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

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

#91

Post by Guvante » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 4:37 PM UTC

colordrops wrote: post #32

lechiffre10 wrote: post #18

I've significantly reduced my time on Reddit. Used to pull up the website out of curiosity every day but the atmosphere is incredibly toxic. My front page was riddled with Russiagate stuff too for some reason and every time you'd bring up an argument that isn't the norm you get a mob after you.

It's hard to bring up without being attacked, even off of Reddit, but for long-time heavy users it's been obvious for a while that Reddit has purposefully undergone several changes to control the narrative at the behest of advertisers and the powers that be.

What narrative supports The_Donald and the numerous left leaning subreddits both being there? Honestly I hear this a lot and am curious. I believe it is because they are focused on retention numbers which thrive off focused insular communities to be clear.

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

#92

Post by blindwatchmaker » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 4:37 PM UTC

The fundamental problem I have with reddit is that it seems extremely easy to game and astroturf. Things like /r/politics felt like a Democratic party propaganda platform around the 2016 election for example.

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

#93

Post by motohagiography » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 4:37 PM UTC

The entire Hollywood mythology was built around being "discovered," and elevated to fame and stardom, and arguably it's main product wasn't movies, it was hope.

If I were Conde Nast, I would use reddit as a farm team for finding, creating, and monetizing internet celebrities through its "legit," properties the way that movie studios created vehicles to profit from actors.

Costs them hardly anything to talent scout redditors and try them out in other publications, then promote the story back of how success story X was "discovered," on reddit.

Keeps their monetization platforms hands clean, while bringing a steady stream of talent to market. The difference between hollywood and Conde Nast is that now, Conde Nast literally owns that talent source instead of relying on a bunch of agents.

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

#94

Post by abnry » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 4:38 PM UTC

nabc45 wrote: post #78

psychometry wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but The_Donald is always leaking. I've seen plenty of sexist/racist content on subreddits for cities, sports teams, memes, etc. Reddit has allowed itself to be a platform used in part for really despicable content, and the despicable people who generate that content regularly venture outside their cesspools.

There's a certain sub I like that is full of sexist and racist stuff and nobody there likes Trump at all. What I mean to say with this is, when you see stuff you don't like on Reddit, that does not mean it's coming from T_D, or that getting rid of T_D would get rid of stuff you don't like.

Yes, and even places that are anti-racism, anti-sexism, and hate trump are often filled with emotionalism and thoughtless group think shouting. Comments decrying anything bad in a caustic way are near useless.

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

#95

Post by drzaiusapelord » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 4:38 PM UTC

lechiffre10 wrote: post #18

I've significantly reduced my time on Reddit. Used to pull up the website out of curiosity every day but the atmosphere is incredibly toxic. My front page was riddled with Russiagate stuff too for some reason and every time you'd bring up an argument that isn't the norm you get a mob after you.

>Russiagate stuff too for some reason

Because its one of, if not, the biggest story in the world right now? I mean, of course its going to occasionally top /r/politics and /r/worldnews.

The president and the highest levels of the GOP are directly targeted in an investigation that has brought 20+ indictments with several guilty pleas with apparently more to come.

This is a bit like saying the news in 1974 was too focused on Watergate.

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

#96

Post by jrochkind1 » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 4:39 PM UTC

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...)

uh... how many?

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

#97

Post by vermontdevil » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 4:40 PM UTC

jamiegreen wrote: post #64

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.

Favourite subs you would recommend?

/r/spacex this is a fantastic group. heavily moderated

/r/askhistorians

/r/apple

I am forgetting a few more.

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

#98

Post by cookiecaper » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 4:40 PM UTC

The introduction indicates that this is part of a series that NY Mag has been running called "The Internet Apologizes", where it appears they specifically seek out influential people willing to say bad things about online communities and properties.

This series can probably be reasonably interpreted as part of the traditional media smear campaign against democratized speech platforms -- they quite prefer speech controlled by their fancy executives and programming directors.

While it doesn't necessarily diminish anything the interviewee states, it's important to understand the context and framing of the discussion.

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

#99

Post by maxerickson » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 4:40 PM UTC

motohagiography wrote: post #93

The entire Hollywood mythology was built around being "discovered," and elevated to fame and stardom, and arguably it's main product wasn't movies, it was hope. If I were Conde Nast, I would use reddit as a farm team for finding, creating, and monetizing internet celebrities through its "legit," properties the way that movie studios created vehicles to profit from actors. Costs them hardly anything to talent scout re…

Condé Nast doesn't own reddit, the parent company to Condé Nast, Advance Publications, is the majority owner of reddit, but not the only shareholder.

Block me on Twitter!

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

#100

Post by Spooky23 » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 4:41 PM UTC

rockostrich wrote: post #65

minimaxir wrote: post #19

As many on Hacker News know, I've been an avid fan of Reddit and believe that their data and community, and there's still a lot more that can be done that can be derived from that data that can't be found anywhere else. That said, from an administrative perspective, the intense hands-free policies are baffling. You'd expect a company based off the nature of community would engage with their community and their needs.…

But they did get engaged! They banned all subreddits related to the trading/purchasing of firearms and alcohol. /r/beertrade, a subreddit for trading beer, had a strict policy that users were not allowed to sell beer for money (something that's actually illegal) and only allowed people to post about trading beer. Even someone like me, who doesn't ship beer and only trades in-person, is no longer allowed to talk about…

They did after realizing they would be facing lots of regulatory problems.

Organizationally, it should be very obvious to anyone who thinks that things like facilitating anonymous gun and alcohol sales, etc is probably not a good idea.