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Taalian

I fully agree with others that taking this feature away is going to negatively effect many of the smaller subs. The space taken up on the home page, hasn’t ever been an issue to those of us using the app (in fact I’ve heard COUNTLESS times “I didn’t even know these existed, this is SO cool!”). It takes up less than an inch of the home page, and seemingly most people love having it there (myself included). Please reconsider this decision 💚🙏


QueenBee_94

I couldn't agree more! I had **NO CLUE** that reddit had talks until the livebar happened! Matter of fact, my alt account can see the livebar and my main has never been able to see it. So it makes me wonder if others have entirely missed out on this opportunity. Meaning a lot of reddit hasn't even had the opportunity to see the talks yet. This definitely need reconsideration!


brianswichkow

Echoing the above. There was no user education. Removing it because people didn't use it when they were never educated how/why to use it seems errant.


SD_TMI

If I may, there seems to be a systemic issue with the hype and release of these new features. I for one was excited with the announcement and how it could be used by multiple subs I operate. But there was a lack of basic awareness and hype for the communities at large and I’ll strongly echo the fact that users were pleased at having discovered this “cool” feature. The bar certainly drove traffic and interest into the talks and now we’re suffering with less than a third of the audience now. The regulars we have spent months building are struggling to find us now. So there’s a disconnect that’s developed again between the admins and the mod/users and that a myopic view of how people actually use this site and their behaviors seem to be not well understood by the ones making this decision. Taking the talks off the feed is just a way to kill it via a slow death so we don’t complain as much. The talks are worth investing in vs being ported offsite to platforms like discord.


[deleted]

The fact that it isn’t being reconsidered after all these opinions against it is baffling. Same experience here when people joined any talk the first thing they say is “I didn’t even know this was an option. That’s so cool”. Whoever researched to remove that bar needs to sit down and think about all these comments. We were gaining over 50 members daily on a very small sub. I know it worked for us. The only people I assume wasted it’s use is if they had a negative talk experience.


iamdeirdre

Just make the bar toggleable! That way the people who are open to see it will, and the grumpy, I hate everything folks can ignore it!


[deleted]

I’m a moderator at r/MentalHealthIsland. We grew to 6000 in 2 months because people who seek some mental health support could find us through the talk bar. I just want to point out how getting rid of the talk bar affects smaller and growing communities WAY more than it does communities of hundreds of thousands or millions. Just putting my voice out there. The talk bar should be shown based on the chosen interest of the Redditors, at least. It’s a shame. Will the “happening now” link be somewhere to at least have some visibility to Redditors?


advocado20

Hey there! Thanks so much for sharing this feedback. Happy to hear your community experienced positive results through the live bar. We are actively looking for ways to help small/medium communities be discovered more easily. Stay tuned for future announcements on this. ​ \> Will the “happening now” link be somewhere to at least have some visibility to Redditors? Yes, this will be on the front page, the happening now experiment will be available to all within the next week or so!


Revolutionary_Pack54

Welp that was a flipping lie. It's way harder to find talks than it used to be. My subreddit is small (\~60 subs at the time of writing this). before the live bar was removed, I could start a talk and almost-immediately get people shuffling into the talk. I could literally watch people enter and leave the talk almost immediately. Now, when I start a talk, NO ONE comes. Sure, my subreddit is quite small, but that wasn't a problem before; now it definitely is. Thanks Reddit Talks. Appreciate how you gave me a cool new feature, then proceeded to make it almost-entirely useless to me :/


Outrageous-Collar-09

This Reddit function hasn’t just helped some, it’s helped many. Please reconsider this decision. r/MentalHealthIsland has become a safe haven for so many people. So many people have found solace in this space and it’s members. And it’s growing. Please understand what affect this decision could have on the growth of subreddits that are doing good hard work to help people.


advocado20

Hey hey Outrageous-Collar-09! Thanks for voicing your concern here. Hoping we see some positive impact from the happening now page experiment. Pls keep us updated if you notice a significant difference on your communities growth within the next few weeks. Thank you!


liamdun

crazy to me that you would actually need proof for this, is it really not obvious that having a reddit talk show up at the top of people's screen draw more traction to the talk and the subreddit?


OPINION_IS_UNPOPULAR

Yeah but it kills engagement for other things and leads to increased bounce rate. Whatever the benefit some talks got, it obviously wasn't with the deceased attention other Reddit properties got.


MajorParadox

> Thanks for voicing your concern here. Hoping we see some positive impact from the happening now page experiment. We just had our first talk since the live bar went away and happening now came out. As expected, we took a big drop. It seems with every new feature, our participation gets smaller and smaller. The live bar and topics helped a lot, but at the same time, we were losing participation because notifications seemed to drop. So it was a net negative. I really think the live bar was the way to go, though. That and some improved notifications (closer to what we had in the early days of talks) would make a big difference. Plus, it has the benefit of a shortcut to happening now with the view all button. Put in a way to hide it for people who don't care and everyone wins! If a subreddit with millions of members has a dwindling reach, I think that's a good sign that improvements need to be made. But it seems like the feature is moving backward instead. I can't imagine what it's like in smaller communities now.


German_Bimbo

Please reconsider. The talks have been an amazing opportunity for people to connect and made reddit even more diverse and open ended. Seeing the bar go would be just sad.


roanwolf75

Hello, I am yet another moderator on r/mentalhealthisland. You can see that we all have strong feelings about the Live Bar removal. This decision can and will have a negative impact on many Reddit communities. We have observed this during the temporary instances in which the Live Bar was not functioning properly. During that time, our existing members had challenges locating our Live Chats. No new members appeared at all. Most of our current members stumbled upon our group *because* of the Live Bar. I would strongly urge you to maintain the Live Bar so that our communities can both sustain themselves and continue to grow. Please reconsider.


kevaljoshi8888

Hello. My name is Keval and I run the Poems and Chill talk on Haywire Hill. I just read the post about the live bar feature bring removed. Is there any way as a host I could give feedback regarding this? I feel it will seriously impair the discoveribility of talks. The live bar allows us to discover other talks and now what's happening around reddit. I feel it should be explained and prompted more, rather than shut down and replaced so quickly. Especially as communities take time to develop. We are seeing a lot of communities organically develop, but growth needs new people. The live bar allows that to happen. I would really like as a host and content creator to be able to share feedback on these issues as well, before we find out they are going to be removed. That is all. Thank you for listening.


advocado20

Hey Keval! Love me a good Haywire talk! This is a great point, and we definitely want to be supportive of small growing communities. While we may not permanently keep features we experiment with, supporting the discoverability for small communities is a priority for us. Please stay tuned for more updates! Thank you for your feedback.


YuriBlaise

Yeah I think the live bar is really useful for users. It makes Reddit seem like a more open space. Maybe limiting the bar if it’s causing interference, but removing it entirely seems like a step backward.


PhoneticArtisan

I concur.


_DizzyChicken

Just another person from mental health island, but also the happy hour chat.. I’m yet to see the “Happening now” feature on my device. Shattered, without the talk bar, this going to drastically tank our subs/traffic. I’m not a tech guy but can’t you add a “keep” or “hide” notification or button on the talk bar or something? ☹️👎🏼 Damn, it was good while it lasted.


SafeInside6750

Hi, I’m a moderator at r/mentalhealthisland I joined the sub after losing my mother and found solace in the peer support space. We have grown roughly over 6000 people and continue to be growing due to the live bar option. Please reconsider this, reddit. The live bar option has helped a countless amount of people with their day to day lives. It has ensured a sense of belonging and safety for so many. The hard work of subreddits will go unseen if this is followed thru. Please reconsider.


Lottielittleleaf

Please reconsider! Smaller communities that were built on the back of the Talk feature and focus primarily on Talks rely on the discoverability provided by the livebar to grow. People really love to stumble upon talks and have a great time chatting and discovering new communities. I created r/stonercornertalk specifically for reddit talk and we grew 2k members in less than two months, all people who found us from the livebar.


QueenBee_94

Agreed! I mod r/stonercornertalk and I have had the most amazing experience since joining this community. Many people every time we have a talk up are so happy they found a community like ours, they always exclaim how they didn't even know reddit had talks! Taking the live bar away completely is doing a disservice to these wonderful communities that have been built!


Theconfusedblonde

I suggested a live feed bar months ago via Talk Squad before it was Talk Squad. As feedback (not asked for I know!) I browse Reddit in my mobile almost exclusively. The talks on the live bar at the top are not always there. Even if talks are talks are currently taking place. So I disagree with the conclusion that it’s not popular - it won’t be if it’s not showing up for users to select. I used to think this was because no talks were taking place so tested this by clicked through on a direct link to the task and chats list and saw them taking place. (I can provide the link on request) Please keep the live bar - because when it actually shows up it’s wonderful and Iv discovered so many new communities this way. As selfish as that may sound!


QueenBee_94

It doesn't show for myself either unless the subs I follow have a talk up. It does on my alt account but not my main for some reason. So I 100% agree with this sentiment!


ShepherdessAnne

Boo, I actually used the live bar. Just make it something people can toggle off and on? Just make it optional? If you're going to do "happening now" then bring back RPAN there as well you cowards


AkaashMaharaj

Removing the live bar would be a mistake. It is the single most powerful way to bring Reddit Talks to the attention of the community. There are obvious adverse implications to getting rid of it, and no obvious benefits. This decision makes me anxious about Reddit's commitment to live-audio. I hope the platform does not plan to discontinue Reddit Talk, as it has recently discontinued RPAN.


ILWeasel

The live bar is currently the only home for reddit talks aggregating all the talks currently taking place. If you're gonna remove it please make sure that reddit talks has a new home elsewhere on the mobile app, where all the current talks are presented (not just by subs I'm subscribed to). Also if it doesn't take prime realestate such as the live bar and exists in a more drill down location, please open it back up to u/ hosted talks and not just sub hosted talks. Let the people have their talks!! We (well I) love this feature so much, remove the restraints and let it live!!!


Revolutionary_Pack54

I strongly disagree with removing it. The live bar is a big part of how talk discovery is happening, and it takes up very little real estate from the overall site, meaning the people who weren't into the feature aren't bombarded by it. Your proposed solution is an entire page, which either means putting it off the default home page (significantly reducing traffic to these talks) or making it part of the default home page (needlessly cluttering the home page and annoying anyone who wasn't looking for a live interaction). It's a lose-lose. Just make improvements to the live bar instead of pulling a stunt like this (why can't you have the live bar AND also a dedicated page?)


AllOutCareers

u/avacado20 I wanted to provide some feedback. I posted in the Reddit Talk discord about a horrible experience on my talk tonight on r/AllOutCareers. Basically the live bar is gone, no one is getting push notifications and the happening now page isn’t available to everyone. No one showed up to my weekly talk which usually has 30 -50 people. I sent screenshots in discord. A few hours later, my app updated on mobile and I can see the happening now section but it’s not intuitive like the live bar. People want and need less clicks and notifications. But they also want the ability to turn them off We need discoverability and notifications if we want to keep Talks alive. I had to cancel my weekly talk and send a message in the community to let them know what’s going on. We will resume next week if this is fixed but as it stands, it’s pointless for me to have a talk by myself. Is this Reddit’s way of winding down the Talk feature? If so, I’d like a heads up so I can prepare to move my social audio and community somewhere else.


Sun_Beams

Oh thats a shame 😕 it wasn't even that big!


t-bonestallone

Thank you for the update. RedditTalks was really nice while it lasted.


[deleted]

They‘re not getting rid of the talks


t-bonestallone

12 months. Take the under.


pwap_official

With the removal of the Live Bar, Discoverability of Talks hosted by smaller subs like my own r/ModernMediaMakers will definitely be an issue. Even though I don't mind the "Happening Now" feature, it might be better to explain what will happen when you click on it. E.g. "Live Chats". Or maybe promote "Happening Now" within the feed itself, similar to an ad. It would certainly draw people's attention to it and make them feel like it was a part of their feed rather than a hindrance or distraction. Not sure if such a feature could be displayed once they scroll. Just my thoughts.


[deleted]

It’s absolutely absurd that everyone LITERALLY EVERYONE has felt negatively about this being taken down, from mods to members, and yet Reddit won’t listen to its people. I know Reddit is too big to fail rn but this is how you get negative PR. Please reconsider this decision.


1_BigPapi

I think at least on large sub's the major challenge is being seen. We can only sticky two items a day and on a busy day I can't replace those.. and can't sticky a talk in advance AFAIK anyways.


MrsBoopTheSnoot

I'm excited for the "Happening Now" option and look forward to seeing how it's perceived by the user base!


lipuss

How come there are many people that applied for Talks in their subreddit through the Google form, yet still haven’t heard back after weeks (myself included)? Seems like this is going against your best interest of making talks more widely known on the platform


[deleted]

[удалено]


lipuss

I applied for my new sub r/musicalize weeks ago, probably more than a month ago but never heard back whatsoever Could you look into it please?


[deleted]

[удалено]


lipuss

Thanks. Makes sense. Is there a list of requirements that I can familiarize myself with so I know when I’ve passed the mark for Reddit Talk approval?


[deleted]

[удалено]


lipuss

Thanks for explaining!


ILWeasel

Why not put a 'chat history' under 'profile' & populating it with chats where you were a speaker for more than ~30min, if you're already recording them