---
title: 'I have left Reddit'
categories:
- blog
abstract: My saynora to Reddit
date: 2023-12-28T18:54:48+02:00
draft: false
---
As of today, my Reddit account is deleted.

I have spent close to 10 years there, gathering some 10k karma.
And now there is none.

It's not that I am *against* giving voice to marginalized groups (like Reddit has done), there was nothing political behind this.
I am simply against centralization of the Web[^cent].
The communities I've participated in were nice, but none became essential.
I think that since Reddit is a hub of millions of Subreddits, no one takes each individual seriously. 
People just hop in and out, without much though.
I was raised on Bulletin Boards, so it was much different.
You joined a few different boards and became part of them.
I dislike what has happened to the web due services like Reddit and Discord[^discord].
They are just so big and shapeless, that everyone becomes part of this blob of undescribable goo. 
[^cent]: https://michal.sapka.me/2023/reddit-and-the-centralized-web/
[^discord]: I'd live Discord as well if it wasn't for *this one friend*. 

What's next for my daily dose of social media? Well, I've become quite active on Mastodon[^mastodon], and there is still YouTube[^yt].
I am also eying Usenet as it's having a small resurgence recently[^use1][^use2].
And with Google taking their stinky paw from it, the future looks bright.
[^mastodon]: maybe **too** active.
[^yt]: oh how I'd love to leave it as well, but that's a orthogonal subject.
[^use1]: https://medevel.com/why-usenet-is-making-a-comeback-in-the-modern-internet-age/
[^use2]: https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/30/usenet_revival/

I like Mastodon because it is not algorithm driven - it's just people and subject I follow. 
Furthermore, I don't need to race to see updates I care about before they get buried under piles of generated crap.
I can just open the site from time, and everything I care about is there  - and nothing else.
This is the use case Reddit fails at.

Reddit was a glorified Digg, and everything was good.
Then it became the de-facto face of the open web where people try to discuss.
And it all became worst, as the service is too big to still be useful.

And it will become worse, as they are preparing for an IPO.
No good service on the open web can service an IPO, and Reddit stopped being a good service long ago.

With me leaving it, I am leaving behind:
- unnecessary drama, as some *someone is wrong on the Internet*[^xkcd]
- urge to buy expensive stuff, as I tend to join such Subreddits
- /r/jazz, which I have no idea if I'll find a replacement for
- /r/unixporn, which is useless but sexy
- a cool link every few days. 
Hope Mastodon will take this role.
- a lot of Reddits which look great, but are very uninviting upon inspection.
- a way to self-promote.
Coincidentally, I was no longer doing it there.
- /r/emacs (https://emacs.ch is a good replacement)
- /r/startrek (I will need to find a replacement, and I've been told that there are good forums out there)
- /r/bsd (guess I'll join https://daemonforums.org/)

[^xkcd]: https://xkcd.com/386/

---

Or I'll just start being more active on IRC and be done with it.