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Reddit used to be amazing. Before that slashdot. But both have become meme generators and in jokes. I guess if this site attracts more people then it too will f

Reddit used to be amazing. Before that slashdot. But both have become meme generators and in jokes. I guess if this site attracts more people then it too will fall to crappy comments and poor quality stuff voted to the front page.

TuringTest 11y ago
Then maybe the trick to get user-generated commentary right is to avoid attracting a large audience of meme generators and buffoons?
- monk_e_boy 11y ago
  It's a hard trick to pull off. Slashdot didn't seem to be run by morons, the stories were filtered by editors the user moderation was complex and nuanced yet it still succumbed to the lowest common denominator.
  - TuringTest 11y ago
    Yes, that's one possible natural progression of a site that becomes popular; although in the meantime, Slashdot gave us a decade or more of valid insights. Maybe the fate of all online communities is to die of popularity, or die by its users abandoning the site and it devolving into a clique of a few unconditional regulars; the key is to make good use of them while they last.
  - mike_hearn 11y ago
    I've been reading and posting to Slashdot for about 15 years and I haven't noticed any obvious change in the quality of discussions in that time. You say "it succumbed to the LCD" but that's pretty subjective. My own experience suggests it's pretty similar to how it always was. The biggest drops in Slashdot quality have been due to botched rollouts of badly implemented features not changes in the commenters.
talmand 11y ago
Reddit can still be amazing, just stay away from the default subreddits. The more mainstream a subreddit is, the worst it gets over time. Some of them refuse to be set as a default for that very reason. Although, they have started down the path of censoring stuff they don't like and promoting stuff they do like, so it'll likely start withering away as people start finding alternatives.
TheCoelacanth 11y ago
Reddit is still pretty amazing if you visit the right sub-reddits. Most of the default subs are pretty bad though.

TuringTest 11y ago

Then maybe the trick to get user-generated commentary right is to avoid attracting a large audience of meme generators and buffoons?

monk_e_boy 11y ago
It's a hard trick to pull off. Slashdot didn't seem to be run by morons, the stories were filtered by editors the user moderation was complex and nuanced yet it still succumbed to the lowest common denominator.
- TuringTest 11y ago
  Yes, that's one possible natural progression of a site that becomes popular; although in the meantime, Slashdot gave us a decade or more of valid insights. Maybe the fate of all online communities is to die of popularity, or die by its users abandoning the site and it devolving into a clique of a few unconditional regulars; the key is to make good use of them while they last.
- mike_hearn 11y ago
  I've been reading and posting to Slashdot for about 15 years and I haven't noticed any obvious change in the quality of discussions in that time. You say "it succumbed to the LCD" but that's pretty subjective. My own experience suggests it's pretty similar to how it always was. The biggest drops in Slashdot quality have been due to botched rollouts of badly implemented features not changes in the commenters.

talmand 11y ago

Reddit can still be amazing, just stay away from the default subreddits. The more mainstream a subreddit is, the worst it gets over time. Some of them refuse to be set as a default for that very reason. Although, they have started down the path of censoring stuff they don't like and promoting stuff they do like, so it'll likely start withering away as people start finding alternatives.

TheCoelacanth 11y ago

Reddit is still pretty amazing if you visit the right sub-reddits. Most of the default subs are pretty bad though.