Community Points allow members of Reddit communities to own a piece of their community, earn rewards for quality contributions, and unlock special features.
Read all about it at the above link. There’s way too much to process here. This is going to be wild.
I read that and thought “This can’t be real. This is too on the nose.” then I read the rest and had to check the URL to make sure it’s not a joke, because it reads like one big joke.
If you read just the next section that’s where the other shoe drops. Blockchain. It’s blockchain of course it’s blockchain because everyone there has tech bro brain rot.
Community Points
Community Points are the first step towards a better future for online communities. In order to be truly independent from platforms like Reddit, communities need to be owned by their members in ways that platforms cannot take away. With the advent of blockchain technology, we now have a way to establish this freedom in a decentralized and secure way.
As blockchain tokens that are owned and controlled by communities themselves — not by any app or platform — Community Points represent a way for Redditors to own a piece of their favorite communities. They are earned by making contributions to the community, like creating content and moderating. They not only represent ownership and reputation within the community, but can also be used for community governance, moderation, and unlocking premium features. They can even be used in custom tools outside of Reddit and on other platforms.
Most importantly, Community Points are a flexible tool that each community can shape to its needs. Each community has its own Points that it can customize with its own name, symbol, distribution rules, and uses. Every community has its own needs and we expect each to use Points differently and in novel ways that help take them to the next level.
What’s wrong with blockchain exactly beyond the fact cryptoscammers gave it a bad rep ? To my understanding blockchain has the same goal as the fediverse : decentralisation, and we should support it (the system, not the scammers using it).
Edit : Thanks all for the resources, I’ll check that out !
The fediverse solves the decentralisation problem by enabling communities to operate around a basis of trust. Blockchain is antitrust. It is fundamentally built on an assumption that functioning communities cannot exist.
Blockchain solves a problem that doesn’t exist. Give me a problem that blockchain solves and I’ll consider it. A decentralised ledger is an ancient technology that has never needed immutability in order to work.
Also what odds would you give me on whether reddit don’t want to use this blockchain system for a grift? 1/100? 1/1000?
That’s the other problem with blockchain, the foundation of antitrust attracts grifters, because it is a technology that enables grifts. Immutable ledgers lock people in with no escape clause, so they fundamentally enable bigger fool scams. I hate fiat currency as much as the crypto bros, but at least it sometimes allows recourse for scam victims.
Go look at any crypto bro explain what’s so great about crypto currency. They hate fiat because it’s centralised. They basically say it gives the government too much power, not realising that it is an extension of already existing power and not the source of state power.
They’re mostly libertarian capitalists, and as far as I can tell they don’t understand how power works. It seems like they think currency and laws and capital are magic spells, so if you rip up the laws and replace the currency then you’ve dispelled the evil magic and you have liberated the people of Middle Earth.
That’s why they think crypto will work, and why they say “just get rid of the laws”. When you ask how to do that, they don’t know what you mean, because they literally think “get rid of the laws” is the method.
Not an expert but overall yes, the technology seems like a good idea, it’s what it was/is most used that gives it bad rep. The most inhetently bad thing about it might be the environmental unfriendliness with the energy used needed for the verifications and stuff (though there are alternatives to it I think)
But I don’t know much about it beyond the basics, so might be wrong.
Maybe I get downvoted because I’m wrong. Or mayne because I wasn’t inherently negative about blockchain and since it is mostly asociated with NFTs and similar scams, people just automatically hate it. If it’s the former, I deserve it - but would love for someone to say so and explain if that’s the case.
I think you could have explained yourself more clearly. Did you mean to say that otherwise in a vacuum, the only downside to blockchain technology is it’s ecological impact? I’d agree with that, but nothing operates in a hypothetical vacuum.
What’s got some people up in arms is the fact this blockchain is a solution without a problem. It’s going to do things that can already be done easily in a much harder way. Which is what most blockchain deployments do. I think you know that nuance but didn’t articulate it well in your post. Perhaps that’s why you’re being down voted?
Honestly, as I said, I knly know the basics. From what I know about it, at face value and in vacuum, it sounds usable - with the environmental negatives. So more or less, you understood me correctly I think. I may’ve not been too clear, because I only have basic understanding of it - never looked too deep into it.
Maybe (probably) there are more inherent negatives to it that I don’t know about. Maybe the environmental ones just stuck with me because I understand those.
Nice to see that reddit started to advertise for lemmy / kbin. 🤣
I read that and thought “This can’t be real. This is too on the nose.” then I read the rest and had to check the URL to make sure it’s not a joke, because it reads like one big joke.
!nottheonion
More like a fuck you, kind of joke.
If you read just the next section that’s where the other shoe drops. Blockchain. It’s blockchain of course it’s blockchain because everyone there has tech bro brain rot.
What’s wrong with blockchain exactly beyond the fact cryptoscammers gave it a bad rep ? To my understanding blockchain has the same goal as the fediverse : decentralisation, and we should support it (the system, not the scammers using it).
Edit : Thanks all for the resources, I’ll check that out !
The fediverse solves the decentralisation problem by enabling communities to operate around a basis of trust. Blockchain is antitrust. It is fundamentally built on an assumption that functioning communities cannot exist.
Blockchain solves a problem that doesn’t exist. Give me a problem that blockchain solves and I’ll consider it. A decentralised ledger is an ancient technology that has never needed immutability in order to work.
Also what odds would you give me on whether reddit don’t want to use this blockchain system for a grift? 1/100? 1/1000?
That’s the other problem with blockchain, the foundation of antitrust attracts grifters, because it is a technology that enables grifts. Immutable ledgers lock people in with no escape clause, so they fundamentally enable bigger fool scams. I hate fiat currency as much as the crypto bros, but at least it sometimes allows recourse for scam victims.
Your last sentence makes no sense. Why would crypto bros hate fiat currencies? Or do they just hate every other than the one they support?
Go look at any crypto bro explain what’s so great about crypto currency. They hate fiat because it’s centralised. They basically say it gives the government too much power, not realising that it is an extension of already existing power and not the source of state power.
They’re mostly libertarian capitalists, and as far as I can tell they don’t understand how power works. It seems like they think currency and laws and capital are magic spells, so if you rip up the laws and replace the currency then you’ve dispelled the evil magic and you have liberated the people of Middle Earth.
That’s why they think crypto will work, and why they say “just get rid of the laws”. When you ask how to do that, they don’t know what you mean, because they literally think “get rid of the laws” is the method.
I was making a post about exactly the same thing a few days ago - https://programming.dev/post/1235490 (not sure how to link it cross-instance)
Not an expert but overall yes, the technology seems like a good idea, it’s what it was/is most used that gives it bad rep. The most inhetently bad thing about it might be the environmental unfriendliness with the energy used needed for the verifications and stuff (though there are alternatives to it I think)
But I don’t know much about it beyond the basics, so might be wrong.
Maybe I get downvoted because I’m wrong. Or mayne because I wasn’t inherently negative about blockchain and since it is mostly asociated with NFTs and similar scams, people just automatically hate it. If it’s the former, I deserve it - but would love for someone to say so and explain if that’s the case.
I think you could have explained yourself more clearly. Did you mean to say that otherwise in a vacuum, the only downside to blockchain technology is it’s ecological impact? I’d agree with that, but nothing operates in a hypothetical vacuum.
What’s got some people up in arms is the fact this blockchain is a solution without a problem. It’s going to do things that can already be done easily in a much harder way. Which is what most blockchain deployments do. I think you know that nuance but didn’t articulate it well in your post. Perhaps that’s why you’re being down voted?
Honestly, as I said, I knly know the basics. From what I know about it, at face value and in vacuum, it sounds usable - with the environmental negatives. So more or less, you understood me correctly I think. I may’ve not been too clear, because I only have basic understanding of it - never looked too deep into it.
Maybe (probably) there are more inherent negatives to it that I don’t know about. Maybe the environmental ones just stuck with me because I understand those.
This documantary brings up some very valid points about the subject matter if you have an hour and a half to burn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tspGVbmMmVA
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=tspGVbmMmVA
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.