Megathread for Reddit Blackouts and News - Day 2

alyaza [they/she]@beehaw.orgmod to Technology@beehaw.org – 167 points –

hey everyone. if you want to post links or discuss the Reddit blackout today, please localize it to this thread in order to keep things tidy! Thanks!

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The blackout is definitely having an impact on Reddit traffic, especially the level of commenting on posts. Look at https://blackout.photon-reddit.com/ and the posts and comments per minute. The comments are usually up to the top or above the number of posts and they are way down. Posts overall are way down as well.

Hmmm the effect is not as dramatic as I was anticipating. Am I reading this right? Say the daily average in comments/minute is around 5k: seems the average today is around 4k. A 20% dip only. Not much compared to 50+% of the subreddits going dark :(

It's unclear how useful aggregate post and comment totals are in terms of measuring the effect of the blackout on content.

I feel comfortable saying that 80% of Reddit content on my subscribed subreddits has no impact on my day or understanding of life. Thus, the question becomes what 20% has been lost.

One thing to note that noticable amount of Reddit traffic is actually bots and they're not taking time off. Be it legit bots or bots farming karma to peddle corporate ads later.