I have recently been trying to leave Reddit behind. The upvote/downvote system stifles a lot of conversation and turns people to say whatever they think will be popular.
Out of all the alternatives I discovered, Hubski has been the most conversational. Even among differing points of view the conversations that I have been a part of remain civil.
My Question is, what drove you to Hubski? Do you use it as a replacement for other platforms or in conjunction with them?
What brought me here was an offhand comment somewhere deep in the bellow of Reddit mentioning Hubski. What got me to come back was the often wonderful conversations and a warm welcome by thenewgreen himself. What has kept me coming back here nearly every day for the past years (reading everything religiously) are the people. The problem with online communities in general is that they are too impersonal, creating a distance that kills empathy, sympathy and compassion. Hubski is small, slow and personal enough that it has become the only site I care to contribute to, and the only site where I've actually met people from.
I wasn’t trying to leave reddit right before I first got it. I saw people talking about reddit alternatives and this was one of the places that popped up. I checked it out and I have stayed for over 1,000 days now. I may not post a lot but I do like reading the opinions and articles brought about here. I guess I have sticked around because conversation on here is pretty civil when compared to other sites. It’s always refreshing to see conversations that don’t revolve into flame feats. That type of thing seems rare for the internet these days.
Usually the URL brings me to Hubski. Sometimes it brings me to Zork. The people are what kept me here. Just did lunch with a person from this site earlier today!
Hello! I literally just made my account like 10 minutes ago. I'm kind of just sick of the negativity on Reddit. They all talk like they want to be informed and educated, but then reject anything that doesn't fit their own opinions. Even when you give sources. What's worse is that I was also starting to act like the rest of them. All in all, Reddit was just not good for my mental health. Hubski looks nice, though! Really like that there is no downvoting.
Hubski is quieter and more thoughtful. It's not as fast-paced and populated as a lot of other social media, but it lends itself towards better in-depth conversation. It also lets me recognize the various users as individuals, not faceless usernames. This almost never happens for me with other social media.
I'm friends with one of the founders. He asked me to help get things moving some 7 years ago. I joined and figured I'd hang around for a few months until it got off the ground. I'm still here. It's the only social media I participate in aside from a few Twitter comments a year.
The conversations I have on here are deeper, weirder, and cooler than everyday conversations I have in person (save a personal friend or two). Additionally, in the past year or so, my reading list has taken a turn for the more interesting and compelling. That's 100% due to the conversations I've been a part of or witnessed on here.
I've actually done a #scificlub here perennially. If we've got new users here and there's interest, maybe I'll have to reignite it.
I don't remember exactly how I stumbled accross Hubski, probably a link in a reddit post. That was 1419 days ago, so almost 4 years. I don't post often, but I check the community almost daily, except on holidays. Why ? - Great content discovery, and thoughtful comments and discussions. I love to be able to read about the opinions and thoughts of a diverse crowd. It lets you go past your filter bubble in a way; - There is almost always someone to tell me why I'm wrong on something, and they are very often right (I'm especially thinking about kleinbl00 here, thanks for pushing back the dark!); - The fact that everybody speaks english is amazing. It trains me everyday to read and understand another language. You know that language-learning in French is a bit lagging behind Europe. I would not consider myself bilingual because I still have a french accent, but I can talk about cryptocurrencies, technology and economics in english in a day-to-day conversation, and part of that reason is Hubski; - The feeling of the community is loving, welcoming, and pushing you to be the better version of yourself. It's kind of like everybody believes in everybody, so we each push ourselves up in a not-cheesy-kind-of-way if that makes sense; - I will always remember meeting wasoxygen and arguewithatree on a week-end trip to DC when I was in the US. Incredible hospitality and amazing people.
Honestly, I have no idea why I ended up on Hubski. I think that at least one other user joined on the same day as me, so maybe I got here via a Reddit link? I stick around because Hubski is a social network taken from cyberpunk: an amorphous community of people spread out all over the world.
Really like the way you put it in the second paragraph. That's a great way of interpreting what Hubski is.
Yay! a new slogan to add to Hubski: Logos and Slogans So Far
Quick thing for you fellow post-Redditors: The hubwheel next to each post is NOT an upvote/downvote button. It is a SHARE button. Don't click it to "like" a post. Click it if the post is meaningful, adds value, and would be of general interest to others on the site. It is a way to say, "Hey, you guys over there! Come here. You gotta check this out!" Not, "Yeah man! I agree with you!"
I'm guilty of this a lot. One way to think about it is the "share" button makes your hubski experience "more like this!" and for those that follow you, it makes their hubski experiences "more like this!" as well. It's fair to say that the "more like this!" feedback loop was the most instrumental mechanism in the isolation of the Laurelai influx. It's also fair to say that the reason I follow so few people is because overactive sharing is pretty much turning the volume knob up to 11.
Aside from the obligations of the bridge, I am always pleased by the slow trickle of good people joining the ranks, and the occasional visitations by old friends. I'd like to think that we've transcended any kind of expectation of what this place ought to be in order to be called successful.
I remember I was on break a couple (few?) years back, the Reddit I was used to didn't meet the expectation I had from the years prior. The discussion here was something I wasn't getting from my peers, and I wasn't open to seeking out new friend circles. Having cogent thoughts to come to kept me breathing while rooming with fratbois. Psst! Try dark mode! Sounds weird, but dark mode is actually a pretty big reason for me coming back. I was big into a gaming community forum with similar style. The place was small enough for users to recognize eachother, while similarly having civil discussions around the game, life, clans, etc. Loved that forum and the people I frequented it with. The nostalgia factor is a big plus on top of having a similarly tight community. Made some big (for the time) decisions based on some solid advice on here and wouldn't have it any other way. Now I'm just twiddling my thumbs until d20 dark is a thing.
What drove me to Hubski was precisely the same reason although I suppose I got alienated a lot earlier. I've been on Reddit since 2009 when I was a wee lad and I remember things weren't really the same after the Digg migration. I don't even remember how I found this site but I've been coming back ever since. The quality discussions and deep articles are awesome but I love the sense of real empathy here. I know Reddit's tagline is "come for the cats, stay for the empathy" but I find Hubski has a lot more to offer in that regard. People really pay attention when they comment here, it's not just yelling into the wind.
I tend to jump between Reddit and here - but lately my usual hangouts in Reddit have grown in size and toxicity. My personal hobbies aren't often represented in Hubski so I often use Reddit to discuss them but I like Hubski's approach to civil discussion - plus there are some very intelligent people here, I think I could learn a lot from.
Just made my account. Reddit deleting all those subs that weren't hurting anyone to be more ad friendly and not doing an April fools. Now they added a splash screen that you have to click a button to see the front page if you aren't logged in an it comes back every page you click. So I guess mild annoyance and sick of the admins being a corporate shills. I already have enough of that in US politics.