‘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’

#331

Post by mschaef » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 6:33 PM UTC

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.

Funny you should mention that... my first exposure to reddit was exclusively through /r/programming. (To give a sense of the scale of the site at the time, I distinctly remember a post celebrating 65,536 subscribers.)

At some point shortly after, they added the ability to create subreddits, the site blew up in overall scale, and I was completely oblivious to it all for years, being that I only read /r/programming.

Point is, the site gives you a lot of useful ability to curate what you read.

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

#332

Post by testvox » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 6:33 PM UTC

raquo wrote: post #300

dmix wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I definitely think that dumb content makes the consumer dumber with repeated exposure Sure, but even if that turns out to be the case what concerns me is how often people automatically take the next step and assume that it should or CAN be controlled top-down, and that doing so will surely result in the average/lowest common denominator consumer suddenly becoming smarter and less ignorant. Basically the assumption…

I would say the general public's level of intelligence in general, and the effect of dumb content on it specifically is definitely significant enough to need a solution. Many solutions, probably. Of course no one will seriously suggest a gif prohibition (I hope), but regarding fake news specifically, regulation such as the FCC Fairness doctrine could possibly work. The point is not to eliminate undesired behavior ent…

The Supreme Court ruled that the fairness doctrine was justified given the scarce nature of the radio spectrum. The doctrine never applied to cable TV and certainly wouldn't be able to be applied to the internet.

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

#333

Post by wvenable » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 6:34 PM UTC

fudged71 wrote: post #260

wvenable wrote: post #101

"They believe that if they have a billion unique visitors a month, that they have a property that is going to be worth a ton of money in some way eventually." This is stupid; users are fickle and visitors mean nothing if you can't monetize them. And usually attempting to monetize visitors causes them to leave to the next platform trying to reach a billion unique visitors. I can't believe intelligent people think this…

I think the idea of reddit collapsing entirely is much harder than a single news site for instance. It's not one product, it is hundreds of strong communities that have gathered from different places on the web. There are discussions and communities that I would not know how to find elsewhere on the web.

Reddit is not profitable. Your strong communities are supported by investors hoping to get a return on their investment. If the growth stops, the investment stops, and the servers go away.

The fact that the communities are strong matters not.

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

#334

Post by chillwaves » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 6:34 PM UTC

notMick wrote: post #307

streb-lo wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure it's being brigaded by both sides for political points/fire control. But you'd have to be willfully blind to describe the events up to now as a "nothing burger."

There is nothing, except a large paid hoax propaganda campaign. With the same team we could make mother Teresa seem like an imperialist religious nut. But anyway, let's agree to disagree. Because the world is nicer that way.

Over a dozen indictments say otherwise.

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

#335

Post by jsherwani » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 6:36 PM UTC

eanzenberg wrote: post #322

staplers wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People like to blame FB/Twitter I am not blaming anyone. Simply stating that those places are expressly made for sharing low-quality content. Just because there is a demand for something, doesn't mean we shouldn't fight the urge.

This line of logic is so so so dangerous. I hope you understand what you're suggesting. "People deciding what people should watch / read / consume."

Are people not deciding what people should watch / read / consume?

Netflix chooses which shows to show in its spotlight section / email blast. TV stations decide which shows to put in prime time slots.

Newspaper editors decide which articles get placed where. Your friends decide which articles to share in their feed (and thus expose you to them).

Companies advertise their products on TV, create retail spaces in our neighborhoods, to entice us to consume their products.

If you’re worried about a world in which people decide these things for others, the sad reality is: we’re already in that world.

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

#336

Post by belorn » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 6:36 PM UTC

mizzack wrote: post #239

belorn wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Comparing porn to white supremacy is just that kind of political view that feels completely alien to me. It was not many years ago that Monty Python poked fun at a whole nations conservative view about nudity and porn, and it seems like globally we have taken a few new step backwards toward the 19th century views about those topics. The biggest porn section in reddit is currently ranked 61 of all subreddits. Cat pict…

Comparing the popularity of a default sub to a NSFW sub using subscriber counts is a horrible argument. New accounts get subscribed to the defaults automatically -- hence the top ~50 subreddits by sub count are or were defaults. "User Activity" is probably more accurate. Even then, how are they determining activity? Views? Comments? Up/downvotes?

I think you can read a lot of intent and purpose of a website if the default is directing people to cat pictures.

Regardless of defaults, I doubt there is a single metric that show that porn on reddit is more popular than cat pictures. There is doubt in any method that collect metrics, but if we define them as insignificant then the same metric can not later then be used to say that porn is significant on reddit. Uncertainty cut both ways. Subscriptions can be bots, could be mistakes, might be from users not reading the site, or simply made up. Same goes for view counts or "activity".

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

#337

Post by CM30 » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 6:37 PM UTC

gottam wrote: post #256

The comments here have this mentality of "there are people with different opinions from me, why don't these websites deal with these opinions". It's dangerous thinking that can be applied to your opinions. The internet always worked this way. There are the cesspools, maybe things you don't like, but if you don't feel like engaging with these communities you simply keep going. Problem with these social media forum sit…

Yeah, exactly this. Many of the communities on platforms like Reddit simply cannot co-exist, and having independent forums for them meant they could operate peacefully without those who dislike the fundamental premise of the community worrying or complaining about their existence.

You could probably even compare social media sites to schools or prisons really. Tons of people with different, wildly incompatible viewpoints or philosophies stuck in a place they don't really care for.

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

#338

Post by chillwaves » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 6:37 PM UTC

xienze wrote: post #199

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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 focu…

> I mean, of course its going to occasionally top /r/politics Have you actually ventured over there? Saying Russiagate/Trump stories are "occasionally" at the top of /r/politics is a bit of an understatement. They're obsessed over there.

Yes, a lot of negative stories about the Republican party are posted on /r/politics but that is because negative things keep happening. Last week the deputy finance chair of the RNC was exposed as paying $1.6M to buy silence for an aborted lovechild with a playboy model and that wasn't even the biggest story of the day.

Honestly, no major scandal in the last few days is the exception now, not the norm.

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

#339

Post by acdha » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 6:38 PM UTC

notMick wrote: post #299

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.

What does that mean though? People who post in one sub aren't allowed to be in any other sub? People in TD can write in others subs too, as can people from late stage capitalism. Wanting to forcibly segregate and silence people with different opinions is I think at the heart of the problem with silicon valley right now. 'remove those who disagree with me' has killed hundreds of millions over the years, and is a commo…

It’s not about forcible removal but following the rules. People who came for a toxic subreddit tend to use the same style, memes, etc. everywhere and often go back to their home base to encourage fellow believers to back them up. Over time that spoils communities because reasonable people aren’t as driven to post as frequently as the ideologues.

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

#340

Post by wvenable » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 6:40 PM UTC

stale2002 wrote: post #325

aldoushuxley001 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's literally impossible for moderators to be neutral, for anyone to be neutral. Even judges are well known for leaning to one side or the other.

Sure it is possible. You can be neutral by banning nothing. Or at the very least only ban something when the authorities literally force you to do so.

Banning nothing is fine if you want your community to die.

In theory, everyone has equal ability to share their opinions and all have equal weight. In reality, you have a lot less influence than someone willing to post 24/7 everywhere they can. The quickest way to drive away reasonable people is to do nothing.