I was a Redditict since the earliest days until recently. I've gone from checking it ~20 times a day to once or twice a day. It's been totally overrun and is almost completely useless to me now. The programming subreddit is still somewhat interesting, but not especially great.
It is very good to know that PG will try and keep this site focused on startups. That's what I always enjoyed on Reddit in the early days. But Reddit never really had any official focus. I think that's probably a big part of why it has been overrun with links to anything shiny.
But yeah, I'm finding myself spending less time on Reddit and more on news.YC. Also spending less time on both and more time programming, which I guess is an encouraging sign.
For Reddit to save itself, it needs to put a major effort into the 'recommended page'. Iff the recommended page delivered a tailored experience to each user, then it would not matter (nearly so much) how many 'Digg refugees' arrived on the site. If your interest is programming, your recommended page would show you a programming site with articles that interested you.
The social media site that gets this right will solve the issue of the constant migration of thought leaders - slashdot - Digg - Reddit - ?Y Combinator? -?? If the recommended page really worked, it would become the user's default page, and thought leaders wouldn't have noticed a change in demographic.
Someone will turn these nomads into sticky participants, and then they've constructed a durable competitive advantage.
It has nearly been a week for me. I used to visit multiple times a day, but I prefer the strong focus of news.yc. Just wondering if anyone else has found news.yc as addictive.
It is very good to know that PG will try and keep this site focused on startups. That's what I always enjoyed on Reddit in the early days. But Reddit never really had any official focus. I think that's probably a big part of why it has been overrun with links to anything shiny.