- Can't use web version without getting the mobile version banner forced down your throat every other interaction.
- Actively making the non-app version worse than the mobile, for no reason other than engagement metrics.
- Not able to view "NSFW" posts (of which everything is just false labeled as that) without logging in; even though it shows you the image on the timeline (the entire "NSFW" part) - a dark pattern / cheap tactic to drive sign up.
And this is just to name a few, dark patterns are a plenty across their site.
I won't go into the API side of things as others have said it better, and it seems you've already made your mind up there.
That's not hostile. That's wanting you to use one version over the other. The fact you think if they don't support your desired version of using it over any other then it's hostile to you.
The things you've mentioned aren't even dark patterns. One of them could be considered just a figament of your imagination. And one "Oh they make me log in to see porn" like really? Really?
It's the very definition of user hostility. They are forcing me to install the app for no good reason other than increased engagement. I don't want to use the app and all the rubbish that comes with it, the website has worked fine for the last 10+ years, and continues to on desktop.
> "The things you've mentioned aren't even dark patterns. One of them could be considered just a figament of your imagination. And one "Oh they make me log in to see porn" like really? Really?"
I see you decided to completely ignore what I wrote and twist it into something else, to repeat;
- NSFW posts are majority NOT porn but normal posts
- They already show you the image on the timeline - so stopping the post from loading after clicking, and instead showing sign up CTA's is nothing but a dark pattern / cheap trick to drive sign ups.
Again, dark patterns / cheap tricks are user hostile.
you cant be serious. I literally can no longer browse reddit, a uncomplicated web forum, on my ipad. I used to be able to. Its performance really is that bad. Actively making your webpage worse for mobile is not user hostile?
That doesn’t seem to be literally true because I’m on my iPad and have Reddit open in another tab. Sometimes I use the narwhal app and sometimes I use the official Reddit app as well.
You may not like using Reddit on your iPad but that’s a you problem.
I literally just booted up my iPad to check it out. It didn't force me to the app. It didn't even prompt me to use the app. It responded in a reasonable time. old.reddit.com worked and so did the new site.
All I can take away from that is you're either very fussy to the point you complain about minor things like they're major problems. Or you just can't use a website on your iPad.
There is no actively making a webpage worse. It's all in your head. "I don't like this so it's worse".
> People don't seem to recognize that someone replying so negatively and provocatively isn't engaging in good faith.
People can disagree with you and be in good faith. It's a common tactic to say someone who disagrees with you but you can't prove wrong is engaging in bad faith.
Let's have a solid look at this interaction.
* Someone says Reddit is user hostile.
* I claim it's not.
* Someone claim's they're actively making the website worse. A claim that can't be backed up.
* Same person claims requiring people to login to acces to content marked for 18+ is hostile. This is an absurd claim. A website shouldn't have any measure to ensure a user is old enough to access the content they're legally required to ensure they're old enough to access?
* Someone claims that they can't use the website on their iPad. I boot up my cheap iPad and use it quite easily. I didn't even get prompts I expected to get that would tell me to use the app. I used both new and old versions. I assume the person isn't lying and that if they're unable to use it it's because their hardware oboslete.
* Various people claim trying to get people to use your app over a website is hostile. Really, having a preferred way to use your site is hostile? All the other methods are available even old.reddit.com which should be discontinued. So while continuing to provide multiple user interfaces and supporting older ones to make users happy. They claim they're hostile.
The reality is, the evidence doesn't back up the claims. To claim I'm either an idiot or a troll engaging in bad faith really is the height of bad manners.
Reddit isn't hostile to it's users. It has users that are hostile to it. People who feel so entitled to a free site that they think any attempt to make it better for users who aren't them is hostile. Absolute entitlement. The tech community is one of the most entitled communties I've seen.
The problem lies partially in the fact that you haven't defined what "user hostile" means. (In fact, neither of you have. And you could try to [disingenuously] argue that the burden to define it lies with the person you're responding to and that you don't have any such burden, but that would be a junk argument—provably wrong, since the claim that it's not user hostile is as strong of a claim as claiming that it is.) So, a simple litmus test to see if you're acting in good faith: simply state which definition of "user hostile" you're using. Place the goalposts.
What is a definition of the phrase that, if it were observed/shown/proven, you would concede that the subject of the discussion is guilty of acting in a user hostile way?
> * Someone claim's they're actively making the website worse. A claim that can't be backed up.
I have a few examples I can observe myself. It's not documented, so it may not be considered "backed up", but it makes me avoid Reddit as much as I can, no matter how valuable it may be
1. The mobile interface of Reddit used to have option "Ask to Open in App" (it defaulted as checked), which prompts many banner about downloading app almost every click. Right now, the option disappeared; only Dark Mode remains.
2. At some point, visiting the main page of a particular subreddit on mobile will be blocked with "This community is available in the App". Later on, Reddit claimed (or the moderator of subreddit may claim) that the topic is mature and can only be viewed by 18+ users, when the subreddit or the topic isn't really something mature (I recall seeing it in a subreddit that operates as a de facto support forum of an Android app I use) and that it forced me to download the app, even though the app is seriously sluggish, to put it mildly
Sure, both of these examples may be resolved by switching to desktop mode or use the old.reddit, but doing so means I will have significant difficulty to scale the content to match the size of the small screen. For some, it may not be considered worse, but for me, the inability to read it the way it used to be means they are sabotaging it for the worse
You can blame a slow hardware device for the performance it delivers.
Complaining that your iPad 2 can't load a morden website is unreasonable. It's not that they've activity made their website worse it's that you've not got standard hardware to operate it. As we move forward in today's technogly things require more CPU and memory to run as they do more and more things. Complaining about that and blaming a specific site for your lack of investment in hardware is unreasonable!
The application is trash, doesn't display proper formatting standards, and is inferior to even the most basic of third party apps. If ending support and not improving your awful application isn't hostility, what is?
Also if you try to avoid it with the browser on mobile, it runs like trash still has issues and the UI for new reddit is trash as well so you use old reddit but that will likely die eventually knowing their pisspoor management.
>That's not hostile. That's wanting you to use one version over the other
user hostile:"A play on the common term "user-friendly", a user-hostile design is one that is, deliberately or accidentally, difficult or cumbersome for the intended user."
Yes, I would consider disabling all controls on the mobile page to turn a simple webpage of comments into an ad for the app as "user hostile". A deliberate one, even.
>And one "Oh they make me log in to see porn" like really? Really?
If they had proper NSFW filters that separated porn from violence from "oh the post had the word 'fuck' in it" from "not even NSFW but the movie is rated R so may as well be safe", I may be inclined to agree. Alas, proper NSFW granularity is another feature long ask for and never given.
- Can't use web version without getting the mobile version banner forced down your throat every other interaction.
- Actively making the non-app version worse than the mobile, for no reason other than engagement metrics.
- Not able to view "NSFW" posts (of which everything is just false labeled as that) without logging in; even though it shows you the image on the timeline (the entire "NSFW" part) - a dark pattern / cheap tactic to drive sign up.
And this is just to name a few, dark patterns are a plenty across their site.
I won't go into the API side of things as others have said it better, and it seems you've already made your mind up there.