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Reddit is such an authoritarian shithole The entire frontpage looks like it is curated by some propaganda department & megacorps acting like their posts with 1

Reddit is such an authoritarian shithole The entire frontpage looks like it is curated by some propaganda department & megacorps acting like their posts with 1000k upvotes aren't advertisements

belltaco 6y ago
Mine doesn't look anything like that. Everyone has their own frontpage based on their subreddit subscriptions so I have no idea what you're talking about. Maybe post a screenshot?
- justaman 6y ago
  There is the personal "front page"(stuff you subscribe to). Then there is the public "front page" which is just the most popular posts on reddit sans some controversial or NSFW subreddits.
  - belltaco 6y ago
    r/popular also defaults to a different page by region, so again, I won't see the same posts as the GP.
  - belltaco 6y ago
    Anyway, here's the frontpage of r/popular for me, is the "entire frontpage" full of advertisements by megacorps? Looks like I might be missing something, can someone tell me why each of the, say first five posts, are actually ads? https://i.imgur.com/4x3CugK.png https://i.imgur.com/4x3CugK.png
    - threatofrain 6y ago
      Exactly what effective propaganda would have you think!
    - silicon2401 6y ago
      Not saying this is the case in your example, but take the Mariah Carey post: it wouldn't be hard for someone to buy up legit-looking accounts and make a bunch of posts about Mariah Carey (or whatever person/thing) to refresh everyone's memory about the topic in advance of some new concert or movie in a few months. Again, it's not necessarily the case in your screenshot, but at the same time, how do we tell for sure?
    - freebuju 6y ago
      Yeah. Reddit are gearing up for an IPO about to launch soon. They need to convince investors of their ability to push ads. Reddit ads most of the time just look like posts. Sometimes (top) posts themselves are cleverly disguised ads. In short, they are just about to go full corporate.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
viklove 6y ago
HN is far, far more authoritarian than most Reddit subs.
- xxxyyj5 6y ago
  Have to agree here, it's the pernicious kind you find primarily in universities, educated circles and cities - the moral tyranny that CS Lewis talked about. > Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. https://blog.acton.org/archives/1931-lewis-on-moral-tyranny.html https://blog.acton.org/archives/1931-lewis-on-moral-tyranny....
  - evgen 6y ago
    Maybe you should go find yourself another place to play if this one distresses your delicate sensibilities so much. I promise you we will not miss you.
    - doloto 6y ago
      "we". you and what army?
      - evgen 6y ago
        I and the army of people who did not just create a throwaway to respond. Coward.
        xxxyyj5 6y ago
        Imagine thinking there's such thing as bravery on the internet. You worked at FB; so you've got the moral high ground of IBM in thirties. Coward.
tzs 6y ago
I agree with the other requests for examples. I just went to reddit.com from a browser that has never been there before. Here's what it is showing me. This doesn't seem very propaganda or megacorpish to me. /r/GME post about a billboard telling people to keep holding GME. /r/wallstreetbets GME Megathread. /r/worldnews post about a Saudi official issuing a death threat to a UN investigator apparently over the investigator's investigation into the Khashoggi killing. /r/Cricket match thread about "1st ODO - India vs England". An ad. /r/AskReddit asking what is something you loved as a kid but hate as an adult. /r/technology thread on Microsoft's possible buying of Discord. /r/awefuleverything thread making fun of Americans. /r/worldnews post on a US intelligence agency saying the US should join South America in fight against illegal Chinese fishing. /r/aww post about a puppy. /r/Wellthatsucks post about a home baked pizza failure. /r/IdiotsInCars post about an idiot in a car. /r/politics post about Biden's infrastructure package. ...and it goes on like this...
seany 6y ago
There's a good automated reddit that tracks this actually. https://old.reddit.com/r/undelete/ https://old.reddit.com/r/undelete/
doggodaddo78 6y ago
It has a lot of unnecessary conflict, trolling, SJW, crazy people, censorship, idiocy, and no defense allowed insta-ban fascism. What's missing is a nicer general purpose platform that doesn't have so much thin-skinned, circular firing squads or anonymity for SFW topics. Let everyone participate so long as they're not advocating the basic limits of free speech: conspiracy theories, violence, obvious hate, or criminality. Politics is probably best contained to a separate section, as well as NSFW.
- doloto 6y ago
  Thats all due to their "karma" bullshit. It is a truly orwellian concept. People have fear of being silenced so nobody wants to argue with yes-men. Redditors always take one side of any hot issue and usually the top comment sets the tone. So it quickly receives 100000 likes and nobody would dare to disagree and instantly lose all of their precious karma points. So those who disagree will simply stay out of the discussion or would "agree" for the sake of driving their karma up. And every contrarian post will be reported and deleted. It is stupid and disgusting.

Reddit is such an authoritarian shithole The entire frontpage looks like it is curated by some propaganda department & megacorps acting like their posts with 1000k upvotes aren't advertisements

belltaco 6y ago

Mine doesn't look anything like that. Everyone has their own frontpage based on their subreddit subscriptions so I have no idea what you're talking about. Maybe post a screenshot?

justaman 6y ago
There is the personal "front page"(stuff you subscribe to). Then there is the public "front page" which is just the most popular posts on reddit sans some controversial or NSFW subreddits.
- belltaco 6y ago
  r/popular also defaults to a different page by region, so again, I won't see the same posts as the GP.
- belltaco 6y ago
  Anyway, here's the frontpage of r/popular for me, is the "entire frontpage" full of advertisements by megacorps? Looks like I might be missing something, can someone tell me why each of the, say first five posts, are actually ads? https://i.imgur.com/4x3CugK.png https://i.imgur.com/4x3CugK.png
  - threatofrain 6y ago
    Exactly what effective propaganda would have you think!
  - silicon2401 6y ago
    Not saying this is the case in your example, but take the Mariah Carey post: it wouldn't be hard for someone to buy up legit-looking accounts and make a bunch of posts about Mariah Carey (or whatever person/thing) to refresh everyone's memory about the topic in advance of some new concert or movie in a few months. Again, it's not necessarily the case in your screenshot, but at the same time, how do we tell for sure?
  - freebuju 6y ago
    Yeah. Reddit are gearing up for an IPO about to launch soon. They need to convince investors of their ability to push ads. Reddit ads most of the time just look like posts. Sometimes (top) posts themselves are cleverly disguised ads. In short, they are just about to go full corporate.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

viklove 6y ago

HN is far, far more authoritarian than most Reddit subs.

xxxyyj5 6y ago
Have to agree here, it's the pernicious kind you find primarily in universities, educated circles and cities - the moral tyranny that CS Lewis talked about. > Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. https://blog.acton.org/archives/1931-lewis-on-moral-tyranny.html https://blog.acton.org/archives/1931-lewis-on-moral-tyranny....
- evgen 6y ago
  Maybe you should go find yourself another place to play if this one distresses your delicate sensibilities so much. I promise you we will not miss you.
  - doloto 6y ago
    "we". you and what army?
    - evgen 6y ago
      I and the army of people who did not just create a throwaway to respond. Coward.
      - xxxyyj5 6y ago
        Imagine thinking there's such thing as bravery on the internet. You worked at FB; so you've got the moral high ground of IBM in thirties. Coward.

tzs 6y ago

I agree with the other requests for examples. I just went to reddit.com from a browser that has never been there before. Here's what it is showing me. This doesn't seem very propaganda or megacorpish to me. /r/GME post about a billboard telling people to keep holding GME. /r/wallstreetbets GME Megathread. /r/worldnews post about a Saudi official issuing a death threat to a UN investigator apparently over the investigator's investigation into the Khashoggi killing. /r/Cricket match thread about "1st ODO - India vs England". An ad. /r/AskReddit asking what is something you loved as a kid but hate as an adult. /r/technology thread on Microsoft's possible buying of Discord. /r/awefuleverything thread making fun of Americans. /r/worldnews post on a US intelligence agency saying the US should join South America in fight against illegal Chinese fishing. /r/aww post about a puppy. /r/Wellthatsucks post about a home baked pizza failure. /r/IdiotsInCars post about an idiot in a car. /r/politics post about Biden's infrastructure package. ...and it goes on like this...

seany 6y ago

There's a good automated reddit that tracks this actually. https://old.reddit.com/r/undelete/ https://old.reddit.com/r/undelete/

doggodaddo78 6y ago

It has a lot of unnecessary conflict, trolling, SJW, crazy people, censorship, idiocy, and no defense allowed insta-ban fascism. What's missing is a nicer general purpose platform that doesn't have so much thin-skinned, circular firing squads or anonymity for SFW topics. Let everyone participate so long as they're not advocating the basic limits of free speech: conspiracy theories, violence, obvious hate, or criminality. Politics is probably best contained to a separate section, as well as NSFW.

doloto 6y ago
Thats all due to their "karma" bullshit. It is a truly orwellian concept. People have fear of being silenced so nobody wants to argue with yes-men. Redditors always take one side of any hot issue and usually the top comment sets the tone. So it quickly receives 100000 likes and nobody would dare to disagree and instantly lose all of their precious karma points. So those who disagree will simply stay out of the discussion or would "agree" for the sake of driving their karma up. And every contrarian post will be reported and deleted. It is stupid and disgusting.