https://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/plrsdf/opt_out_of_followers_frontend_improvements_to/
created by BurritoJusticeLeague on 10/09/2021 at 19:23 UTC*
1569 upvotes, 118 top-level comments (showing 25)
Hey everyone,
Happy Friday and welcome back to another update. We’ve recently finished up a series of projects on followers and the search team has another update with some new features and designs for the web to check out. Let’s get to it.
After listening to your feedback here in r/blog and in other communities like r/changelog and r/modnews, we’ve shipped a series of updates to improve and expand redditors’ control over their followers.
As was announced a few weeks ago over in r/changelog[1], you can now opt-out of followers. To update your settings, head over to your account settings on iOS and Android or to the profile tab in your user settings on the web. And to learn more about how the opt-out works, check out the original announcement[2].
1: https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/pbjshi/you_can_now_optout_of_being_followed/
2: https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/pbjshi/you_can_now_optout_of_being_followed/
Previously launched on iOS and Android, now those on the web can view and manage their followers as well. To see your followers on the web, visit your profile and click on the arrow next to your follower count. This will take you to a searchable list of your followers (in order from newest to oldest) where you can choose to follow someone back or visit their profile.
If you’ve turned on notifications, when someone new follows you, we’ll let you know via a push notification or email.
For those of you who were a target of abuse using the followers feature, we’re very sorry and want to thank you for reporting and blocking accounts for harassment (thanks to your help, we were able to take action on a lot of bad actors) and for your patience and understanding as we worked on adding the opt-out.
Now there’s an official Reddit client for browsing Reddit on Windows available on PC, mobile devices, and Hub. Visit the Microsoft Store to get it now[3].
3: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/reddit/9ns3rbq5hv5f?rtc=1&activetab=pivot:overviewtab
After previous updates on infrastructure [4]and relevance tests[5], the Reddit Search team is back with another round of improvements focused on front-end changes to the web. Here’s what’s new:
4: https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/mharom/whats_up_with_reddit_search/
You asked and we listened—now when you’re visiting a community, the default search will be within that community instead of all of Reddit.
To make it easier to find what you’re looking for, we’ve simplified the two tabs on search result pages to Posts and Communities and People.
To make it easier to control whether Not Safe for Work (NSF) content shows up in your search results, there’s a new *safe search* toggle on the search results pages of redditors who have confirmed that they’re over 18. (Just like before, any redditors who haven’t confirmed that they’re 18+ won’t see the toggle or any content tagged as NSFW.)
Check out the full update over in r/changelog[6], or take the new search UI for a spin and let us know what you think of the changes.
This week, we launched an experiment with a new setting that gives users the option to limit their exposure to potentially disruptive content within comments (this could include things like insults, threats, and hateful or abusive language). If you opt in, you'll be able to select the strength of the setting (High, Medium, or Low) which will determine how much content is collapsed. Right now, this setting is only available for a limited number of users that were randomly selected to be in the experiment. It is also only available in the English language. To learn more check out the How does disruptive comment collapsing work? FAQ[7].
7: https://reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/4406569483284
Reddit gets a lot of popular posts that generate thousands of comments, and some of those comments end up gaining enough traction that they end up forking off into their own community. (Check out r/birthofasub for more on this phenomenon.) To see if it makes sense to encourage more community forks, starting last week some redditors will begin to see a prompt encouraging them to create a new community about a popular post. If this is something that redditors find helpful and fun, we’ll look into expanding the feature and exploring more ways to fork communities. Check out the original post[8] to see what it looks like and learn more.
8: https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/pbgxus/introducing_subreddit_forking/
Bugs, tests, and rollouts of features we’ve talked about previously.
On all platforms
On mobile web
On Android and iOS
On Android
10: https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/nfenpn/an_update_to_mod_push_notifications/
On iOS
We’ll be around to answer questions and hear feedback.
Comment by HauntedFurniture at 10/09/2021 at 19:33 UTC
1149 upvotes, 7 direct replies
some redditors will begin to see a prompt encouraging them to create a new community about a popular post
This is still a bad idea that will just lead to an explosion of poorly-run subs
Comment by Keep_Scrooling at 10/09/2021 at 19:31 UTC
205 upvotes, 6 direct replies
Why can't I use mobile site from Google, it always forces me open the app . This is the same reason i've stopped using Pinterest.
Comment by Rubber_Duckie_ at 10/09/2021 at 19:42 UTC
157 upvotes, 1 direct replies
How do you opt out if you use the old.reddit.com format? I'm not seeing the option, but maybe I'm overlooking it.
Comment by Diet_Coke at 10/09/2021 at 19:29 UTC
299 upvotes, 4 direct replies
Now that we have the ability to opt out of followers, can we also have the ability to remove followers that we don't want?
Comment by TheInfra at 10/09/2021 at 21:43 UTC
40 upvotes, 1 direct replies
To see if it makes sense to encourage more community forks, starting last week some redditors will begin to see a prompt encouraging them to create a new community about a popular post. If this is something that redditors find helpful and fun, we’ll look into expanding the feature and exploring more ways to fork communities
Let me bring the future to you and say already: this feature is not going to be liked.
What you describe is something that happens organically and by the user's own decision. *Suggesting* an action based on something "popular" is exactly the type of things Reddit users tend to absolutely hate, especially if this is something you are just copying from past behavior, which is just a way to make t artificial and strip it of everything that made it fun on the first place.
Comment by PM_ME_UR_ASS_GIRLS at 10/09/2021 at 19:26 UTC*
371 upvotes, 6 direct replies
Why not make followers an "Opt in" feature?
Do you present a list of "Opt Out" features on account creation so users are aware of what is on by default, and to easily opt out of them?
If not, is there a way to easily view a list of all "Opt out" features on reddit?
Comment by [deleted] at 10/09/2021 at 20:29 UTC
61 upvotes, 1 direct replies
[deleted]
Comment by Vet_Leeber at 10/09/2021 at 19:37 UTC*
80 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Can we please be given the option to opt out of Crowd Control deciding for us whether or not we want to see something?
It's buggy and inconsistent, and sometimes minimizes comments from highly active, longtime members of subreddits.
Comment by [deleted] at 10/09/2021 at 19:57 UTC
99 upvotes, 2 direct replies
[deleted]
Comment by [deleted] at 10/09/2021 at 20:04 UTC
125 upvotes, 4 direct replies
When are you finally going to address the **godawful** desktop user experience of new reddit? There's constantly new features and glitz and glamour, and I know you are trying to profit off of the mobile market mostly now, and I don't really blame you because you have to stay profitable and relevant. But please remember your desktop origins. I actually quite like new reddit on desktop, which might put me in the minority among desktop users. But you are kind of pissing on Old and New reddit users either way, without even giving us the courtesy of calling it rain.
Just some random examples that come to mind:
- I click a link to a vid post, and the vid restarts again and again for 5 to 10 seconds before actually continuing playing, what the hell is up with that?
- If I'm lucky enough and the video finally plays, it turns to potato quality after 5 seconds. And the worst part, there's absolutely no way to up that quality. **Once potato, always potato**.
- Endless scrolling. Great! I like it! Really! But only if it **actually worked**. Half the time I'm scrolling, and then reddit just randomly stops loading new posts, and I cannot scroll further. Do you want to get me off of reddit? Because that's how you get me off of reddit.
- Talking about endless scrolling. I'm opening a post in your fancy modal windows or whatever that is. Great! But please let me return to where I was before! Half the time, you are scrolling me back to the very top after leaving the modal. If that's the case and you cannot handle endless scrolling, then please reintroduce pages.
- Copy & Paste in comment boxes? Noooo, we don't need that apparently. Whenever I try to paste something in a comment box on desktop, it completely **bricks** the whole thing. Cannot edit or type or whatever anymore.
Again, I'm a desktop user and I actually really like new reddit on desktop. But the past couple of years, the desktop experience kind of seems to be an afterthought from you guys, which is super disappointing. I know my comment/rant will probably die in new, but at least I just wanted to put this out there in case some other desktop users feel the same.
Comment by [deleted] at 10/09/2021 at 19:47 UTC
15 upvotes, 1 direct replies
So how does the disruptive comment thing differentiate a disruptive comment from non-disruptive?
Comment by [deleted] at 11/09/2021 at 00:27 UTC
15 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Nice block system. Only block system I've ever used in a website that you can still see their posts. Fix it.
Comment by whyamionthissite at 10/09/2021 at 22:19 UTC
30 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Please stop suggesting stuff.
Comment by ObsidianDreamsRedux at 10/09/2021 at 19:47 UTC
15 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Why wasn't there any mention of how blocking was broken by "giving more visibility"? On the mobile apps comments from blocked users continue to show as normal, neither hidden nor collapsed.
Comment by [deleted] at 10/09/2021 at 19:51 UTC
109 upvotes, 5 direct replies
[deleted]
Comment by Ch1pp at 10/09/2021 at 23:25 UTC*
47 upvotes, 0 direct replies
This was a good comment.
Comment by ehsteve23 at 10/09/2021 at 22:26 UTC
12 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Now make it so blocked accounts are actually blocked again please
Comment by MoreMegadeth at 11/09/2021 at 05:21 UTC
10 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Maybe not the right place to ask, and if someone knows where please point me to it, but whats with the recent uptick in recommended communities that I want nothing to do with? This is exactly what turned me off from facebook, posts that I have nothing to do with just clogging up my feed. And I know Ive already clicked “stop seeing posts from this community” for a few of them about 6 months ago.
Comment by HojMcFoj at 11/09/2021 at 00:58 UTC
8 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Why is it that the more work you guys do to "improve" reddit, the more work we users have to do to continue enjoying reddit?
Comment by jimmyuk at 11/09/2021 at 11:29 UTC
10 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Can we please have a way to block subs.
I keep being “recommended” the popping sub. I’m sick of scrolling and seeing grim videos of people popping abscesses.
God knows why I’m being recommended this sub, but it’s just grim and having no filtering facility is awful.
Comment by WightWhale at 10/09/2021 at 21:46 UTC
17 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Can you stop spoiling sporting events with suggested posts? I turned off all the suggestion settings and the F1 race was still spoiled for me last weekend. It came from a popular in your area suggestion.
Comment by [deleted] at 10/09/2021 at 20:26 UTC
8 upvotes, 1 direct replies
[removed]
Comment by hoosakiwi at 10/09/2021 at 20:29 UTC
8 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Question relating to followers:
Do accounts that are deleted, inactive, or banned get automatically removed from our followers? That seems like some easy housekeeping for reddit to take care of that would help improve the experience for users who choose to keep followers on.
Comment by Eight-Deer_Long at 11/09/2021 at 02:10 UTC
28 upvotes, 0 direct replies
**What's considered to be potentially disruptive?**
*Comments are identified as “potentially disruptive” by a mix of signals, including sentiment analysis, and could include abusive or hateful language, insults, and threats. There’s subjectivity when it comes to sentiment analysis, which is why we’re giving redditors control over what suits them best. Redditors can also choose to not turn the setting on at all and keep their experience as it is today.*
Ah, I love backroom algorithms that can censor content you don't like. At least you're being open about being a Chinese media company now, since they use that word 'disruptive' (dianfu'xing 颠复性) in their state memos and in MSS internal comms to refer to "politically inconvenient" things. I'm glad you can be open about it now. Tencent is proud.
Comment by [deleted] at 10/09/2021 at 19:27 UTC
74 upvotes, 2 direct replies
[deleted]