Reddit going dark = very annoying.

So far, this is the crappiest summer I've had in a long time. 

It's been cloudy and cold. It doesn't feel like June at all. I've had to work most Saturdays. And when I actually have time to ride coasters or water slides, I don't feel like doing it, because the weather is so consistently awful. I usually try to tone down the amount of sad music I listen to when the summer arrives, but the weather has been so gloomy that I need music to match it. So I haven't. 

And in addition to that, Reddit is currently a ghost town, due to the blackouts over the API changes. 

Personally, I didn't really see the point in protesting at first. I didn't think that Apollo was that good, and I just wanted as few interruptions to my normal life -- and internet activity -- as possible. I almost exclusively browse Reddit using Chrome, Safari, and the official mobile app. 

However, the fact that Reddit didn't care about accessibility for blind people is what pushed me over -- that sucks. Additionally, the API costs are ridiculously high and the NSFW restrictions are idiotic. So, as irritating as the blackouts are, I get it. 

That said, I doubt these protests will do anything other than make it impossible for me to browse r/running (which is much better than the cesspool known as Letsrun) and r/rollercoasters (which I prefer over Theme Park Review, nothing against TPR though, it's still good). I tend to be very cynical about protests and such in general. I just don't think they really do anything. Now, if these "going dark" protests work, then that's great, and I hope that they do. I just don't think they will. I do, however, think that Reddit will experience a slow decline due to this, similar to what's currently happening with Twitter after Muskrat tanked it. 

I miss the old internet forum days, but I would also argue that Reddit is superior to forums for someone like me, who has a lot of interests -- because everything I like is funneled together into one singular feed. That way, I don't have to rotate between like 30 different communities. 

Discord is mediocre. I like it enough, but it won't ever be a good Reddit replacement. I am skeptical about Lemmy. And Mastodon is basically a worse version of forums -- it is not the same as having all of my interests funneled into one place, since you have to choose what is basically a home server. I am equally interested in CS, ECE, graphics, cybersecurity, digital art, writing, running, lifting, theme parks, gaming, various fandoms, and music -- you cannot expect me to have to choose one of these as a "home base". 

And Ruqqus died faster than you can say "wow some of these free-speech communities are sketchy". 

So, what do we do? Honestly, not sure. I'll keep drifting around Reddit, FB, and various forums from 2010 until something better presents itself. I am really hoping that Inkblot takes off. Maybe Inkblot, Serebii, and PerC can be my new online base. I just have to make my art suck less first. And on that note...