5 ms·

I would also include Reddit in this list. The homepage (if you visit incognito or not being signed in) seems to be tailored to bubble up all the "outrageous" ev

I would also include Reddit in this list. The homepage (if you visit incognito or not being signed in) seems to be tailored to bubble up all the "outrageous" events.

solosoyokaze 6y ago
I find the behavior of moderators on Reddit far more enraging than any content that gets boiled up. It's like the mods of /r/politics and other similar default subs are there to cause political friction and rage by being openly and aggressively partisan to a very particular slice of the political spectrum. I say this as someone well to the left of the zeitgeist on those subs, but you'll of course hear the same thing from people to the right of them.
- BitwiseFool 6y ago
  Don't forget about the dozens of powermods who enable other subreddits to transform into political echo chambers. A great example is r/InsanePeopleFacebook turning into a showcase of Donald Trump and Tomi Lahren tweets.
  - dencodev 6y ago
    Politicalhumor posts seem to contain zero humor at least half the time. It's just anti Trump screenshots.
- spaaz 6y ago
  Try /r/stupidpol, that's good for political discussion from all sides - though it's a Marxist sub, it welcomes discussion and debate from other points of view.
  - solosoyokaze 6y ago
    There are a lot of good subs out there, but the default and high traffic subs have mods with dubious motivations.
- dgellow 6y ago
  I wouldn't be surprised at all if mods of popular subreddit were actually paid for doing this, looking at r/all or r/popular always feels like an astroturfing operation.
- Rule35 6y ago
  It's quite common. Moderation is a bit of a thankless job so help is always welcome and in a power-grab honesty and hard-work become negatives, trumped by the ability to lie shamelessly and ceaselessly. Many women's subreddits, especially if they're for lesbians, are entirely moderated by men. The ones that weren't were slandered off of Reddit.
gundmc 6y ago
It baffles me how reddit tends to evade the press coverage and discussions for as large and influential it is.
- hemloc_io 6y ago
  A reasonable explanation might be that the ppl who write these articles don't use it lol, as well as the people in congress who write regulations they report on. They use Twitter and their parents use Facebook. Any article I've seen on reddit treats it as closer to 4chan than Twitter.
  - Firebrand 6y ago
    Must be the same people who think TikTok is just a dance app.
  - whywhywhywhy 6y ago
    Journalists are invisible on Reddit so why would they care about it?
- peruvian 6y ago
  Reminds me how some forums aren't allowed to have apps in the App Store due to porn, as well as the Tumblr porn controversy. Reddit has more porn and NSFW content than almost anywhere else.
  - hellbanTHIS 6y ago
    Not in the apps though! Can’t get porn on any Reddit app, gotta use the browser. So I’m told.
    - kasztelan22 6y ago
      You can, you just need to enable it in settings through web interface
    - distances 6y ago
SketchySeaBeast 6y ago
That's another argument for curating your own list - my list today seems to be overly full of that weird ML lip-syncing app, which while fully uncanny valley, isn't enraging.
- SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
  It is, and I encourage everyone to do that, but I don't think it's a systemic solution. After all, Facebook and Twitter offer ways to curate your feed too.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
BitwiseFool 6y ago
The same aggravation and agitation happens in regional subreddits as well. r/Texas has been transformed into a hatefest against Ted Cruz and Republicans after the recent snowstorm. You'll find wild hyperbole about the Texas GOP killing people, Facebook quality memes about how terrible the state is, and incessant cheerleading for AOC and out of state progressives.
- badRNG 6y ago
  There's a difference between an algorithm maximizing engagement even if it means pushing you to read outrage articles and folks on a subreddit saying negative things about politicians you like.
  - BitwiseFool 6y ago
    I'm not defending Texan politicians but I am giving an example of how enraging submissions can co-opt and dominate a subreddit's character. You can still find non-charged submissions on r/Texas's new feed, but those don't wind up being seen on r/Texas's hot feed when there is so much charged content.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
hellbanTHIS 6y ago
I kind of disagree, Reddit has its own problems (nation states run by warlords) but the downvote button and anonymity solves some of the “outrage for likes” stuff that plagues Twitter and Facebook. I haven’t seen the frontpage you’re talking about in years and I doubt many users do. I really don’t know why FB and Twitter don’t add an anonymous “dislike” feature. Maybe they tried it and it caused other problems, who knows. More likely though they see that outrage increases engagement even if the toxic environment chases people away eventually.
- refraincomment 6y ago
  Reddit is the only social media that falls so low as to regularly display lynchings and beatings on the front page. "JusticeServed", and other cheap justifications for violence. Reddit and Twitter the biggest dumps of the internet.
- bpodgursky 6y ago
  "dislike" buttons can be extremely powerful tools for enforcing groupthink. I think you downplay how much this affects reddit. Hot-topic issues shift from 55/45 popularity splits (where the minority view is present, but usually overshadowed) to 10/0 when you net out up and downvotes. It gives a sense of single-mindedness in a community where the majority view in truth only barely edges out the others.
  - hellbanTHIS 6y ago
    They can, but I always thought that had more to do with the “warlords” chasing away everyone with a different point of view. I think the test case is probably r/libertarian where the mods are extremely hands-off, you’ll still get the downvote hammer and it’s sometimes infuriating but it’s nothing like saying something unpopular in r/politics, which isn’t even one of the worst ones.
  - wayneftw 6y ago
    I think forums should let users moderate things for themselves by doing the following: - If I dislike something, don't show me that user/subject anymore unless I choose to explore outside my bubble. - Instead of showing me how the whole world feels about something, show me how MY group (people I've upvoted) feel about it...unless I choose to explore outside my bubble. At the very least - sort comments based on how much I will agree with them. - Maybe extend it a few levels deep: If I liked someones comment, maybe content which that user liked is also weighted higher for me. Essentially - just make these things work for me and not some ambiguous majority of the moment. I wish HN would do this too. I really don't care how many anonymous people liked something because they're still wrong IMO. The system is not working for me. In the real world we've solved all these problems by not forcing everybody to listen to the whole entire world's opinions all the time. In real life, if I'm homophobic/racist/etc, I hang out with my homophobic/racist/etc friends and nobody else sees me because they're busy hanging out with their own kind. The world is full of bubbles. I don't see why we need the Internet needs to always be the polar opposite of how real life relationships work. Of course there should still be ways to explore outside your bubble. However, there's probably no easy money with my ideas. All the user engagement addiction comes from outraging people.
mfer 6y ago
Their goal is engagement and outrage seems to feed engagement. More eyes at all costs has a price. It's not just money.
asats 6y ago
It's absurd. I blocked all the outrage/whining filled subreddits in RES and now if I visit r/all/top for a month only 9 out of the first 250 posts are visible, everything else falls under that outrage/whining filter.

I would also include Reddit in this list. The homepage (if you visit incognito or not being signed in) seems to be tailored to bubble up all the "outrageous" events.

solosoyokaze 6y ago

I find the behavior of moderators on Reddit far more enraging than any content that gets boiled up. It's like the mods of /r/politics and other similar default subs are there to cause political friction and rage by being openly and aggressively partisan to a very particular slice of the political spectrum. I say this as someone well to the left of the zeitgeist on those subs, but you'll of course hear the same thing from people to the right of them.

BitwiseFool 6y ago
Don't forget about the dozens of powermods who enable other subreddits to transform into political echo chambers. A great example is r/InsanePeopleFacebook turning into a showcase of Donald Trump and Tomi Lahren tweets.
- dencodev 6y ago
  Politicalhumor posts seem to contain zero humor at least half the time. It's just anti Trump screenshots.
spaaz 6y ago
Try /r/stupidpol, that's good for political discussion from all sides - though it's a Marxist sub, it welcomes discussion and debate from other points of view.
- solosoyokaze 6y ago
  There are a lot of good subs out there, but the default and high traffic subs have mods with dubious motivations.
dgellow 6y ago
I wouldn't be surprised at all if mods of popular subreddit were actually paid for doing this, looking at r/all or r/popular always feels like an astroturfing operation.
Rule35 6y ago
It's quite common. Moderation is a bit of a thankless job so help is always welcome and in a power-grab honesty and hard-work become negatives, trumped by the ability to lie shamelessly and ceaselessly. Many women's subreddits, especially if they're for lesbians, are entirely moderated by men. The ones that weren't were slandered off of Reddit.

gundmc 6y ago

It baffles me how reddit tends to evade the press coverage and discussions for as large and influential it is.

hemloc_io 6y ago
A reasonable explanation might be that the ppl who write these articles don't use it lol, as well as the people in congress who write regulations they report on. They use Twitter and their parents use Facebook. Any article I've seen on reddit treats it as closer to 4chan than Twitter.
- Firebrand 6y ago
  Must be the same people who think TikTok is just a dance app.
- whywhywhywhy 6y ago
  Journalists are invisible on Reddit so why would they care about it?
peruvian 6y ago
Reminds me how some forums aren't allowed to have apps in the App Store due to porn, as well as the Tumblr porn controversy. Reddit has more porn and NSFW content than almost anywhere else.
- hellbanTHIS 6y ago
  Not in the apps though! Can’t get porn on any Reddit app, gotta use the browser. So I’m told.
  - kasztelan22 6y ago
    You can, you just need to enable it in settings through web interface
  - distances 6y ago

SketchySeaBeast 6y ago

That's another argument for curating your own list - my list today seems to be overly full of that weird ML lip-syncing app, which while fully uncanny valley, isn't enraging.

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
It is, and I encourage everyone to do that, but I don't think it's a systemic solution. After all, Facebook and Twitter offer ways to curate your feed too.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

BitwiseFool 6y ago

The same aggravation and agitation happens in regional subreddits as well. r/Texas has been transformed into a hatefest against Ted Cruz and Republicans after the recent snowstorm. You'll find wild hyperbole about the Texas GOP killing people, Facebook quality memes about how terrible the state is, and incessant cheerleading for AOC and out of state progressives.

badRNG 6y ago
There's a difference between an algorithm maximizing engagement even if it means pushing you to read outrage articles and folks on a subreddit saying negative things about politicians you like.
- BitwiseFool 6y ago
  I'm not defending Texan politicians but I am giving an example of how enraging submissions can co-opt and dominate a subreddit's character. You can still find non-charged submissions on r/Texas's new feed, but those don't wind up being seen on r/Texas's hot feed when there is so much charged content.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

hellbanTHIS 6y ago

I kind of disagree, Reddit has its own problems (nation states run by warlords) but the downvote button and anonymity solves some of the “outrage for likes” stuff that plagues Twitter and Facebook. I haven’t seen the frontpage you’re talking about in years and I doubt many users do. I really don’t know why FB and Twitter don’t add an anonymous “dislike” feature. Maybe they tried it and it caused other problems, who knows. More likely though they see that outrage increases engagement even if the toxic environment chases people away eventually.

refraincomment 6y ago
Reddit is the only social media that falls so low as to regularly display lynchings and beatings on the front page. "JusticeServed", and other cheap justifications for violence. Reddit and Twitter the biggest dumps of the internet.
bpodgursky 6y ago
"dislike" buttons can be extremely powerful tools for enforcing groupthink. I think you downplay how much this affects reddit. Hot-topic issues shift from 55/45 popularity splits (where the minority view is present, but usually overshadowed) to 10/0 when you net out up and downvotes. It gives a sense of single-mindedness in a community where the majority view in truth only barely edges out the others.
- hellbanTHIS 6y ago
  They can, but I always thought that had more to do with the “warlords” chasing away everyone with a different point of view. I think the test case is probably r/libertarian where the mods are extremely hands-off, you’ll still get the downvote hammer and it’s sometimes infuriating but it’s nothing like saying something unpopular in r/politics, which isn’t even one of the worst ones.
- wayneftw 6y ago
  I think forums should let users moderate things for themselves by doing the following: - If I dislike something, don't show me that user/subject anymore unless I choose to explore outside my bubble. - Instead of showing me how the whole world feels about something, show me how MY group (people I've upvoted) feel about it...unless I choose to explore outside my bubble. At the very least - sort comments based on how much I will agree with them. - Maybe extend it a few levels deep: If I liked someones comment, maybe content which that user liked is also weighted higher for me. Essentially - just make these things work for me and not some ambiguous majority of the moment. I wish HN would do this too. I really don't care how many anonymous people liked something because they're still wrong IMO. The system is not working for me. In the real world we've solved all these problems by not forcing everybody to listen to the whole entire world's opinions all the time. In real life, if I'm homophobic/racist/etc, I hang out with my homophobic/racist/etc friends and nobody else sees me because they're busy hanging out with their own kind. The world is full of bubbles. I don't see why we need the Internet needs to always be the polar opposite of how real life relationships work. Of course there should still be ways to explore outside your bubble. However, there's probably no easy money with my ideas. All the user engagement addiction comes from outraging people.

mfer 6y ago

Their goal is engagement and outrage seems to feed engagement. More eyes at all costs has a price. It's not just money.

asats 6y ago

It's absurd. I blocked all the outrage/whining filled subreddits in RES and now if I visit r/all/top for a month only 9 out of the first 250 posts are visible, everything else falls under that outrage/whining filter.