Hat on Top, Coat Below
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December 20, 2010
Holidailies, as you may have noticed, is happening on reddit this year. This is preferable to Holidailies not happening at all, which I understand was the other option. I’d never heard of, much less looked at, reddit before Holidailies moved there, and having poked at it for almost two weeks now, I doubt I’ll be going back once Holidailies is done. I’m not the only one who hasn’t taken to reddit; Ruth and Melanie have both posted about it, highlighting some of the same points that are bothering me.
I don’t like that there’s up and down voting on entries; more specifically, I don’t like that there’s anonymous voting. It would be nice to see, as one can on Facebook, who’s liking what. I would be even nicer and more interesting to see who’s voting which entries down, mostly because I’d really like to ask the people who clicked the down arrow on my Winters Past what their problem with it was. Maybe they just enjoy pissing on other people’s baby pictures. Yeah, I am taking it personally. Holidailies feels more like a popularity contest this year, and it sucks that the judges don’t have to own their votes.
I don’t like that there’s no way to control what thumbnail image, if any, posts with the entry link. To avoid having the generic questioning robot with a camera icon show up next to my entries, I’ve put photos in entries that don’t really need them (like this one). I’ve given up on trying to figure out how reddit selects the image from entries which have multiple photos in them.
I don’t understand why I’d want to comment on the link in reddit rather than the entry itself. If the links were to something other than content the linker had written, sure, but that’s not the case here.
I do like that there’s no programmatic restriction on how often one posts to the portal, so I’ll be able to post my link to this whenever I’m done with it, regardless of how many hours have passed since I posted my last link (which was this morning, as I used yesterday’s nail blog entry as my Holidailies offering for Sunday; I’d thought I would post something here last night but Mr. Karen and I went to a movie instead). I suspect I’ll still have the problem like I did last year where the whole thing gets locked down at the end and no more links can be posted even if the entries they point to were done in the appropriate time frame but I hope I learned that lesson and don’t need to be taught it again.
I also like that without the front page of Holidailies showing who’s posted how many entries and putting the people with the highest count at the top of the list, there seem to be fewer “obligation” entries written only to have some content, any content, go up. I’ve seen a few of those but not as many as I remember from years past. Of course, that could be because I’m reading fewer entries since it’s not as pleasant an experience to get to them as it has been in the past.
My bitching about reddit should not be taken as bitching at the organizers. They don’t have to put on Holidailies. They decided they could only do so this year if the format changed; it just happens that the new format and I aren’t a good fit.
On this date in 2009: A Tale of Two Cameras, in which I proved that in the case of a pretty plum point and shoot, beauty is only skin deep.
2008: A Simple Request, I made a plea for less free stuff.
2007: Messy is as Messy Does, in which I read a book I liked very much (but have yet to truly apply its lessons) & Festive, in which I shared a pretty.
2006: Restaurant Critic Time, in which I went two for three in pleasant dining experiences.
2005: Welcome to Where?, in which Mr. Karen and I took a detour on our way to Grand Targhee to ski.
2004: Cheater’s Compass, in which I shared the second quilt I ever made.
2003: Soon the Sun Will Be Up, in which I got up early and addressed Christmas cards. I’m not sending any this year.
2002: One Girl, All Alone, in which I was the only female web developer at my company. We’re up to four now, and I’m involved in the hiring process so I know we’re trying to increase that number.
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5 Comments
December 20th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Amen, Karen! I agree with pretty much everything you’ve said about reddit! I don’t plan to use it after Holidailies (until next Holidailies, if they decide to go with this format again) mostly because it just feels so impersonal. Previous Holidailies felt warm and friendly while this one just seems cold and distant. I thought it was just me, but I’m happy to find out I’m not alone! Oh, and I’m going to go click the UP arrow on your Winters Past entry right now!
December 20th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Well, it sucks to hear that the choices were Reddit or no Holidailies, especially since it seems like more than just me don’t really like it. I guess that means we’re all stuck having to use it at least once a year or else we all do something else in December. But that does explain a lot, so thanks for mentioning it.
December 20th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Yeah, I’m with you too. I got a sense of community these past years with Holidailies and I don’t have that this year. I miss it. I will probably also participate again next year, but the enjoyment is gone. I really miss the entry descriptions and I miss voting on which were the really good entries. Heck, I miss everything about the old Holidailies.
December 20th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
Many good points. It would be nice to have non-anonymous voting for another reason: the fact that I value some peoples’ opinions more than others. I don’t mean about my own entries, I mean about others’ entries, from blogs that I haven’t read yet. If someone whose blog I like either likes or dislikes an entry, that tells me more than an anonymous person’s feedback.
For my part, I’ve taken the “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” approach to feedback on Reddit.
Also, I like having a short summary or excerpt instead of only having the title to go by.
December 21st, 2010 at 9:01 am
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who’s not crazy about Reddit!