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‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

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Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#21

Post by stevenwoo »

Synroc wrote: post #9
darepublic wrote: post #5

What I can never reconcile with is that when mainstream media means 'toxic' they are never referring to the /r/latestagecapitalism plastered all over the front page of reddit. They protest the fact that somewhere, hidden from popular view a minority of people hold a different view from the extreme leftist one.

What’s wrong with r/latestagecapitalism?

I agree with a lot of the jokes/memes posted there that make it to the front page but the actual rules for discussion within the subreddit are kind of far out there. I guess one might call it the (publicly acknowledged) equivalent of the unspoken rules for the r/the_donald subreddit where many things written in opposition to trump are deleted by the moderators.

Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#22

Post by wyldfire »

abnry wrote: post #17

I think there is a very important distinction that needs to be made. The popular reddit experience is vastly worse than the customized reddit. It took me a while to realize that my reddit experience was vastly improved once I was very picky about which subreddits I follow.

I think this is an important distinction. I could never quite understand what all the hub-bub was until I realized that.

I've used my account to comment since before they added subreddits. And I never stumble across one of the "toxic" ones except for the rare occasions when one of the other subreddits links to those ones.

Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#23

Post by douglaswlance »

Reddit is the only popular website where rational discourse can actually happen, thanks to the infinitely threaded conversations and complete markdown.

While there is objective rude comments on there, this is why some people call it, "toxic," because their ideas are challenged, and they'd rather preserve their ideological bubble than seek to understand reality.

Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#24

Post by norealidea »

rightos wrote: post #15
Synroc wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s wrong with r/latestagecapitalism?

Admins do nothing to prevent extreme moderation as occurs on there from deleting any comment with an alternative viewpoint. Yet it appears quite consistently on the front page with only agreement in its comments section.

right, because the rules of the subreddit indicate that. The subreddit has its own mods that follow its own rules. And the Admins of reddit do not get involved unless they're peventing a lawsuit. Which is kind of how the internet should be run. Free and safe from mass control, but communities controlling themselves.

Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#25

Post by wanderr »

ben_jones wrote: post #13
irrational wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit is just a reflection of the world. There is both good and bad there. It is very easy to avoid the bad. Only visit the subreddits that you know are good. For instance, I'm a boardgamer and r/boardgames is a very friendly place. Other subreddits I frequent like r/woodworking, r/bodyweightfitness, r/campingandhiking are likewise places that positively contribute to the world.

Reddit is a reflection of the internet world. Don't forget how many people don't use the internet at all, or people who interact with the internet in only a minor way during their day to day (a debit card transaction, a text message, a social media notification...)

Reddit is a skewed reflection of the internet world. It does not appeal to all groups equally.

Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#26

Post by borkt »

irrational wrote: post #7
megaman22 wrote: post #2

I'm sure that's what most people could say about their time at, or on, Reddit.

Reddit is just a reflection of the world. There is both good and bad there. It is very easy to avoid the bad. Only visit the subreddits that you know are good. For instance, I'm a boardgamer and r/boardgames is a very friendly place. Other subreddits I frequent like r/woodworking, r/bodyweightfitness, r/campingandhiking are likewise places that positively contribute to the world.

Yeah I read a number of hobby subs including r/woodworking and it is pretty amazing how helpful and positive these subs can be. I do not ever go except for specific subs. r/vacuumcleaners helped me find a vacuum etc. Without reddit I would find a lot of bad info on google thats often just paid advertising.

Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#27

Post by adamsea »

TAForObvReasons wrote: post #12

> The incentive structure is simply growth at all costs. There was never, in any board meeting that I have ever attended, a conversation about the users, about things that were going on that were bad, about potential dangers, about decisions that might affect potential dangers. There was never a conversation about that stuff. This externality-disregarding culture was idolized in SV for the last decade or so. It's nic…

Its as if the members of the VC community were a bunch of capitalists or something ;-)

Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#28

Post by noobiemcfoob »

TAForObvReasons wrote: post #12

> The incentive structure is simply growth at all costs. There was never, in any board meeting that I have ever attended, a conversation about the users, about things that were going on that were bad, about potential dangers, about decisions that might affect potential dangers. There was never a conversation about that stuff. This externality-disregarding culture was idolized in SV for the last decade or so. It's nic…

Regulation doesn't solve all the problems. In and of itself, regulation can create just as perverted incentives as the existing VC culture. With the perceived impact that Facebook had on the election, I'm starting to believe our culture is evolving into one that won't allow such disregard with or without laws enforcing it.

Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#29

Post by rightos »

49531 wrote: post #20
rightos wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Admins do nothing to prevent extreme moderation as occurs on there from deleting any comment with an alternative viewpoint. Yet it appears quite consistently on the front page with only agreement in its comments section.

I'd say extreme moderation is probably the opposite of toxic.

You're right, censored discussion is probably a better way to put it.

They delete anything questioning their viewpoint, not just spam, hate speech, harassment etc.

Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#30

Post by j45 »

unixhero wrote: post #10

Interesting observations. However I disagree that Reddit can be understood as one entity.

It would be great if you could explain the different entities or guide me towards somewhere I could read more about what you are describing.
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