5 ms·

What’s /r/the_donald, and how did it »then happen«?

by quchen 9y ago

52-6F-62 9y ago
It's a safe dwelling for a mix of sycophant bots, Trump supporters/red-pillers, trolls, and possibly Russians (depending on who you ask). Warning: once you see it, you can't un-see it.
- ant6n 9y ago
  (Lots of downvotes here but no comments, so I gotta ask. What do people who disagree actually think?)
  - wand3r 9y ago
    I am guessing they hate the sub so much they are negatively responding to what could be a positive characterization "safe dwelling" or disputing that entirely.
    - untog 9y ago
      I doubt it - more likely they are only too aware of what it is, but seek to legitimise it, so downvote comments such as that. Similar to another one in this thread saying "it's just the same as /r/politics", it's important to normalise the_donald in the eyes of potential subscribers and to imply that what goes on in there is no different than in any other political subreddit. The difference, of course, could not be starker.
      - mantas 9y ago
        /r/politics is pretty sad though. Looking from across the pond, Sanders hype was just ridiculous. The hysteria wether to switch to HRC or keep bashing her was fun. Now it's just endless anti-Trump circlejerk which is getting boring. There's a huuuuuuge difference from niche subreddits that try to stay on.. "scientific"? side of politics and discuss it from a distance.
  - traverseda 9y ago
    Rule of charity. If you don't understand why hitler wanted to kill all the jews, or more importantly why people voted for him on that platform, you can't keep it from happening again. No "these people are evil" is not an acceptable answer. The people who voted for trump may be wrong, but they are still perfectly understandable humans, doing what they think is right. Or at least what they think they have to do.
    - bduerst 9y ago
      I don't think OP has said "these people are evil". It's understandable that people who post in the_donald are heavily biased and even think they are doing the right thing. This American Life had a podcast where they interviewed these people at the DeploraBall, and one of them even said that he "Memed Donald Trump into the presidency". For some it seems this is part of their identity.
      - traverseda 9y ago
        True, but that kind of dehumanization doesn't help anything, and I don't think it's a very good explanation of the problem.
        bduerst 9y ago
        What do you mean by dehumanization? How is that happening?
    - ant6n 9y ago
      But Trump voters != r/the_Donald. Calling one a cess pool doesn't imply calling the other also.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
- Mouse47 9y ago
  Not sure why you're being downvoted. Every bit of what you're saying is true.
- knowaveragejoe 9y ago
  To add to this, the ecosystem around this is what really enables their commentary to spread into threads with only the slightest relation to their hot topics(immigration, black people, islam, etc). There's a variety of IRC channels, Discord servers and other sites(4chan, gab, twitter) that are participating and orchestrating their activities on Reddit. I think that's the larger effect the above person describes. Even though they are generally heavily downvoted, I worry that their one-liner soundbites and gotchas will reach more people with weaker critical thinking skills.
  - 52-6F-62 9y ago
    Well put. In short, it's(they are?) insidious.
- taylorswift_ 9y ago
  huh? what do you think most of reddit is? it's the same thing you're describing just bent on whatever flavor the subreddit is...
traverseda 9y ago
/r/the_donald is a subreddit devoted to donald trump. Reddit didn't ban it. It follows the "safe-space" "you're not allowed to dissent" model pioneered by some "leftist" subs, and will ban people for having perfectly legitimate dissent. It managed to exploit some loopholes in how reddit works to take-over the front page. The most interesting one was "stickying" new posts so they were shown on their front page. They did this to a new post pretty frequently. This let them * Coordinate which posts got to the front page of reddit and * Exploited the reddit algorithm for determining "hotness" For a while, 8 out of every 10 posts on the front page were from /r/the_donald. It marks the first major incidence of the community engineering tools (that I believe were pioneered by subs like /r/shitRedditSays) being used by the right.
- 24gttghh 9y ago
  Wouldn't the solution be to un-follow /r/all? I've never seen a post from the subreddits-which-shall-not-be-named...
  - Karunamon 9y ago
    /r/all isn't even a thing you can subscribe to or even see unless you explicitly link to or type reddit.com/r/all into the address bar. It used to be the front page while logged out was /r/all, but that was replaced with /r/popular a while back (which has a completely non-transparent filter applied to it)
- borne0 9y ago
  reddit works much better if you unsubscribe from all the default subs, then subscribe to ones that interest you. Discovery is a bit harder but much of the reddit 'culture' is absent if you choose wisely.
- eplanit 9y ago
  It follows the "safe-space" "you're not allowed to dissent" model pioneered by some "leftist" subs, and will ban people for having perfectly legitimate dissent. Exactly -- and why I lasted only a week on Reddit. It's nothing but a collection of echo chambers. No matter how sincere and thorough I would try and make arguments, if they're weren't in line with the herd I'd get downvoted to oblivion (no counter argument except insults) if not outright banned (never had been banned before). It's no fun participating when the only accepted input is "me, too!"
vinhboy 9y ago
A bunch of really hateful, and racist people came to reddit because of /r/the_donald. Unfortunately they did not keep to their subreddit. You can see influences of their hateful ideology in other subreddits. They also game the reddit voting system so their stories and comments are constantly being featured in /r/all -- so much so reddit had to take action. Their purpose is to troll, and they are damn good at it.
- knowaveragejoe 9y ago
  Indeed. Pick a thread even vaguely related to race(usually black people) or religion(usually Islam). Most of the time they are heavily downvoted so they'll appear near the bottom(sort by "controversial"), but every now and then one of their hateful copypasta screeds is upvoted near the top. I guess their brigade gets to it first in that case.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- EStudley 9y ago
  Also, Reddit can't ban them because of the inevitable "LIBERAL WEBSITE BANS PRO-DONALD FORUM" headlines. So, even though a massive amount of their userbase pushes for genocide against "Mdslimes" or "Kbabs", Reddit admins let them exist.
  - taylorswift_ 9y ago
    Really? I've been an avid TD reader since it's inception and I've never seen an active call for genocide ever, in fact quite the opposite. This is the same made up twisted liberal rhetoric that fuels trump supporters and resulted in a Trump Presidency in the first place. Donald === Hitler! He's going to kill all the Muslims and Mexicans! Hmm I don't know, tell me how he's doing that now that he's been in office for a bit?
- taylorswift_ 9y ago
  ive never seen more hate and racism than that towards trump supporters from the insane "progressive" left...

What’s /r/the_donald, and how did it »then happen«?

by quchen 9y ago

What’s /r/the_donald, and how did it »then happen«?

It's a safe dwelling for a mix of sycophant bots, Trump supporters/red-pillers, trolls, and possibly Russians (depending on who you ask). Warning: once you see it, you can't un-see it.

ant6n 9y ago
(Lots of downvotes here but no comments, so I gotta ask. What do people who disagree actually think?)
- wand3r 9y ago
  I am guessing they hate the sub so much they are negatively responding to what could be a positive characterization "safe dwelling" or disputing that entirely.
  - untog 9y ago
    I doubt it - more likely they are only too aware of what it is, but seek to legitimise it, so downvote comments such as that. Similar to another one in this thread saying "it's just the same as /r/politics", it's important to normalise the_donald in the eyes of potential subscribers and to imply that what goes on in there is no different than in any other political subreddit. The difference, of course, could not be starker.
    - mantas 9y ago
      /r/politics is pretty sad though. Looking from across the pond, Sanders hype was just ridiculous. The hysteria wether to switch to HRC or keep bashing her was fun. Now it's just endless anti-Trump circlejerk which is getting boring. There's a huuuuuuge difference from niche subreddits that try to stay on.. "scientific"? side of politics and discuss it from a distance.
- traverseda 9y ago
  Rule of charity. If you don't understand why hitler wanted to kill all the jews, or more importantly why people voted for him on that platform, you can't keep it from happening again. No "these people are evil" is not an acceptable answer. The people who voted for trump may be wrong, but they are still perfectly understandable humans, doing what they think is right. Or at least what they think they have to do.
  - bduerst 9y ago
    I don't think OP has said "these people are evil". It's understandable that people who post in the_donald are heavily biased and even think they are doing the right thing. This American Life had a podcast where they interviewed these people at the DeploraBall, and one of them even said that he "Memed Donald Trump into the presidency". For some it seems this is part of their identity.
    - traverseda 9y ago
      True, but that kind of dehumanization doesn't help anything, and I don't think it's a very good explanation of the problem.
      - bduerst 9y ago
        What do you mean by dehumanization? How is that happening?
  - ant6n 9y ago
    But Trump voters != r/the_Donald. Calling one a cess pool doesn't imply calling the other also.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
Mouse47 9y ago
Not sure why you're being downvoted. Every bit of what you're saying is true.
knowaveragejoe 9y ago
To add to this, the ecosystem around this is what really enables their commentary to spread into threads with only the slightest relation to their hot topics(immigration, black people, islam, etc). There's a variety of IRC channels, Discord servers and other sites(4chan, gab, twitter) that are participating and orchestrating their activities on Reddit. I think that's the larger effect the above person describes. Even though they are generally heavily downvoted, I worry that their one-liner soundbites and gotchas will reach more people with weaker critical thinking skills.
- 52-6F-62 9y ago
  Well put. In short, it's(they are?) insidious.
taylorswift_ 9y ago
huh? what do you think most of reddit is? it's the same thing you're describing just bent on whatever flavor the subreddit is...

traverseda 9y ago

/r/the_donald is a subreddit devoted to donald trump. Reddit didn't ban it. It follows the "safe-space" "you're not allowed to dissent" model pioneered by some "leftist" subs, and will ban people for having perfectly legitimate dissent. It managed to exploit some loopholes in how reddit works to take-over the front page. The most interesting one was "stickying" new posts so they were shown on their front page. They did this to a new post pretty frequently. This let them * Coordinate which posts got to the front page of reddit and * Exploited the reddit algorithm for determining "hotness" For a while, 8 out of every 10 posts on the front page were from /r/the_donald. It marks the first major incidence of the community engineering tools (that I believe were pioneered by subs like /r/shitRedditSays) being used by the right.

24gttghh 9y ago
Wouldn't the solution be to un-follow /r/all? I've never seen a post from the subreddits-which-shall-not-be-named...
- Karunamon 9y ago
  /r/all isn't even a thing you can subscribe to or even see unless you explicitly link to or type reddit.com/r/all into the address bar. It used to be the front page while logged out was /r/all, but that was replaced with /r/popular a while back (which has a completely non-transparent filter applied to it)
borne0 9y ago
reddit works much better if you unsubscribe from all the default subs, then subscribe to ones that interest you. Discovery is a bit harder but much of the reddit 'culture' is absent if you choose wisely.
eplanit 9y ago
It follows the "safe-space" "you're not allowed to dissent" model pioneered by some "leftist" subs, and will ban people for having perfectly legitimate dissent. Exactly -- and why I lasted only a week on Reddit. It's nothing but a collection of echo chambers. No matter how sincere and thorough I would try and make arguments, if they're weren't in line with the herd I'd get downvoted to oblivion (no counter argument except insults) if not outright banned (never had been banned before). It's no fun participating when the only accepted input is "me, too!"

vinhboy 9y ago

A bunch of really hateful, and racist people came to reddit because of /r/the_donald. Unfortunately they did not keep to their subreddit. You can see influences of their hateful ideology in other subreddits. They also game the reddit voting system so their stories and comments are constantly being featured in /r/all -- so much so reddit had to take action. Their purpose is to troll, and they are damn good at it.

knowaveragejoe 9y ago
Indeed. Pick a thread even vaguely related to race(usually black people) or religion(usually Islam). Most of the time they are heavily downvoted so they'll appear near the bottom(sort by "controversial"), but every now and then one of their hateful copypasta screeds is upvoted near the top. I guess their brigade gets to it first in that case.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
EStudley 9y ago
Also, Reddit can't ban them because of the inevitable "LIBERAL WEBSITE BANS PRO-DONALD FORUM" headlines. So, even though a massive amount of their userbase pushes for genocide against "Mdslimes" or "Kbabs", Reddit admins let them exist.
- taylorswift_ 9y ago
  Really? I've been an avid TD reader since it's inception and I've never seen an active call for genocide ever, in fact quite the opposite. This is the same made up twisted liberal rhetoric that fuels trump supporters and resulted in a Trump Presidency in the first place. Donald === Hitler! He's going to kill all the Muslims and Mexicans! Hmm I don't know, tell me how he's doing that now that he's been in office for a bit?
taylorswift_ 9y ago
ive never seen more hate and racism than that towards trump supporters from the insane "progressive" left...