I used Reddit quite a bit around a decade ago. Mostly for keeping up to date with Linux and other computer-related things, but also to understand the kind of things people were generally interested in and talking about (became small talk is a thing, and I’m terrible at it). I drifted away a few year ago, but since the first lockdown started I’ve found it a useful source of information about things I’m interested in.
This started when I was researching computer parts for my new desktop PC. I’ve not built a desktop for a long time, so I wanted to see what other people were doing, and how the parts shortage was going to affect the choices I made. I have my PC now, and I’m very pleased with it, but I also didn’t stop using Reddit at that point; I just stopped caring about PC hardware and tapped into the community expertise around my other current hobbies (customising the i3 window manager, Linux in general, mechanical keyboards, cycling, music). It’s interesting to see how other people are customising their computers and their keyboards, and it gives me ideas for changes I want to make to my own setup.
The time I’ve spent on Reddit has also reminded me of how much it’s used as a general support forum for all sorts of things. I try not to get too involved in that side of it, but I am very interested in the way people ask for help with their IT issues and it gives me some useful data to reflect on when I’m thinking about these things as part of my day job.
I’m in no way surprised that people are generally quite bad at describing the issues they are having, and also that they are very bad at choosing the right place to ask for help. I do have vague intentions to write up long answers to things that people seem to struggle with, probably starting with my insights on how people switching to Linux invariably start off with doing something really hard as part of their initial switch (dual-boot, Nvidia drivers, getting Windows software to work in the same way it does on Windows) and give up soon afterwards, not realising that everything else they will ever do isn’t going to be that hard to set up. That’s an essay for another day, but this is definitely a statement of intent.
I’m also starting to get quite interested in the way people have their home offices set up. After 18 months of mostly remote working, I’ll be returning part-time to the office next week, but am still very interested in seeing how other people set their home offices up for maximum productivity. I’ve made a lot of changes since the start of last year, and I suspect many other people have as well. I have intentions to make a long list of people who have inspired me with their setups, but that’s also a job for another day.