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How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

theguardian.com

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Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#41

Post by eagletusk »

lsmarigo wrote: post #24
icpmacdo wrote: post #2

I think Reddit is interestingly a net social positive. For all the bad things that come out of it you can often see users helping others in a pretty significant way.

Reddit has some fantastic and fascinating communities and really interesting cult-like ones (/r/nofap) However I'd like to point out the admin policy towards hate groups and speech on reddit is in my opinion incredibly dangerous and damaging to our society. They will take action against subreddits like FPH (fat people hate) because of "real life" actions, meawhile there are thousands of highly upvoted calls to violen…

I concur r/nofap is an amazing sub-reddit where random people are genuinely offering encouragement to each other. It's great.

Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#42

Post by bri3d »

pat_space wrote: post #5
icpmacdo wrote: post #2

I think Reddit is interestingly a net social positive. For all the bad things that come out of it you can often see users helping others in a pretty significant way.

I don't think of Reddit as a single entity, but as a platform for communities(subreddits). The differences between subreddit communities are vast, ranging from 100% toxic to 100% positive.

I started thinking of Reddit that way, but once you start thinking about it that way, it's a pretty crappy software solution. A platform for diverse communities with a single SSO solution and frictionless cross-community posting combined with limited moderation features, poor ban capabilities, and easy discovery?

That's not a good software recipe for a community to become empowered or build their own space at all.

Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#43

Post by traverseda »

ant6n wrote: post #22
52-6F-62 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a safe dwelling for a mix of sycophant bots, Trump supporters/red-pillers, trolls, and possibly Russians (depending on who you ask). Warning: once you see it, you can't un-see it.

(Lots of downvotes here but no comments, so I gotta ask. What do people who disagree actually think?)

Rule of charity. If you don't understand why hitler wanted to kill all the jews, or more importantly why people voted for him on that platform, you can't keep it from happening again.

No "these people are evil" is not an acceptable answer.

The people who voted for trump may be wrong, but they are still perfectly understandable humans, doing what they think is right. Or at least what they think they have to do.

Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#44

Post by pat_space »

dionidium wrote: post #20
vinhboy wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to think so. I enjoyed Reddit a lot, despite people complaining about it. Then /r/the_donald happened. Now I tread carefully because you never know what kind of propaganda is being spread around. People say stick to the subreddit. But I think that's silly. If the core of Reddit is rotten, then the subreddit themselves will be affected. It has happened to places I visit like /r/environment. There is a constant…

This is silly. I follow a number of subreddits on topics ranging from baseball, local news (city subreddits), credit card churning, maps, history, and many others. None of them have been affected by /r/the_donald.

I agree with you and think the hubbub around r/the_donald is amusing. In my opinion, r/the_donald is a "beautiful" example of mob trolling. If a subreddit doesn't interest you, just unfollow it. If you are browsing /r/all, you're probably procrastinating anyways!

Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#45

Post by Simon321 »

lsmarigo wrote: post #24
icpmacdo wrote: post #2

I think Reddit is interestingly a net social positive. For all the bad things that come out of it you can often see users helping others in a pretty significant way.

Reddit has some fantastic and fascinating communities and really interesting cult-like ones (/r/nofap) However I'd like to point out the admin policy towards hate groups and speech on reddit is in my opinion incredibly dangerous and damaging to our society. They will take action against subreddits like FPH (fat people hate) because of "real life" actions, meawhile there are thousands of highly upvoted calls to violen…

Well said.

Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#46

Post by spike021 »

vinhboy wrote: post #7
icpmacdo wrote: post #2

I think Reddit is interestingly a net social positive. For all the bad things that come out of it you can often see users helping others in a pretty significant way.

I used to think so. I enjoyed Reddit a lot, despite people complaining about it. Then /r/the_donald happened. Now I tread carefully because you never know what kind of propaganda is being spread around. People say stick to the subreddit. But I think that's silly. If the core of Reddit is rotten, then the subreddit themselves will be affected. It has happened to places I visit like /r/environment. There is a constant…

>If the core of Reddit is rotten, then the subreddit themselves will be affected.

This is a pretty broad claim.

While I don't disagree that toxicity can spread to different subreddits, that doesn't automatically mean it will spread to all of them, especially if the subreddits have solid rules and moderators to enforce them.

Take /r/baseball, for instance, it's a great, topical subreddit and I've pretty much never seen serious political commentary anywhere on it, even during the worst of the recent election.

Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#47

Post by vinhboy »

danlindley wrote: post #38
vinhboy wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to think so. I enjoyed Reddit a lot, despite people complaining about it. Then /r/the_donald happened. Now I tread carefully because you never know what kind of propaganda is being spread around. People say stick to the subreddit. But I think that's silly. If the core of Reddit is rotten, then the subreddit themselves will be affected. It has happened to places I visit like /r/environment. There is a constant…

Reddit has been demonstrated time and time again that it is subject to, and vulnerable to, blatant manipulation and propganda. Whether it's a celebrity endoresement masquerading as an interview, threads defending corporations and/or their actions, the manufacturing of consent, the anti-democractic activities of shill accounts, or being subject to blanket disinformation, Reddit is a net-negative to society in my opini…

You know, even the military monitors reddit to keep on top of new trends and ideas. It has really become a social force, and that's why I agree with you, it is ripe for manipulation.

> Reddit is a net-negative to society in my opinion.

I did not agree with this before, but after /r/the_donald, I am re-considering my position.

Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#48

Post by stevekemp »

rifung wrote: post #9
icpmacdo wrote: post #2

I think Reddit is interestingly a net social positive. For all the bad things that come out of it you can often see users helping others in a pretty significant way.

What bad things have come out of it?

Boston bomber(s) witch-hunt, springs to mind. Not to mention the whole jailbait expose.

Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#49

Post by weirdstuff »

vinhboy wrote: post #29
zeep wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

/r/politics is similar to /r/the_donald but it is the exact opposite (it could have been called /r/the_hillary)

No it's not. This exactly the kinda of propaganda you should be aware of. /r/the_donald specifically exists to spread false information, and to dox and harass people. /r/politics is opinionated because of it's user base. It's not intentionally a propaganda machine.

And /r/the_donald would say just the opposite. The thing about propaganda – why it works so well – is that it's presented as authentic civil discourse. There's no clear cut demarcation between the two types of speech.

One could argue that /r/the_donald uses the banhammer to maintain order (the narrative), and /r/politics uses shill comments+downvoting to do the same.

Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#50

Post by Dirlewanger »

gooseus wrote: post #33
fapjacks wrote: post #17

Kratom saves lives.

If that's true, then perhaps you should put some links to good resource explaining what it is and where to get it? Also maybe something indicating why and how it saves lives, any studies on people who kicked opiates using kratom and can attest to it's life-saving properties? I know people who use kratom and they have good things to say, but I've known people who say the same thing about x, y, and z supplement/nootrop…

https://reddit.com/r/kratom
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