
Ask HN: How do you use Reddit daily? - anildigital
Some of my friends are Reddit addicts. As a Software Developer, how do you use Reddit?
What subreddits do you check? Any other useful tips?
======
bjackman
I had to ban myself from Reddit due to the addiction and timewasting. I'm
pretty sure I'm happier and more productive for doing so. I still allow myself
HN and Slashdot; they're lower volume so you can only waste so much time on
them per day. I also recently cut out Facebook and Twitter - I used to go on
them perhaps 4-5 times a day. It wasn't much _time_ wasted, but cutting out
the distraction has definitely given me a stronger sense of mindfulness and
connection to my daily life.

Edit: I edited my /etc/hosts so that reddit.com resolves to localhost. You can
still go on it if you want to, but it just gives you a few seconds to think
"is this a good way to spend my time?".

Edit: Also worth noting you can often get good info on niche subjects from
Reddit. Recently wanted tips on buying a GPU - straight to /r/BuildAPC. Wanted
to learn to play a strategy game - /r/CrusaderKings sorted me out. I even once
wanted to find a song I made years ago and lost; there was a fan subreddit for
the band I was in and they had a repository of old unreleased tracks,
including my own lost song!

------
zamalek
While Reddit does have some very smart people on it, you have to spend absurd
amounts of time sifting through the mediocre to find their content.

Therefore I use Reddit for cats and memes once a day. Anything else and you
really should start considering finding another tool.

~~~
heliodor
It's good to end the day on a positive note. I occasionally spend ten minutes
on Reddit right as I get in bed. It doesn't take long to find something in the
comments to give me a solid laugh.

------
bichiliad
A year into college, I realized that there was nothing positive I was getting
from Reddit. So, I blocked it using one of those productivity apps (which
probably only just changed my hostfile) and told my friends that if they
caught me on reddit, I had to give them $10.

I haven't browsed Reddit in a few years now, and I don't miss anything. I'm
not saying that there isn't good content on Reddit, but I am saying that it's
not worth the time I put into it.

------
jerf
Reddit is Usenet 2.0. Usenet never had a "just browse all the most popular
groups" though, mercifully. Same rules apply; the more narrow the group and
the more connected to something real, the more likely it is to be useful.
Reddit should be viewed as raw material from which to construct a personalized
experience of value, and all of its default affordances (/r/all, default
subreddits, etc) should be shunned if you're worried about this sort of thing,
because they're all terrible, compared to what you can find if you try.

I've got the language communities for all the computer languages I'm currently
interested in, a couple of things I'm sorta hobbiest-level interested in
(SpaceX, for instance) and want more in-depth news, a couple of weird off-the-
wall subs that have a low post rate (/r/scp, /r/cellular_automata) for a more,
ah, "refined" sort of entertainment (and perhaps more importantly, simply
_less_ entertainment), and a couple of subreddits being used as "more
intelligent comments & discussion" for some internet shows hosted on YouTube.
The upshot is a stream of news that isn't dropping 100 links an hour on me, is
generally interesting, and mostly full of real people having real
conversations about things I find interesting and not merely 50-level deep pun
competitions.

Reddit's what you make of it.

------
charlieegan3
I built a site that aggregates content from HN, I added reddit as a source and
track it via there.

The current criteria are: /r/programming top 10, /r/dataisbeautiful top 5,
/r/Technology top story, /r/science/' top story 1

The site's [http://www.serializer.io](http://www.serializer.io) if you want to
check it out.

EDIT: code is here:
[https://github.com/charlieegan3/serializer](https://github.com/charlieegan3/serializer)

~~~
johnnyo
I just checked out your site, I don't see reddit as a source. Which icon is
it?

~~~
charlieegan3
Take a look at:
[http://www.serializer.io/custom](http://www.serializer.io/custom)

Reddit isn't a source on the homepage, it's one of the custom ones.

EDIT: my bad, reddit _IS_ a source on the homepage. oops.

~~~
chrisan
When I visited your site the first time I was taken to a /welcome page where
it listed Y, Reddit, and P as the "default" or what I assumed was the default

And without clicking anything on /welcome and just visiting the home page
again reddit looks like a default!

~~~
charlieegan3
Sorry, my mistake. It is a default source on the homepage. Bear in mind that
all reddit items count as one source, even though they're curated from a
number of subreddits.

Sorry for the confusion.

------
Raphmedia
1\. Browse "front" to read some tech news, world news and intelligent
subreddits like askhistorians I am subscribed to.

2\. Browse "all" and have a laugh.

3\. Repeat 1 and 2 compulsively every 30m to 1h.

Edit: Who am I kidding. Step 3 is every 30 seconds.

Edit 2: That being said, I NEVER browse Reddit at work. Well, except on my own
data on the loo.

~~~
seanalltogether
8 years on the site and this is still my daily routine.

------
dm2
I block it using my hosts file and unblock it (and HN) about once a week. Then
I look at the top content from that period of time and look at it all at once,
then bookmark them (in a folder) and usually never click the bookmark again.

Facebook I'll check about once a month (also blocked in hosts).

I got into the habit of instinctively typing in "news." or "redd" into my
browser as soon as I sat down, the lost productivity was too much and the
hosts solution seems to work for me.

For PC games, I have to uninstall them. I'm actually glad games are 60 GB
these days because it means I have at least 1 day to consider playing a game.
If at any time I decide I don't want to waste 50 - 100 hours playing I can
cancel the download and delete the files. Yes, I'm getting Google Fiber next
year and this method will not be available because it will download in about
10 - 20 minutes. I'm looking into a time-delayed safe or the cheap plastic
tubs with a timer for storing an SSD for those games.

~~~
kyrre
so which sites do you browse instead?

~~~
dm2
Netflix and YouTube, but I'm strongly considering adding them to the block
list.

------
rnernento
The quality of the community on Reddit seems to have drastically declined in
recent years. There is a dearth of bad information and the comments section
seems to be headed towards Youtube levels of hostility... This isn't just in
mainstream reddits, it's also prevalent in the niche technical topics. After
seeing enough information that was blatantly wrong and wasting time sifting
through comments debating the validity of said wrong information I unfavorited
reddit and haven't looked back.

Maybe use it as a time waster but avoid it as a resource for useful
information.

------
nvnvnv
Here's what I'm subscribed to (don't read too much into some of these choices,
i.e. /r/conspiracy):

/r/artificial, /r/cambodia, /r/cellular_automata, /r/ClassicMetal,
/r/compling, /r/compsci, /r/conspiracy, /r/crypto, /r/dailyprogrammer,
/r/devops, /r/django, /r/EndlessWar, /r/Entrepreneur, /r/futurebeats,
/r/iamverysmart, /r/LanguageTechnology, /r/linguistics, /r/MachineLearning,
/r/mathrock, /r/musictheory, /r/noip, /r/noiserock, /r/opensource,
/r/programming, /r/programminghorror, /r/Python, /r/redditdev, /r/startup,
/r/Vaporwave, /r/web_design, /r/webdev, /r/whatstheword, /r/wikipedia

Mostly music and technology. I also periodically block reddit in my hosts
file.

------
Haul4ss
Reddit can be a huge time waster if you let it be.

I am subscribed to a bunch of niche subreddits specific to my interests, and I
cruise it a couple times a day. The benefit to less popular subreddits is that
you don't need to check them a hundred times a day to see if they've changed.
I don't read the big popular subreddits.

Once a day, usually in the evening for 10-15 mins, I'll cruise the top images
on Imgur. That keeps me up to date on the memes so I can know what the kids
are talking about.

------
thearn4
I subscribe to a variety of non-default reddits: /r/programming, /r/python,
/r/android, /r/programmerhumor, /r/gaming, /r/truegaming.

I'm also a mod of /r/science and /r/askscience.

I enjoy a few extra ones, such as /r/askhistory, /r/cleveland, and
/r/daystrominstitute (star trek discussion), but usually browse them once
every week or so. Other than that, my interaction with reddit has decreased
over the years. I could say the same about Twitter and Facebook too.

------
dboshardy
I actually spend more time on reddit than on HN. HN is great as a tech news
source and the comments are usually top notch and offer even greater insight
than the original article posted.

That said, reddit, once you ignore all the immense levels of hatred, bigotry,
and memes, has quite a few great groups of people. I've had an account on
reddit for going on 5 or 6 years now, and I've filtered my feed down to the
very specific subreddits that fit my needs. I've met a great community of
other players of some rather low population games, which has led to countless
weekends of fun.

Getting to your question, as a developer, the only thing relevant for me is
/r/ProgrammerHumor. Reddit really is (for me, at least) only a source of
entertainment, not education or serious discussion.

------
madaxe_again
I don't. Stopped browsing reddit years ago, when it septembered, was a user
from very early days, having jumped from digg when that septembered.

I dunno. There's too much noise, not enough signal, and I don't have the time
or will to get pissed off while trawling through stuff.

~~~
hoopd
It's funny (actually funny, not being mean funny) that you consider the digg
exodus period as 'the good old days' of reddit, because those of us who had
been there a few years were really pissed off and nostalgic for how it had
been before.

I'm sure I was somebody's september as well.

~~~
madaxe_again
Oh, I was on reddit from very early on, concurrently with digg, and dropped
digg as it got increasingly toxic and facile - definitely noticed a shift as
the mass exodus picked up, and about 18 months later moved on from reddit.

------
mapleoin
I mostly visit niche subreddits. I like to get all my software development
news from here instead. So I use reddit for whatever other interests I might
have at the time. Basically whenever I have a new interest/hobby, I would
spend a few days into that specific subreddit and absorb as much of the
collected information as possible. These vary a lot so I might subscribe to
some subreddits only for a few months and then go on to others.

------
ep103
I use reddit, HN, and lobste.rs to give myself mental breaks throughout the
coding day.

I'm subscribed to a lot of niche subreddits, but even so, the quality of
reddit has dropped pretty noticeably in the last few years.

I'm sure its partly from the expanded userbase, but the site itself has
actually degraded.

* You can no longer see upvotes vs downvotes.

* Comment replies are no longer automatic. Instead, the little red envelope updates its status once every ~45 minutes.

Which wouldn't be so bad, except:

* Now when messages are deleted, there's no guaranteed [deleted] message, and the message will disappear from your inbox.

* In really popular threads, some messages beneath a certain vote count appear to get automatically deleted?

* The inbox status notification is broken. I have about ~100 comment replies I've kept marked as unread in my inbox, for long term saving. Reddit used to just notify you when you received a new message, but now every once in a while, it will realize I have unread messages, and give me a "new messages" notification, despite nothing having changed.

Not to mention just how bad all the astroturfing has gotten, particularly on
the default subreddits.

And that's just off the top of my head, its a shame really.

------
clavalle
While the frontpage and default subs are drastically down in quality the
smaller more specialized subs are still valuable to me.

/r/writing /r/math /r/boardgames /r/Debate<topic> and programming subs are
still valuable.

Honestly, I think Reddit is ripe for disruption. There are some good ideas
there but I think it is struggling under some initial assumptions that worked
when there were fewer people with fewer interests and agendas that just don't
work but would be hard to change at this stage. And while there is a bit of a
network effect in value, unlike something like facebook where there is a lot
of value in the 'archive' aspects of it, Reddit is a very 'here and now'
phenomena that could be replaced without too much pain assuming people decide
they like some other system better. And it might be a Craigslist kind of thing
where specialized sites that better cater to the different areas can chip away
audience from Reddit.

------
jib
Reddit is mostly entertainment for me.

I read /r/cfb for a good overview of what is going on in college football. I
glance through /r/nfl to get an idea of nfl and when I want extra
entertainment I read the frontpage.

There's a few work related ones I read occasionally to keep up to date on
issues with our products, but outside that it is mostly entertainment tbh.

------
soylentcola
I've got an account where I've subscribed to various hobby- and interest-
related subreddits and unsubscribed from the vast majority of the defaults.

It really can be informative and entertaining if only by virtue of the huge
user base. By the same token, it follows any large group with similar
demographics: lots of fluff, no small amount of (what I consider) crap, and
pockets of great content.

None of that surprises me though. If I consider all of the people in my city,
a similarly small percentage would be considered friends or welcomed as
colleagues and collaborators on projects while the majority would share few
interests or have compatible personalities.

For all the complete BS on that site, I've gotten some of the best advice,
answers to questions, and found more informative and entertaining articles
than many other forums or websites. It just takes a bit of effort to curate
your subscription list.

------
epmatsw
I mostly just use it for really specific topics (sports I follow, TV shows I
watch, etc) where Reddit provides perhaps the largest discussion board for
that topic. I've generally found that HN covers tech news better, and that
most subreddits with less targeted focus just fill up with junk.

------
phaylon
I found consuming Reddit is a lot easier when you treat it like Usenet. So I
have RSS subscriptions for the subreddits that interest me in my RSS reader.

That also means I can easily organize them myself by topic. In the dev related
area are things like /r/rust, /r/perl, /r/rust_gamedev. And even
/r/programming, which many people dislike, but I appreciate for the purpose of
having people from different communities interact. I found some interesting
links in discussions in there in the past that I wouldn't have run into
otherwise, because it's not directly related to anything I currently do.

There's a bit of change over time in what subreddits I read. If I find myself
not going back to a specific one (entries always maxed out), I just remove it.

------
Jtsummers
I subscribe to various programming language subreddits, a couple that hit my
current interests (at the moment r/running, r/fitness), and some where people
post neat photos (such as r/abandonedporn).

I browse it probably every day, usually while sitting somewhere waiting for
other people to join me, or for an appointment or something. But not for too
long. Probably 30 minutes on average, with some nights where I get bored and
don't want to read a book leading to a several hour binge.

I do avoid all the particularly addictive subreddits, similar to my avoidance
of the youtube trap. If I'm going to get lost online for hours in endless tabs
it'll be a Wikipedia binge. At least that way I come away more informed than
when I started.

------
dirtyaura
I use Reddit for all the other subjects than programming and startups that I'm
interested in.

For example, I'm interested in energy production, energy policy and climate
change, and there are several interesting energy related subreddits providing
different view points and opinions (e.g. /r/energy, /r/climate, /r/nuclear,
/r/hardenergy)

Also, I'm currently recreationally training running, swimming and weight
lifting and Reddit gives a good view to all of these through /r/running,
/r/swimming, /r/fitness and more specific subreddits ...

------
wingerlang
The largest, I think, community for the niche software that I create is
located on reddit. So I use it to see what's going on in the community, help
people, show my products and so on.

Otherwise I only use reddit as a time waster.

------
jrvarela56
Removed most of my subs and subscribed only to subs related to current
learning. Reddit usage has gone down noticeably and when I procrastinate, I'm
browsing subjects I need to learn about.

------
whoiskevin
I don't. Facebook also gone. Got work to do. Maybe when I retire.

------
dpcan
It's like biting my nails. Without thinking, there I am, looking at something
on reddit. Always just use the website. Follow my favorite sports team, pics,
and gamedev mostly.

But, I'm going to be phasing it out of my life. As I get older, I feel like
it's not good for me. I've done the same with Facebook and Twitter, it's time
for Reddit to stop, and I'm a little worried about Pinterest - but I basically
use that as my Google for ideas like Camping Hacks or Gluten Free recipes.

------
dotdi
As a Software Developer, I don't.

------
laurieg
Honestly, I've been addicted to reddit for something like 5 years now. I
browse all day. I browse at work. I think "Right, better get off reddit" go
sit on the couch and lo-and-behold, I'm already redditing on my smartphone.
When I go to a browser absentmindedly my hands automatically type "red" before
I even realise what's going on.

I've tried giving up a few times with limited success. If anyone can share any
advice I would be grateful.

~~~
marksimi
Interesting; you seem to like reddit a lot. So why exactly do you want to give
it up?

~~~
flycaliguy
Be careful not to confuse "liking" something with compulsively using it to
distract yourself from the bleak pointlessness of existence.

------
Cthulhu_
/r/all, until it gets to the weird subreddits (like MLP) or when I've had
enough / it's time to go to bed. It's mostly stupid entertainment.

------
jrgnsd
I have a couple of Zapier zaps set up to alert me of hot posts in a couple of
niche subreddits. I use these alert mostly to inform my thinking and content
for a blog I'm working on. It helps me decide what content will add value as I
can see the type of questions people are asking, and it allows me to promote
my blog as I can reference it in comments / answers.

Most of my interaction with Reddit is driven by these alerts.

------
cozuya
I have 2 accounts, one is personal that I check out stupid things on during my
own time a few times a day, other is one that is only programming related subs
which inevitably are just reposts of things here with less moderation. It'd be
nice if there was a persona type system to combine those built into reddit but
it certainly doesn't seem like there's a lot of active development going on
there.

------
qznc
Reddit is fine if you avoid the big default subreddits. I left reddit for HN
some time ago. Now I find myself migrating back. /r/hackernews gives me the
best of HN content on reddit. The comments on HN keep me here.

A few subreddit recommendations: /r/rust /r/rational /r/TheFutureIsNow
/r/gamedesign /r/MorbidReality

------
dotchloe
I check reddit a few times per day mostly because I'am a mod over there and
want the subs to be clean but other than that I read /r/netsec a lot, very
nice community with focus on quality.

Almost never share any content there but the few times I do I get really good
feedback so next time I want to share something reddit will absolutely be the
first place.

------
grokas
I follow certain specific subject matter with it. My particular interests
include (but are not limited to r/formula1, r/cars, r/guns, r/karting, and any
game subreddit I may be interested in...

Everything else is short-term, quick-look entertainment (r/gifs, r/funny,
r/pics, r/mildlyinteresting, etc).

------
noir_lord
/r/programming, /r/python and /r/linux I read daily.

There are a handful of niche subreddits I follow as well (/r/futuresynth etc).

I stick an entry in the hosts file while I'm working as the temptation to just
hit reddit to see what's happening is a little too high for comfort on boring
days.

------
mitchty
I really at this point only check /r/haskell as that is the "best" spot for
learning about new things for that language.

Otherwise most of my reason to go there has dropped off. Even the above can be
mitigated by following the right twitter accounts (and I hate twitter but it
has its uses).

------
andthat
RSS of the monthly top 10 for niche subreddits:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/mechanicalkeyboards/top/.rss?sort=t...](https://www.reddit.com/r/mechanicalkeyboards/top/.rss?sort=top&t=month)

------
jklinger410
I switched to voat.co because of all the shill accounts, vote brigading,
shadowbans, and corrupt mods on reddit.

Oh, not to mention the absolute insanity of the discussion that takes place in
those threads.

I actually mostly browse HN now, a couple old forums, and RSS feeds via
Feedly.

------
jtth
To sate the need to express a narcissism of minor differences that drives
enthusiasts apart.

------
georgerobinson
I really enjoyed Reddit. I can't say I was ever addicted. It was mostly a tool
for procrastination. But then suddenly it didn't interest me anymore and I
just stopped visiting. Perhaps I grew out of it?

------
forgotX2
Anyone have advice for blocking reddit on an android (not rooted) phone? I
found the site too addicting and time-wasting so the site is listed on my host
file for my PC, but now I exclusively browse on my phone.

------
weinzierl
I read mostly r/programming aka proggit and r/netsec. Both are active and have
sometimes good content. Lots of noise though.

------
stephengillie
I can't stand reddit. I've never been able to.

I "use" reddit by seeing memes and other popular imagery on Imgur.

------
transpy
Find subreddits with few subscribers and many comments.

------
Dewie3
> Some of my friends are Reddit addicts.

So the question is really "how do you not let it waste too much time"? I'm
unsure whether the question is loaded or not.

EDIT: here is a more _constructive_ part of this comment, a more general
technique to dealing with doing "useless" stuff in general:

Get a small notepad and a pen. Imagine that you have two hours of free time.
Now before you're about to do something, write down what you are going to do.
Not a plan of the two hours, but what you are going to do right now - like
"wash the dishes", which might only take five minutes. The point here is to
shake you out of whatever autopilot you are running on, and do things in a
more _intentional_ way. When you are done with the dishes, you might write
"practice the guitar". After that, maybe "check the front page of proggit, and
bookmark the interesting links for later" if you don't have time for that
right now, or want to do it later.

Hopefully this will avoid habitual things like the other poster mentioned,
like immediately opening a browser and going to proggit or HN once the
computer is turned on (I do this too!).

And of course, this technique can be used whenever, not just in your _free
time_. The two hour free time was just an example.

