1379
submitted 11 months ago by Bucky@816am.ddns.net to c/reddit@lemmy.world

Read all about it at the above link. There's way too much to process here. This is going to be wild.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Phantom_Engineer@lemmy.ml 224 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Glanced over it. Complete word salad. Corporate nonsense: baffle them with bullshit.

You get points from communities. These points are stored on the block chain, because why not? The points themselves come from reddit, but the communities distribute them. Since they're on the block chain, reddit can't take back your magic bean points or whatever once you get them. Nevermind that they're worthless and that reddit controls the only platform that they're even remotely useful on.

For now, Reddit will cover gas costs for distributing Points to users and allowing them to spend Points on features such as Special Memberships.

Emphasis mine. Someone has to pay for it, because that's how the block chain works. For now it's Reddit. In the future? Who knows!

How does this benefit the consumer? It doesn't, really. Potentially it gives posters more control over a subreddit, but looks like mods will still hold essentially all the power when it comes to a subreddit, which is how it works now.

How does this benefit reddit as a business? It doesn't, really. They're handing out magic beans with the selling point being that they can't take them away from you once you get them. It costs them money to do this, because it's on the block chain as opposed to some in-house database. This replaced coins, right? They killed an income stream and replaced it with an expense.

They get to tell investors that they're into the block chain when they launch their IPO, I guess. All I can say is buyer beware. Chances are high the powers that be unload their stock options in the IPO hype and then get the hell out of dodge. They might have waited too long, though. The tech bubble deflated, and I don't know if the books are impressive enough to draw in the big bucks from investors.

If you want genuine control over your community, start one on the Fediverse and self-host an instance. No admins will kick you off since you're your own admin and head mod rolled into one.

[-] theodewere@kbin.social 45 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

its main value to the owners is that it is a more direct means of controlling user behavior.. once they get people used to "real" rewards, they can better use the platform as a means of controlling discourse.. which is why the Mukser is doing it on the other thing, and where they got the idea..

they're trolls.. they want to use it to troll harder..

[-] Shelbyeileen@lemmy.world 40 points 11 months ago

Thank you for making this more understandable. It really feels like a "the people who pay us more will have a louder voice" and I am grossed out, if that's the case.

[-] Phantom_Engineer@lemmy.ml 7 points 11 months ago

Yeah, I had missed the $5 per month per community part, which does basically boil down to that.

[-] __dev@lemmy.world 27 points 11 months ago

They’re handing out magic beans with the selling point being that they can’t take them away from you once you get them.

And that's not even true in any practical sense. If reddit decides that the token in your crypto wallet is invalid, then it'll stop working on reddit. And since they're the only issuer every possible use is going to be tied to reddit in some sense.

[-] Tanglebrook@lemmy.ml 17 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

How does this benefit reddit as a business? It doesn't, really

$5/month per community

You may have missed it, but they snuck in that Special Memberships (subreddit subscriptions, which unlock badges and emojis and stuff) cost $5 a month per subreddit, outside of Reddit Premium. You can also spend 1000 Community Points, but if you don't have the balance and want the benefits, you'll be giving reddit money.

It feels like reddit has come to understand how much closer redditors feel to their communities than reddit as a whole - reddit is hated, but users still cling to their communities. A sitewide Reddit Premium badge is irrelevant, even repugnant and a badge of shame, but special flairs and features in close knit communities are still desirable.

This is reddit exploiting their users' relationships with their communities with a stackable 5 buck alternative to Reddit Premium.

[-] Cubes@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago

I still don't really get who gets the money from this special membership? I understand people subscribe to YouTube and twitch personalities because they want to support the creator and they get most of the money, but what incentive does anyone have to buy this community membership here? Is it really just the special avatars/badges/whatever?

[-] Tanglebrook@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 months ago

Clout in a community they care about. I can't relate to wanting it, but people buy clout all the time online and in games. This is basically a more personalized Twitter Blue.

[-] abraxas@lemmy.ml 2 points 11 months ago

They also said something about community points being usable for moderation/governance. Does that mean people can come in and save/buy enough Community Points to enact a coup?

Like, Atheists could get enough Christianity sub credits and ban all the Christians? Or bigots could seize an LGBTQ+ sub? It seems kinda like a nightmare waiting to happen if so.

[-] pe1uca@lemmy.pe1uca.dev 3 points 11 months ago

I think this also clarifys the mystery of why they said offering the API was costing the too much.

this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2023
1379 points (89.9% liked)

Reddit

16744 readers
167 users here now

News and Discussions about Reddit

Welcome to !reddit. This is a community for all news and discussions about Reddit.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules


Rule 1- No brigading.

**You may not encourage brigading any communities or subreddits in any way. **

YSKs are about self-improvement on how to do things.



Rule 2- No illegal or NSFW or gore content.

**No illegal or NSFW or gore content. **



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding META posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-Reddit posts using the [META] tag on your post title.



Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



:::spoiler Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS