Don’t go back. Even if Reddit makes concessions, the CEO has shown that he will do whatever he wants and doesn’t give a crap about the users of Reddit, you know, the people who actually make him money. Any site controlled by a CEO is at risk of this happening.

Reddit is only valuable because of the content users provide. If you don’t post valuable content, the site is worthless. Reddit can force subs back open, but they can’t force users to submit the content that makes the site valuable to begin with.

Here’s my hope as a 40-something who came of age when the internet was just taking off.

I REALLY HOPE this is the push we need to move away from corporate-owned social media. I have high hopes for federated platforms and forums that are much more like what the internet was when it started (but better because now we have mobile devices).

I realize a lot of people see social media as being some evil thing, but we also fail to realize how much good it has done. Marginalized communities have come together online and formed real movements. People living with health conditions have been connected to one another for support and also life-changing resources and care. People who were isolated because of disability found communities.

I would like to see old-fashioned blogs and RSS make a comeback. I’d like to see forums and federated sites like Lemmy take off. I’d like to see social media sites that have been given way too much weight in society collapse. I don’t think government or reputable media outlets should ever be using a corporate for-profit entity as a means for distributing information.

Highly doubt it. I've been watching coverage and it seems pretty unlikely they will be found before their oxygen runs out (assuming they are even still alive and haven't died as a result of an implosion).

What irks me with all the coverage, however, is that no one is pointing out the potential harm to all the people involved in trying to rescue these people. The Coast Guard and other outfits undertaking the rescue attempts are put in danger the whole time they are out there. And of course there's the cost involved as well.

So a few things. This is a CVS minute-clinic visit, not a visit to a general provider. The minute clinics have contracts with insurance companies that look a bit different in terms of what and who they are permitted by the insurance companies to treat. There are some really odd variations in these contracts by insurance companies for reasons that are not always grounded in science.

This, as you've noted, is an unfortunate reality of a for-profit health care system that is dictated by private companies, insurance companies, and mind-bogglingly complex contracts that sit between providers and patients. The most annoying part IMO is that insurance companies provide zero transparency into these contracts and the justification behind decisions. It's all "business decisions" at the end of the day, not decisions that are medically sound and in the best interest of the patient.

And for those wondering why OP maybe just didn't go to a "regular doctor" - the U.S. has a horrible shortage of general practitioners (primary care) physicians. This shortage is worse in some areas than others. And even if you're lucky to live in an area that has general practitioners, the waiting list to get into their practices might be long. This leaves many people relying on a "doc in the box" aka CVS Minute Clinic or some similar outfit. These doc in the box clinics often only have a nurse or nurse practitioner on site, with a supervising physician off side. They are for-profit entities and they work with the insurance companies to design their contracts to maximize profit.

If you ever find yourself in OP's physician, one easy way to get around this is to indicate that the visit is for something more general, like abdominal pain or unexplained fever. While the staff still might refer you off to another provider, it might be a good way to at least "get in" with someone.

Another option is to visit a local urgent care clinic if one is available and covered by insurance. These are often staffed by actual physicians so they can treat a wider range of conditions. Many often even have testing facilities right on site for a number of issues.

Finally, another option is to call your insurance company and see if they have an over-the-phone nurse consultant available. They can usually help direct you to the right location for treatment based on your symptoms and insurance coverage.

But yes, OP, I agree with you that we need something better. Medicaid and Medicare have slowly been expanding and my hope is that they will eventually expand enough to cover all Americans. it has been proven that they can still operate without completely decimating the insurance industry (see Medicare and Medicaid managed care). While I don't agree with for-profit health insurance, the reality is that they are a lobbying force that has to be worked with if we are going to get everyone universal coverage.

Source: Health policy professional by trade, extensive experience within the health care industry

This is what gets me. Christian Selig pointed out in a number of interviews that Reddit could have easily made this work without alienating a huge segment of their user base. I get this vague feeling lately like CEOs are intentionally trying to tank their products, because no one so well paid could actually act so dumb.

I think it’s the fallout of allowing private companies to monetize the internet. Way back in the early days of the internet, it was a pretty de-centralized experience. Then we started centralizing things, companies realized there was revenue to be made, and those companies (because they were corporations) valued the money over the people. Capitalism, basically. Only way to fight this is to take the internet back to what it was in about 2006.

If people don’t use Reddit or Twitter or Facebook, those companies have very little value. The value in any social media is generated by the people who use those things. If there’s no people, there’s no value.

I was active on Reddit for well over a decade. Even helped mod a couple of small communities at various points. I also loved Apollo and was an early beta tester for that app. For me, Apollo was Reddit. It was the only Reddit client I used in recent years and I miss Apollo as much as I miss Reddit itself.

I don’t see myself going back to Reddit. Lemmy has been great and has quickly become very “Reddit-like” for me, but with the vibe of what the internet was back in the early 2000s. I am enjoying the communities that are forming on her.

I’m also very fond of the concept of the Fediverse as a whole. Corporate social media has failed again and again, so I want to move away from it as much as possible.

To understand why this is happening, you have to go back in history to the end of the slave trade. When the ability to kidnap people from Africa and bring them back to enslave them was legally ended, the white enslavers realized that the only way they could keep slavery going was to force people to breed more slaves. Google that history. It is utterly abhorrent but necessary to understand where the Republican Party is coming from today.

Since the end of slavery, a certain contingent in the U.S. has never gotten over the fact that they couldn't legally have a sub-class of citizens that they could use for free or nearly-free labor. So they kept trying to find other ways to keep people oppressed, and they expanded that oppression beyond just black people and to any of the "less desirable" groups. Think not just Black people, but also Irish, immigrants, Appalachia. They pit these groups against one another because divided people are easier to control. But the goal is the same - have large groups of people poor for generations who have no other option but to work for slave wages and keep the people at the top very, very rich.

Slavery in the U.S. was a huge economic force, one that a certain contingent (the very wealthy) never got over losing. The next best thing was to create whole groups of people who are desperate enough to work for almost nothing. That's what we have in this country now. And it works best if those people are constantly putting out more children. That keeps them even more stuck and more desperate, and it keeps a steady supply of cheap labor coming.

It's no coincidence that they want abortion ended but also want to ensure those same people are continually subjected to sub-standard education, that those same people are "allowed" to send their kids to work (defeating years of progress through child labor laws), that those people are also unable to access higher education, government benefits, or virtually anything that could potentially make their lives better.

I don't care how much money I had, there's no fucking way I would have gotten on that thing or done anything that involved going down into the ocean at that depth.

It is beyond fucked up. I have type 1 diabetes and even with EXCELLENT insurance I am still paying thousands a year out of pocket to cover my insulin, insulin pump, and CGM supplies, as well as doctor's visits, lab work, and other necessary diagnostics testing. And these are just the diabetes things I have to do to stay alive. There's also the regular people medical stuff that I still need. It's absolutely crazy that some people have to forgo basic medical care, even when they have insurance, because of cost.

I don’t think it’s necessary “CEO proof” but it is definitely a bit better positioned to avoid the pitfalls that Twitter and Reddit have experienced. Hence the reason I am here. But there’s nothing stopping a for-profit corporation from buying out the owner of a large instance (or multiple large instances). I think the best way to try and prevent that is for people to join hyper-local, hyper-specific instances that can all connect with one another. I assume that would be the benefit of Lemmy.

I like mastodon but the content you see is only driven by two things: the people you follow and the hashtags you follow. Basically, you follow people and hashtags to effectively create your own "algorithm." Once I understood this and really made an effort to follow both people and hashtags that interested me, my Mastodon feed became way more interesting than my Twitter feed.

I also like the quality of the interactions better on Mastodon. Because of how the whole thing works, you're not going to get bombarded with horrible stuff in most cases (at least the chances seem to be far less for that kind of thing happening).

But it definitely takes more time and energy to curate compared to Twitter.

I have a child this age. It's not that you're expecting them to engage in sexual activities but they ABSOLUTELY have quite detailed questions and a bit of information at this age, both information gathered from parents and observation as well as the less-than-accurate information they have obtained via the rumor mill. Yes, there's also the internet, but despite access to the internet, I'm finding that the rumor mill to still be the primary place where this info is spread.

In addition, 10 is about the age when puberty starts on average (for girls it is often even a bit earlier), so it's important accurate information is provided before that happens. There are 10 year old girls who often appear quite older and those girls are likely going to get attention that they may be be prepared for. It's important that they KNOW about sexual activity in order to know that it's OK and appropriate to say NO. Sometimes information is what STOPS kids from engaging in sexual activity that they are not prepared for. It's the kids who don't have that information, who may not even understand what is happening, that are more likely to engage in sexual activity.

Bottom line is accurate and early sex ed is really important. More than ever, kids need ACCURATE information about sex and their bodies.

Agree. It’s good for small communities that want to have an ongoing conversation but it’s horrible for large communities. No easy way to scan content, find info, or even engage in a conversation.

I prefer Memmy the most because it’s the most feature complete. But WefWef is also really nice and I use that sometimes too.

Sheesh. One thing that always bugged me about Reddit was the arbitrary power that mods had. I had a situation where I was banned from /r/glasses because I posted about Warby Parker (the mail-in glasses service) being a good option for lower-cost glasses in the U.S. Turned out the mod was the owner of an optical shop and he didn't like it when people recommended Warby Parker and other mail-order services for glasses because it was sucking away money from high-end, overpriced optical shops. So he just started banning people who mentioned any of these mail-order services.

One thing I like about Lemmy is that the modlog is public. I think that level of transparency is really important and helpful for avoiding situations like people have experienced on Reddit.

But I agree, Reddit has indeed slowly turned to shit. I love that the general concept behind it is being replicated here and that so many people are starting to recognize the importance of a company being free from a CEO.

Health-related communities, particularly those for specific medical conditions. Those are the communities that really become a lifeline for people, help them through diagnoses or just difficult times, and can serve as an excellent resource. I was active on r/diabetes_t1 on Reddit and am trying to get a community started here on Lenny.world (!T1diabetes).

A lot of this has more to do with the mindset people approached Twitter with than the service itself. Honestly, I always approached Twitter the way you describe Mastodon here. I just wanted to find people who had interests similar to mine and connect with them, as well as find interesting news. Maybe that’s why moving from Twitter to Mastodon has been to seamless. Just a lot less anger and hate on Mastodon from what I’ve experienced. A much nicer atmosphere.