What I see as an advantage of Hubski over reddit: Some of the tags on Hubski can become a great alternative to the most popular subreddits of reddit for many certain individuals. #askhubski seems like one of those. I'm tired of all the pun threads that occur on /r/AskReddit, and the same questions that are being asked over and over. However, a disadvantage I see of Hubski over reddit: Hubski is too small of a community. reddit has the advantage of popularity in that it can spawn several communities that are catered to things that you enjoy (e.g. /r/programming, /r/books, /r/netsec).
This might sound odd: I think the simplicity promotes more depth in the links and discussion. I mean, this looks like one of the stack exchanges, which regularly see discussion from top people in certain STEM fields. On reddit, there's thumbnails (this is a big one), upvote/downvote counters in two contrasting colors, a single quantity of net votes, and so on. Reddit, which I try to use as a discussion forum, is in many respects more suited as purely a social media website with some commetning ability. I came to Reddit from other forums, one's with avatars and no good way of knowing if someone replied to your posts. The discussion on those was tremendously bad compared to Reddit. There seems to be an inverse correlation between flashiness and discussion quality. I don't necessarily agree that Hubski allows more freedom to choose a browsing experience. I think Reddit and Hubski both do this well, Reddit especially with the recent "multi-reddit" changes. Sure, the default subreddits aren't very good, but the strength of Reddit lies in the ability to subscribe to certain subreddits and ignore others. I can effectively use Reddit by entirely ignoring the goings-on in r/atheism, r/pics, and r/gaming. I think one obvious disadvantage and advantage is size. Hubski is considerably smaller. This can be a disadvantage. For example, the physics tag isn't very robust yet. It can also be an advantage. For example, the funny/humor tag isn't loaded with garbage. Something I like about Hubski is the ability to follow people. You can do this on Reddit too, but it's pretty far removed from the traditional Reddit experience and I'd wager most people aren't aware you can even do it. Hubski is different in that it's promoted as a key feature. If people followed me, I'd feel more obligated to post good content. Less concrete: Hubski sort of feels like a mature Reddit. I also feel like I can much more easily "waste time" on Reddit than I can on Hubski, which is good for Hubski. Lastly, I'll be perfectly honest and admit that there's a certain charm to smaller communities.
I think that having thumbnails promotes image browsing/posting and just skimming through posts. It adds to the instant reward complex that many that submit images on Reddit seek. The lack of thumbnails here is one of my favorite things about Hubski, it promotes not only reading the article but also the comments. I think that prior to the multi-reddit addition Hubski clearly had more freedom, but now I would have to agree that it is a pretty even experience in that regard. However, I do very much enjoy being able to follow domains here. To me, followers and following people is huge. Who you follow is just as important as what tags or domains you follow. I've found so many interesting submissions that weren't part of the tags I follow by virtue of following a diverse set of people here.
Just to note, you can turn reddit thumbnails off. I have had them off for so long I gag when I get accidentally logged out now.
Oh yeah, I turned them off long ago. It's an annoyance since I use a lot of different computers over the course of the day and keep having to log in if I want to hop on that site.
I just made my account here a minute ago, after learning about this site from a recent reddit thread about what would cause reddit's downfall, as Digg's restructuring update was its spark that made everyone jump ship to reddit. If this is going to be Digg's reddit, so to speak, I think the concept of following is going to be the catalyst. I say this hesitantly, because the thought of this fragile yet awesome community being collapsed by the demonspawn of /r/AdviceAnimals is terrifying.
First of all, welcome! Secondly, in theory if people that post content your not interested in join Hubski, it should have little impact on your experience. -If you don't follow them, you will not see their posts. If they post to tags that you follow, then you can "ignore" them and not see their posts. If you find that they comment on posts that you comment on, you can mute them and you will not see their comments. We have built in many controls for you to be able to tailor your experience here. You can follow/ignore tags/users and domains. CameOutOfTheTrees, glad to have you here, if either of you have any questions feel free to shout-out or pm me. Enjoy the site! See you around. edit: I should mention that we are always open to suggestions as to how we can protect the integrity of your experience here. Our goal is to be a trusted place to find, create, share and discuss the most interesting content on the web. -Any ideas to help support this goal is most welcome!
Thank you :) I have great hopes for hubski through its evolution, and I'm very glad to see that you've managed to create a hub, npi, for everyone to connect and communicate with each other, but keep it personal at the same time. Choosing the content exposed to you is a great feature that most other sites like this lack. Of course, having an option to see them ALL is equally important.
Of course, having an option to see them ALL is equally important.
I agree, that's why we implemented the "global posts" links at the top right of the screen. There you can find all of the posts on Hubski. Again, any and all feedback is most welcome! Thanks nowaypablo. btw, I like your username, my grandfathers name is Pablo and I grew up hearing my grandmother say "no way Pablo" often :)
Ooh cool didn't know that, awesome. And that's funny I don't even know a Pablo irl, it's a play on words with the phrase no way jose. I didn't put too much thought into my username. Oh well :D What's the backstory to this new green?
I agree, I'm also a new guy and I think that this might be like you said "reddit's reddit". I was at reddit for a year and a half and after a while it just got stale.
I think it releases some of the control you have over your browsing or information finding experience, but in a good way. Interesting and thought provoking links appear on your - front page? - you click, you share, then follow and trust specific users to bring you more. It seems to prioritise more in depth usage... without competing for comment karma, there is no incentive for shallow, easily digestible responses. Or maybe there is. I have no idea, I've only been here five minutes.
You've got my experience here pegged. It's wonderful to slow down, taking the time to share what you enjoy with others, and feel relatively free in what you peruse. A nice feature I found on accident: if someone already submitted a link before you, hubski warns you before you post it. Whoever programmed that in is awesome in my book. Welcome to Hubski! I hope you enjoy your stay. :)
My God, this is so true. I look at some of the submissions on my feed and it some of them are more than a week old, which in Reddit time is basically an eternity. Hubski seems to encourage users to actually digest what they are viewing, whereas on Reddit, it's like I'm in a race to turn as many of the blue links purple before I have to log off.It's wonderful to slow down
You are actually encouraged to comment on older posts! You don't realize how much reddit influences you until you are on such a liberating website. It's pretty difficult to seek out some of the older ones to comment on, but insomniasexx came up with a great way to get used to it (the Hubski newsletter). Don't be afraid of creating new tags if you can't find what you are looking for either. People like you here and you won't know if they don't. Ignoring the user is completely up to you. I earned my first full hubski wheel yesterday and got shocked when it disappeared! I didn't realize how much I was glad to see the damn thing, so I'm back to earning another one for the sole satisfaction of seeing it up there again.
You wouldn't believe how much this is true. I commented on a post that was 20-30 days old. I figured it'd just fly by and no one except for maybe a couple people would even see it. I check back a bit later and there's people commenting on that 20-30 day old post (with the older posts being 20-30 days old and the newer ones only being a few hours). I honestly think I revived it. With Reddit, that would've never happened. Most comment would've sat there and been lost forever.You are actually encouraged to comment on older posts!
I wouldn't say it influenced me so much, but it did become a huge habit in my life that I only started to get rid of around this time last year. I couldn't believe how much time I spent I would spend there until I stopped spending so much time there. But I'm excited to explore this community, it honestly seems so great and relaxing, rather than the time-wasting black-hole of Reddit that I let consume me. Also, I'm guessing insomniasexx is some sort of power-user or Hubski celebrity because her name has popped up everywhere!
No. Nononononononononono. insomniasexx if you disagree with me then please speak up once you read this....but please, please, please don't call people power-users or Hubski celebrity's. We're all just people, some of whom work on this great site, but in the end we're all using in roughly the same way.
Ha. Power user, that's hilarious. It naturally takes a bit for people to understand the culture here and to realize that this is its own place. The idea that interactions in the community aren't tied to some sort of competition is foreign to most people. But I agree with you and ButterflyEffect we are all just people having conversations.
It also takes time and effort to make enough quality posts to gain followers, so hopefully the lack of instant gratification will deter the people that just want followers. If not, well, there's always the ignore button.
It will. We've gone through this several times now but it helps to steer people in the right direction.
I am NOT a power user. I am a 23 year old chick who happened to be doing homework while preparing for a work presentation today when the site crashed. I had seen the reddit thread earlier so I knew that reddit had done it. :) Naturally, which would you choose. Homework / boring powerpoint or being on Hubski/reddit? Hmm.....
Haha sorry, I didn't mean to hit a nerve. I just didn't know how else to label it (or if labels are even appropriate) but you seem to have just popped up everywhere on this site. And I would definitely choose Hubski/reddit over homework, which is what I'm doing right now actually.
I'm am part of the team. The team consists of mk, b_b, thenewgreen, and forwardslash. mk and fowardslash are the coder programmer wizards. I guess it falls on to me help answer questions, etc when the smart ones are dealing with server issues, etc.
I'm going to post a links to some the previous questions that mirror this one. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have this discussion again, just noting some old conversations we had for new users to explore: 0. What's the difference between this and reddit? 1. How do you decide who to follow? 2. Hubski Shortcomings: What are they?
I think everything right now is still speculation, since hubski is still young and small. But as the other posters wrote, over time some migration will happen and of course new users will follow, too. But as someone in another thread put it: I wouldn't say reddit and this website are competing, they just co-exist right now and seem to have (at the moment) some minor differences here and there, which - in my opinion or how I see it - will grow over time and both will get more and more diverse. I see it a bit like a forking process in software development: habski split from reddit (the general idea behind it) as a branch, and as time goes on, both will get more unique and their own identity.
We like to emphasize that there is no competition between the two sites, because it's something that comes up far too often. Yes, both sites are aggregates where you can submit and comment, but that's about it. The philosophical differences are huge, as are the more subtle mechanical differences between Hubski and Reddit. The internet is a huge place, with more than enough room for both websites.
| I see it a bit like a forking process in software development: habski split from reddit (the general idea behind it) as a branch,| As a bit of trivia, Hubski's actual DNA is actually a lot closer to Hacker News than Reddit. Hubski started with a modified HN code base, though you'd never be able to guess looking at the two sites side by side today, mk has transformed the UI so radically that there are very few visual cues left. On a conceptual level though, I totally take you point, though I think the Hubsi and HN are still closer relatives conceptually as well...thoughtful discussion and all that :)
Given time, and the (what seems like constant) bitching that I've been seeing on Reddit lately, I imagine some migration will occur, especially as Hubski matures. Source:Joined hubski because of todays AskReddit thread about it's downfall.
Confirmed. I see this having great potential. It feels more like a community, where as reddit is a lot of people with similar interests pisting things left and right.
I've been here for like 9 months or so. I like the people here, and I like the quality of content and discussion better. It's also interesting how following people leads to more content that I wouldn't otherwise see on Reddit where I just subscribe to certain topics (subreddits). Here, it's more about the users, and when I follow them, I get to see things they find interesting that I might not otherwise read, which is good and helps me be more open minded. Reddit, because of it's insanely large population, is still better for niche topics, because even niche topics on Reddit have fairly large subreddits. Like on Reddit I still go to the electronic_cigarette subreddit, the space subreddit, the watches subreddit, and a few other topics that simply aren't represented on Hubski, yet. But at the same time, that large population of Reddit, combined with a point system, has ruined most of the communities there. You're more likely to see a "I DID NAZI THAT COMING" type comment in a thread about WWII history than you are anything informative or helpful. It's all just jokes, and puns, and reaction gifs now. Hubski is just smaller, fresher, and the sense of community here is a lot better. It's like going to a small college of 1,000 people, instead of a huge state University with 80,000 people. You're more likely to see people you recognize discussing things in threads, instead of just a bunch of faceless randoms you've never chatted with before. I like that.
So far I love the folks here so much more than those on reddit. All the comments are a joy to read! It's such a breath of fresh air. Only thing is that I feel as if I wont be commenting as often here because I find everyone else to have more interesting things to say than I. And I am totally okay with that!
I joined just over a month ago, only started commenting recently, and just submitted my first post yesterday. There's no harm in waiting. There is definitely a "cool kid" or clique vibe going on at first but that was just my perception. Some of the members who have been around longer are more active, have more followers, and tend to get more exposure. They aren't inherently more interesting, they may just have more practice. For what it's worth, I feel much more welcome commenting here than I ever did on Reddit.
I'm here for over a month now, and I'm still feeling that other people are better than I could ever be. Don't let that hold you back! You'll miss out on discussions because you think you can't add anything, but the truth is, adding yourself to a discussion is something of it's own. I don't mean that you should start posting everywhere. If you stay yourself and are genuinely interested, your contribution will be interesting! I'll follow you.
I think everyone feels that way to some extent. That's probably why there are so many lurkers on the internet (not just here). Not speaking up out of fear of being wrong has led to airline crashes and patients getting the wrong leg amputated (as real world examples of why everyone should contribute). I think most people are on sites like this to hear what others have to say, and not just to give others their own opinions.
On the flipside, when I have a downvote option, I feel more negative in general. With Facebook, you just hide or keep scrolling if you see something that's especially inane, and you quickly forget about it. On Reddit, you can cackle gleefully and hit that little blue arrow... but it's just negativity that doesn't need to be there. It's sort of refreshing to have that option removed.
Reddit has sub-reddits instead of tags. Tags are nice at a smaller scale because a post can be given multiple tags, but sub-reddits are far, far superior once a site builds enough of a user base to support multiple communities Reddit let's you collapse all the comments under a comment - Hubski doesn't
For what it's worth, it should be noted that we aren't trying to compete with reddit. Reddit exists and it's good at what it does. If you want to follow a topic, a subreddit is a good way to do it. Early on we decided that we wanted Hubski to be about people more than about topics. Tags are a great way to introduce yourself to the site but ideally once you are familiar you will start following other users. IMO, this is far preferable to following topics. It allows for familiarity and a more congenial exchange of ideas and information. Following people allows for the serendipitous discovery of content that just doesn't occur when you are walled in to a specific topic. But if you are looking for specific information on Dayton Ohio, then r/dayton (just an example) is probably where you want to be. It will not seem obvious at first, it takes some time, but what you will find is that once you follow some users you will become more familiar with them and more often than not some actual friendships or at least a mutual respect is formed. It's been pretty cool. Welcome by the way!
Over time Hubski will growm maybe not yet, maybe never even get as big as reddit, but either way I think we should appreciate how it is now. I just made my account 5 minutes ago and am really glad to have found a polished, bullshit-free alternative.
Only tangentially related; I see a lot of people on reddit complain about pun threads. That's your right, but I like pun threads. As do other people, it would seem. Some puns, and pun threads, are legitimately clever and amusing. I just don't like hearing that they're all worthless. Oh, and you mentioned repeat questions on ask reddti. Some repeats can be amusing, because there are always different answers. I don't know, I suppose I would chalk both of these up to personal preference.
Slower as far as the posted content goes? Or slower as in 'holy fuck the servers are like snails after smoking too much weed'?