Is this a good alternative to reddit?

submitted by IamCleaver from self.SaidIt

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[–]magnora7 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (6 children)

Yes promoting is the problem. I've been doing 90% of the promotion of this website all by myself for 3 years. That's why we don't have any people. No one is helping saidit grow except me.

[–]send_nasty_stuff 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

If you were a real alternative to reddit you wouldn't have to promote at all. That's why Digg collapsed and reddit saw rocket ship growth. The internet is more akin to a whisper campaign or a small town sewing circle. Many movers and shakers on the internet are from a generation that HATES being marketed too. They only try things when trustworthy people suggest the site. Which means you need to get the 'hipster' type people on your site first and hope that they bring their friends who bring their friends, etc. Guerrilla marketing or no marketing is the way to go.

IMHO saidit has not grown to challenge Reddit because it doesn't actively develop it's platform* and it has not learned how important consistency is for people looking for social media sites. The multiple monthly shut downs have cost saidit growth. I'm glad saidit is still here and I'm glad you are back Magnora7. I've seen a subtle uptick of activity on the site the last few weeks or so so maybe the 'dark winter' in the US will lead to people searching for truth and dissent. That will be a real opportunity for saidit. Hopefully it is not squandered.

*lots of critical pieces like a native image uploader and video uploader are missing. If a small site like Slug can have these features I'm not sure why we can't.

[–]magnora7 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

If you were a real alternative to reddit you wouldn't have to promote at all. That's why Digg collapsed and reddit saw rocket ship growth.

This isn't 2007... the internet has changed a lot. There are shill and botgroups that have to be defended against so they don't poison the online culture. Growth has to outpace shill and bot activity.

Reddit advertised hugely when they started, and were also astroturfing posts and votes to make the place appear more popular, something we didn't do at all.

We're proof that advertising is basically necessary. I had to do all my promoting by hand, that's why 90% of the users that are here now are here, is because I mentioned saidit to them in a reddit thread. Had I not done this constant promotion by myself, literally no one would be here at all.

The fact you think all these users will just materialize out of nowhere is pure fantasy, based on an internet culture that no longer exists.

We've had 5 total days of downtime in 3 years. Our uptime record is actually quite good, so I'm not sure why people keep going on about that like we've failed massively in that regard. Need I remind you almost all the other alternatives completely pulled the plug?

How about you help promote the site to others, and actually help?

[–]send_nasty_stuff 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Most direct promotion doesn't work and most marketing has the opposite affect especially for social media sites and like I said especially for the gen x and millennial generations.

This isn't 2007

It kinda is. The people that got on and started using the net 2.0 heavily from 2004-2010 are a huge part of the net today and they have more money today to donate and build/promote social media sites. They are a key demographic. 2007 was also pre corporate hijacking of the internet so it was a time the people still long for and 'retro' is very in as a selling point.

How about you help promote the site to others, and actually help?

The fact I'm still here and share content from saidit to other people IS a promotion. Can't you see that? You need to stop thinking of your users as lazy people that don't promote the site enough. Start thinking about how you can make your site a better place for the people that already use it. I bring users to my sub on the same principle. How can I make DAR a better place? If I do promote DAR how can I do it naturally and tactfully? How can I be a mod that facilitates a healthy political discussion space? Promotion will come naturally as people use the product more and more.

The fact you think all these users will just materialize out of nowhere is pure fantasy

I didn't say that at all. Obviously you need a key event. (like people leaving DIGG). Many of your most consistent users are from the reddit banout of 2018. They are the reason the site is still alive. You just need to make sure you're in a position to grab market share when there's another exodus from your competitors who are doing a really shit job. Unfortunately your user experience still doesn't match anywhere close to pre sell out corporate commie reddit. Until that's addressed people will keep coming here, stay a few weeks and then leave because the tools are not there for them to do what they need to do. The oppie and Anthony sub is a good example of this failure to capitalize on internet movement.

[–]magnora7 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

You simply find threads on reddit or other sites, where people are looking for alternative websites, and you simply mention saidit and give a link. It's not hard.

Thanks for all your help building out the site, I'm just frustrated.

I agree we need a key event, I don't know what that would be at that point though. We often contact subs about to be banned, or they'll request to come here. That's how we got about 1/2 our traffic.

We've been basically waiting on a reddit implosion that never arrived. We thought 3 years ago they'd have gotten rid of the old.reddit.com format and we'd get those people, but they never did. Reddit has actually been extremely smart about containing damage, unlike digg which all imploded at once basically

[–]send_nasty_stuff 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Reddit has actually been extremely smart about containing damage, unlike digg which all imploded at once basically

That's a very good point.

Thanks for all your help building out the site, I'm just frustrated.

No problem and I do promote in my own way. It looks like the country is headed for some very very real political turmoil. If you can keep the lights on here a little longer you might just see a HUGE flood of people. You do have some things going for you. You have steady traffic. You have a catchy name similar to Reddit. You've survived tough times. Ruqqus and several other competitors are dead or dying. It might sound weird but your goal shouldn't be killing reddit it should be to become the best and closest alternative to reddit. If you are the only alternative that has a similar vote ranked system then you will constantly benefit as people fall away from reddit. People really get addicted to a certain layout and structure. Your structure is close enough to be the only game in town if reddit ever makes even a slight error. That's a good position to be in.

[–]magnora7 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It looks like the country is headed for some very very real political turmoil.

Yeah not even the country, but maybe dozens of countries simultaneously. It seems like the west is basically self-imploding right now, looking at Canada and Australia. Things will turn around, but dear god are people taking their sweet time in waking up to this.

Thanks for the kind words, saidit seems to have plateued here and I'm okay with that. Maybe someday it will get mentioned somewhere popular and we'll grow suddenly, it has happened before with prior reddit exoduses. Maybe it will happen again. I think you're right about us having the old.reddit look and that being a good thing too. I just hope that reddit sheds people faster than people leave saidit, I don't want to see us dead in the water because then we have no chance. We kind of need those occasional bumps to keep the community active enough to to be worth visiting.