The outdated Reddit structure typically seems to be a bit outdated, however it’s beloved by many Reddit users, together with me. I’ve fearful for a while that Reddit would finally pull the plug on it in favor of the newer and extra fashionable interface, however based mostly on a latest submit from Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, it doesn’t sound like that’s going to occur anytime quickly.
As a part of a larger post revealed Monday about “Reddit’s subsequent chapter,” which we noticed via TechCrunch, Huffman, who goes by the username spez, snuck in what seemed like heart-stopping information for us oldheads proper on the finish.
“Sunsetting outdated.reddit: outdated.reddit is the model of Reddit that we constructed again within the mid-2000s,“ Huffman stated. ”It doesn’t scale, it’s unimaginable to develop on, and it’s ugly af. We will probably be shutting it down on the finish of the month.”
However, apparently, that was only a joke. (A daring transfer, given outcry to different Reddit-related shutdowns.) “Simply kidding,” he stated. “I don’t know why I say stuff like this. We’ll determine find out how to work round it and preserve it on-line so long as persons are utilizing it.”
The submit covers many different precise deliberate modifications to the platform, together with that “core product enhancements” like making it simpler to make subreddits and “evolving r/widespread” are within the works. Reddit additionally desires to shift the first position of moderators from “policing to neighborhood cultivation,” partially with “higher instruments – particularly extra AI-driven automation,” he stated.
Huffman acknowledged that “unwelcome AI in communities is a severe concern” and that it’s the fear he hears most from customers and mods. However he believes that “Reddit works as a result of it’s human” and stated that “our focus is, and at all times will probably be, on conserving Reddit a trusted place for human dialog.”
Reddit goes to ask for a bit extra figuring out data from its customers, too. Right here’s Huffman’s description of what is going to occur:
To maintain Reddit human and to satisfy evolving regulatory necessities, we’re going to want slightly extra data. Particularly, we might want to know whether or not you’re a human, and in some areas, in case you are an grownup. However we by no means need to know your title or who you might be. The best way we’ll do that is by working with varied third-party providers that may present us with the important data and nothing else. No answer is ideal — together with the established order — however we’ll do our greatest to protect each the humanness and anonymity of Reddit.
On Wednesday, Reddit additionally shared particulars about improvements it’s making to Reddit Chat, together with the flexibility so as to add customers to an allowlist. The corporate introduced in March that it could be changing consumer PMs with Chat.