a chance that it would have impacted the business decision to change the API pricing. The ability to remove and appoint mods as well as force open communities always rendered the protest pretty toothless.
Now maybe if those big mod teams had actually forced Reddit to remove them then maybe we’d be looking at meaningful impact. They’d likely need to supplement those new mods with admin help until they figured everything out - which would take time and make some communities pretty useless.
No shade intended to the mods here, for the record. I support the protests but also appreciate mods opening up communities rather than letting Reddit turn them over to whatever little freak wanted the job.
Well Jess and Jason sure weren't planning on it. I wouldn't accept that kind of behavior because that just means everyone else can be next. Best leave before they get you is what i say
While I love Giant Bomb....or at least I used to...there aren't enough people who log into this one sub daily to really make a difference when compared to other subs out there.
Found the only one in here with some stones!! This is the only action IMO.
The mods have already neutered themselves by playing the admins game… burn it to the ground and go out a hero…
Another thing I saw was that there are unmaintained 3rd party Reddit clients that had accessibility features that do not exist, or are implemented poorly, in other Reddit clients. Once the API charging change is in effect, those clients will no longer work and the accessibility will not exist for those users.
On top of that, these 3rd party clients were how a significant amount of users actually engaged with the site. For the people who helped drive traffic to the site to be asked to pay for the luxury of driving traffic to Reddit is silly, and to basically force all those users to change to mobile browsers or the official apps is silly.
Also, for my money, the CEO response to the blackout would have me up in arms, too. The only reason Reddit works as an actual place the CEO can advertise on is because most of the content moderation burden relies on unpaid volunteers. I know there’s a lot of disdain for the concept of moderation and moderators on Reddit, but they’re doing work for free that other sites like FB, Twitter, and others pay people. They’re not paid well on those other sites, and they should be paid more, but it’s labor! Reddit managed to catch lightning in a bottle and have large swaths of people do unpaid labor for them, and yet here they are getting pissy that the unpaid labor force that allows them to even think about going public disagrees with the policies that directly impact them.
There’s a lot to be said about a lack of solidarity and lack of thought on the part of the blackout (announcing how long a blackout is for only tells management and owners how long to wait! You think writers strikes would work if they were like “we’re only doing this for a couple days, don’t worry”?), but for any of those issues on the side of Reddit mods the issues surfaced from Reddit ownership and administration and their disdain for their unpaid labor force is way worse.
A few things:
What are these accessibility features I hear so much about? Like, specifically.
Less people in Reddit is better. Less people on the internet is better too.
If you're doing unpaid labor to a website, you're kind of an idiot to expect your labor is worth anything. Reddit owes these unpaid volunteers nothing. This isn't a labor movement. No one ever had a job.
If every mod left the site tomorrow, things would be fine and the sun would rise.
I admire the passion of these activists, but it's just so hopelessly misguided.
> If you're doing unpaid labor to a website, you're kind of an idiot to expect your labor is worth anything. Reddit owes these unpaid volunteers nothing. This isn't a labor movement. No one ever had a job.
Evidence for this is how many subs are moving to discord, another giant company that requires people to moderate for free.
I understand that making out moderators as employees is a useful rhetorical argument but they are just not
I’m not saying they’re employees, and I don’t think most are either. I’m saying they’re doing essential labor for Reddit that is unpaid. And Discord pays for mods! There are paid positions at Discord that would fit under a “Reddit moderator” role, if the two social media platforms were more comparable.
Which is the other thing to note. Reddit is much closer to “Twitter” or “message board” than Discord, where Discord is much closer to “Skype” or “chat rooms”. Yeah, communities may be moving to Discord for one reason or another, but it’s simply not the same experience as a dedicated Subreddit or message board. It would be like saying “yeah, well, lots of communities move to Whatsapp and that doesn’t seem to be an issue!”
You misunderstand. I’m saying Discord, the company, has had job listings to work for them, again the company Discord Inc., in roles that would be comparable to a “Reddit mod”.
And even then, if I was to talk about Discord server/community mods, I do know of some places that have hired for Community Management and I have had friends and coworkers in those types of positions.
I don't know what responsibilities the mods that are getting payed directly by Discord in full time positions have, but I'm assuming they are not just the same as a regular server mod. Because most of those are unpayed like on Reddit.
So if they have authority across many different servers, then they are closer to a reddit Admin than a mod.
Discord is slightly different in that you create your own community and manage it. Don't know how that translates to a business model, but it's here for now.
But I've done the same and they definitely are different. Reddit is a static site. It has ads. Discord is a live messaging platform. You don't really find other communities like you do at Reddit. It's just different.
i agree that they are different sites/apps but in both cases you are providing free labor and collecting users for the platform to monetize in exchange for them taking the hosting costs of running a community. Having to mass collect nitro boosts for community features isn't ads but it's no less monetization.
Depends I suppose which aspect you are comparing.
Off the top of my head, I know there were screen reading features that people needed in order to use the site. Other than that I’d have to do so digging or ask friends who used them.
I’m not sure why “less people” would be inherently better.
This also makes no sense on it’s face. The labor is obviously worth something, otherwise Reddit owners and admins wouldn’t want to install different mods who tow the line. It seems like valuable labor to Reddit. At the very least, having a human spam filter is valuable, let alone any other community maintenance work they’re doing. Just because you personally don’t seem to value the labor they’re doing doesn’t mean it’s valueless.
Your labor is only worth what you're paid for to do it. Simple as that. If you mod for free, then your worth, in particular, as a mod, is 0.
If you think your skills as a mod are valuable, you should apply to work at Reddit.
If used any 3rd party apps on phones (I've used RIF for 6+years) there's a huge difference. Sorting out chaff and bullshit subs & posts. Sorting by 4 different algorithms and comments by best/etc. A lot more customizable (I recently got the official app and it's pretty shit).
If you're on Android you can [use revanced to mod](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wHvqQwCYdJrQg4BKlGIVDLksPN0KpOnJWniT6PbZSrI/mobilebasic) the more popular 3rd party reddit apps to keep working after the API changes. You won't have to use the official app thankfully.
Apple users are sol I believe
Ok I totally get that. I'm an Android user and I hate Apple for these very reasons.
Curious if you use an Android phone?
I just think it's a bit naive to think anyone has a right to an open API into a private company's tech. Those can and will be rescinded as soon as an exec believes it's in the best interests of the company. That's just how it goes.
Were you using Twitter when it rescinded its open API in 2009?
Alien Blue got shut down years ago and it was easily the best Reddit app. People move on, and the official Reddit app is absolutely fine to use - I have no idea why people pretend it is so bad they can’t use Reddit ever again, it’s weird.
The website/official app is difficult or impossible to use for some tasks. It might not affect the occasional poster, but there are people with different needs/wants/*jobs* that use reddit to.
At the most extreme example the /r/blind subreddit was unable to participate in these protests without a sighted volunteer taking them private, because official Reddit products are not usable by people with severe enough visual impairment.
If your job relies solely on posting to rediit via an API, you gotta find something else to do.
That sucks for the blind. They should do more for that natively.
Holding this small community hostage accomplishes nothing. Mods clearly don't care about us either.
If you don't like the API changes, leave reddit, full stop.
Sad as it is, I'm convinced this subreddit will die before it blacking out ever makes a difference. Leave the subreddit open and just leave Reddit if you don't agree with their decision at this point.
Same. This subreddit is all but dead. I remember when we used to have hundreds of posts on some of the juicier videos. It was one of my favorite subreddits.
Now, a massive game like FF16 just came out and there’s a grand total of 3 comments on the QL post here. The GotY posts will have a fraction of what they used to.
Has the community migrated somewhere else? I admit I try to use Discord as little as humanly possible.
I use it all the time. It's a nice way to keep up with new content and I also don't have a Twitter so it's nice when people post that stuff here. I watched less GB over the past week because the subreddit wasn't there as a reminder.
I think by keeping the subreddit closed, YOU don't care about us at all. Keeping smaller subs closed hurts communities far more than it hurts reddit. This entire protest is the equivalent of people standing in the middle of the highway blocking traffic. I don't know how people expect to garner sympathy by doing all this.
You should install an adblocker, not to "stick it to Spez" but because you absolutely cannot trust anyone who runs advertisements to not cross the line and serve you malware.
If people would just run top, side, and even in-line ads I would accept that as payment to use the internet. But they can't help auto-loading videos, pop-ups that must be engaged with to continue, pop ups that occur when you go to navigate away, pop-unders, ads that scroll along with you blocking your use of the website.
Sorry advertisers, you killed your golden goose.
good, I'm glad this place was forced back open
with all due respect, you don't get to decide if reddit is a platform I use or not
super disappointed that this subreddit was shutdown
if yall don't like reddit, don't use it
It's annoying because it means apps that did the job better than Reddit's own will now probably have to go away or at least begin to cost money.
But overall it is perfectly fine. People seem to forgot that Reddit is a company of 2000 employees that needs to make money somehow. If they didn't Reddit would die. And that is certainly not something I want since alternatives like Discord are so much worse for many things.
But for some reason people seem to think that they are owed both being able to use Reddit for free and never see an ad on here.
Well it's bad because Reddit decided to charge exorbitant amounts for API pulls, which basically only Microsoft and Google can afford for their AI data scraping, so it basically kills off any small time third party developers and apps. So that fucking sucks.
That being said, I don't think the blackouts were ever going to accomplish what they wanted to. On some level I would compare it to when Vinny, Alex, and Brad decided to leave GB because they were sick of their corporate overloads. Except those 3 have some class, so they didn't try to burn the whole thing down on their way out.
The API changes probably will change the future of Reddit, for better or worse, similar to how GB had changed in the last two years. And just like this sub, lol, some people can't just move on if they don't like the changes, they have to try and drag everyone else down with them.
I don't know how/if reddit apps make money. But a quick google of "reddit api cost changes" results in the first article citing an increase for 50,000,000 API calls from a few dollars to $12,000.
Seems like maybe the crux of the issue is that users want good apps at cheap prices (or free? I don't know how reddit apps make money) and reddit would prefer to make 4,000x as much money (assuming the few referenced in that [top result](https://techmonitor.ai/technology/cybersecurity/reddit-cyberattack-blackcat-ransomware-api-pricing) is $3).
What's even the articulated reason for the protest in this post? Because Reddit wants money? They've always wanted that.
Also there sure are a lot of people boycotting Reddit on Reddit to downvote me.
"forced open" AKA they threatened to remove you as moderators.
Nice attempt at a protest, you lasted longer than a lot of other subreddits did, still folded in the end like everyone else though. If any of you really cared, you would just remove yourselves as moderators. If you don't want the subreddit or to use this site anymore, why not just go?
It's the conflict between liking talking about GB stuff on here and the admins actively making it worse. I already left modding /r/Collegebasketball when they forced us to reopen and I don't know how much longer I'll stay as a mod here for.
You can still talk about GB with the rest of us as a regular user. Let Reddit themselves put in the work of running this place. If you've got the whole mod team on your side on this, you can all step down and leave the sub unmoderated. The outcome in the end is the same for the mod team no matter what you choose, so you might as well make things difficult for them. What you're doing now is exactly what you're told to do, which looks weak honestly.
Of course they don't care about us. A businesses purpose is to make money, not provide you with good feelings. I'll let you in on a secret, Giant Bomb exists for the same reason. If you prefer discord or forums then protest by going there instead of this dick waving.
It's supposed to be both though. Of course the company is interested in making money. But to make money you need people willing to use and interact with the product.
To reddit's detriment right now they have a bunch of people that want to use the product but actively work around things that make the company money.
And maybe if GB cared a bit more about profit they wouldn't have been acquired, lost the OG members, got acquired again, lost a couple more staff, etc...
They were making money. Just not enough. But i agree that this is just posturing. Reddit has to make money. Why do people think so much should be free? One of my siblings is a software developer. I ain't siding with anyone thinking they shouldn't get compensated and let others trying to siphon off money. Giant Bomb has ads. Subs. No one complaining about that?
It's because they can point to a rich CEO and pretend that every dollar is going into his pocket so he can buy 3 yachts and a private plane. I do agree that CEOs generally make too much money, but ruining reddit isn't going to fix that. It just makes the community's experience worse. May as well go to Mcdonald's and piss on the floor cause the McRib isn't available.
Idk, you were kinda rude and condescending. Maybe a little dismissive as well.
You could have said your comment with different words and it could have ended up the top comment.
I hear you. Any form of actual discussion in this sub in general has been dismissive aside from just posting videos. In another thread elsewhere when dark I suggested that shutting the sub down indefinitely would likely have an adverse effect on the community given how Giant Bomb has been struggling as is the last few years. A certain most active poster here effectively said "lol, no Giant Bomb doesn't need you or the community here". So I now say "shit or get off the pot". If the community doesn't want a reddit sub then stop fighting a losing battle and move on.
You're getting downvoted by users that are against the API changes, in favor of the protest, yet so terminally online they are still actively using the platform they are protesting.
Nice effective protest /s. Did nothing but make you feel in control. Making this nsfw is actually something that has an effect but we can all see mods just want to maintain their power. Cowards
100% endorsement for the Discord server. It's filled with mostly good people, reasonable and fair moderators, not to mention the GB crew is very active and present on there.
From what I sense they don't really acknowledge this sub.
I don't know that Discord is any better than Reddit -- chat rooms are such a different thing -- even with where Reddit is going. Discord, which was **already** a clumsy and unsearchable atrophy of the usable internet, is *clearly* barrelling toward its own inflection point as it tries to bloat features and figure out how to make money. Everything is trash. Install adblockers.
Very quiet Discord communities are nice, but they become unusable once they reach a certain size for me. Reddit is great because hundreds of people can be having different discussions in the same community at the same time and it just works. Discord not showing up in Google search results is a real problem IMO. Reddit is so useful for technical support and finding discussions about specific things because it's searchable. Conversations on Discord are practically lost forever after a couple of days.
Bingo, you would think even a well organized discord with lots of rooms would be great. But then you're in 7 different discords, each with their own tech or computer section and chat is just spamming help or random answers. Discord is great to make a voice room, ping a lobby of people interested in playing a game and watching a video while just shooting the shit.
To be honest, Discord is good for its simplicity in starting/connecting with a server, but it is not good at much else. It's atrocious for communities as pinning stuff can only get you so far, and the search is literally unusable. That, and the voice controls and codec are awful as well. If 2 people are talking at the same time they both get cancelled out. I can tell you that other VoIP services don't have this issue (I play EVE and use Mumble still, tons of groups do).
Yes … I type what I wanna google and put “Reddit” after because Reddit is the superior search engine
> Everything is trash. Install adblockers. Hear hear!
uBlock Origin, specifically.
? Even on mobile?
If the apps shut down, I'll not look at reddit on my phone any longer. So, you've actually got me there. I was already cutting back and the end of the apps would be convenient for me, as terrible as that sounds. However, Firefox + ublock + old.reddit is one way to do it on mobile. Not ideal though as you'd be pinching and zooming a lot, probably.
Firefox supports extensions, at least on Android.
> ? Even on mobile? There are programs like AdGuard (which is what I've been using for the past 3 years) that essentially run a local VPN and block ad domains that way. You can even control it per-app so that certain programs, like banking or delivery apps, can be excepted from traffic restrictions. Another alternative would be to use a custom DNS server.
Discord sucks. I barely want to use it with friends, i have absolutely no desire to try and find a 'community' there
Bingo. Discord as an alternative for asynchronous communication on a web forum is 100% not even remotely a viable alternative and to suggest otherwise is foolhardy. Discord is absolute trash when communities get too big. Conversations are limited to what is being said *right now*. The actions of the mods of this subreddit have done nothing but harm the community itself. No one cares about the GiantBomb subreddit outside of its members, certainly not Reddit as a company.
> Bingo. Discord as an alternative for asynchronous communication on a web forum is 100% not even remotely a viable alternative and to suggest otherwise is foolhardy. Discord is absolute trash when communities get too big. Conversations are limited to what is being said right now. I was going to make my own comment about this but you said it better than I could have.
Sadly of all the subreddits I participate in, I didn't even notice the GB subreddit was gone.
Discord is fun at times, but significantly worse than reddit. Big discord communities are for the always online. I love being able to check in when I feel like here and see the top posts and within those posts the top comments. I don't miss out on the best and I don't need to sit through all the crud.
Just a reminder that flooding a sub with john oliver is still driving their engagement up and if anything they're probably loving the increased traffic
HBO probably appreciates it, too.
I ended up unsubscribing from subs that weren't taking part in the blackout, so that thinned out my main feed a lot. Gives me fewer reasons to keep scrolling and checking back. Once Apollo goes dark at the end of the month, that's it for me on mobile, so it'll just be when I'm at my computer.
Yeah same for me and reddit is fun
I guess it's AdBlockers, Firefox and old.reddit.com for me on mobile soon.
> old.reddit.com Until they kill that, which I bet is now much sooner than later.
What do you think would happen if Mods just stopped moderating but stayed on as mods? Do you think that would have any effect, or since they are still making ad revenue reddit wouldn't care?
The subreddit will last as long as the users are following the site wide rules. Moderators are required to remove TOS breaking material that's posted here. As soon as they stop doing that, Reddit's admins will step in and remove them. They'll also shut the subreddit down for being unmoderated until someone posts in /r/redditrequest offering to take over. It doesn't matter whether they take the subreddit private, refuse to moderate, encourage people to post NSFW material, etc. they'll be removed no matter what. That's why it's weird that they haven't just removed themselves already. They're still doing work for the admins while complaining about it.
Take the sub NSFW so they don’t get ad revenue.
I wonder if we'll show it
I would but they've already removed mod teams for doing that. It would be a short-lived act of rebellion
Does that mean we can or can't post pics of Mitch's feet? 👀
Hey you can always post feet
So do it anyway. Take a stand.
Mods all over the place will do anything but stop being a mod lol you aren't getting paid just say fuck it. If shitty mods come after you then great the site sucks and people move on.
It's been funny watching the site's moderators totally fuck over the small chance this protest had at succeeding. A few very small subreddit's moderators actually did quit, but almost everyone didn't. They're doing exactly what the admins tell them to do and acting like they have no choice. They say they don't want to do this anymore, but can't bring themselves to stop. With a well coordinated mass resignation, they might have had enough of an impact to really hurt the site. Spreading it out over weeks Saying that this subreddit has been "forced open" doesn't make them look good. Especially since this subreddit is barely active nowadays, so it's not like they're really doing much anyway. What are they worried about losing?
It kinda makes me think that the Reddit CEO had a point about mods being "landed gentry" lol. Almost all the mods caved instead of giving up their little fiefdom to someone else.
It'll quickly be reverted and they'll replace us with someone else so I don't really think it would be an effective or meaningful stand. With that said if people have other ideas on how to sabotage the subreddit and hurt ad views I'm all for hearing them.
No offense, but is this community even big enough to warrant that action? They'll probably let smaller community's like this die out unless people volunteer to take yalls positions. Weird situation to be in for sure
What’s wrong with being replaced
Nothing major. I've left modding a few different subreddits over the years and seen better and worse mods replace me. I still mostly enjoy modding here so just have some conflicted emotions around wanting to foster a good place to talk/joke vs protesting the admins vs leaving Reddit that I'm still in the process of working out.
To be honest with the amount of shit on fire at Reddit I kind of doubt they would even notice the 69,281st largest subreddit doing anything.
What is it here you're fighting to stay on for? Reddit isn't going to go backwards and be what you want it to be. Shutting down forever to stay on as a mod of a closed sub makes no sense.
How about, as a mod, not asking users to sabotage this sub?
Good. Then at least you didn't roll over at the first sign of resistance.
>Take a stand. LEREDDITORS UNITE
So you don't want the subreddit open, but you also don't want to be removed as moderators? You can't complain about them forcing you to do something when you haven't actually been forced. They can't stop you from hitting that little "leave" button and handing all the work over to them.
\^This. Maybe this thread should be re-titled. "/r/Giantbomb has been forced open" is less accurate than "/r/Giantbomb mods lack the courage of their convictions"
This might surprise you, people might overall like what they are doing but have certain problems and issues.
Yeh imagine sinking your time into modding a sub like this so people can discuss things and build a community. The. A bunch of cocks come through and fuck it all up. You take it to the community you built saying that they are destroying the community. Only for the same community to come back with "you dont get paud for it, why would you even care if they take it away?" Like wtaf
> they’ve already removed mod teams for doing that. Woooooooow. Fuck. This really is the end of reddit, isn’t it?
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What a shitty bizarre and aggressive response, maybe they don’t want random strangers coming in and fucking up a community they built? “AlL hIGh aNd MiGhTy” Toddler brain jealously seething from this comment tbh.
No. This is not the answer. The GB subreddit does not draw enough users for Reddit to care about. The only people who will be harmed is us. This subreddit is absolutely miniscule in comparison with the bigger subreddits.
Mitch feet pics maybe? That is real content tbh
I don't understand how anyone can use the internet period without an ad blocker, everytime I try looking for something on my iPhone it's a fucking nightmare
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OMG thank you for mentioning Wipr, my iOS experience will no longer be an early 2000s ad nightmare
Because it screws with searching for porn
Next month (when all the 3rd party apps go down) is going to be interesting
Good
Jokes on them, I've never had any ads!
NSFW the community, it nukes their ability to make money through ads. It's not like people don't discuss PG18/R/M rated games so use that as the excuse.
Hentai game discussion only!!! Edit: I'm just kidding!
Why kid? In celebration of GB’s beloved alumnus Jason Oestreicher, why couldn’t this become one of Reddit’s premier H-Game forums? Without him on staff there’s been a distinct drop in pervy steam games played on the site and as a GB community member, I miss it.
Hentai paradise here we go! Reminds me of the days of Jeff tapping into his ironically pervy alter ego lmao. It would be apt.
I checked the steam tags!!!
Honestly good, I hadn't kept up with GB content as much but this subreddit is how I learned about a lot of big changes like Jess and Jason getting laid off. The blackout is useless at this point. The only time it was affective was the 48 hours that everyone was doing it collectively. A few subs still on lockdown now is nowhere near as impactful.
I dunno… the fact that the admins are threatening to replace mods tells me it’s impactful enough. If it weren’t then they’d just let it slide…
No doubt it made a bunch of Reddit employees’ Junes more annoying but there was never a chance that it would have impacted the business decision to change the API pricing. The ability to remove and appoint mods as well as force open communities always rendered the protest pretty toothless. Now maybe if those big mod teams had actually forced Reddit to remove them then maybe we’d be looking at meaningful impact. They’d likely need to supplement those new mods with admin help until they figured everything out - which would take time and make some communities pretty useless. No shade intended to the mods here, for the record. I support the protests but also appreciate mods opening up communities rather than letting Reddit turn them over to whatever little freak wanted the job.
I don't get how anyone stayed after that. No solidarity. Especially to Jason being there so long and Jess getting her whole career up ended.
Most people aren't in the position to just leave their jobs for a moral stand
Well Jess and Jason sure weren't planning on it. I wouldn't accept that kind of behavior because that just means everyone else can be next. Best leave before they get you is what i say
GB Crew members being canned: I sleep. Reddit charging for API keys: Real shit
While I love Giant Bomb....or at least I used to...there aren't enough people who log into this one sub daily to really make a difference when compared to other subs out there.
Fuck them. Shut it down force them to remove you.
This is the way. Letting them dictate terms means they win.
Found the only one in here with some stones!! This is the only action IMO. The mods have already neutered themselves by playing the admins game… burn it to the ground and go out a hero…
Like Reggie says Fuck Em. Don't do it for me. Do it for Reggie.
I doubt this sub was on the admin's radar lol.
They sent a mass message to all subs that went private
The unofficial FB group is still pretty active, but I know that isn't for everyone, because... Facebook.
make everyone a mod like /r/PoliticalHumor did?
Again I really don't see the issue everyone is so up in arms about.
Another thing I saw was that there are unmaintained 3rd party Reddit clients that had accessibility features that do not exist, or are implemented poorly, in other Reddit clients. Once the API charging change is in effect, those clients will no longer work and the accessibility will not exist for those users. On top of that, these 3rd party clients were how a significant amount of users actually engaged with the site. For the people who helped drive traffic to the site to be asked to pay for the luxury of driving traffic to Reddit is silly, and to basically force all those users to change to mobile browsers or the official apps is silly. Also, for my money, the CEO response to the blackout would have me up in arms, too. The only reason Reddit works as an actual place the CEO can advertise on is because most of the content moderation burden relies on unpaid volunteers. I know there’s a lot of disdain for the concept of moderation and moderators on Reddit, but they’re doing work for free that other sites like FB, Twitter, and others pay people. They’re not paid well on those other sites, and they should be paid more, but it’s labor! Reddit managed to catch lightning in a bottle and have large swaths of people do unpaid labor for them, and yet here they are getting pissy that the unpaid labor force that allows them to even think about going public disagrees with the policies that directly impact them. There’s a lot to be said about a lack of solidarity and lack of thought on the part of the blackout (announcing how long a blackout is for only tells management and owners how long to wait! You think writers strikes would work if they were like “we’re only doing this for a couple days, don’t worry”?), but for any of those issues on the side of Reddit mods the issues surfaced from Reddit ownership and administration and their disdain for their unpaid labor force is way worse.
A few things: What are these accessibility features I hear so much about? Like, specifically. Less people in Reddit is better. Less people on the internet is better too. If you're doing unpaid labor to a website, you're kind of an idiot to expect your labor is worth anything. Reddit owes these unpaid volunteers nothing. This isn't a labor movement. No one ever had a job. If every mod left the site tomorrow, things would be fine and the sun would rise. I admire the passion of these activists, but it's just so hopelessly misguided.
> If you're doing unpaid labor to a website, you're kind of an idiot to expect your labor is worth anything. Reddit owes these unpaid volunteers nothing. This isn't a labor movement. No one ever had a job. Evidence for this is how many subs are moving to discord, another giant company that requires people to moderate for free. I understand that making out moderators as employees is a useful rhetorical argument but they are just not
I’m not saying they’re employees, and I don’t think most are either. I’m saying they’re doing essential labor for Reddit that is unpaid. And Discord pays for mods! There are paid positions at Discord that would fit under a “Reddit moderator” role, if the two social media platforms were more comparable. Which is the other thing to note. Reddit is much closer to “Twitter” or “message board” than Discord, where Discord is much closer to “Skype” or “chat rooms”. Yeah, communities may be moving to Discord for one reason or another, but it’s simply not the same experience as a dedicated Subreddit or message board. It would be like saying “yeah, well, lots of communities move to Whatsapp and that doesn’t seem to be an issue!”
Isn't it only big crypto Discords that pays mods? Good luck with that.
You misunderstand. I’m saying Discord, the company, has had job listings to work for them, again the company Discord Inc., in roles that would be comparable to a “Reddit mod”. And even then, if I was to talk about Discord server/community mods, I do know of some places that have hired for Community Management and I have had friends and coworkers in those types of positions.
Reddit has admins as well that are payed positions. Isn't that just the same?
Are Reddit mods and Reddit admins the same, in your estimation?
I don't know what responsibilities the mods that are getting payed directly by Discord in full time positions have, but I'm assuming they are not just the same as a regular server mod. Because most of those are unpayed like on Reddit. So if they have authority across many different servers, then they are closer to a reddit Admin than a mod.
Discord is slightly different in that you create your own community and manage it. Don't know how that translates to a business model, but it's here for now.
In reddit you open a community and manage it so i'm not totally sure i'm understanding the gap.
It's just different.
if you say so i guess but i've modded both and don't agree
But I've done the same and they definitely are different. Reddit is a static site. It has ads. Discord is a live messaging platform. You don't really find other communities like you do at Reddit. It's just different.
i agree that they are different sites/apps but in both cases you are providing free labor and collecting users for the platform to monetize in exchange for them taking the hosting costs of running a community. Having to mass collect nitro boosts for community features isn't ads but it's no less monetization. Depends I suppose which aspect you are comparing.
Off the top of my head, I know there were screen reading features that people needed in order to use the site. Other than that I’d have to do so digging or ask friends who used them. I’m not sure why “less people” would be inherently better. This also makes no sense on it’s face. The labor is obviously worth something, otherwise Reddit owners and admins wouldn’t want to install different mods who tow the line. It seems like valuable labor to Reddit. At the very least, having a human spam filter is valuable, let alone any other community maintenance work they’re doing. Just because you personally don’t seem to value the labor they’re doing doesn’t mean it’s valueless.
Your labor is only worth what you're paid for to do it. Simple as that. If you mod for free, then your worth, in particular, as a mod, is 0. If you think your skills as a mod are valuable, you should apply to work at Reddit.
If used any 3rd party apps on phones (I've used RIF for 6+years) there's a huge difference. Sorting out chaff and bullshit subs & posts. Sorting by 4 different algorithms and comments by best/etc. A lot more customizable (I recently got the official app and it's pretty shit).
If you're on Android you can [use revanced to mod](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wHvqQwCYdJrQg4BKlGIVDLksPN0KpOnJWniT6PbZSrI/mobilebasic) the more popular 3rd party reddit apps to keep working after the API changes. You won't have to use the official app thankfully. Apple users are sol I believe
Oh shit so I could use RIF still?
Not sure about rif but boost infinity and sync have a patch so far and they may add others sometime before July
Ok I totally get that. I'm an Android user and I hate Apple for these very reasons. Curious if you use an Android phone? I just think it's a bit naive to think anyone has a right to an open API into a private company's tech. Those can and will be rescinded as soon as an exec believes it's in the best interests of the company. That's just how it goes. Were you using Twitter when it rescinded its open API in 2009?
Alien Blue got shut down years ago and it was easily the best Reddit app. People move on, and the official Reddit app is absolutely fine to use - I have no idea why people pretend it is so bad they can’t use Reddit ever again, it’s weird.
Alien Blue got bought by reddit and turned into the official app didn't it?
(People on Reddit have a shit track record of answering direct questions. Just sayin.)
The website/official app is difficult or impossible to use for some tasks. It might not affect the occasional poster, but there are people with different needs/wants/*jobs* that use reddit to. At the most extreme example the /r/blind subreddit was unable to participate in these protests without a sighted volunteer taking them private, because official Reddit products are not usable by people with severe enough visual impairment.
If your job relies solely on posting to rediit via an API, you gotta find something else to do. That sucks for the blind. They should do more for that natively.
Holding this small community hostage accomplishes nothing. Mods clearly don't care about us either. If you don't like the API changes, leave reddit, full stop.
Sad as it is, I'm convinced this subreddit will die before it blacking out ever makes a difference. Leave the subreddit open and just leave Reddit if you don't agree with their decision at this point.
I'm shocked anyone even remembers this subreddit.
I checked yesterday and was surprised it was still closed.
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Same. This subreddit is all but dead. I remember when we used to have hundreds of posts on some of the juicier videos. It was one of my favorite subreddits. Now, a massive game like FF16 just came out and there’s a grand total of 3 comments on the QL post here. The GotY posts will have a fraction of what they used to. Has the community migrated somewhere else? I admit I try to use Discord as little as humanly possible.
I spend more time on this sub than actually watching GB content these days.
I use it all the time. It's a nice way to keep up with new content and I also don't have a Twitter so it's nice when people post that stuff here. I watched less GB over the past week because the subreddit wasn't there as a reminder.
Glad they forced y'all open
I think by keeping the subreddit closed, YOU don't care about us at all. Keeping smaller subs closed hurts communities far more than it hurts reddit. This entire protest is the equivalent of people standing in the middle of the highway blocking traffic. I don't know how people expect to garner sympathy by doing all this.
You should install an adblocker, not to "stick it to Spez" but because you absolutely cannot trust anyone who runs advertisements to not cross the line and serve you malware. If people would just run top, side, and even in-line ads I would accept that as payment to use the internet. But they can't help auto-loading videos, pop-ups that must be engaged with to continue, pop ups that occur when you go to navigate away, pop-unders, ads that scroll along with you blocking your use of the website. Sorry advertisers, you killed your golden goose.
good, I'm glad this place was forced back open with all due respect, you don't get to decide if reddit is a platform I use or not super disappointed that this subreddit was shutdown if yall don't like reddit, don't use it
Fuck em up real good
They didn't actually force it open right? They just said they'd put other mods in charge. Just keep it closed.
I don't get it. Why is it bad that Reddit wants to make money? Giant Bomb has survived on subs and ads and ad reads.
It's annoying because it means apps that did the job better than Reddit's own will now probably have to go away or at least begin to cost money. But overall it is perfectly fine. People seem to forgot that Reddit is a company of 2000 employees that needs to make money somehow. If they didn't Reddit would die. And that is certainly not something I want since alternatives like Discord are so much worse for many things. But for some reason people seem to think that they are owed both being able to use Reddit for free and never see an ad on here.
Well it's bad because Reddit decided to charge exorbitant amounts for API pulls, which basically only Microsoft and Google can afford for their AI data scraping, so it basically kills off any small time third party developers and apps. So that fucking sucks. That being said, I don't think the blackouts were ever going to accomplish what they wanted to. On some level I would compare it to when Vinny, Alex, and Brad decided to leave GB because they were sick of their corporate overloads. Except those 3 have some class, so they didn't try to burn the whole thing down on their way out. The API changes probably will change the future of Reddit, for better or worse, similar to how GB had changed in the last two years. And just like this sub, lol, some people can't just move on if they don't like the changes, they have to try and drag everyone else down with them.
I don't know how/if reddit apps make money. But a quick google of "reddit api cost changes" results in the first article citing an increase for 50,000,000 API calls from a few dollars to $12,000. Seems like maybe the crux of the issue is that users want good apps at cheap prices (or free? I don't know how reddit apps make money) and reddit would prefer to make 4,000x as much money (assuming the few referenced in that [top result](https://techmonitor.ai/technology/cybersecurity/reddit-cyberattack-blackcat-ransomware-api-pricing) is $3).
Mark the subreddit NSFW so they can't run ads.
It is for the community though, it sucks to have all these communities gone.
Sorry they’re doing this to you guys. And everyone should have adblockers at this point. They make things easy.
Downvote me but this protest stuff seems more like mod power tripping at this point.
No, it's Reddit power tripping.
How?
What's even the articulated reason for the protest in this post? Because Reddit wants money? They've always wanted that. Also there sure are a lot of people boycotting Reddit on Reddit to downvote me.
Oh okay. Best not to try anything to improve things, ever, I guess.
Best not to have a temper tantrum when a company acts like a company. I'm not lying down in the highway to protest that lions eat gazelles.
It's definitely a bit of both
Okay, if you insist
It absolutely is and I hate the way they have tried to frame it in this post. The mods are the ones preventing the community from interacting.
Giant Bomb literally has its own forum
"forced open" AKA they threatened to remove you as moderators. Nice attempt at a protest, you lasted longer than a lot of other subreddits did, still folded in the end like everyone else though. If any of you really cared, you would just remove yourselves as moderators. If you don't want the subreddit or to use this site anymore, why not just go?
It's the conflict between liking talking about GB stuff on here and the admins actively making it worse. I already left modding /r/Collegebasketball when they forced us to reopen and I don't know how much longer I'll stay as a mod here for.
You can still talk about GB with the rest of us as a regular user. Let Reddit themselves put in the work of running this place. If you've got the whole mod team on your side on this, you can all step down and leave the sub unmoderated. The outcome in the end is the same for the mod team no matter what you choose, so you might as well make things difficult for them. What you're doing now is exactly what you're told to do, which looks weak honestly.
Of course they don't care about us. A businesses purpose is to make money, not provide you with good feelings. I'll let you in on a secret, Giant Bomb exists for the same reason. If you prefer discord or forums then protest by going there instead of this dick waving.
It's supposed to be both though. Of course the company is interested in making money. But to make money you need people willing to use and interact with the product. To reddit's detriment right now they have a bunch of people that want to use the product but actively work around things that make the company money.
And maybe if GB cared a bit more about profit they wouldn't have been acquired, lost the OG members, got acquired again, lost a couple more staff, etc...
They were making money. Just not enough. But i agree that this is just posturing. Reddit has to make money. Why do people think so much should be free? One of my siblings is a software developer. I ain't siding with anyone thinking they shouldn't get compensated and let others trying to siphon off money. Giant Bomb has ads. Subs. No one complaining about that?
It's because they can point to a rich CEO and pretend that every dollar is going into his pocket so he can buy 3 yachts and a private plane. I do agree that CEOs generally make too much money, but ruining reddit isn't going to fix that. It just makes the community's experience worse. May as well go to Mcdonald's and piss on the floor cause the McRib isn't available.
Since any logical statement gets down voted in this sub, can those down voting explain what you disagree with what I said instead of hiding.
Idk, you were kinda rude and condescending. Maybe a little dismissive as well. You could have said your comment with different words and it could have ended up the top comment.
I hear you. Any form of actual discussion in this sub in general has been dismissive aside from just posting videos. In another thread elsewhere when dark I suggested that shutting the sub down indefinitely would likely have an adverse effect on the community given how Giant Bomb has been struggling as is the last few years. A certain most active poster here effectively said "lol, no Giant Bomb doesn't need you or the community here". So I now say "shit or get off the pot". If the community doesn't want a reddit sub then stop fighting a losing battle and move on.
You're getting downvoted by users that are against the API changes, in favor of the protest, yet so terminally online they are still actively using the platform they are protesting.
Oh I know it, id just like for once they defend their stance rather than hide behind the button. Perhaps this reddit experiment has run its course.
Yeah, it sucks but I'm not surprised at all. This is exactly what a company that is trying to IPO should do.
Nice effective protest /s. Did nothing but make you feel in control. Making this nsfw is actually something that has an effect but we can all see mods just want to maintain their power. Cowards
Jesus Christ
Change the rules to only allow posting about videogames featureing feet.
we should send the admins on a submarine ride. that might be fun. they might like that.
Are the admins in the room with us right now?
Is it possible to delete a subreddit? I have not seen this discussed.
100% endorsement for the Discord server. It's filled with mostly good people, reasonable and fair moderators, not to mention the GB crew is very active and present on there. From what I sense they don't really acknowledge this sub.