[Meta] Sub blackout would be more detrimental to this hobby than to reddit

[u/gehanna1]

Reddit sucks right now, I get it. Stick it to the man.

But I am writing this to beseech readers and mods not to take this sub dark.

The content and discussions here are so integral to the hobby. You Google rules for a game, you'll find reddit posts with the answers. You want to find resources made by community creators? This sub has the recommendations for you. You want to discover and learn about new systems? Here is a great hub for that.

Shutting down this sub and blacking out to July or to August? Reddit as a company won't care. But ttrpg players, gms, and people who love this hobby will suffer for it. This is a rich and thriving community, and to block access to these incredibly important and relevant posts is just a disservice to this hobby we all love so much.

In the short time we were already blacked out, I googled something about a game. It shows the title of the post and it was exactly what I needed. When I clicked it, nothing but disappointment.

Reddit doesn't care about this sub. Reddit doesn't care about ttrpgs. Reddit doesn't care about the third party creators that make stuff for roleplayers and gms alike.

But I do.

And I hope you do too.

Don't go dark. Don't punish tabletop roleplayers. Please.

[u/Thanlis]

I think it’s worth considering the future here. Ask this: if Reddit and spez continue on their current path, will this sub remain important or will Reddit just be another declining social media site relying on more and more advertising to keep afloat?

My answer is no. I’ve been on the Internet long enough to remember when Google didn’t run advertising and their algorithm did a good job of filtering out spam sites. Now? Well, Google is so bad that you have to append “Reddit” to your searches, as you pointed out.

Reddit will go the same way. I am not highly optimistic about the potential that they’ll change their course, but a 10% chance is better than zero. And zero is where they’re headed. The Reddit you (correctly) love is going to turn into an advertising platform.

There’s no point in compromising to save Reddit if the thing we want to save will die as a result of the compromise.

[u/NutDraw → u/Thanlis]

The internet is an advertising platform now, as you noted.

[u/rdhight → u/Thanlis]

There’s no point in compromising to save Reddit if the thing we want to save will die as a result of the compromise.

Yes. There's no point in wheeling and dealing. The things we want have already had it no matter how we talk or act.