I was a longtime Doper in the vBulletin days — I even scored a “Charter Member” title way back when (though I lost that at some point) — and had attended several KC Dopefests and got to be good friends with SkipFitz and auntie_em.
Got seduced by Reddit about 10 years ago and wandered away from the Board. But due to recent drama and shenanigans, I’ve decided to distance myself from that platform and revive my old account and decided to reaquaint myself with the community.
They say you can never go back home. We’ll see whether that’s true in this case.
I’m pretty turned off by Reddit CEO Steve Huffman’s conduct. In addition to enacting policies that effectively kill 3rd party apps, he has been transparently disengenuous with his treatment of the developer of the Apollo app in particular — an app that I think has some of the best UX I’ve ever encountered. I usually don’t go in for the paid version of apps, but that is one of the few whose functionality and usability was so great, I dropped $$$ to support the developers and extra features. And soon this thing I loved with be gone.
It’s not just the avarice by rich tech execs, but the lying adds insult to injury.
And so I’ve been asking myself whether I want to support a platform that lines the pockets of people I dislike. I don’t. Mind you, I know full well that just about everything I purchase and consume lines the pockets of people I would likely dislike — but I make the choices to adjust my behavior when I can.
And I’m not under any illusion that anybody will even notice I’m gone.
Mind you, the weaning off period will be a gradual process and I’m sure I’ll still visit occasionally on a random basis, but I am deleting my past content and don’t expect to be contributing any more.
It’s easy to lose track of people who used to post and whose usernames you used to see. Nothing whops you in the face to say “Hey, so-and-so hasn’t posted in, like, months!”.
I remember posting a question to you in a thread you started about “ask the graphics design guy”.
I’ve been somewhat active on Reddit for the past few years, but only on very specific, hobby-related subreddits. I’ll just say that it’s no SDMB, as far as the quality of discussions go.
Can’t say I recognize you, but it’s always great to see another face. And frankly, oldies returning have a much better track record than do newbies arriving. Welcome back for sure!!11!!1!!!
Other than less snark and much less total posting volume than in Ye Olden Tymes this place should be pretty culturally familiar.
I see you joined in 2001. I date from 2003. When was your heyday here?
And if you’re newish, does that make me a Johnny-come-lately?
And it’s always nice to see the lights of the past rejoin us here in these times, so bring forth your knowledge and snark to us @B.Serum - we can take it!
Well, your old room is now filled up with things we should have got rid of, stuff mom got at garage sales, spare dishes, and kraft supplies. I guess we can put up you up on the couch for a night or two.
Derogatory remarks toward the less-franchised are far more frowned-upon than in the elder days. Particularly women and non-cis-gendered. A lot of people have left, both missed and unmissed, and some have died.
I think it’s more domesticated here, in that we now have some very responsive mods. Might seem a little reactive, but it’s kept the trolls and bigots in line (or out on their ears).
Are you still the graphic design guy? I used to be, then I was the the graphic design teacher guy, and right before Covid hit, I became the retired graphic design guy.
