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> "...it seems like a BuzzFeed clone, which Redditors despise." Part of Reddit's weakness is the Redditor mentality. Do I have to adopt their way of thinking,

by tcdent 11y ago

> "...it seems like a BuzzFeed clone, which Redditors despise." Part of Reddit's weakness is the Redditor mentality. Do I have to adopt their way of thinking, acting, consuming when I sign up? No, but I'm sure a ton of the mainstream is turned off by it. Want to show some growth numbers? Target users outside of your core demographic. Re-purposed content re-presented for a different audience is a pretty easy way do that.

clavalle 11y ago
"the Redditor mentality" I don't think this actually exists. There are 'meme-storms' -- Libertarianism, getting riled up about finding some 'criminal' them getting riled up about the people getting riled up, and the anti-censorship crusades, etc but I think attributing these things to the hivemind is a mental shortcut that's found way too much purchase.
- Domenic_S 11y ago
  It exists. Look at just the interface of the site itself. It's ugly and confusing, but if you say it's ugly and confusing, LOL @ U. Everyone knows you have to install RES+Hoverzoom for the real Reddit experience! > According to Google Ad Planner's estimate, as of May 2013, the median Reddit user is male (59%), 18–29 years of age [0] A lot of the reason Reddit skews young is the interface, which in turn results in a young-male echochamber. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddit#Demographics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddit#Demographics
  - Karunamon 11y ago
    Ugly? You mean it doesn't follow the latest Flat UI Design® standards where beauty means a lack of differentiation between clickable and not, is mostly text with a predictable layout, and degrades gracefully in the face of no javascript? ..because older-female people can't figure out how links and votes work? Huh? I don't think you'd be able to substantiate that connection you just made, and what's more, it's quite insulting.
    - arbitrage 11y ago
      So, the person you responded to said exactly none of that, so feel free to stop exaggerating. The site really is ugly as sin, with elements you need to interact with hidden all over the place in nonintuitive fashion. Bugs left to languish for months. Dead links on the frontpage for years. Add to that, allowing every single subreddit to redesign everything with their own CSS leads to a highly divisive experience. Also, sorry you find an opinion insulting.
      - Karunamon 11y ago
        A lot of the reason Reddit skews young is the interface, which in turn results in a young-male echochamber. Do you have another interpretation of this text? What is absolutely insulting is to imply that women or older people can't handle Reddit's UI, moreso when it's a completely unsubstantiated speculation.
        Domenic_S 11y ago
        You say "can't handle", I say "don't prefer". Older people are massive consumers of news, yet (as a demographic) are not well-represented in Reddit's userbase. That's not because they're idiots; it's because other sites surface content for them in a far more understandable way, in comparison. A site experience can be inclusive or exclusive. I'm arguing that it's exclusive.
        Karunamon 11y ago
        That's an interesting theory, but what I really want to know is how you prove that. Reddit has a culture that came, in large part, from the founding of the site and the kind of links that people submit (which started out as bots posting stuff at the founder's direction!), which at least superficially, sounds a lot more reasonable than "women and the elderly don't use the site because UI".
- minimaxir 11y ago
  I'm actually working on a data post about quantifying submission upvotes based in keywords in the title. It should be up by Fridayish. Tl:dr there definitely is a mentality.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - TeMPOraL 11y ago
    Are you going to test it on every subreddit or just on the front page? Hint: Reddit is huge, and topical subreddits often form strong communities with little overlap. Talking about Reddit's hivemind is like talking about European mentality. Just because most of the continent is in the EU, doesn't mean the culture is monolithic.
    - minimaxir 11y ago
      I have data for the Top 500 subredddits, and only those Top 500 subreddits have enough data to make a good conclusion.
- jsprogrammer 11y ago
  >I don't think this actually exists. Yep. People have a strong tendency to take a single example, or small number of examples, and apply it as universal truth to all similar things. "Redditor mentality", "market believes", "government did"...they are all statements you will see often on Internet forums and offline conversations, but I think they are a clue into the person making those claims. What exists are many individual actors making decisions; pretending they are an independent, collective, conscious entity is delusional. -- RE: Redditor mentality All you saw were a tiny fraction of comments from a tiny fraction of people on a website named reddit.
hugh4 11y ago
Until you express an opinion which certain groups of users don't like, at which point you get downvoted, harassed, brigaded, shadowbanned, and your whole community gets quarantined or banned.

by tcdent 11y ago

clavalle 11y ago

"the Redditor mentality" I don't think this actually exists. There are 'meme-storms' -- Libertarianism, getting riled up about finding some 'criminal' them getting riled up about the people getting riled up, and the anti-censorship crusades, etc but I think attributing these things to the hivemind is a mental shortcut that's found way too much purchase.

Domenic_S 11y ago
It exists. Look at just the interface of the site itself. It's ugly and confusing, but if you say it's ugly and confusing, LOL @ U. Everyone knows you have to install RES+Hoverzoom for the real Reddit experience! > According to Google Ad Planner's estimate, as of May 2013, the median Reddit user is male (59%), 18–29 years of age [0] A lot of the reason Reddit skews young is the interface, which in turn results in a young-male echochamber. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddit#Demographics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddit#Demographics
- Karunamon 11y ago
  Ugly? You mean it doesn't follow the latest Flat UI Design® standards where beauty means a lack of differentiation between clickable and not, is mostly text with a predictable layout, and degrades gracefully in the face of no javascript? ..because older-female people can't figure out how links and votes work? Huh? I don't think you'd be able to substantiate that connection you just made, and what's more, it's quite insulting.
  - arbitrage 11y ago
    So, the person you responded to said exactly none of that, so feel free to stop exaggerating. The site really is ugly as sin, with elements you need to interact with hidden all over the place in nonintuitive fashion. Bugs left to languish for months. Dead links on the frontpage for years. Add to that, allowing every single subreddit to redesign everything with their own CSS leads to a highly divisive experience. Also, sorry you find an opinion insulting.
    - Karunamon 11y ago
      A lot of the reason Reddit skews young is the interface, which in turn results in a young-male echochamber. Do you have another interpretation of this text? What is absolutely insulting is to imply that women or older people can't handle Reddit's UI, moreso when it's a completely unsubstantiated speculation.
      - Domenic_S 11y ago
        You say "can't handle", I say "don't prefer". Older people are massive consumers of news, yet (as a demographic) are not well-represented in Reddit's userbase. That's not because they're idiots; it's because other sites surface content for them in a far more understandable way, in comparison. A site experience can be inclusive or exclusive. I'm arguing that it's exclusive.
        Karunamon 11y ago
        That's an interesting theory, but what I really want to know is how you prove that. Reddit has a culture that came, in large part, from the founding of the site and the kind of links that people submit (which started out as bots posting stuff at the founder's direction!), which at least superficially, sounds a lot more reasonable than "women and the elderly don't use the site because UI".
minimaxir 11y ago
I'm actually working on a data post about quantifying submission upvotes based in keywords in the title. It should be up by Fridayish. Tl:dr there definitely is a mentality.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  Are you going to test it on every subreddit or just on the front page? Hint: Reddit is huge, and topical subreddits often form strong communities with little overlap. Talking about Reddit's hivemind is like talking about European mentality. Just because most of the continent is in the EU, doesn't mean the culture is monolithic.
  - minimaxir 11y ago
    I have data for the Top 500 subredddits, and only those Top 500 subreddits have enough data to make a good conclusion.
jsprogrammer 11y ago
>I don't think this actually exists. Yep. People have a strong tendency to take a single example, or small number of examples, and apply it as universal truth to all similar things. "Redditor mentality", "market believes", "government did"...they are all statements you will see often on Internet forums and offline conversations, but I think they are a clue into the person making those claims. What exists are many individual actors making decisions; pretending they are an independent, collective, conscious entity is delusional. -- RE: Redditor mentality All you saw were a tiny fraction of comments from a tiny fraction of people on a website named reddit.

hugh4 11y ago

Until you express an opinion which certain groups of users don't like, at which point you get downvoted, harassed, brigaded, shadowbanned, and your whole community gets quarantined or banned.