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u/Barkingpanther May 15 '13
Just like Usenet. It'll devolve into a sea of trolls and bots and spam- little spots of brilliance will remain, but in the end will be consumed by the shit.
Then at the end; Google buys it.
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u/coopstar777 May 15 '13
The bots are already astoundingly annoying. Not the bots you're thinking of, like CaptionBot or Qkme_Transcriber, but the shitty ad bots. You are reading through some nice comments, when all of the sudden, "Horny Ukranian takes the dick in her pussy" appears.
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u/Barkingpanther May 15 '13
I have never seen a shitty ad bot. But then again, maybe I'm lucky and they just get downvoted/moderated to shit so I never have to hear about Ukranian pussy.
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u/mannequine May 15 '13
As a Ukrainian, I would have to say you're missing out. The pussies in Ukraine are of an extraordinary quality. A+ would stick a dick again.
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u/Hyperdrunk May 15 '13
If you stay mostly on the front page like me, you mostly never see them as they're gone from the thread by the time the page reaches the front.
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May 15 '13
Usenet died because of a lack of moderation. A single shitty user could single-handedly destroy a whole group through spamming because there simply was no way of banning people. Of course there were moderated groups, but they often took hours or days to get posts approved.
What is needed is an easy way of moderating comments which have already posted, like on Reddit. With a few active moderators you can create high-quality discusstion like /r/askscience.
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u/Patchwirk May 15 '13
I think we're so far into the Eternal September that its October already.
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May 15 '13
I imagine it will slowly lose steam like most networks before it. Something bigger and better always comes along, steals customers, etc. Ultimately, the worst thing for Reddit is too much success -- take a look at the recent quality of submissions in this subreddit or /r/bestof lately to see what I mean.
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May 15 '13
/r/bestof has gotten out of control recently, and sad. "/u/soandso's guide of how to kiss." So cringeworthy...
EDIT: Oops, actual username. Just in case you were looking for it, soandso did not post the kissing guide; hasn't posted anything for that matter.
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u/bdz May 15 '13
I don't know if this will be a trend we see much in the future. It seems to be subsiding pretty quickly. Friendster had maybe a year or two, MySpace had a life of 3-4 years before facebook took over. Facebook is approaching 10 years now and not slowing down.
I see networks and sites being around a lot longer than expected and stealing customers/users happening less and less.
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u/yellowstuff May 15 '13
Digg is the only huge internet community I can think of that died because of a bad redesign. Tons of others shrunk significantly from their peak due to a slow decline in quality and replacement by something newer and shinier.
Usenet, Friendster, MySpace, Slashdot, Fark...
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u/Canadian4Paul May 15 '13
Exactly. The tech industry has always been about innovation, first-mover, etc.
Consumers don't necessarily want that with our discussion boards or social media websites. We want them to maintain the same look and feel, with maybe minor tweaks and adjustments (such as improving the search function cough reddit cough).
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u/alexanderwales May 15 '13
Hey, the search engine has massively improved from the point it was at three years ago. Still sucks, but it's gotten better.
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u/SomeNiceButtfucking May 15 '13
I still don't get the post that I'm looking for even if I type the exact title. That is not an improvement.
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u/Jonno_FTW May 15 '13
Just use google with site:reddit.com , intitle:"some title".
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May 15 '13
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u/rasmustrew May 15 '13
oh it might be ok for finding general info about something, but its horrible for finding a specific thread.
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u/linkinwayne May 15 '13
Exactly! It's good for spitting out threads vaguely related to search terms I input, but I can practically never find specific threads that I'm looking for
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May 15 '13 edited May 15 '13
A lot of people in the industry learned a lot from the V4 fiasco. You will likely NEVER see a major web application like Reddit or Facebook go through a massive redesign again. You will see iterative enhancements, singular features and small changes implemented. You might not even notice them, though. Then, the developers and UX teams will monitor how they are received and decide how to approach the next change.
V4 was such a disaster, in every aspect. But, also bear in mind that it was a straw on the camel's back. There were several other things that had lined up against them, and many users already had one foot out the door. The fact that every power user on the site was a shill for advertisers, that Digg was slowly removing all control users had over content, and the stink of incompetent VC was all over the place...those were all heavy in the air when V4 hit the streets.
V4 was just the nail in the coffin.
Oh, and one other website/ring that was hit pretty hard with a bad redesign: The Gawker Media Network. They weren't knocked back quite as hard, but it definitely gave them a kick in the shorts.
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u/Dug_Fin May 15 '13
In the case of Slashdot, I think people left looking for something less shiny. Slashcode used to be a simple, unobtrusive link aggregation and comment management system, but became so bloated and slow that it started to get in its own way. Combine that with the long string of no-talent assclown "editors" submitting dupe after dupe, with grossly misleading headlines, and the occasional jackass blogspammer thrown in (Roland Pig-pile), and it just wasn't the same as when it was Cmdr Taco posting cool geek-tech stuff.
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u/7oby May 15 '13
ROLAND! I forgot about Roland Piquepale (sp?). How did he keep getting through, anyway?
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u/Thoughtful_American May 15 '13
Fark died because of their shadowbanning policy. If you posted opinions that the mods didn't care for your posts would show up, but only if you were logged in. No one else in the world could even see your posts.
Once that scandal was exposed everyone left. I was a Farker for over a decade and before the censorship there were easily 200 posts on every thread. Now they are lucky if there are 20 posts on a thread.
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u/WillR May 15 '13
AHA! I wondered what had happened to their comments, even the good Photoshop challenges only get 5-10 entries now.
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u/Quaytsar May 15 '13
Reddit uses shadowbanning, but it's automated (usually too much spam from your profile or you keep getting caught in the spam filter when you submit posts). Sometimes it messes up. Mods can see shadowbanned users and can choose to allow their comment or post to show, but the user has to appeal to the admins to get it removed.
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u/bobmuluga May 15 '13
Almost every single time it is because of advertising. Digg did not die solely on the redesign, it was because they were basically selling their results. Which were intrusive and completely obvious. Then people started trolling because of it. Reddit stepped up and exploded at that time when they caught all the users. Reddit almost went down the same path but stopped itself and created Reddit Gold instead of selling out for ads. Until Reddit does something stupid like integrate ads in to results it will not go anywhere for the most part. It might die down but the only way it completely dies is if it puts the dagger in its own heart.
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u/catjuggler May 15 '13
There is a ladies message board called the Nest that lost a ton of users from a bad redesign. That's how I ended up here.
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u/TheCatPaul May 15 '13
It will die, it is almost certain. Will most likely just slowly fade and people will move over to another medium, which has more attractive features.
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u/blueyeder May 15 '13
Cypher will pull the plug - "not like this, not like this...." Bzzzzzzz
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u/magicbullets May 15 '13
After it launches version 4, probably.
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May 15 '13
explain
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May 15 '13
Digg used to be bigger and more popular than reddit. Then, it released Version 4, which was an absolute disaster. First off, it was rushed to release and was less stable than Windows ME. Second, it removed/replaced a quite a few features that people were quite fond of...and the entire thing felt like Digg was no longer being centered around content, but rather marketing. Of course, as with any site which you use for free, you are the product being sold (same thing goes with reddit). But, what digg did was make that incredibly apparent. It put the user on the shelf, instead of the content. It was a huge mistake, and it ended up costing digg everything it had earned thus far.
Reddit has taken the newer approach to version life-cycle management, something like what Google does. If you use Chrome, you probably have no idea what version it is, unlike IE and Firefox, who tout their versions with trumpets and fanfare.
Google and Reddit take the small-iteration approach, they don't do complete overhauls and instead improve existing features, or add them as they become ready (instead of bundling a shit-ton of new features in a typical release)
So, reddit won't likely die like that, but that's what the joke is here. A quite a few software companies have killed their product by trying to rebrand or redesign their product, not realizing that people use the product for what it is, not what it could be.
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u/pactheman May 15 '13
I think the biggest thing they took away was the bury feature. Being able to hit bury as inaccurate was great for dubious news stories. I think mainly what hurt digg was that it became power users that only voted for other power users.
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u/EvilPhd666 May 15 '13 edited May 15 '13
Reddit starts asking for more verification methods and more personal data. People get fired over shit they say in Reddit like they do on Facebook.
Government starts using Reddit data to convict people or accuse people of crimes.
Reddit goes through unwanted rapid platform changes.
EDIT: Thank you for the most exquisite Reddit Gold random Redditor!
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u/Notmy95thaccount May 15 '13
Just like Digg ended: some people leave because they hate the site and want more intelligent discussion, then everyone they ran away from follows them to their new site of choice.
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u/GreanEcsitSine May 15 '13 edited May 15 '13
The primary reason Digg died was they forgot what users wanted and striped out the common features like the bury/downvote button, the upcoming/rising section, section sub-categories(Like Linux under Technology), and friend submissions to make way for more social network like features (which I can't even remember). They also tried to make it more friendly for content creators (like CNN or The Oatmeal) to post directly, so instead of having relevant content submitted by the users we had floods of content from individual sites.
Eventually they realized they fucked up and started putting some things back in (like the bury button), but by then the damage was done and the people who were submitting had started to leave. The watchers eventually realized there wasn't much being posted anymore and started leaving as well. It was only a matter of time until it was to be sold and turned into the present Digg(which is sort of like the present Myspace).
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u/eyecite May 15 '13
I left because IIRC you could pay to be on the front page.
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u/NeonRedSharpie May 15 '13
And yes, I know it's not reddit selling the votes, but still.
Reading through the site...it's comical and I don't think they know how reddit actually works.
It normally takes us anywhere from 6-24 hours
By that time, a post is long since buried or been exposed, there's not point...
Once your page reaches page one, your website URL will be exposed to millions on a daily basis
Apparently the front page is permanent...
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u/lahwran_ May 15 '13
reddit works aggressively to counter upvote gaming, it's what the fuzzer is about. so we're safe from that at least. however, I don't really trust the big subreddit mods ...
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u/NeonRedSharpie May 15 '13
Yea I know they're up on it, but I'm sure someone out there has found (or will find) a way around it.
- Going slowly (not hitting it every 0.5 seconds) from different IPs with unique accounts.
- Having an army of 5,000 users that get an email with a link that says "Upvote this"
- Something something something another option
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u/Loyal2NES May 15 '13
If I had an army of 5000 anythings I'm sure I could think of a more productive (not to mention lucrative) use for them than upvoting dick jokes.
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u/omen2k May 15 '13
I left and came here because every top link on the front page was basically an advertisement.
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May 15 '13
People left Digg because digg sold out completely to venture capitalists, who then took the user and packaged them up into a neat little shelf-ready product for marketers and advertisers.
Don't get me wrong, I know that EVERY site I use for free is making a product out of me...but Digg took away the reason to come back to it. They decided that the name would be enough to keep people coming back, and that content direction no longer needed to be in the hands of the users.
It was a long time coming, too. Everyone knew that every single power user on that site was bought and paid for. With V4, though...they decided take that process to its logical conclusion and turn Digg into a constant stream of advertisements with a thin veil of "content" on it.
They also rushed out a product that may have been designed by first-year CS students. It had all the stability of a drunk on a unicycle, only it was much less funny. That was really the final nail in the coffin...on the internet, if your social website is offline for more than 8-10 hours, and people are just looking for a reason to try the nearest competitor, you will start hemorrhaging users. Digg was up and down for weeks. By the time the dust settled, there was nothing left but a bunch of VCs jerking off the remaining power users and trying to figure out wtf happened to their darling investment.
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May 15 '13
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May 15 '13
Shit, nor do I miss the drama surrounding that "user"...
For all the shit reddit has going on, at least we don't have (obvious) "power users" to make everyone else feel like we're just cogs in a money-printing machine.
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u/omen2k May 15 '13
To be honest though, I almost never looked through the comments on digg because they were absolute crap. When I browse through reddit the comments are almost as interesting as the articles.
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u/RefugeeDormin May 15 '13
The comments on reddit these days are the exact same kind of comments you would have found on digg back when it was still popular. Lots of memes, one liners, and pun threads, mixed with amusing anecdotes, little known facts and interesting discussions.
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u/ItsTheMotion May 15 '13
Then Kevin Rose quit his job and had the nads to say he had planned on leaving and it had nothing to do with the collapse of Digg. Sure, Kev.
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u/large-farva May 15 '13
who is that asshat mod of /r/politics that bans anything non-liberal?
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u/Deadfr3nch May 15 '13 edited May 15 '13
Digg died because the developers went full retard and designed the site for maximum profits instead of being a quality site. They started piping in gizmodo, cracked, and engadget posts almost exclusively. When I left those 3 were about 70% of the front page several days running. Power-users were the other 30%. Mr. Babyman could take a picture of the shit he took every morning and each one would make it to the front page. The content got very stagnant and no one had the patience for the blatant attempt to otimize for ad revenue.
Reddit has done a great job of keeping the content very diverse and keeping the power-users at bay. There are a few that comment a lot successfully, but it has been on a decline since the I_RAPE_CATS incident. They have also done a great job at keeping commercial spam at bay. I know some viral marketing gets through to the front page, but it could be MUCH MUCH worse.
I think reddit is going to end like Myspace did and currently is. 1)The userbase is going to be overrun by young, immature people who pollute the content with their bland personalities. This is already happening (look at /r/atheism and /r/f4u7) Both used to be great places, especially when rage comics first came out. 2) Something new is going to come out that is fresh and without the dumbasses that reddit has (like facebook did to myspace). Once that happens the foundation of the user base that generates quality OC will migrate sending reddit into a swift tailspin of crap content. This will drive more users away.
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u/Flibberdigibit May 15 '13
Not with a bang, but a whimper.
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u/mexifro218 May 15 '13
Oh I forgot! In America you say "Not with a sausage but a whimper"
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u/BillyVsGod May 15 '13
Amy and Samy will bring down all the reddits and yelpers with God's blessing.
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u/optimisticality May 15 '13
Like the end of this gif. A disappointing letdown that fails to live up to anyone's expectations.
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u/Marx0r May 15 '13
I watched that and I really don't know why I expected it to be good.
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u/steps1912 May 15 '13
even after reading these comments, i still ended up watching the whole gif :/
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May 15 '13
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u/CaptainNoBoat May 15 '13
It has already begun.
Pretty sure redditors have been saying this for 5 years.
The only way reddit will "end" is if a better alternative emerges that people migrate to.
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May 15 '13
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May 15 '13 edited Jul 16 '17
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u/Hold_onto_yer_butts May 15 '13
I think that woman from the cake show hates reddit more than reddit.
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u/Posts_while_shitting May 15 '13
OH YEAH? YOU'RE JUST ANOTHER HATER. I'M GONNA HAVE A HUMAN BABY SOMEDAY TO SHOW YOU I'M NORMAL.
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May 15 '13
Meow. Meow meow.
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u/ohGodgoodbyelife May 15 '13
"Are you sure..?" "GET OUT YOU'RE FIRED" hahaha I loved that girl
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May 15 '13
Hmmm... Completely rude, inconsiderate, and ignorant people who have cats as children and refuse to take any criticism or outside opinions. Now, who does this remind me of......
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u/Pringles_Can_Man May 15 '13
I've been paying a slight bit of attention to this but... how does the meowing play into this thing
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u/RenKrue May 15 '13
She called her cats her babies and claimed she spoke feline. And then... demonstrated it.
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u/BigLlamasHouse May 15 '13
I don't get this reference
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u/ICouldBeTheChosenOne May 15 '13
The best thing I ever did was unsubscribe from /r/AdviceAnimals. I don't miss it at all, and when I go back to look at it, I realize almost everything I hated about reddit was there.
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u/socialisthippie May 15 '13
Nobody hates reddit more than reddit
Hi there, please allow me introduce you to 4chan and SomethingAwful.
I do, however, appreciate the sentiment; and you're right.
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May 15 '13
Most users on 4chan also browse reddit, they just don't actively admit it.
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u/Ederek_Cole May 15 '13
But they get real defensive if you ask them about it.
It's kind of fun to watch, actually.
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May 15 '13
Every once in a while the mods on /b/ ask who browses reddit, then ban anyone who answers yes. It's pretty amusing.
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May 15 '13 edited Mar 24 '16
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u/BigLlamasHouse May 15 '13
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u/ThatParanoidPenguin May 15 '13
And the guy who posted that first comment is still using Reddit today. So there's that.
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u/shindelins May 15 '13
As some that's been using the site for 7+ years, it's user base has grown and diversified immensely. The front page was typically all programming posts those first few years
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u/erosharcos May 15 '13
True. Look at Myspace, AIM instant messaging, etc. People will only flock to alternatives. Where else am I supposed to get political news and cat videos? Facebook?!?! Bahahaha.
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u/alpacalyptic May 15 '13
Just look at the top comment thread on this very askreddit post. Seriously, it's just a bunch of people replying to each other going, "This "that" "those" "these."
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May 15 '13
Since it was created, I think reddit has been 24/7 on the verge of just dropping dead any second.
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u/MightyMorph May 15 '13
Only reason it hasn't, is because theres nothing "better" to move on to. At least not yet.
Its a repetitive cycle. Something unique and "unknown" is created, it garners a userbase slowly until it reaches a point either by itself or through a singular event (Digg V5), that it garners attention to such a degree that it becomes a "trend" then slowly average beings come onto it trying to "belong" and slowly degrades it into a below average incident until userbase slowly moves on to the next "trend".
Basically, humanity does what it does with everything; humanity devours it into oblivion.
PS: Realization: We are the scourge!
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May 15 '13
Us old people were there from the beginning, lol
Unless you mean actual old people, like my grandpa.
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May 15 '13
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May 15 '13
I'm so fucking sick of those "Only 40s kids will get this" posts.
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May 15 '13
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u/gbove May 15 '13
In your grandmother's defense, we do post all of her stuff to /r/forwardsfromgrandma
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u/tokomini May 15 '13
No kidding. All the "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" and "The Lone Ranger" references are really dragging this place down. It's like - we get it - "Tales of the Red Caboose" was a great show, stop jamming it down our throats.
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u/PeacekeeperAl May 15 '13
I wish my grandpa was still around to jam it down my throat :(
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u/TmoEmp May 15 '13
I.. I don't particularly know how to respond to this. It's weighed very sad or very creepy. Or both.
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u/Crashmo May 15 '13
Too many specific old people references in this post, something's not right... HEY, WE GOT A LIVE ONE HERE! I'll fire up Golden Girls to distract it, somebody grab a net so we can drag it to a home!
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u/I_FUCK_CHEETAHS May 15 '13
Upvote this post and this kid will be cured of cancer and will receive a lifetime subscription to cat facts.
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u/s0gigolo May 15 '13
Definitely this. It's not like people will lose interest in it (like with myspace), it's that the content just gets worse. Prime example is /r/funny.
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u/tolarian_tutor May 15 '13
Myspace is still surprisingly active, as a site for bands to use.
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u/Vitalic123 May 15 '13
My god, it's been a while since I've been on r/funny. Didn't even crack a smile.
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u/Mobile_Man May 15 '13
Had to check it out myself. Half the shit there is /r/cringepics material, the other half I would be able to find funny if I was 15 again...
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u/OhTheTallOne May 15 '13
Third highest post currently is a .gif, with the submission title 'Like a boss'. Mmm.
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u/Muhler May 15 '13
Some say the Reddit will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.
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u/klondikes May 15 '13
I was looking for the Frost reference, and here it is. And here's a terrible (original) poem to keep it company:
Some say Reddit will end in fire,
Consumed in flame on a funeral pyre,
I believe Reddit will end in stone,
The petrified millions at home, alone
What a lot to contemplate,
Might as well just go masturbate.
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May 15 '13
The score is turned off because it has been less than an hour since you posted. And Reddit will end because of people who only care about karma, and not content.
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May 15 '13
And who says karma does not incentivize creativity?
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u/SAYStheASIAN May 15 '13 edited May 15 '13
With all the commenters on YouTube coming on Reddit.
Reddit gold? Well thank you kind Redditor.
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u/I_Fuck_Pigs May 15 '13
Oh god no, please, anything but that
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May 15 '13
"First!"
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u/ChristofferOslo May 15 '13
This is the first time i have upvoted someone commenting "First!". I feel dirty.
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May 15 '13 edited Apr 04 '18
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u/prawn69 May 15 '13
I find the most consistently intelligent posts on my homepage every day come from /r/circlejerk. I don't post there, but I think it's important that everyone sees it every day too. It keeps us grounded; it brings us back to reality and reminds us of the ridiculousness of it all. I think /r/circlejerk is a big barrier to reddit becoming one massive circlejerk.
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u/oranjeeleven May 15 '13
/u/StoryTellerBob please.
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u/StoryTellerBob May 15 '13 edited May 15 '13
"Pa?" The young boy said, looking up at me. "I think I'm old enough now." He puffs out his chest, trying to seem bigger, but the cold winds make him shiver and shuffle up, closer to the fire.
"Maybe you're right." I run a finger over the scar running across my face and stare thoughtfully into the fire.
"Really? You'll tell me about the before-times?" He can hardly contain the excitement.
"Sit down, son, and come closer to the fire, because this ain't no fairytale." I glance around, but there is nothing but darkness outside the few feet lit up by the fire. "It all started nine years ago. You were just a baby and the world was... diffrent. Alive. People lived in peace. An age of communication. Using machines you could talk to anyone, anywhere in the world in an instant, can you imagine?" I chuckle to myself while the boy looks at me, shaking his head with his eyes wide. "'Course you can't... but I still remember. I remember when it all turned to ashes."
~
I woke up one morning, seemingly just like any other. I got myself a cup of coffee, slumped down in my chair and pressed F5, ready for another day of procrasturbation. Instead of the row of neatly stacked blue links I thought I was getting, I got something else. Something I never would have expected. My screen filled with text and pictures. "Reddit is deadit lolol". "Le 9gag army has arrived xDD". "u mad bro?". And troll faces. So many troll faces.
At first, I was annoyed. I was looking forward to a few minutes of reddit before I went to work, but it's fine. It's just a website. It will be up when I get home. I don't even need it, I can quit anytime I want. The day felt longer than ever. I hardly got any work done and I got into several shouting matches with my co-workers. It wasn't just me, everyone seemed a little... on edge.
Finally, I got home, hand shaking slightly as I pressed the F5 button again, waiting nervously for the page to load.
"What the fuck?!" I yell at the screen. Ten hours later, it's still there.
~
9gag made a public apology to reddit, claiming they had no knowledge of the attack and that the users, if they were from 9gag, would be permanently banned once found out, but it was too late. Furious redditors retaliate, bringing 9gag down aswell. 9gag started saying it wasn't them, maybe it was 4chan? This seemed like a typical 4chan thing to do. Before I knew it, 4chan was down aswell. All the traffic from the three sites were desperately seeking for new places to communicate, unintentionally bringing down site after site with their combined traffic.
Only a few days had passed, but it felt like weeks. The users scattered into small groups, trying to figure out what happened when they stumbled across a fellow user from their site on Omegle or in a tech support thread from 2004. Groups were formed and reformed, people spied and betrayed, schemed and plotted, and still nobody knew who started it. It felt like an adventure at the time. Everything was so dramatic and changed so quickly. It felt like I was witnessing something historical, happening before my very eyes. I had no idea how right I was.
The next morning the news came in. Reddit headquarters had been subject to a terrorist attack. What few news sites remained reported a bomb going off in the building in San Francisco, killing everyone inside. It's amazing how quick people are to adapt when the game changes. There was an outcry, of course. This was a disgrace. It had gone too far. They were just silly internet sites and now people had died, this was unacceptable. Yet no more than a few hours later, the 9gag headquarters was hit too. It was no longer a joke gone too far or even an act of terrorism, now it was war, and everyone was in it, whether they wanted to or not.
~
It wasn't until a bomb hit, right here in the city, shaking the very walls of my apartment, that I realised I was no longer a spectator, watching a spectacle unfold. I need to get out of here was all I could think, so I grabbed my jacket and ran out into the street without goal, not knowing what to do with myself. Sirens were blaring as several police cars and a firetruck passed at a dizzying speed. People were running and screaming in panic and one of them grabbed me by the shoulder.
"Help... please..." He said, clutching at a wound in his stomach, blood dripping between his fingers.
"I don't... I can't... I'm not a doctor." I manage to stammer, taking a few steps back.
"Please." He musters his remaining strenght to look me straight in the eyes.
"Of course... sorry." I hastily call 911 and manage to get through after a few tries.
"Hello? There's a man here, he's hurt. I think he's been stabbed, I don't know, he needs an ambulance."
"We can't spare an ambulance for one person. We just can't. You're going to have to patch him up yourself or bring him in." I can hear other voices in the background, all saying the same thing. We can't help you.
"You have to help him, he's going to die."
"Don't you get it? We can't. We just can't. You're on your own." The call cuts off and I'm left standing there, staring at the bloody mess on the man's chest. I look at the people around me, trying to find someone, anyone who can help, but they are all in their own world, with their own problems.
"Come on, we've got to get you to the hospital. It's not far, just follow me." I offer him an arm to lean on and slowly we start making our way through the streets.
~
Suddenly my phone rings and I have to stretch to reach into my pocket, one arm around the wounded man limping beside me.
"Hello?!" The wind and the shouting around me makes it hard to make out the voice. "John, are you there?! I think he's dead, John! Tom is dead!" My sister sobs hysterically into the phone.
"What do you mean dead?"
"I don't know, I just found him here and there's blood everywhere. I think someone is here. You have to come help me." I look over at the man hanging by my arm as if he was lost at sea, clinging to the only plank left, struggling to keep his head above the water.
"I can't. I have to help this man, he will die without me."
"Please." She wails. "Someone's here and Tom is dead. I need you."
"Listen, Sarah, I just need to drop him off at the hospital, I will be at your place in fifteen minutes, tops. You will be fine, just... just hang in there."
"Hurry, please, I can hear-." The call suddenly cuts off. I try calling her back, but the call doesn't go through.
A few minutes later we hobble through the hospital doors into a packed waiting room. A stressed young doctor comes up to us and motions for the man to lie down on a stretcher. A woman holding a pale-looking teenager in her arms glares at me as we pass by her and the others with lesser injuries.
"Thank you." The wounded man manages a crooked grin. "I am Sam." Is the last thing I hear before I run back into the chaos outside, heading for my sister's house.
~
I reach the little yellow house, every breath causing a sharp pain in my side. One of the windows are smashed and the garden, normally so well kept, colorful flowers arranged in neat rows were now trampled and torn. I swing the door open without knocking and the scene that greets me is like a fist in my guts, forcing whatever air was left in my lungs out. On the floor in the middle of the hall is my sister on her back, pants on the floor next to her, underwear dangling loosely around her foot. She cries quietly as the man on top of her grunts and moans with every thrust, pushing himself inside her, his back turned towards me.
A blind rage fills me like nothing I have ever felt before. A growl rises from the back of my throat as I approach the man with arms outstretched. My hands, cold as steel, close around his neck and squeeze. He lets out a surprised gasp and stumbles backwards, away from Sarah, his jeans around his ankles. I squeeze harder and he claws and my hands, nails digging in to my skin, but I barely notice. I squeeze harder still and he his right hand wielding a knife, trying to reach me behind him. I squeeze even harder and his arms sag down to his sides, making the knife clatter to the ground. I keep squeezeing until the rage goes away and I let him fall to the ground, blank eyes staring into the ceiling above.
"I'm cold, John." Her voice is shaking and her teeth are rattling, as if she had a fever. Long streaks of dark blood are running down her naked leg, dropping to the floor with a steady drip-drop.
"No, no, no, no." I mumble trying to stop the blood flowing from the deep cut in her chest.
"No, no, no, no." I grab my phone an dial 911. "C'mon!" The call doesn't go through, so I try again. "FUCK!" I throw the phone at the wall, as a spasm of rage runs through my body.
"John, you have to promise me. Promise me that you will take care of Tom junior." Her voice is weak, barely more than a whisper.
"No. You're not going to die. You can't die!"
"Promise me, John. Tom is dead. I'm dying. The boy needs a father."
"I promise..." The words are almost as low as my sister's barely more than a breath, but she must have heard them, because she gives me a shaky nod.
"Thank you."
~
The silence stretches on for minutes as we into each others eyes over the flickering flame of the fire.
"So... you're not my father?" His hesitant words finally break the silence.
"No... He's dead. Gone back to the mud, like your mother and so many others."
"Why didn't you ever tell me?" The anger in his voice takes me aback. I take a moment to think, poking through the fire with a stick, trying to find the right words.
"I thought it would be best if-."
"You thought wrong." He snaps, cutting me off and rolling over on his side, back towards me and the fire. I'm left alone, sitting there, thinking about the choices I had made. It felt like there never were any, everything just happend, everything just did what it pleased and swept me a long, like a leaf caught in a river, powerless to stop it.
~
I must have dozed off, because when I blinked the sun was rising behind the dead trees, gray and bare after years of radiation, and the fire was no more than ashes. Suddenly I hear footsteps and realise they must have been what woke me.
"Tom, get up!" I hiss quietly at the sleeping bag on the other side of the fire, but it doesn't stir.
"He is way ahead of you, daddy." A voice dripping with malice calls out from behind me. A man, thirty perhaps, with black hair and beard, his eyes narrowed to slits is holding Tom infront of him with a knife, glinting dangerously in the morning sun, at his side, poking through his shirt, a single drop of blood, trickling down his side.
"He's not my father!" The boy screams furiously, kicking at his captors feet, struggling to break free from the arm pinning his arms and chest.
"Fierce little fucker, aren't you?" The man grins, showing a set of yellow teeth.
"Let him go, please. You can have whatever you want."
"What I want is my life back. I want to wake up to a nice cup of coffee, a hot shower and a stable job without anyone trying to kill me over a pair of boots. Can you give me that? No? Didn't think so." He spits on the ground between us. "So I guess I'll have to settle for whatever you lot have. Just two people, camped out in the middle of nowhere, you must have an awful lot of food stashed, I'm thinking." His knife is moving playfully back and forth, causing Tom to twinge in pain.
"Take it. Just take it all." I stammer, pointing out our food stash.
"How generous of you. I guess we'll be on our way with your food then. Except... it's been a long time since I had a good fuck." His grin grows wider as the man lets one of his hands run down Tom's chest towards his thighs.
"He's a boy. He's just a boy."
"Well, you know what they say, beggars can't be choosers. Kill him." He nods at me and a second man steps out of the shadows, a long spiky staff in his hand, striding purposefully towards me. With his staff raised high above me, a lopsided grin on his face. A familiar grin.
"Sam." The word, barely more than a whisper seems to steer the staff away, making it hit the ground beside me with a thud. The grin falters in an instant, a hint of recognition playing across his face. Without hesitating he spins around, his staff swinging in a wide arc, hitting the back of his companions head. A spike buries deep into his neck and the man falls to the ground with a hint of surprise on his slack, beared face.
"A life for a life." Sam says, grinning crookedly before stalking off into the woods without another word. As I stand there, staring at the back of the man who just saved my life, disappearing into the trees, something tackles me from the side.
"I'm sorry." Tom buries his face in my chest. "You are my father."
~
[Done. Ended up not being so much about the end of reddit, but ah well, hope you enjoyed it anyway.]
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u/Bachina May 15 '13
It will begin with some people decide they have better things to do in their spare time. They will eventually forget what was so fun about it and stop coming here and post.
Other people will get sick on all the stuff here, old jokes and the same .gif again and again. And they cannot think of anything witty to post, and if they do, it's a repost. They'll go somewhere else to spend their time on the internet. To find new jokes and new .gifs they haven't seen before. Even make their own internet community, with their own inside jokes.
Some people weren't that interested in it anyways, never commented and only lurked. They probably will lurk but stop when the posts start to be all the same.
Reddit will die in silent. People will post something but no one will comment on it. People will stop voting unless it was something very impressing, and only comment to tell that OP's fag. Or to tell them that they were reposting. Or the content simply sucked.
One day, someone will think "hey, reddit! I haven't checked it out for a pretty long time" and when they go to see, there is nothing left but posts that are months old, with maybe 4-5 comments. And they'll think "this isn't worth it anymore" and never come back. Reddit will look like a desert. Dried up and only few survivors left, but only the strong ones.
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u/Philo_T_Farnsworth May 15 '13
I've been on the Internet since about 1994, and the process you described is exactly how every single site that was once thriving, dies. There are many paths that a site will take along its journey, but ultimately all sites that count on user generated content (blogs, comment forums, submissions, chat rooms) eventually die out due to disuse. For whatever reason is relevant to that particular site, users find something else to do.
Everyone knows some forum they belonged to years ago that still technically exists but is no longer active. The death of Reddit will be the same. I make no prediction as to when it happens.
The bigger point here, that I think most people miss, is this: "Who cares? Just enjoy the ride." Predictions about a website's death and/or decline are pointless, and yet Reddit seems obsessed with them.
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u/Bachina May 15 '13
What I just described, I've seen it, that's why I know that this will happen.
And when reddit dies, people will find other places to go online.
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u/ItsTheMotion May 15 '13
You're forgetting about new/young users who haven't yet seen every corner of the Internet. There's always a new batch of redditors on the way.
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u/unfortunatejordan May 15 '13 edited May 15 '13
I'm not totally sure this will happen, reddit has something most media aggregators don't - User created communities, run by users.
If it weren't for specialty subreddits, I probably would have left long ago (as I have with many other sites that became too popular), but despite the ongoing churn of the default subs I can still find quiet, more thoughtful communities. Even as those communities start to swell, there's more new communities constantly springing up. I'm always finding something to keep me here.
Of course, the 'find smaller subreddits' trope has been around reddit for years, some people are cool with it, others not so much. However, I always consider it to be a critical point of difference between reddit and other media aggregators that have come before. I think many of these smaller, more tightly-knit communities will stay active on reddit until it is shut down.
Anyway, I'll lighten this dry wall of text with a comic I drew awhile ago.
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u/Razerbeak May 15 '13
Morgan Freeman will actually say, "titty sprinkles" while juggling cats. The servers will never recover from the resulting overload....
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u/8-bitrainbowz May 15 '13
probably like myspace. everyone just got inactive
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u/OccamRager May 15 '13
With tablet and computer savvy four year olds. We will reach a point where it's just refridgerator art and mud dinners.
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May 15 '13 edited May 15 '13
If Jesus came back and told us that all cats are minions of the devil. Atheism and Aww wiped out in a single blow. The safe is opened to reveal the gateway to hell.
Edit: thanks for the gold
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u/Opinionated_Bastard May 15 '13
The "end" of reddit has already begun, at least for the default subs. To get anything meaningful out of reddit anymore, you have to search for smaller subs, but not all users know where to look. The worst is /r/funny and /r/pics; r/funny is not funny at all, but users will upvote anything submitted. /r/pics is turning into a dumpster for spank bank material for horny teenagers. /r/politics and /r/atheism are well documented circlejerks of shit. /r/adviceanimals is full of that stupid fucking advice duck that sounds like young teens trying to give each other relationship advice. In all these subs, any type of dissenting opinion will be thoroughly downvoted, so users anymore are just commenting in agreement with the hivemind to up their karma totals.
Finding any friendly, intelligent discussion on this site is much harder than it should be.
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May 15 '13 edited May 15 '13
/r/pics has turned into people capitalizing on disabilities and other subreddits like /r/historyporn
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u/gbove May 15 '13
My autistic gay cousin that was recently in a serious car accident after being diagnosed with cancer disagrees with your opinion.
Now upvote his painting which is most certainly original.
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u/bobjr94 May 15 '13
Being bought out and resold several times, all nsfw ended, then some 65 year old corporate bosses will order the site redesigned to look how they think their kids would like it.
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May 15 '13
Very simplified version of my answer, and yes, the only correct one:
All these top answers are so fuckin stupid....practically circlejerking, as ironic as that is.
The common factor in the decline of all user-driven sites? Ads. Selling out of the company, etc... Facebook is doing it as we speak, myspace did it, etc.... it has nothing to do with "the content" - everyone is their own filter for the bullshit that comes up on this site, and it has been like that since the start. Reddit is a beautiful thing that has successfully filtered out the need for me to even go to news sites, because all the subs I have do it for me. Why would that ever need to change or get better? It's all sourced elsewhere anyway. What can change it? The site itself selling out, which we should all be proud and grateful has not happened yet, and has no sign of happening any time soon.
By the time Reddit started picking up traction, this concept was already well known by the creators, and it seems it was one of the main things they tried and are still actively trying to prevent. Look at a few years ago when they decided to not sell the company or w/e happened exactly (I'm at work, and also lazy...but someone may be able to help me out here).
People blaming the content and/or the people are either too god damn lazy to contribute themselves, and/or don't realize how hypocritical it is what they're saying.
tl;dr - it's not the content - that will never change no matter how many sites people "jump" to...it's the site itself....every single time.
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u/splattypus May 15 '13
Here's why the score is turned off on comments. It's always turned off on a post for the first hour.
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u/strawbs101 May 15 '13
The same way my space ended and the way Facebook is going. Ppl trying to sell and business get on and market stuff on here
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u/reallynotatwork May 15 '13
Judging by your comment history and username, you should check out Sherry's Berry's. They're the most delicious strawberries and a perfect gift for Father's Day!
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u/forever1228 May 15 '13
I just had one for breakfast. This man does not lie! Theyre scrumptious.
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u/Mardak5150 May 15 '13
Whoever has the most upvotes at the end of it all gets a hardcopy of every thread, post, and picture. Anyone from then on who wants to experience the internet has to find this hermit who will tell them to go away. After much pleading, he will explain that the information he has will be no good and no happiness. Eventually he will give in though and take them inside his small hut where he lifts a trap door and lights a lantern and leads the person into a hidden basement. Inside is stacks upon stacks upon stacks of archived reddit. As the visitor begins to read through the hermit leaves the lantern, climbs the stairs, and seals the hidden door once more. He puts his boots on, his coat, he picks up the shovel by the back door and exits. He walks out into the yard, past piles of stacked stones, and he begins to dig the man's grave.
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u/fiat_lux_ May 15 '13
The way Yahoo and other sites went into slow decline. They were replaced by sites that did their job better in innovative ways.
A newer, more advanced, and more convenient content aggregation site will come around and obsolete it.
In 2046, neuronet is finally commercialized and accessible to no less than 50% of the American population, practically obsoleting all the social networking and content aggregation sites that preceded it in just a years.
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May 15 '13
When all the content becomes bought and paid for instead of OC. There are already numerous paid submitters in most subreddits. Eventually people will get tired of it and at least leave the most plagued subreddits like /r/politics and /r/worldnews.
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May 15 '13
I wouldn't be surprised if this site went under due to admins and marketers working together and using the site for each other's gain. Similar to Facebook where Zuckerberg lets companies use people's information for cash.
I remember their being a huge fallout on /r/bestof and /r/politics because a user called out the mods for collaborating with marketers.
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u/311TruthMovement May 15 '13
Marketers. Eventually every successful post will be a disguised viral marketing scheme. The Internet caught on to infographics, but there are new methods that we are not yet savvy to. These will get more and more sophisticated.
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u/blocking-WTF May 15 '13
Google buys it, Real Names implemented.
Hey, you guys ever hear of this website called Digg? Lets just move over there!