atob.xyz

One of the more interesting results of the craziness that was reddit last week was the massive advertisement for reddit alternatives.

The problem with the vast majority of them is they were more often than not more clones than alternatives. And even more often they had few users and server problems. I don't think the "next reddit" is going to be exactly like reddit, and trying to cash in on the current, or recently passed, chaos is not the smartest thing to do.

The other problem is that all of the alternatives that I saw didn't have a strong established internal culture. A massive wave of redditors joining would then effectively change the what they had in an attempt to make it reddit 2.0 rather than something new.

Amongst all the rehashes of attempts at reddit 2.0, I found one of the most interesting websites I've ever seen.

atob.xyz

It's one part 4chan, one part reddit, one part nobodyhere.com. Especially that last one. I used to spend a lot of time on that strange website back in high school, and one of its lesser known features (already on a lesser known website) is the inclusion of an anonymous chat... in the form of bug avatars in a sink. It's absurd to the core, but led to interesting conversations and great friendships.

atob.xyz captures that spirit, albeit with much more internet-ness than nobodyhere's bug sink, but it's close enough. It's goofy and whimsical and anonymous. A fun way to kill some time and make jokes with others who enjoy the silly nature of the site.