4 ms·

"My posts weren't the most popular, so I had to delete the popular ones to get mine to the top of r/science!" Did he really just say that post manipulation is

"My posts weren't the most popular, so I had to delete the popular ones to get mine to the top of r/science!" Did he really just say that post manipulation is allowed when he personally values the content and expected it to be accepted? Reddit is so covered in arbitrary rules as it is. It's harder to get a post to stick on Reddit than it is here on HN sometimes, and HN isn't even for general discussion like Reddit is. Now we're finding out that the social media website with the most red-tape and outright hostile attitude towards it's userbase deletes user content to substitute self-promotional content produced by organizers? I think it's time to find an alternative. Reddit wreaks of hostility towards users. It's the online equivalent of a park bench with coin operated spikes to deter homeless people.

roblabla 8y ago
Temporarily deleted for the AMAs to gain traction. They were restored once the AMAs made it to the front page. This sounds bad, but you have to realize that: - The AMAs had very high-profile guests, and it's easier to attract those guests if you can promise high visibility - Moderators have very little tools to curate and promote contents that they view as valuable.
- zelon88 8y ago
  "- Moderators have very little tools to curate and promote contents that they view as valuable." Why do moderators need tools to promote content they view as valuable? Isn't that what the upvote button is for? These are moderators. Volunteer enthusiasts of the communities they moderate. They have no stake in Reddit and they get nothing regardless of what content gets seen by who. They're job is to make sure nobody breaks subreddit rules. They aren't supposed to be purveyors of content on a social media platform. If I want to see structured, planned, and promoted content I'll go to CNN or Politico or NYT. I joined Reddit to be a part of a community that aggregates and promotes crowd-sourced content based on popular opinion. Giving moderators tools to control the content beyond what they need to enforce the rules is manipulation of the underlying purpose of Reddit, and should be disallowed. This isn't a Facebook page for a business that serves a purpose. It's an online forum whose purpose is to aggregate and rank crowd sourced content with crowd sourced input. Adding a "To The Top" button for moderators defeats the purpose of Reddit.
  - masklinn 8y ago
    > Why do moderators need tools to promote content they view as valuable? Isn't that what the upvote button is for? The upvote button leads to Logan Paul and walmart. If that's what you want, there are plenty of unmoderated subreddits which provide that. > These are moderators. Volunteer enthusiasts of the communities they moderate. They have no stake in Reddit and they get nothing regardless of what content gets seen by who. They absolutely have a stake in the community they are nurturing actually working and leading towards the outcome they're looking for. Folks moderating /r/science want /r/science to be good according to their criteria of goodness, which are unlikely to be the same criteria used by moderators of /r/aww, /r/antm, /r/SWARJE/ or /r/SubredditSimulator/, all of which are different from one another. Moderators are not unemotional robots doing busywork for a faceless corporation. > They're job is to make sure nobody breaks subreddit rules. Their "job" is to create and foster communities, moderators define subreddit rules in the first place.
  - intended 8y ago
    No one obeys the upvote button. It’s a popularity contest. Skewed by an algorithm, affected by the time of day, and boosted by country relevance among other factors.

roblabla 8y ago

Temporarily deleted for the AMAs to gain traction. They were restored once the AMAs made it to the front page. This sounds bad, but you have to realize that: - The AMAs had very high-profile guests, and it's easier to attract those guests if you can promise high visibility - Moderators have very little tools to curate and promote contents that they view as valuable.

zelon88 8y ago
"- Moderators have very little tools to curate and promote contents that they view as valuable." Why do moderators need tools to promote content they view as valuable? Isn't that what the upvote button is for? These are moderators. Volunteer enthusiasts of the communities they moderate. They have no stake in Reddit and they get nothing regardless of what content gets seen by who. They're job is to make sure nobody breaks subreddit rules. They aren't supposed to be purveyors of content on a social media platform. If I want to see structured, planned, and promoted content I'll go to CNN or Politico or NYT. I joined Reddit to be a part of a community that aggregates and promotes crowd-sourced content based on popular opinion. Giving moderators tools to control the content beyond what they need to enforce the rules is manipulation of the underlying purpose of Reddit, and should be disallowed. This isn't a Facebook page for a business that serves a purpose. It's an online forum whose purpose is to aggregate and rank crowd sourced content with crowd sourced input. Adding a "To The Top" button for moderators defeats the purpose of Reddit.
- masklinn 8y ago
  > Why do moderators need tools to promote content they view as valuable? Isn't that what the upvote button is for? The upvote button leads to Logan Paul and walmart. If that's what you want, there are plenty of unmoderated subreddits which provide that. > These are moderators. Volunteer enthusiasts of the communities they moderate. They have no stake in Reddit and they get nothing regardless of what content gets seen by who. They absolutely have a stake in the community they are nurturing actually working and leading towards the outcome they're looking for. Folks moderating /r/science want /r/science to be good according to their criteria of goodness, which are unlikely to be the same criteria used by moderators of /r/aww, /r/antm, /r/SWARJE/ or /r/SubredditSimulator/, all of which are different from one another. Moderators are not unemotional robots doing busywork for a faceless corporation. > They're job is to make sure nobody breaks subreddit rules. Their "job" is to create and foster communities, moderators define subreddit rules in the first place.
- intended 8y ago
  No one obeys the upvote button. It’s a popularity contest. Skewed by an algorithm, affected by the time of day, and boosted by country relevance among other factors.