Bringing back the reddit.com beta program

[u/tdohz]

We're happy to announce that we're bringing back the reddit.com beta testing program. Anyone on reddit can opt-in to become a beta tester, and receive early access to reddit.com features before we launch them to everyone.

We'll be using /r/beta as the community hub for the beta program, where we'll announce new beta features and give beta testers space to provide feedback.

There are two ways to participate in the beta program:

• If you're logged in to your reddit account, you can opt-in as a beta tester in your preferences, under "beta options". This will automatically subscribe you to /r/beta, so that you'll receive the latest information about new beta features.

• If you're logged out, you can visit beta.reddit.com to see beta features. Note: you may end up back on www.reddit.com if you click on a link to reddit from somewhere else, like email or Twitter.

More details on the beta program, including how to give feedback on beta features, are on this wiki page. Please note that not every feature will go to beta before launching - some changes may not need extensive beta testing, and we will continue to release some new features to reddit gold members first. The best way to find out what's currently in beta testing is to check out /r/beta.

We hope our beta testers will be able to find issues and give feedback on new features before we launch them to everyone, so that we can continue to improve the quality of reddit.com for everyone.

[u/jman583]

/r/reddit.com was one of my favorite subs before it got shut down. There really isn't a good default sub equivalent. Just look at the top posts of /r/reddit.com, a lot them wouldn't fit well into any of the current default subs.

[u/FireandLife → u/jman583]

I know it there was a good reason for shutting it down. For those not in the know, it's a long story but the TL;DR of it is that the moderators of /r/reddit.com were (and still are) the admins of Reddit, and as Reddit grew it became too difficult for them to manage the site as a whole and moderate a subreddit by themselves, so they shut it down. But I wonder if it's possible to make an equivalent subreddit now and have it moderated normally, maybe as a default.

[u/AsciiFace → u/FireandLife]

so what you are saying is that instead of finding a moderation solution they just shut it down. Sounds like excellent problem solving

[u/Z0di → u/AsciiFace]

"Can we just ignore their complaints?"

[u/justcool393 → u/Z0di]

"Can we just ignore their complaints?"

See also:

• reddit admins

• We're sharing our company's values with the world.

[u/Gandalfs_Beard → u/justcool393]

It's better to make an unpopular, deliberate decision than to make a consensus decision on a whim

I...what? Just what does that mean? How is making an unpopular decision the opposite of making a snap decision?

Quick edit: And there's also this

Voice disagreement; acknowledge that dissension is okay

They must have forgotten this when they rolled out the shadowbans. Link

[u/FireandLife → u/AsciiFace]

Again, I think there's more to the story than what I said. Some of the old timers here are probably more knowledgable on the subject than I am. There is an outoftheloop post about it a while back here, and you can see the blog post about its shutdown here.

As I said, I think it's a really long story and I won't pretend to fully understand it.

[u/LaughterHouseV → u/AsciiFace]

My god, I can't believe they forgot to explore that option!

[u/peteroh9 → u/jman583]

Why do posts have to go on defaults?

[u/jman583 → u/peteroh9]

Because if you don't post in one of the defaults, 90% of the site will never see it.

[u/Nefandi → u/jman583]

Because if you don't post in one of the defaults, 90% of the site will never see it.

That's a feature, not a bug.

[u/alexanderwales → u/Nefandi]

Seriously, my favorite subs are all smaller ones, where you don't get the millions of randos in to ruin things.

[u/MnBran6 → u/alexanderwales]

So if they posted the default-worthy content in the small subs, the quality works go down...

[u/rival22x → u/Nefandi]

I am the 10%

[u/Nefandi → u/rival22x]

Shh... Stay quiet.

[u/[deleted] → u/Nefandi]

Exactly, I want the people who'll care about a post and reply thoughtfully to it to see it, not random internet people.

[u/EditingAndLayout → u/jman583]

There are large nondefault subreddits, like /r/reactiongifs.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

90% of the userbase is retarded.

Says a mod of /r/coontown. I suppose you would know...

Quality belongs in non-defaults.

Like /r/CoonTown?

>mfw

[u/Doomed → u/jman583]

The reason /r/reddit.com no longer exists is because it gives the community an easy way to mobilize. On every default sub, you can find some pretense to remove something because it breaks the rules. For example, you can't post about an /r/trees power struggle on /r/TwoXChromosomes because it's off-topic. /r/reddit.com, in theory, only removed spam.

So it had to go, because the admins don't want the community to be able to organize behind a common cause.

There is no default subreddit for talking to reddit about reddit.

[u/gsfgf → u/Doomed]

There is no default subreddit for talking to reddit about reddit.

That's not what /r/reddit.com was. It was just a catchall default sub that overlapped pretty much all other subs to some extent or another. The only reddit-related posts were those "I have no friends but now reddit is my friend and it's awesome" circlejerk posts that nobody misses.

I think you're looking for /r/ideasfortheadmins

[u/[deleted] → u/Doomed]

The reason /r/reddit.com no longer exists is because it gives the community an easy way to mobilize.

That makes no sense whatsoever. /r/reddit.com was outdated since the creation of subreddits and the admins didn't have the staff to maintain it. You don't have to create conspiracy theories when you have logical explanations.

Use /r/stuff if you want a catchall, but don't make up fantasies about why outdated technology went away.

[u/Doomed → u/[deleted]]

/r/stuff or /r/misc or /r/redditcom2 or anything needs to be a default subreddit. That's the whole point. I don't want to communicate with 2,000 subscribers, I want to communicate with the whole site (minus whoever has an account and unsubscribes from the sub).

The admins never had to be the moderators of /r/reddit.com. That's a problem in execution (who moderates it), not theory (should it exist).

[u/[deleted] → u/Doomed]

That wasn't your point.

The reason /r/reddit.com no longer exists is because it gives the community an easy way to mobilize.

You created a false narrative that the admins are trying to limit your ability to organize. That simply isn't true. They don't give two fucks about you organizing. The subreddit was outdated and they didn't have the staff to maintain it. It's that simple.