Reddit brings back its old award system — ‘we messed up’

Reddit is re-introducing a revised model of the awards system it phased out final 12 months after acknowledging the golden upvote system had “missed the mark.”

“We tried one thing new, it wasn’t nice (you known as it),” Reddit stated in its announcement put up on Wednesday. “So we’re (re)launching awards, not-so-new however positively improved. Rollout begins at the moment on reddit.com and Reddit’s iOS and Android apps.”

A lot of the earlier award system mechanisms will stay the identical, in line with Reddit, with a number of tweaks — resembling an award button positioned below eligible posts, an up to date UI to reduce litter, and an awards leaderboard that shows the highest gold and awards earned for a remark or put up. New security options have been launched to maintain awards off delicate or NSFW subreddits, and permit customers to report when awards are being misused. The platform has additionally created new awards and up to date a few of the outdated award designs.

After which there’s cash — the tokens Reddit customers beforehand wanted to buy with actual cash to purchase awards. Reddit acknowledges it “didn’t adequately talk” to customers why cash have been being phased out. As such, the platform is compensating customers who had their coin stability eliminated with a “variety of unique awards” that they may give out at no cost.

Notably, cash aren’t technically returning. As an alternative, customers will now must buy gold, which begins at $1.79 (or $1.99 through cell) for 100 gold, and was launched as a part of Reddit’s Contributor Program to award different customers with “golden upvotes.” Reddit stated the golden upvote “wasn’t as enjoyable or expressive as legacy awards,” and can sundown the system now that the outdated awards program is again, although eligible creators can nonetheless use gold to earn cash through its Contributor Program. 

Not like golden upvotes, Reddit says its Contributor Program has attracted loads of curiosity and is now being expanded to cowl 35 nations. The corporate acknowledged consumer considerations concerning the potential for this system to be abused for spam, fraud, and karma farming, however says it hasn’t seen a rise in such conduct for the reason that system was launched six months in the past.

Reddit’s apologetic try and placate its customers might have solely created additional pressure. Some commenters on the announcement put up have expressed confusion about how the revamped awards program capabilities, and lots of are displeased that a few of its most beloved options — like the power to “gild” posts by donating a Reddit Premium subscription — will not be returning.