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Comment by deaddodo | Hacker News Reader

> In the past few years, it's been getting less and less enjoyable for me, and since I stopped visiting on Monday, I've been feeling better, and I don't think I'll be going back.

The reddit experience I've had in the last few days is actually the best I've had since I signed up 12-13 years ago. All the smaller niche subreddits I forgot about are back to front and center, all the community interaction is on AskReddit, answers, etc again and the overall communal aspect is back. It reminds me of how much the site has really changed and, like you, I'll probably be gone once it goes back to normal.

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Wow that brings me back. I remember being on AskReddit when it was relatively small (maybe a few hundred thousand subscribers).

My favorite contribution to that subreddit was one of the first logos. They held a contest and my submission was a drawing of Snoo with his bum facing the viewer with a dollar in between his cheeks. Ass Credit.

I can't believe people voted for it lol, but that was when the subreddit was a lot less serious.

You can still see the remnants of that work by going to old.reddit.com/r/askreddit: Hover over the Snoo's talking and wait for the tooltip.

Why will Reddit going back to normal stop you from enjoying the smaller subreddits? I use Reddit all the time and literally never see anything from those monstrous multi million user subreddits.

Discoverability. There’s a very real value in stumbling upon places you wouldn’t know to search for.

It's like some people don't understand Reddit. You get to choose what you want to follow, you can create a multireddit with a subset of them, you can create a new account and hide all the big subs to let the little ones filter through. The world was always your oyster and yet people act like it took subs going dark to do that, it didn't.

If someone says they only see crap on Reddit it's their own fault. It doesn't take a ton of effort to cultivate what you want.

This is incredibly unfair.

While I’m familiar with many of those tricks, I haven’t even thought about them in probably, literally years.

The current Reddit UX does not encourage and maybe doesn’t even support that view. If that’s something you’re doing, I can say with some level of confidence that you’re a Reddit Poweruser. The only time I ever really thought about tricks like that is when I used the Reddit Enhancement Suite, which, as far as I know, is not a part of New Reddit, at all.

And despite what anyone’s insular, private group of friends may say, I strongly suspect that New Reddit is the one that the vast, vast majority of users user.

> I strongly suspect that New Reddit is the one that the vast, vast majority of users user.

No doubt, those people are masochists, either knowingly or not, same with the people that use the official app. Old.reddit and/or third party apps made a huge difference in usability of Reddit, there is a reason so many people are up in arms over this change.

If it took subs going dark for you to see what was available to you all along that's yet another massive failing on reddit's part to provide value. To people who have been living that dream via third party apps, that was a normal Tuesday. I don't know a better way to put it, I constantly hear people say "I've been using the app, it's fine" and then also saying things like you did, the truth is the app is not fine, discoverability is shit, the features are limited, etc. Apollo is a power tool for reddit similar to how RES was, I won't wade through the reddit BS to use it without an app like Apollo.

> The current Reddit UX does not encourage and maybe doesn’t even support that view.

Try: https://old.reddit.com

> The current Reddit UX does not encourage and maybe doesn’t even support that view.

Its discoverability is difficult. It is still possible.

https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/36004304341...

The key part is the "overflow menu"

> Visit a community that you’d like to include in a custom feed. On the right-hand side of the page, you’ll see a Community Details box. Click the overflow menu (⋯) in the top right of the box.

> Select Add To Custom Feed then choose Create A Custom Feed.

These show up when you use the drop down for subscribed and favorited subreddits or on the sidebar (if that is expanded).

(VERY late edit)

The other thing about multis - you can make them public and allow other people subscribe to them.

As an example: https://www.reddit.com/user/shagieisme/m/orangecats/ which is the combination of six subreddits that feature orange cats.

Furthermore, users may be added to a custom feed.

In new reddit: User Settings -> Feed Settings -> turn off "Enable home feed recommendations"

All you'll see at reddit.com are subreddits you've followed.

Reddit is so much better if you unsubscribe from all the big subs and turn off recommendations so they aren’t constantly shoved in your face.

The default front page is like reading gossip magazines. A lot of those subs appeal to base instincts (rage bait, etc) and are worth making a strong effort to avoid and ignore.

I unsubscribed from everything and grouped subreddits I wanted to see into multis.

It helped with the noise.

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