For me, it’s a few things.
-
A way to burn time that doesn’t feel like a digital sugar rush.
-
Support, camaraderie, and kindness, primarily from /r/stopdrinking.
-
Niche stuff, like ideas for local hiking and backpacking trips, propaganda posters, and kayaking info.
SU stumbled (I can’t remember why)
They attempted to make a social network out of it, and I think a link aggregation site like Fark.com or Reddit are more engaging because you don’t generally leave the site - or at least not for long. With SU you were constantly on a new site.
It’s not terribly dissimilar to what Reddit is doing now: trying to force through a change that nobody wants, nobody asked for and one that’s making the experience worse.
I do often miss SU, but sometimes really great information hides in the comments section on Reddit. SU’s shoehorned comments section just wasn’t the same thing.
Oh for sure, the means of discussing a particular site on SU was clunky, but so was all UX/UI. The thing reddit did right was to flip that particular experience around. Make the discussion the focus and let us visit the site at our leisure, rather than the site being the focus and letting us find the discussion. With reddit you find the content through the discussion.
I miss SU nostalgically, but modern link aggregators provide a superior experience. SU did it’s job well for the internet at the time.
100% concur that what reddit is trying to do is a similar echo to SU, Myspace, and Digg.
