How Reddit Got Obama

#1

Post by rkudeshi » Wed, Aug 29, 2012, 10:16 PM UTC

Re: How Reddit Got Obama

#2

Post by sharkweek » Wed, Aug 29, 2012, 10:51 PM UTC

As much as I love it, Reddit has some pretty unsavory corners. Assuming this makes any news outside the tech space, I'd be curious to see what comes out -- "President Obama answering questions on website affiliated with necrophilia" ?

Re: How Reddit Got Obama

#3

Post by eaxbin » Wed, Aug 29, 2012, 10:55 PM UTC

sharkweek wrote: post #2

As much as I love it, Reddit has some pretty unsavory corners. Assuming this makes any news outside the tech space, I'd be curious to see what comes out -- "President Obama answering questions on website affiliated with necrophilia" ?

Well, he also did a Google Hangout, and I think we can all guess what that's also being used for.

:)

Re: How Reddit Got Obama

#4

Post by mcantelon » Wed, Aug 29, 2012, 11:07 PM UTC

sharkweek wrote: post #2

As much as I love it, Reddit has some pretty unsavory corners. Assuming this makes any news outside the tech space, I'd be curious to see what comes out -- "President Obama answering questions on website affiliated with necrophilia" ?

No doubt that political avenue's being explored as we speak. Reddit last hit mainstream news due to jailbait photos, IIRC.

Re: How Reddit Got Obama

#5

Post by emmett » Wed, Aug 29, 2012, 11:22 PM UTC

sharkweek wrote: post #2

As much as I love it, Reddit has some pretty unsavory corners. Assuming this makes any news outside the tech space, I'd be curious to see what comes out -- "President Obama answering questions on website affiliated with necrophilia" ?

As much as I love it, the internet has some pretty unsavory corners. Assuming this makes any news outside the internet, I'd be curious to see what comes out -- "President Obama answering questions on new technology associated with necrophilia AND child porn".

I'm being snarky, but it's comments like the one you just made which are echo-chambered into "there is something wrong with communications medium X because it was once used by group Y". Reddit's a big public forum: any big forum will have those issues.

Re: How Reddit Got Obama

#6

Post by raldi » Wed, Aug 29, 2012, 11:24 PM UTC

sharkweek wrote: post #2

As much as I love it, Reddit has some pretty unsavory corners. Assuming this makes any news outside the tech space, I'd be curious to see what comes out -- "President Obama answering questions on website affiliated with necrophilia" ?

Seriously. That would be like the president having a Twitter account, or a telephone.

Re: How Reddit Got Obama

#7

Post by monksy » Wed, Aug 29, 2012, 11:32 PM UTC

sharkweek wrote: post #2

As much as I love it, Reddit has some pretty unsavory corners. Assuming this makes any news outside the tech space, I'd be curious to see what comes out -- "President Obama answering questions on website affiliated with necrophilia" ?

Humanity as a whole has some unsavory corners. Learn to live with it.

Re: How Reddit Got Obama

#8

Post by lotharbot » Wed, Aug 29, 2012, 11:38 PM UTC

emmett wrote: post #5

sharkweek wrote: post #2

As much as I love it, Reddit has some pretty unsavory corners. Assuming this makes any news outside the tech space, I'd be curious to see what comes out -- "President Obama answering questions on website affiliated with necrophilia" ?

As much as I love it, the internet has some pretty unsavory corners. Assuming this makes any news outside the internet, I'd be curious to see what comes out -- "President Obama answering questions on new technology associated with necrophilia AND child porn". I'm being snarky, but it's comments like the one you just made which are echo-chambered into "there is something wrong with communications medium X because it w…

> "the internet has some pretty unsavory corners."

Average voters actually use the internet and understand it. There's porn and stuff "out there", but most people don't run into it when they're visiting facebook, yahoo, espn.com, and other mainstream sites. The average voter isn't going to question the judgment of someone who "uses the internet" because it doesn't seem seedy to them.

The average voter doesn't know what reddit is, and wouldn't "get" it from the homepage. On the homepage right now, there's Obama's AMA and a couple of other serious political stories -- sandwiched between half a dozen memes, a picture of a canker sore shaped like a penis, and several instances of the word "fuck". You don't have to go looking in the unsavory corners of reddit to find stuff that would make my mom question the judgment of people who use the site.

Re: How Reddit Got Obama

#9

Post by nl » Wed, Aug 29, 2012, 11:39 PM UTC

"Front page of the internet" was always an ambitious tagline.

Reddit is living up to it now, though.

Re: How Reddit Got Obama

#10

Post by sharkweek » Wed, Aug 29, 2012, 11:39 PM UTC

emmett wrote: post #5

sharkweek wrote: post #2

As much as I love it, Reddit has some pretty unsavory corners. Assuming this makes any news outside the tech space, I'd be curious to see what comes out -- "President Obama answering questions on website affiliated with necrophilia" ?

As much as I love it, the internet has some pretty unsavory corners. Assuming this makes any news outside the internet, I'd be curious to see what comes out -- "President Obama answering questions on new technology associated with necrophilia AND child porn". I'm being snarky, but it's comments like the one you just made which are echo-chambered into "there is something wrong with communications medium X because it w…

I guess I'm just more curious to see if the benefit provided from using reddit will outweigh any potential consequences. I do believe this will mostly be overlooked by news outlets outside of tech spaces, but... Most people don't understand reddit and it'd be ridiculously easy for opponents to spin this one deep into the negative.