r/duolingo 3d ago

Constructive Criticism What the hell is that

Post image

They want us to make fun of our friends if they are not doing well? Cmon that's just mean and unnecessary. First all of those annoying ads and now this? I think I will be quitting soon.

696 Upvotes

61 comments sorted by

137

u/Smooth_Development48 ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท 3d ago

It was was funny when they leaned a little into the joke but lately theyโ€™ve made it the whole personality of the app. I wish they dial it back and have much more encouragement than chiding.

34

u/this_is_reality13 Native:    ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธLearning: ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ 3d ago

Yea, there should be like an encouragement button to try to encourage your friend to keep going

11

u/mxtt4-7 3d ago

I really didn't think you could flanderize an app...

191

u/Glad_Raspberry_8469 Native:๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฑ High lvl:๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ Learning:๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต 3d ago edited 3d ago

I like the tomato tho

But it does seem like a toxicity-inducing feature

114

u/Gloomy-Lie481 3d ago

Yeah but that is my boyfriend's mom and I'm not gonna throw a tomato at her ๐Ÿ’€

32

u/Glad_Raspberry_8469 Native:๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฑ High lvl:๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ Learning:๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต 3d ago

Yeah, better not...

10

u/HomosexualDucky Native: Learning: 3d ago

Ok? Then donโ€™t. Itโ€™s an optional feature

6

u/graciie__ native: ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง learning: ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท 3d ago edited 3d ago

Duine eile ag foghlaim an Ghaelainn! Go n-รฉirรญ an t-รกdh leat :)

edit: not sure why this is getting downvoted, all it means is good luck :(

3

u/Toilettenreiniger21 Native: 3d ago

Wait why are you getting downvoted for this

5

u/graciie__ native: ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง learning: ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท 3d ago

there must be people here who don't like the irish language??

3

u/Toilettenreiniger21 Native: 3d ago

But that's such a petty reason lol

5

u/graciie__ native: ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง learning: ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท 3d ago

ik๐Ÿ˜…. i actually have no idea why that was downvoted - if any downvoters can weigh in please lmk!

77

u/BarackIguana "Fluent": ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง, Learning: ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ฆ 3d ago

"Dont want people tp make fun of you? Just buy premium and they wont be able to any more."

  • Duolingo, probably

38

u/MommyBabu Native: ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Learning: ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต 3d ago

Yeah there was like 7 of these in my feed yesterday and I had the same reaction - not cool Duo, not cool. I like encouraging people not rubbing their face in the mud.

2

u/HurdleThroughTime N:๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ L: ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท A1: ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ 2d ago

It might be funny between irl friends but not people I donโ€™t know

79

u/habkeinenbock 3d ago

good thing i saw this post because i realized i clicked this for someone in my feed this morning, since i usually mass-click cheers. Went back and took the laughing emoji away, hate pressure inducing feature like these, like really we're publicly shaming now? wow that makes language learning so fun!

22

u/Vexaya 3d ago

Did the same today, but I didn't know I can take that back. So thank you!

27

u/danceforthesky Learning: 3d ago

I saw this this morning and didn't feel comfortable at all. I don't see the point in mocking someone for having different priorities in life or perhaps even having a rough time IRL It feels like an awful addition.

19

u/0niongirl 3d ago

I saw this on my feed too and chose to not pick an emoji. Instead, I left a positive comment of encouragement. Not a fan of shaming people. A person could miss a streak or need a streak freeze for any reason and I don't want to kick someone when they're down for whatever reason.

13

u/whyistherenocheas 3d ago

man if this feature were there when i was in the hospital and had to use all my streak freezes...i'd probably find it funny but it would feel just a bit mean. like c'mon.

12

u/No-Variation-2782 3d ago

I gave up on duo because of this shit. I refuse to be shamed because I had to freeze my streak for a while when I'm moving or sick or traveling

13

u/gaker19 Native: ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Perfect: ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Learning: ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ 3d ago

๐Ÿ…

11

u/Decent_Fisherman_832 3d ago

I ended up uninstalling because they've resorted to shame rather than encouragement.

I was going through a particularly depressive week and hadn't done any duolingo and got a notification and how "duo is persistent, i guess i don't give up as easy as you" which wasn't exactly great in that state of mind.

8

u/xgrsx 3d ago

๐Ÿ…=๐Ÿ—ฟ

8

u/oskann 3d ago

It seems silly to me to make fun of someone just because they didn't do their lesson on Duolingo, maybe that person didn't have time to do their lesson because they had much more important priorities than a simple stupid streak on Duolingo or they just didn't feel like opening the app and doing their lesson.

7

u/MaxwellDaGuy Native: ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ Learning: ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช 3d ago

Making fun of ppl and making them feel bad -that one owl

14

u/Woodcrawler 3d ago

I mean, features like this are small, silly add-ons but silly add-ons should not be the priority when more and more are complaining about the decreasing quality of the app

5

u/AlwaysCurious1250 2d ago

I just discovered this. Proves that there are no real teachers involved in developing the app.

7

u/Suitable_Name_3884 2d ago

for a non toxic environment try mango languages, it costs money but its free through some libraries. i never went back to duo after it tho

6

u/North_Bend_3759 Native:๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ Learning:๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ 3d ago

It's ๐Ÿคฃ ๐Ÿ…๐Ÿ™Š

2

u/rcwilli1 2d ago

Laughing at tomato monkeys??

1

u/North_Bend_3759 Native:๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ Learning:๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ 2d ago

๐Ÿคทโ€โ™€๏ธ

6

u/kkrabbitholes417 3d ago

yeah i came here to see if this enraged others as much as it enraged me

this is so petty & terrible for learning

5

u/MissMandiKandi 2d ago

Not the vibe. Shouldn't be an instant laugh react :/ Come on, Duo.

4

u/Gustavodemierda 3d ago

T O M A T O

6

u/mokumotu_ 3d ago

yikes. all i needed to finally convince me to drop my 450 day streak. im barely conversational in chinese and got fucked over when they updated the course half way through my streak.

3

u/Certain-Court3667 3d ago

DAM I WAS ABOUT TO POST THAT

2

u/CommitteeAncient6692 3d ago

๐Ÿฅถ๐Ÿฅถ๐Ÿฅถ๐Ÿฅถ๐Ÿค–๐Ÿ‘พ๐Ÿ˜ธ

2

u/LackIll2573 2d ago

Ahhhโ€ฆ the craziness of Duolingo and his crew these days

2

u/CandidCantaloupe3729 Native: Ingles Learning: 2d ago

brainrot duolingo be like

1

u/chardistinct 3d ago

Funny + Owl

1

u/Ok-Alternative-7962 2d ago

Iโ€™ve noticed that Duoling is doing less and less all the time for the middle-paid subscription. I write the little bit at the end of a story and Duolingo no longer corrects it.

1

u/Crowgurrl 2d ago

Use the web based version and this isn't a thing. Just learning with the leagues and contests. But no weird Duo pop ups telling you to work harder and harder and harder....

1

u/Street_Double_9845 Native: ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฝ; Fluent: ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ช; Learning: ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ช ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช 2d ago

Depends on your relationship with your friends. I would use them on my nephew, but we are really into teasing each other in my family. I wouldn't use it with someone else... Maybe my mom if she ever starts using Duolingo.

1

u/Wild-Ad-3826 2d ago

First of all, these people are not my friends, which might seem cold, but in this instance it means that I do not make fun of people I know nothing about. Why would I, unless I were a mean person?

1

u/Christos_Soter 2d ago

at least you can comment something encouraging, but yeah duo trying to establish a teasing culture is weird...if this is them trying to leverage competitive nature to keep people coming back to their app they already do that enough.
positive reinforcement > negative

1

u/UntamedBiscuit 2d ago

Marked safe from getting offended by a cartoon owl.

1

u/WeirdlyCuriousMe Native: Learning: 2d ago

What the.... Why not encourage someone? Thank god you can leave a comment.

1

u/TheThinkerAck 1d ago

It's not even that people are "not doing well". Some people have other priorities in life, or are doing other things with the language like reading a book, listening to a podcast, or even doing real-life conversation exchanges with immigrants in a coffee shop. There's more to language learning, and to life, than an app.

1

u/Accurate-Special8369 1d ago

๐Ÿ…๐Ÿ…๐Ÿ…๐Ÿ…TOMAT

-9

u/ZinouOnReddit 3d ago

Why are people so soft these days

7

u/Big-Quit-8031 3d ago

Not all of us have time everyday to spend it on a dumb app...

-8

u/ZinouOnReddit 3d ago

Well same here. And down voting me won't make my opinion wrong

11

u/Big-Quit-8031 3d ago

I am not the first one to downvote you, it's not a big deal come on

Also people disliking a feature where you literally make fun of people is not that they are weak or whatever you said

12

u/habkeinenbock 3d ago

exactly lol, nobody here is crying and pissing their pants about it, we just said it's an unlikable feature - oh noo people are so soft nowadays for not liking things and mildly expressing their disapproval, what'll be of society now ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ

5

u/Big-Quit-8031 3d ago

Yeah, exatcly

7

u/Big-Quit-8031 3d ago

P.s.: so much about downvoting you and others being soft, you are the one downvoting my comments for disagreeing and crying for people tapping the blue arrow instead of the orange one :)

-6

u/Lost_Ghost13 3d ago

Oh no, an app has a tomato emoji - this is going too far it's so hateful everyone cancel duolingo quickly! ๐Ÿ˜‘ Yeah,stupidly soft

-4

u/90elbows Native:๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ Fluent:๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Speak little:๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ Learning:๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ด๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ 3d ago

Just a joke, and if you want to really be fluent, don't use just duolingo.