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It means different things in different contexts. For instance in r/southafrica there is a majority of Afrikaaners on the subreddit despite being a minority (10%

It means different things in different contexts. For instance in r/southafrica there is a majority of Afrikaaners on the subreddit despite being a minority (10%) of the country. Any anti-Afrikaaner content is quickly dismissed and downvoted. In r/TwoXChromosome engaging in any discussion on the wage gap as a function of anything other than sexism is met with downvotes. In any majority US subreddit conservative posts may be dismissed and downvoted into oblivion. This tool of upvote/downvote is used to suppress non hive mind opinions on the site and I didn't necessarily mean this in the US specific context.

idoh 8y ago
Well, there is quite a bit of free expression still. Anyone is empowered to make a subreddit and moderate how they please. What more do you want?
- cwperkins 8y ago
  This lack of diversity of media/thought just propagates our current media landscape where people generally fall into 2 camps: Liberal sources (CNN/NBC/NYT) and then Fox viewers. With reddit there's a real opportunity to give readers a diversity of opinion, but in this upvote/downvote scheme usually the opposing opinion is buried so that it may never be seen. At least from my POV the thing reddit could improve from in this respect may be more of going into a HN type model by removing the downvote button.
  - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
    Wouldn't removing the down button just end up with more trolling, and wouldn't the same stuff sink to the bottom anyways as it's passed over for the more upvoted material?
    - cwperkins 8y ago
      The majority are more powerful here because they have a higher number to downvote posts they disagree with. It can only be postulated until reddit removes the downvote button, but I suspect that conservative posts wouldn't make the top but at least rise in the ranks as the majority would not be able to suppress them.
  - idoh 8y ago
    You are looking at reddit solely through the lens of politics. I do agree that it is not a great place for political debate. However, would you allow for the fact that setting aside USA national politics, there is a lot of value? I subscribe to subreddits about kombucha making, MTG, retirement saving, minimalism, and in those areas there is quite a lot of reasonable discussion.
    - cwperkins 8y ago
      That's my primary use case for reddit. I joined more than 10 years ago during the big digg migration. I think there are many wonderful communities in the space and it is something to cherish. But when r/news is a default subreddit and the majority have power to sink opposing viewpoints I think it merits a discussion on the importance of diversity of thought.
oblio 8y ago
Yeah, but that's how real societies work. Reddit is just the most recent approximation of those societies, on the internet.
SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
I speak as someone whose largely the sites demographic (20-35, liberal leaning male), so I'm looking at this from a place where I don't feel threatened or marginalized, so bear with me. What's to stop other groups from starting more focused subreddits? I understand what you're saying /r/Politics has a clearly left lean to it, but /r/Conservative seems to be relatively healthy (from my occasional peek in). Even something like The_Donald still survives, and I'd dare to say it's not the content, but its constant attempt at stunts and controversy that's causing the most ill will towards it. I know we've seen hate subreddit's deleted, but I feel that's largely understandable when the very goal of the subreddit is toxicity toward a particular group. I guess the fun with this is that the biggest items on Reddit are going to be the ones that have the biggest population interested in them, but I don't know if it's necessarily hard to create a sub group, it just won't make it to the front page. I'm subbed to a ton of subreddits that meet that criteria.
- TulliusCicero 8y ago
  > What's to stop other groups from starting more focused subreddits? Nothing, and as you point out, many do. At the same time, default is a powerful thing. I'm a mod for /r/cscareerquestions, and while we're ostensibly non-political, the fact that we try to keep a minimum bar of 'professionalism' means having norms that are somewhat left-leaning. As an example of what I mean, "it's less important for women to have strong careers than men" is a very common opinion among social conservatives, but we'll ban posters who say things like that because, well, it's sexist and unprofessional. This kind of thing isn't limited solely to right-leaning opinions, but it doesn't tend to be that way more than if it for left-leaning opinions, I think.
  - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
    That's entirely true. If you want to be in the more popular areas you gotta walk and talk a certain way.
- TheForumTroll 8y ago
  I find it quite amusing that you two see "reddit downvote conservative posts" and "/r/politics having a clearly left lean". I stopped using Reddit because of two things: Everything is extremely US-centric and everything is clearly right leaning. I guess it depends on your point of view. At least as a European I can't recognize the left-lean at all.

idoh 8y ago

Well, there is quite a bit of free expression still. Anyone is empowered to make a subreddit and moderate how they please. What more do you want?

cwperkins 8y ago
This lack of diversity of media/thought just propagates our current media landscape where people generally fall into 2 camps: Liberal sources (CNN/NBC/NYT) and then Fox viewers. With reddit there's a real opportunity to give readers a diversity of opinion, but in this upvote/downvote scheme usually the opposing opinion is buried so that it may never be seen. At least from my POV the thing reddit could improve from in this respect may be more of going into a HN type model by removing the downvote button.
- SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
  Wouldn't removing the down button just end up with more trolling, and wouldn't the same stuff sink to the bottom anyways as it's passed over for the more upvoted material?
  - cwperkins 8y ago
    The majority are more powerful here because they have a higher number to downvote posts they disagree with. It can only be postulated until reddit removes the downvote button, but I suspect that conservative posts wouldn't make the top but at least rise in the ranks as the majority would not be able to suppress them.
- idoh 8y ago
  You are looking at reddit solely through the lens of politics. I do agree that it is not a great place for political debate. However, would you allow for the fact that setting aside USA national politics, there is a lot of value? I subscribe to subreddits about kombucha making, MTG, retirement saving, minimalism, and in those areas there is quite a lot of reasonable discussion.
  - cwperkins 8y ago
    That's my primary use case for reddit. I joined more than 10 years ago during the big digg migration. I think there are many wonderful communities in the space and it is something to cherish. But when r/news is a default subreddit and the majority have power to sink opposing viewpoints I think it merits a discussion on the importance of diversity of thought.

oblio 8y ago

Yeah, but that's how real societies work. Reddit is just the most recent approximation of those societies, on the internet.

SketchySeaBeast 8y ago

I speak as someone whose largely the sites demographic (20-35, liberal leaning male), so I'm looking at this from a place where I don't feel threatened or marginalized, so bear with me. What's to stop other groups from starting more focused subreddits? I understand what you're saying /r/Politics has a clearly left lean to it, but /r/Conservative seems to be relatively healthy (from my occasional peek in). Even something like The_Donald still survives, and I'd dare to say it's not the content, but its constant attempt at stunts and controversy that's causing the most ill will towards it. I know we've seen hate subreddit's deleted, but I feel that's largely understandable when the very goal of the subreddit is toxicity toward a particular group. I guess the fun with this is that the biggest items on Reddit are going to be the ones that have the biggest population interested in them, but I don't know if it's necessarily hard to create a sub group, it just won't make it to the front page. I'm subbed to a ton of subreddits that meet that criteria.

TulliusCicero 8y ago
> What's to stop other groups from starting more focused subreddits? Nothing, and as you point out, many do. At the same time, default is a powerful thing. I'm a mod for /r/cscareerquestions, and while we're ostensibly non-political, the fact that we try to keep a minimum bar of 'professionalism' means having norms that are somewhat left-leaning. As an example of what I mean, "it's less important for women to have strong careers than men" is a very common opinion among social conservatives, but we'll ban posters who say things like that because, well, it's sexist and unprofessional. This kind of thing isn't limited solely to right-leaning opinions, but it doesn't tend to be that way more than if it for left-leaning opinions, I think.
- SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
  That's entirely true. If you want to be in the more popular areas you gotta walk and talk a certain way.
TheForumTroll 8y ago
I find it quite amusing that you two see "reddit downvote conservative posts" and "/r/politics having a clearly left lean". I stopped using Reddit because of two things: Everything is extremely US-centric and everything is clearly right leaning. I guess it depends on your point of view. At least as a European I can't recognize the left-lean at all.