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Ask HN: Is Reddit Becoming Dumber?

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Re: Ask HN: Is Reddit Becoming Dumber?

#11

Post by bart_spoon »

> As the years pass and I pick up new niche interests, my instinct is to turn to Reddit to find like minded individuals, but more and more increasingly I find that misinformed and poorly researched content is becoming the default and taking over the more quality content.

I think this is becoming the default for the internet/society in general. Rather than it being a Reddit problem, it’s simply manifesting on Reddit, as it is most other popular websites.

Re: Ask HN: Is Reddit Becoming Dumber?

#13

Post by senkora »

It got noticeably more hostile in March 2020, when COVID diverted lots of new social interaction from in-person to online. This was the Eternal September moment for me personally.

Starting in January I was spending a lot of time on the internet for personal reasons and the transition in March was very clear to me.

Re: Ask HN: Is Reddit Becoming Dumber?

#16

Post by musicale »

haunter wrote: post #12

Everything is politics now, every single sub. No exception. That's my biggest problem. And no it wasn't always like this

Certain topics seem to be irresistible flamebait, instantly poisoning any online discussion. Without effective moderation they become superweapons for trolls, and bombs that anyone can accidentally or intentionally set off.

Upvote/downvote wars are also ugly.

(And it's not just reddit; I used to enjoy ars technica before its comment section degenerated into flame and downvote wars.)

HN is one of the few exceptions where touching one of these electric rails even in passing doesn't seem to destroy everything good, but it still isn't immune to upvote/downvote wars.

Re: Ask HN: Is Reddit Becoming Dumber?

#17

Post by silisili »

thiht wrote: post #15
haunter wrote: post #12

Everything is politics now, every single sub. No exception. That's my biggest problem. And no it wasn't always like this

What are you talking about? No, not every sub is politics, what do you mean?

I'd say almost every sub is, especially big ones. Especially the default ones. I've even been preemptively banned from some subs for even being in other subs. Some subs admittedly are pretty good about prohibiting politics, but that's the exception rather than the norm.

Local subs are extremely political. I quit bothering as every post is about something the governor did that literally doesn't affect the city or anyone in it.

Re: Ask HN: Is Reddit Becoming Dumber?

#20

Post by pessimizer »

It's been over-corporatized in an attempt for respectability, with the goal of finally making money. That's something that happens in waves, and eventually you're left with nothing of what you started with. Reddit has reacted to every media panic with waves of new censorship and subreddit bans. You can only do that so many times before you've actually handed your site over to people who 1) either never participated in or enjoyed any of the now banned activity or places, and 2) people who were attracted by a site that was wiped clean, and were disgusted by the site during the period of its greatest growth, creativity, and influence.

People blame it on Eternal September, but it's really handing a new site, barely resembling the old site, to Eternal September and banning the old site.

What reddit is trying to do is to build an entirely new business with new customers, while retconning the brand that it built while becoming a household name. It's rational; there's no reason why reddit should be valued any higher than a 4chan, and they're looking for one.

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