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Study: Reddit used by 6% of adult Internet users

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Re: Study: Reddit used by 6% of adult Internet users

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting how the Reddit hivemind tries to reconcile images and low-quality content. Case in point, /r/atheism recently banned direct links to images, requiring users to put links to them in self posts instead (where they would earn no link Karma). A mass exodus ensued due to these "two-click memes" to /r/atheismrebooted. Which subsequently imploded due to low-quality content and bad moderation. Reddit drama i…

Drama... /r/pyongyang is a joke subreddit where users are banned immediately if they don't tow the DPRK party line and ingratiate themselves with the Kims. OK, this is good for a 30 second laugh, but /r/conservative is mostly the same way! I guess conservatives feel they are in a siege with the rest of left-leaning (6% of US adults) reddit that they ban anyone who might seems not to toe the line. On the other hand, /…

*toe the DPRK party line

Re: Study: Reddit used by 6% of adult Internet users

#42
post #40

I got on reddit around 2007, left in about 2011. The quality of discussion has fallen so badly that the site is unusable for comments. Before, it was irregular to see a sentance with less than 5 words, now, these quick comments rule the top karma ladders. It is interesting to see how a community that is small, gains popularity over time and quality degrades. User generated media especially seems to normalize to a gen…

There are some decent subs still, and they're universally ones with a low subscriber count. I'd bet that the vast majority of these "6% of US adults" stick to default subs and the front page, which are as you describe.

Re: Study: Reddit used by 6% of adult Internet users

#44
post #9

Can any HN/reddit folks recommend some interesting and useful subreddits? Whenever I stumble across a link to reddit I am not impressed with the level discussions. I have tried a number of different subreddits across a wide range (this is a wide net: anything from Call of Duty to Woodworking to Security) of topics and I usually find inane chatter or comments with nothing more than a link to the latest animated gif of…

It's interesting how the Reddit hivemind tries to reconcile images and low-quality content. Case in point, /r/atheism recently banned direct links to images, requiring users to put links to them in self posts instead (where they would earn no link Karma). A mass exodus ensued due to these "two-click memes" to /r/atheismrebooted. Which subsequently imploded due to low-quality content and bad moderation. Reddit drama i…

If anyone wants to read about previous reddit drama, they can go to /r/SubredditDrama and sort by "top"

Re: Study: Reddit used by 6% of adult Internet users

#45
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

/r/programming is good in that most of its links you've already seen on HN - there's less churn, and it's less ephemeral than HN. (Links persist at the top for days rather than less than 24 hours) Not better than HN, but if HN had a "best of the week", it'd closely mirror /r/programming.

HN actually does have a "best recent" page. https://news.ycombinator.com/best

How on earth did you find this? This should be a permanent navigation link.

Re: Study: Reddit used by 6% of adult Internet users

#46
post #19
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really depends on what you're looking for. Subreddits are communities, not TV channels. I could give you my top 10 but you might them all inane. I think one of the fundamental problems with is the on boarding process. Without a lot of dedication and searching, you probably won't find subreddits that interest you. I recommend starting with your local community. Try your former college and the city you live in.

I understand your analogy to interesting TV channels but I do not think it applies to inane chatter. I might not enjoy cross stitching but I could still be impressed by the vibrant discussions about new sewing techniques and a lack of comments with nothing more than "This!" or "MOAR" or a link to an animated gif of a happy kitten and a ball of yarn. Being interested in a subject is not enough to keep me coming back i…

In no particular order here are some subreddits that I enjoy. I've omitted ones that have too many image macros (memes) or little traffic. I aimed to include as many that are easy to "surf".

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/

http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience

http://www.reddit.com/r/theoryofreddit

http://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/

http://www.reddit.com/r/frugal

http://www.reddit.com/r/hiphopheads - has a lot of image macros but a must if you're into hip hop

I don't regularly peruse iama but the quality of amas have been getting better. You should search for the high profile ones and check them out.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/

Re: Study: Reddit used by 6% of adult Internet users

#47
post #45
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN actually does have a "best recent" page. https://news.ycombinator.com/best

How on earth did you find this? This should be a permanent navigation link.

In the footer of the page, there is a lists link. The lists page links to the best page, and a few others.

https://news.ycombinator.com/lists

Re: Study: Reddit used by 6% of adult Internet users

#48
post #9

Can any HN/reddit folks recommend some interesting and useful subreddits? Whenever I stumble across a link to reddit I am not impressed with the level discussions. I have tried a number of different subreddits across a wide range (this is a wide net: anything from Call of Duty to Woodworking to Security) of topics and I usually find inane chatter or comments with nothing more than a link to the latest animated gif of…

I second that. You just can't get the same quality level of comments that you can at HN, and I'm often shocked and horrified at what's going on there...Not to mention the whole /r/creepshots thing. I feel like it used to be a much higher standard, but is quickly becoming the new 4chan...

I definitely agree that the standard of the comments and articles used to be significantly higher. I definitely see a lot of parallels between the comments on HN currently and those on Reddit 5-6 years ago. Luckily it seems like HN resists the negative change that happened (I saw it most when Imgur was created).

Re: Study: Reddit used by 6% of adult Internet users

#49
post #9

Can any HN/reddit folks recommend some interesting and useful subreddits? Whenever I stumble across a link to reddit I am not impressed with the level discussions. I have tried a number of different subreddits across a wide range (this is a wide net: anything from Call of Duty to Woodworking to Security) of topics and I usually find inane chatter or comments with nothing more than a link to the latest animated gif of…

I second that. You just can't get the same quality level of comments that you can at HN, and I'm often shocked and horrified at what's going on there...Not to mention the whole /r/creepshots thing. I feel like it used to be a much higher standard, but is quickly becoming the new 4chan...

The trick is to just subscribe to the sub-reddits that interests you, and is not filled with drama or useless stuff and people. e.g. steer away from r/news, r/worldnews, r/pics, r/politics and similar. Subscribe to the more specialized topics that interests you.

Re: Study: Reddit used by 6% of adult Internet users

#50
post #40

I got on reddit around 2007, left in about 2011. The quality of discussion has fallen so badly that the site is unusable for comments. Before, it was irregular to see a sentance with less than 5 words, now, these quick comments rule the top karma ladders. It is interesting to see how a community that is small, gains popularity over time and quality degrades. User generated media especially seems to normalize to a gen…

I'd argue HN has seriously degraded over the last year or so, with masses on articles containing low-quality shallow content, including endless stories about the NSA and Bitcoin, burying any interesting in-depth content. This has come to a head over the past few weeks where I'm finding the site nearly unreadable.

I'm not really sure where to go to find high quality content anymore.

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