Preface: I am not an engineer. I am not a software guy. But I play games and use websites, and have since i was 8.
If you make the website usable, people will use it.
Reddit and Twitter had a symbiotic dichotomy where they were the embodiment of “causal brainfarts and reactions” vs “long thoughts and thorough argument”. One tweet with an exclamation and some emojis, vs a 7 paragraph breakdown or tutorial in a technical subreddit with hyperlinked sources. Both platforms had just enough to give what people needed in an easy to digest manner.
Kbin (and by extension the Fediverse, which I still do not understand after using this website for a week) just doesnt have that easy to drop in rabbit hole experience that these major platforms do. BUT IT CAN.
But right now pictures are smooshed and theres still huge empty space. It feels old, theres weird bugs like the UI flashing light mode on refresh, and other problems that make a user go “ick”.
Fill my screen with content and let me touch it, interact with it, react to it, let me repost it, let me subscribe to that community or user, and maybe preview THEIR feed or posts so I can get MORE content.
The major companies are at a plateau and know they have to start farming our clicks: thats why we see trends like Tiktok’s “knock on the screen to keep engagement” or “satisfying” videos pasted together with political opinions. Its why every company refuses to innovate while maintaining they deserve more money when they are already the monopolistic hegemony. If kbin can provide a more honest, more personal, more legitimate content sharing experience anonymously, it can explode into the new “front page” as reddit likes to call themselves.
I really like the idea of an integrated Twitter/Reddit alternative, that shares content across “front ends” like Mastodon and reformats information to be readable based on the users preferences. If we (and by we I mean you, the coder who can actually help this open source project) can come up with a design ideology that fosters curiosity, and enables connections, instead of force feeding you ads and sponsored content, that will be the future.
Im really, really hoping the internet heals from this huge burning that Elon and Spez have put on us. I know it can be done.
EDIT: i want kbin to the the place where Iranian women go to be heard. We should strive to be a platform for sharing an education. For connection, not profit, and not propaganda either. #womenlifefreedom #slavaukraini #freepalestine #fucktheccp #beexcellenttoeachother
EDIT2: also NOTIFICATION?! like there is no indication when i go to kbin that this post has any interaction. I have to manually go to the post.
You say you’re not a software engineer, but your intuition is sound. You know a rough website when you see it, and you can articulate how, and that’s valuable information to a developer.
But as a software engineer, I can tell you why. And it is because making software is hard, and damn anyone who tells you it’s easy. Ernest, as anyone who would be in his position, is probably overwhelmed with core programming, fixing security vulnerabilities, and keeping the site online. I’m sure UI updates are on his mind, just not at the forefront.
No piece of software is a utopia on its first major outing. And kbin has many technical hurdles it must overcome before it worry about it’s presentation. A sculpture cannot be polished before it has been shaped.
Second this, while user feedback is important and it’s great to see such passion for this project, hopefully we can all keep just as much patience.
Honestly the progress we’re seeing so far seems pretty astoundingly fast considering how few people are working on it.
There’s a number of small enhancements already out there waiting to be merged into the main code line. I submitted one myself. :)
Nice, I need to check the git maybe try help do my part too.
I agree in principle (devops engineer), but a user retention issue has abruptly entered the fray due to the recent spike of interest. While I’m the sort of person who prioritizes core functionality and stability almost every time, this is one of those rare situations where I’d consider it important to triage usability and aesthetics alongside those. That’s way more than Ernest can handle on his own, but it’s up to him to recognize it as a potential priority and start reaching out for help so that the problems can be solved in tandem.
Not everyone is going to agree with me on this one. Pretty sure a lot of people predating the Reddit surge are happy to take a “when it gets done” approach to this sort of thing and aren’t worried about permanently retaining the Reddit crowd and sticking it to /u/spez. A significant portion of users do though, and there is a non-negligible amount of IT talent to be tapped from those enthusiasts.
(Yes, I put my money where my mouth is, but 1) coding is not one of my top vocations and 2) it’s up to Ernest whether he wants any assistance on the things that I’ve offered to help with.)
All points well made.