Personally I think the format of upvoting posts to decide what people talk about, upvoting comments to decide what information/opinions get more visibility, and branching comment threads so you can have multiple conversations about the same topic is just a much nicer format than forum threads just being bumped because someone posted "bump" and having multiple conversations trying to keep track of each other in one single comment thread. Unfortunately that formula can be easily replicated so really it was just a matter of time before similar alternatives popped up. Same thing happening with Twitter and Threads, all you did was give people a different way to post Facebook statuses, you didn't really "invent" anything so much as iterate on an existing concept and nothing about the idea was that difficult to replicate once it was legitimized as a tried and true formula.

[–] Usernameblankface@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"Unfortunately that formula can be easily replicated so really it was just a matter of time before similar alternatives popped up."

I disagree on the unfortunate part. I think it's good that alternatives are easy to make. That means I don't have to put up with the shenanigans to have the type of forum I've enjoyed.

[–] Sharkwellington@lemmy.one 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well yes, what I meant by that word choice was "unfortunately for Reddit", but good for you and me! I'm loving that people seem to be realizing that it's really not hard making an alternative to what is essentially a text-based website.

The thing that is truly unfortunate is how much harder the same is to do for data-heavy sites for sharing images, videos, etc.

[–] zaknenou@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago

reddit awards were an invention and great idea tbh, especially in subs like ELI5 and r/math. Gold or star awarded comments were really dope

[–] zabadoh@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

For a lot of people: Porn, and easy access to otherwise obscure interests.

[–] CrypticFawn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think ease of use helped a lot.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ease of use for the moderators and end users. How many user names and passwords would I have to keep track of before? The effort isn't much, but it adds up.

[–] BobKerman3999@feddit.it 1 points 1 year ago

I brilliantly solved this problem by having same username and password for all the forums I was participating in. But that was way before digg even was a thing, I don't even remember where I should start looking again