Ask HN: anyone else watching with horror/fascination as reddit turns into /b/?

#1

Post by ghiotion » Tue, Aug 04, 2009, 4:31 PM UTC

There are almost too many examples to cite (narwhals, 'let me tap that', 'FB girl who loves anal', 'stay hasty' personal army thread, references to pedobear, etc, etc, etc).

Don't get me wrong. I love reddit. I also, in spite of myself, like /b/. It can be brilliantly demonic. But I've seen reddit slowly transform into /b/ over the course of the past 2 years - right around the time Anonymous went after the Scientologists. Amazingly, I have never seen reddit mentioned on /b/, but I see /b/ mentioned on reddit quite a bit. So how did it happen? Did reddit discover /b/ or vice versa? Is /b/ the inevitable end result when a bunch of smart, socially awkward, computer savvy teens and 20-year-olds get together online?

Re: Ask HN: anyone else watching with horror/fascination as reddit turns into /b/?

#2

Post by alaskamiller » Tue, Aug 04, 2009, 6:15 PM UTC

It's really just the same people browsing both sites. I'll bet you, it's the same people browsing this site as well.

Re: Ask HN: anyone else watching with horror/fascination as reddit turns into /b/?

#3

Post by citation_needed » Tue, Aug 04, 2009, 6:54 PM UTC

alaskamiller wrote: post #2

It's really just the same people browsing both sites. I'll bet you, it's the same people browsing this site as well.

I'll bet you, it's the same people browsing this site as well.

That I doubt. The discussions on here seem a tad more enlightened and articulate.

Re: Ask HN: anyone else watching with horror/fascination as reddit turns into /b/?

#4

Post by toki » Tue, Aug 04, 2009, 7:20 PM UTC

No, i like reddit as it is! I love that reddit is a living organism. I think that the 4chan-jokes are just a trend like the Ron-Paul-Posts some months ago...

A long time i was sceptical that the system with the sub-reddits is really useful, but now i am convinced that it is a great invention: It allows reddit to develop and be a very dynamic system.

Reddit is alive and becoming better every day in its subreddits. The new "todayilearned" and "iama" subreddits are great. Its becoming a little bit like a better usenet.

Hacker News has better discussions, yeah, but reddit has more potential for further development and innovantion...

Re: Ask HN: anyone else watching with horror/fascination as reddit turns into /b/?

#5

Post by trafficlight » Tue, Aug 04, 2009, 8:26 PM UTC

citation_needed wrote: post #3

alaskamiller wrote: post #2

It's really just the same people browsing both sites. I'll bet you, it's the same people browsing this site as well.

I'll bet you, it's the same people browsing this site as well. That I doubt. The discussions on here seem a tad more enlightened and articulate.

I think it's because everyone here understands that this not the place for /b/ style comments. We are actively trying to keep HN enlightening and articulate.

That's not to say that jackass comments don't have their place.