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More importantly they only really exist on some parts of Reddit One thing I noticed in my time on reddit is that subreddits aren't insular silos. Values, opini
by ramy_d 10y ago
More importantly they only really exist on some parts of Reddit
One thing I noticed in my time on reddit is that subreddits aren't insular silos. Values, opinions and views-du-jour often bleed over into other subreddits in ways that are hard to predict. Reddit is a really unique culture in that it is constantly, subtly, and rapidly, fluctuating. Just because a fraction of subreddits are being exploited through shilling doesn't mean that redditors in your favourite subreddit don't go there and that they themselves are (consciously or otherwise) not being affected. Even if they don't read the articles, then they saw those highly voted headlines. There's no escape! This involves all subreddits!
- M_Grey 10y agoIt probably depends on what your subreddits are. For me, it's Science, Space, Askscience, ELI5, and Aww.
- ramy_d 10y agoNo, I'm saying it doesn't. Your subreddits are much more focused, especially AskScience but not so much for ELI5 and Aww, and that's good. But they are still comprised of comments sections with opinions, questions and discussions that are put forward by other redditors that frequent other subreddits. They are part of that reddit culture where subreddits are not impenetrable silos. Even if your only subreddit was AskScience with its heavily moderated comments section, you would only be less affected - not completely immune. That is the nature of culture.
- M_Grey 10y agoI'd be interested if you could find some posts in AskScience that were remotely successful, which you could reasonably argue were made by shills.
- nl 10y agoI think that the point was that even if specific posts aren't made by shills the world-view of commentators is shaped by them. I think there is some truth to this. I don't frequent Reddit much, but I'd note that for a period a while back there were people here on HN who believed that the Pizzagate conspiracy theory was true. These were long lived accounts here who had commented on a range of issues, so they didn't appear to be shills themself. But it is hard to argue that their world-view isn't influenced by shills on Reddit.
- ramy_d 10y agoI just read about the pizzagate conspiracy you mentioned as I have not heard of it before, and wow, that is quite a spiral from conspiracy to fake news to a (no injuries) shooting at a pizza restaurant. Crazy. One thing to underline the importance of: when things hit Reddit, they are mainstream now. Reddit is no longer the "small" community it used be back in 2012, 5 years ago.
- M_Grey 10y agoPeople who believe in things like Pizzagate are firmly in the 50% I was talking about (to be charitable), and more realistically are part of an extreme base. The degree to which that kind of thing is the result of shilling on Reddit, or just Breitbart and the rest of the crap leaking through is debatable. Other places, like anything to do with news and politics, is a miserable shit-fest, and would be with or without shilling.
- Ajedi32 10y agoYou're missing the point. You may want to re-read the comments you're replying to. In particular: > Just because a fraction of subreddits are being exploited through shilling doesn't mean that redditors in your favourite subreddit don't go there and that they themselves are (consciously or otherwise) not being affected.
- M_Grey 10y agoI'm not missing the point, I'm contesting it and asking for some evidence of this extremely subtle creep from a place like /r/TheDonald to a place like /r/AskScience.
- jldugger 10y agoI'm curious: do you think that culture bleed stops at the domain name for some reason, and doesn't spill over to say, HN itself?
- joshjje 10y agoI think you are wrong about reddit being "a really unique culture", at least in this context. To me it seems very obvious that fundamentally it is exactly like how societies, communities, and communication has always operated, be it local gossip, newspapers, global communication, or hell even the differing thoughts/parts in our own minds. Im not saying it hasnt changed things, of course the internet has changed most everything, just that the part we are talking about isnt something new. It has evolved certainly, but fundamentally the same.
- ramy_d 10y agoI agree with you to some extent, that inherently there are no new dynamics here. However Reddit still manages to capture that small community feel while still bringing in millions of people a day, I think that's what's unique about it and also why it is so successful.
- wfo 10y agoFor example, in any discussion of anything anywhere on reddit that mentions anything about feminism/social justice/women's experiences there are thousands of brigaders from alt right groups, the donald, that down vote, spew garbage/destroy the thread. Doesn't matter how civilized and respectful the subreddit is, there's always at least one lurking on the lookout for it and it only takes one link. Look at a discussion about a feminist book, a discussion about a scientist who is female and worried about mistreatment in the workplace, anything. Hundreds of accounts come out of the woodwork, spew hate, call people 'cucks', upvote each other and downvote others. Threads are locked, comments sections turn into grey graveyards, the particular community moves on and learns not to discuss things like this because, well, is having the discussion really worth dealing with all that inevitable encapsulated impotent teenage male rage?