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Reddit’s profane, greedy traders are shaking up the stock market

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Re: Reddit’s profane, greedy traders are shaking up the stock market

#141
Matt Levine's take: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2020-02-26/money-...

I'd really recommend subscribing (free, email, don't think there's RSS) if you don't already (I got the recommendation on HN). He's prolific though, rarely a day without an email, and often two or three - it wasn't long before I couldn't keep up; I just skim and read more thoroughly those that grab my attention now.

Re: Reddit’s profane, greedy traders are shaking up the stock market

#142

As someone who was a very early member of /r/wallstreetbets: 1) /r/wallstreetbets and /r/wsb are two different subreddits. /r/wsb are for those that got banned from wallstreetbets 2) When wallstreetbets first started it wasn’t as crazy as it was today. There were some aggressive gamblers but there was opportunity for real due diligence and decent conversation. I contributed more than a few posts back in the early day…

3) You don’t need to have complete data to report what you think is a market manipulation scheme to the SEC for investigation:

> Tips - Report a potential violation of the securities laws directly to enforcement@sec.gov. Please do not use this email box for general comments or questions.

Re: Reddit’s profane, greedy traders are shaking up the stock market

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

r/wallstreetbets is not politically correct. It is shitposting of a magnitude not seen since the heyday of 4chan. (Their motto is "if 4chan got a bloomberg terminal") In other words, he's upset because people put mean words on an imageboard.

ikr, and honestly, I mean, at least compared to what i've seen in some other places on reddit, wallstreetbets is pretty tame, still politically incorrect, but the worst ive seen is them calling both themselves and others "gay bears" and "autists". ive definitely seen far worse and more mean-spirited elsewhere

I would tend to agree. WSB is mostly about self deprecation, and occasional digs at "FIRE" types and people who are financially prudent.

It is a far cry from the many subreddits that actually preach hatred against an outgroup.

Re: Reddit’s profane, greedy traders are shaking up the stock market

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Care to explain?

I'm going to guess, based on what I know about diversity and inclusion. It's the fact that people are called retards, autists, and homophobic slurs. To some it's about "having thick skin". To others it's about normalizing "hate speech". It really depends on what your life experience is to determine which camp you fall in. If you've been on the receiving end of hate speech or discrimination, you tend to be in the seco…

And one person's "normalizing" is another's "reclaiming". Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.

Re: Reddit’s profane, greedy traders are shaking up the stock market

#145

As someone who was a very early member of /r/wallstreetbets: 1) /r/wallstreetbets and /r/wsb are two different subreddits. /r/wsb are for those that got banned from wallstreetbets 2) When wallstreetbets first started it wasn’t as crazy as it was today. There were some aggressive gamblers but there was opportunity for real due diligence and decent conversation. I contributed more than a few posts back in the early day…

No, the article got it right. It's annoyingly common for people commenting on a subreddit to use a shortened name of the subreddit when discussing it. Since reddit will link you to anything starting with "r/", sometimes there's no subreddit there, sometimes mods will claim it just to be safe, and sometimes it's a cow. (r/cow = r/competitiveoverwatch)

Re: Reddit’s profane, greedy traders are shaking up the stock market

#148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to guess, based on what I know about diversity and inclusion. It's the fact that people are called retards, autists, and homophobic slurs. To some it's about "having thick skin". To others it's about normalizing "hate speech". It really depends on what your life experience is to determine which camp you fall in. If you've been on the receiving end of hate speech or discrimination, you tend to be in the seco…

> If you've been on the receiving end of hate speech or discrimination, you tend to be in the second camp. If you've lived a relatively privileged life in terms of 'fitting in' to the world around you, you tend to think people just need to grow thicker skin. As someone who fell into category 1 for most of my childhood, I think you have the labels reversed. I think it takes a tremendously sheltered privileged life to…

[deleted]

Re: Reddit’s profane, greedy traders are shaking up the stock market

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to guess, based on what I know about diversity and inclusion. It's the fact that people are called retards, autists, and homophobic slurs. To some it's about "having thick skin". To others it's about normalizing "hate speech". It really depends on what your life experience is to determine which camp you fall in. If you've been on the receiving end of hate speech or discrimination, you tend to be in the seco…

> If you've been on the receiving end of hate speech or discrimination, you tend to be in the second camp. If you've lived a relatively privileged life in terms of 'fitting in' to the world around you, you tend to think people just need to grow thicker skin. As someone who fell into category 1 for most of my childhood, I think you have the labels reversed. I think it takes a tremendously sheltered privileged life to…

The internet has generated this weird subculture of people who get really really upset at people making jokes. It has a "think of the children" sort of moral panic vibe to it. A lot of it has to do with completely ignoring any context or intention from the source material, which isn't how language works in any other context. Jokes inherently use exaggeration and extreme positions in jest which make them easy targets for misrepresentation.

The even weirder thing is it's finding a reception among weak-willed administrators at various institutions who capitulate under the slightest provocation from these small groups of highly vocal outage mobs (largely because these groups have gotten really good at stirring up controversy, and the low-budget modern internet media is perpetually looking for controversy, legitimate or not).

But if you did a survey of the general population (or the institution's actual customers) instead of just listening to these small mobs you'd find that it really isn't that big of a deal to the vast majority of people. The average person understands context and intent - assuming they heard the original source, not the filtered down unfunny reinterpretations that make the rounds.

I was listening to a "best of Jeff Ross" on Youtube recently and all I could think of was that if any of his stuff had been filtered through these cancel culture people over the last few decades he'd basically be considered the devil instead of one of the funniest people in comedy.

I fear for the future of culture, especially comedy, which thrives in a sort of experimental unfiltered chaos. Maybe it will have to live on in the underground like Samizdat in the Soviet Union.

Re: Reddit’s profane, greedy traders are shaking up the stock market

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Case and point, just five years ago Redditors figured that out that by upvoting a post of image of a potato titled "Gaming Console. If you upvote this potato it will show up on Google Images when people search for Gaming Console." It even borked their news algorithm - https://i.imgur.com/A0zLPSR.png

Not trying to be a jerk but the phrase is "Case in point".

Game set in match!
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