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I am also interested in this... I used to like Reddit a lot, but I feel their push to reach a broader audience has pushed down the quality of the front-page sub

by sgdpk 6y ago

I am also interested in this... I used to like Reddit a lot, but I feel their push to reach a broader audience has pushed down the quality of the front-page subs. It is dominated by a sense of moral superiority: "Am I the Asshole", "Justice Served", Leopards ate my Face" are very common now. I like Quora because of specific authors that write high-quality answers (mainly mathematics).

michaelbuckbee 6y ago
I've done some work to curate my sub-reddit list to just those that I care about and it's a pretty great experience. YMMV obviously but with some pretty minimal setup Reddit can be greatly improved.
- sgdpk 6y ago
  I think you are right, I am complaining mostly about the "front page of the internet" part. I like visiting other subs, and I usually find answers to Google searches there, because some communities are really good.
- Scott_Sanderson 6y ago
  Agree with the comments in this thread. I never browse /r/all anymore but have connected with some small niche communities on reddit that are great. It is interesting how much the character of the site changed as it has become more popular.
- dash2 6y ago
  Ironically I am a big fan of r/wallstreetbets, whose culture is... not quite the same as HN. (PSA: do not go to wallstreetbets.)
- mbirth 6y ago
  What also helps a lot is blocking like 10-20 top karma users because most of them earn their karma by reposting other's posts. [1] is where you can find an up to date list of those users. [2] is one of the few LPTs about this. However, I believe Reddit has since changed something so you can't easily block people anymore. So you probably have to use RES. [1] https://www.karmalb.com https://www.karmalb.com [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/undelete/comments/bdvas9/205990561_lpt_block_power_users_to_make_reddit_a/el16q09/ https://www.reddit.com/r/undelete/comments/bdvas9/205990561_...
thiht 6y ago
> I used to like Reddit a lot, but I feel their push to reach a broader audience has pushed down the quality of the front-page subs. It is dominated by a sense of moral superiority: "Am I the Asshole", "Justice Served", Leopards ate my Face" are very common now. ...don't subscribe to these subreddits then? Reddit allows to curate what you see, so do the curation. Viewing my frontpage when I'm logged in vs when I'm not is a completely different experience. It's a bit like viewing the Youtube trending videos.
- simias 6y ago
  In my experience there's a reddit culture that's quite pervasive. As soon as a subreddit becomes even mildly successful it starts being taken over by low effort content and "downvote to disagree" mindset. Very strict moderation helps but that's a lot of work and few subreddits manage to pull it off. Then there's the more general problem that Reddit clearly wants to encourage the "facebookization" of the website to drive adoption and ad revenue, and that's how you end up with an almost unusable web interface on mobile if you don't know that i.reddit.com is a thing. The desktop interface at least attempts to show you the posts, but it's still a buggy and laggy mess and you're much better off using old.reddit.com if you know about it. I just can't be bothered to deal with all of that nonsense.
- hue3 6y ago
  This works to a certain degree. Often, many of the users contributing in "bad subreddits" also post on "good subreddits". This makes it so that many aspects of "reddit culture" leak into the good subs, for example, the repetitive inside jokes and puns redditors seem to enjoy.
5h 6y ago
Reddit before user-moderated subreddits was far more pleasant, not that they're exactly at fault but they widened the audience just like eternal september & signal:noise, or signal:bullshit, ratios never recovered. There are still 'good' subreddits but above a surprisingly tiny community size they degrade rapidly & irreversably. What shocks me the most is if you log out well over 1/2 the front page content is at schadenfreude, it's awful.
- dash2 6y ago
  I think the logic of user-moderation is quite cunning though. It lets thousands of different moderators try what works. A strategy of throwing mud at the wall. So the frontpage stuff is pretty janky, but perhaps that's because the lowest common denominator always is. It's true that when a subreddit gets popular it faces new challenges, and many fail. But that might be true for any forum.
  - 5h 6y ago
    The barrier to entry for brigading & group think is lower on reddit than discrete forums, I think that's part of the problem & I've no idea what the solution is. Different moderation methods have been tried all over (+5 insightful etc) but they have barely succeeded in isolation & I doubt they'd fare any better vs Reddits firehose.
- konjin 6y ago
  >Reddit before user-moderated subreddits was far more pleasant You mean before 2008? Because that's when you could create your own subreddits, and the system was promptly gamed by qgyh2 to make all of them.
  - 5h 6y ago
    Yes, i lurked for a while but signed up in 2007
    - konjin 6y ago
      Rose tinted glasses are a thing: http://web.archive.org/web/20070508231740/http://reddit.com/ http://web.archive.org/web/20070508231740/http://reddit.com/
Tomminn 6y ago
Quora has become.. weird for me. I used to love the site, but now 80% of the answers that come up in my feed feel creepy as fuck. It's a shame because it used to be of such high average quality. I'm sure it's a classic case of my clicks at low agency moments driving the algorithm to deliver what low-agency-me wants, but I just wish it wasn't so keen to drive the trash towards me.
- soneil 6y ago
  I think Quora bubbles a little too hard. I got stuck in a gun-rights bubble. I had to just walk away entirely. So just FYI - if it seems really creepy, Quora might have just decided that's your thing, to the detriment of all else.
overkill28 6y ago
If you follow thing-centric instead of people-centric subreddits and ignore the default ones you get a pretty good experience.
clashmeifyoucan 6y ago
I used to love Quora but then it became absolutely terrible, so I started using Medium more. Then Medium went ahead and essentially made itself pay to play, so here we are. I miss the times when both of those platforms were good.
gidan 6y ago
Reading Reddit comments will feels like hell if you’re right winging. You described it pretty well, it’s all about displaying a strong sense of moral, which at the end is translated into a false sense of superiority. « Look at me, I am a good person! »

by sgdpk 6y ago

michaelbuckbee 6y ago

I've done some work to curate my sub-reddit list to just those that I care about and it's a pretty great experience. YMMV obviously but with some pretty minimal setup Reddit can be greatly improved.

sgdpk 6y ago
I think you are right, I am complaining mostly about the "front page of the internet" part. I like visiting other subs, and I usually find answers to Google searches there, because some communities are really good.
Scott_Sanderson 6y ago
Agree with the comments in this thread. I never browse /r/all anymore but have connected with some small niche communities on reddit that are great. It is interesting how much the character of the site changed as it has become more popular.
dash2 6y ago
Ironically I am a big fan of r/wallstreetbets, whose culture is... not quite the same as HN. (PSA: do not go to wallstreetbets.)
mbirth 6y ago
What also helps a lot is blocking like 10-20 top karma users because most of them earn their karma by reposting other's posts. [1] is where you can find an up to date list of those users. [2] is one of the few LPTs about this. However, I believe Reddit has since changed something so you can't easily block people anymore. So you probably have to use RES. [1] https://www.karmalb.com https://www.karmalb.com [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/undelete/comments/bdvas9/205990561_lpt_block_power_users_to_make_reddit_a/el16q09/ https://www.reddit.com/r/undelete/comments/bdvas9/205990561_...

thiht 6y ago

> I used to like Reddit a lot, but I feel their push to reach a broader audience has pushed down the quality of the front-page subs. It is dominated by a sense of moral superiority: "Am I the Asshole", "Justice Served", Leopards ate my Face" are very common now. ...don't subscribe to these subreddits then? Reddit allows to curate what you see, so do the curation. Viewing my frontpage when I'm logged in vs when I'm not is a completely different experience. It's a bit like viewing the Youtube trending videos.

simias 6y ago
In my experience there's a reddit culture that's quite pervasive. As soon as a subreddit becomes even mildly successful it starts being taken over by low effort content and "downvote to disagree" mindset. Very strict moderation helps but that's a lot of work and few subreddits manage to pull it off. Then there's the more general problem that Reddit clearly wants to encourage the "facebookization" of the website to drive adoption and ad revenue, and that's how you end up with an almost unusable web interface on mobile if you don't know that i.reddit.com is a thing. The desktop interface at least attempts to show you the posts, but it's still a buggy and laggy mess and you're much better off using old.reddit.com if you know about it. I just can't be bothered to deal with all of that nonsense.
hue3 6y ago
This works to a certain degree. Often, many of the users contributing in "bad subreddits" also post on "good subreddits". This makes it so that many aspects of "reddit culture" leak into the good subs, for example, the repetitive inside jokes and puns redditors seem to enjoy.

5h 6y ago

Reddit before user-moderated subreddits was far more pleasant, not that they're exactly at fault but they widened the audience just like eternal september & signal:noise, or signal:bullshit, ratios never recovered. There are still 'good' subreddits but above a surprisingly tiny community size they degrade rapidly & irreversably. What shocks me the most is if you log out well over 1/2 the front page content is at schadenfreude, it's awful.

dash2 6y ago
I think the logic of user-moderation is quite cunning though. It lets thousands of different moderators try what works. A strategy of throwing mud at the wall. So the frontpage stuff is pretty janky, but perhaps that's because the lowest common denominator always is. It's true that when a subreddit gets popular it faces new challenges, and many fail. But that might be true for any forum.
- 5h 6y ago
  The barrier to entry for brigading & group think is lower on reddit than discrete forums, I think that's part of the problem & I've no idea what the solution is. Different moderation methods have been tried all over (+5 insightful etc) but they have barely succeeded in isolation & I doubt they'd fare any better vs Reddits firehose.
konjin 6y ago
>Reddit before user-moderated subreddits was far more pleasant You mean before 2008? Because that's when you could create your own subreddits, and the system was promptly gamed by qgyh2 to make all of them.
- 5h 6y ago
  Yes, i lurked for a while but signed up in 2007
  - konjin 6y ago
    Rose tinted glasses are a thing: http://web.archive.org/web/20070508231740/http://reddit.com/ http://web.archive.org/web/20070508231740/http://reddit.com/

Tomminn 6y ago

Quora has become.. weird for me. I used to love the site, but now 80% of the answers that come up in my feed feel creepy as fuck. It's a shame because it used to be of such high average quality. I'm sure it's a classic case of my clicks at low agency moments driving the algorithm to deliver what low-agency-me wants, but I just wish it wasn't so keen to drive the trash towards me.

soneil 6y ago
I think Quora bubbles a little too hard. I got stuck in a gun-rights bubble. I had to just walk away entirely. So just FYI - if it seems really creepy, Quora might have just decided that's your thing, to the detriment of all else.

overkill28 6y ago

If you follow thing-centric instead of people-centric subreddits and ignore the default ones you get a pretty good experience.

clashmeifyoucan 6y ago

I used to love Quora but then it became absolutely terrible, so I started using Medium more. Then Medium went ahead and essentially made itself pay to play, so here we are. I miss the times when both of those platforms were good.

gidan 6y ago

Reading Reddit comments will feels like hell if you’re right winging. You described it pretty well, it’s all about displaying a strong sense of moral, which at the end is translated into a false sense of superiority. « Look at me, I am a good person! »