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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’

#171

Post by stcredzero »

abnry wrote: post #94
nabc45 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Comments decrying anything bad in a caustic way are near useless.

Yes. The kind of mentality which is drawn to social condemnation has been a mental substrate to all kinds of bad stuff throughout history. No matter how positive the cause for which it's done, it often becomes toxic and authoritarian. Witness various religions throughout history, as well as the high ideals of the early international communists.

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

#172

Post by abritinthebay »

austincheney wrote: post #4

Reddit wouldn't be so toxic if the vote counts were hidden, but echo chamber validation is the ultimate badge of honor there. There is so much in this document that applies to all things Reddit (please note that I wrote it inspired by my time on Reddit) : https://github.com/prettydiff/wisdom/blob/master/Avoiding_Tr...

Vote counts on HN are hidden - doesn't stop a lot of toxic behavior on here.

The problem is down votes are not a good comment tool. Especially combined with hiding and such. Upvote only systems are much more resilient to the kind of gaming mechanics you see here and on reddit.

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

#173

Post by rsynnott »

irrational wrote: post #141
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.

the_donald or the like has never leaked into the many subreddits I frequent.

If you stick to very niche subreddits, you'll mostly escape it, but the reach seems to basically be increasing on a month by month basis at this stage.

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

#175

Post by AriaMinaei »

With the complaint that VCs are incentivised to favor short-term metrics and over emphasise growth, how would you go about fixing that? Also, as a founder, how would you seek investors that wouldn't pressure you to scale too fast?

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

#176

Post by Consultant32452 »

psychometry wrote: post #72
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.

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.

You're talking about a world where Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, The Jersey Shore, and gameshows where you pick your spouse from a group of strangers are hit television shows. I think you may have tastes which are outside of the mainstream.

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

#177

Post by Grue3 »

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?

Um, the fact that it's named after a concept from a failed ideology that caused several at least Holocaust-sized genocides in the span of 20th century?

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

#178

Post by hackinthebochs »

alehul wrote: post #132
psychometry wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ones about things you are interested in...

I'm interested in politics, however /r/politics has awful comment quality and isn't a great sub to visit. I'd also like to hear about people's favorite subreddits in terms of comment quality, as I'd happily read a passionate and informative stance on something I'm usually not interested in compared to what I read on /r/politics. Edit: I meant to use it as an example -- I'm actually interested in any type of subreddit…

You might want to check out /r/NeutralPolitics and /r/PoliticalDiscussion. They're both heavily moderated to keep comment quality high.

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

#179

Post by mustacheemperor »

1337biz wrote: post #143
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.

The internet is not your save space. Neither is reddit. If everbody were thinking your way, those posts would be downvoted into obliviation. I am sorry that you have to face the fact thst many people don't share your personal value judgement of what is considered to be racist/sexist.

I think this is an oversimplified view, especially when it is nearly a known fact reddit's votes are manipulated by automated imposters/"troll farms"/etc. The internet is not my safe space, but I think it's very reasonable for the subreddit about Canada to be moderated as a "safe space" free of racist ramblings. The people holding those opinions can go elsewhere, for example to The_Donald, where any dissent is quickly deleted by moderators. Even beyond the manipulation question, moderation exists to refine a community beyond mob rule.

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

#180

Post by foobaw »

One thing that really annoys me from Reddit is the mob mentality.

For instance, a person will make a seemingly "logical" argument and everyone will just keep adding their own "opinion" agreeing with this argument to be part of this mob. Later, even if this argument is proven wrong, you will get insulted, downvoted and threatened if you make any sort of counter-argument. I hate generalizing but my experience was that most people were unwilling to take back what they said.

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