5 ms·

OP is acting like Reddit is the only place to go on the internet. Yes it used to be better, yes it sucks now, but no one is forcing you to go there. Change th

by ProAm 5y ago

OP is acting like Reddit is the only place to go on the internet. Yes it used to be better, yes it sucks now, but no one is forcing you to go there. Change the URL in your browser and problem is resolved.

gkoberger 5y ago
I'd take it a step back, even... just change the subreddit. You can't be surprised that an incredibly popular (aka meme-y), left-leaning subreddit doesn't want to debate your anti-Democrat rants. This trend of "you must debate me!" is just as exhausting as anything he complained about. There's tons of subreddits, and the author seems to be conflating the software with individual communities.
- adamrezich 5y ago
  to say that the major, default subreddits are "left-leaning" is a massive understatement. the reddit homepage (sans login) is basically half memes, half direct feed of the latest Democratic Party talking points. it was not this way in the past, and noticing this change is a valid observation. what the author of the article ignores however is that the 2008 reddit he was initially exposed to was mostly accessed by people using personal computers, instead of people using smartphones. I'm always surprised whenever anyone overlooks this basic fact and its implications when assessing "how the internet has gotten worse" since 2008 or before.
  - stimpson_j_cat 5y ago
    > it was not this way in the past There was an /r/obama before users could make subreddits. It was certainly this way in the past, but more porn. You admittedly didn't know that, and had to post a source you Googled in a panic, which says: > There may have been a few more subreddits created by other employees as well but I’m not sure. Basically they would all have been things of personal interest to us. Which supports that idea.
    - gkoberger 5y ago
      Well, subreddits were initially a way to move content off the main page, not necessarily to indulge it. So the first subreddit was r/nsfw followed by r/programming and r/politics. I can't find anything that says r/obama was an early Reddit-created subreddit, but if it was, then they would have done it to have less Obama content on the homepage rather than to celebrate Obama. Source: https://www.quora.com/What-were-the-first-subreddits-and-how-were-they-introduced https://www.quora.com/What-were-the-first-subreddits-and-how...
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - stimpson_j_cat 5y ago
        gkoberger 5y ago
        Oh so you're just a jerk. Sorry I engaged.
        stimpson_j_cat 5y ago
        Sorry if I came off that way, make sure to flag me. A big draw of the site was that it was so focused on politics, science and programming; if you'd been a regular user you just wouldn't debate that, I don't know how else to put it. It's like saying "I miss the early days when Truth Social wasn't so partisan." You don't seem to know much about the site's history, and just called me a "jerk," I guess that passes for "engagement."
        gkoberger 5y ago
        I've been on Reddit from the beginning, and absolutely nothing I said contradicts me believing it was very politics/programming heavy from the start. Like I said, Reddit at the time believed there was too much politics/programming, and that's why they created subreddits. You're putting words in my mouth and then being condescending. That's why you got downvoted and flagged (not by me, for the record). You can look me up on Reddit; I use the same name (which happens to be my real name) on both. I created the r/sanfrancisco subreddit (among others) and my cake day is within the first year of Reddit's launch.
  - JSavageOne 5y ago
    Smartphones are an interesting point and would definitely explain the shortness of comments (personally I never write Reddit comments from my phone so it's not something I thought of). But this still doesn't explain why short and empty comments rise to the top while contrarian but in-depth comments get downvote buried. Even in this comments section, the most insightful top-level comment reply I've gotten as I write this is literally at the bottom: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30674104 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30674104 , while the second-highest comment is "This is just an article by a guy with bad opinions upset others don't agree with his bad opinions."
    - adamrezich 5y ago
      the point is, reddit used to be a place where dorks who sat down with a PC or laptop with the intent of using the internet hung out, just like everywhere else on the internet. now reddit, like all of the internet, is something anyone can casually access from the supercomputer in their pocket. this changes the demographics and usage patterns, and therefore target audience and platform expectations, massively.
- JSavageOne 5y ago
  Which subreddits would you recommend for high quality discussion on say politics and current events?
JSavageOne 5y ago
Any suggestions on better online communities for high quality discussion? I'd love to leave Reddit if I knew of better alternatives.

by ProAm 5y ago

gkoberger 5y ago

I'd take it a step back, even... just change the subreddit. You can't be surprised that an incredibly popular (aka meme-y), left-leaning subreddit doesn't want to debate your anti-Democrat rants. This trend of "you must debate me!" is just as exhausting as anything he complained about. There's tons of subreddits, and the author seems to be conflating the software with individual communities.

adamrezich 5y ago
to say that the major, default subreddits are "left-leaning" is a massive understatement. the reddit homepage (sans login) is basically half memes, half direct feed of the latest Democratic Party talking points. it was not this way in the past, and noticing this change is a valid observation. what the author of the article ignores however is that the 2008 reddit he was initially exposed to was mostly accessed by people using personal computers, instead of people using smartphones. I'm always surprised whenever anyone overlooks this basic fact and its implications when assessing "how the internet has gotten worse" since 2008 or before.
- stimpson_j_cat 5y ago
  > it was not this way in the past There was an /r/obama before users could make subreddits. It was certainly this way in the past, but more porn. You admittedly didn't know that, and had to post a source you Googled in a panic, which says: > There may have been a few more subreddits created by other employees as well but I’m not sure. Basically they would all have been things of personal interest to us. Which supports that idea.
  - gkoberger 5y ago
    Well, subreddits were initially a way to move content off the main page, not necessarily to indulge it. So the first subreddit was r/nsfw followed by r/programming and r/politics. I can't find anything that says r/obama was an early Reddit-created subreddit, but if it was, then they would have done it to have less Obama content on the homepage rather than to celebrate Obama. Source: https://www.quora.com/What-were-the-first-subreddits-and-how-were-they-introduced https://www.quora.com/What-were-the-first-subreddits-and-how...
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - stimpson_j_cat 5y ago
      - gkoberger 5y ago
        Oh so you're just a jerk. Sorry I engaged.
        stimpson_j_cat 5y ago
        Sorry if I came off that way, make sure to flag me. A big draw of the site was that it was so focused on politics, science and programming; if you'd been a regular user you just wouldn't debate that, I don't know how else to put it. It's like saying "I miss the early days when Truth Social wasn't so partisan." You don't seem to know much about the site's history, and just called me a "jerk," I guess that passes for "engagement."
        gkoberger 5y ago
        I've been on Reddit from the beginning, and absolutely nothing I said contradicts me believing it was very politics/programming heavy from the start. Like I said, Reddit at the time believed there was too much politics/programming, and that's why they created subreddits. You're putting words in my mouth and then being condescending. That's why you got downvoted and flagged (not by me, for the record). You can look me up on Reddit; I use the same name (which happens to be my real name) on both. I created the r/sanfrancisco subreddit (among others) and my cake day is within the first year of Reddit's launch.
- JSavageOne 5y ago
  Smartphones are an interesting point and would definitely explain the shortness of comments (personally I never write Reddit comments from my phone so it's not something I thought of). But this still doesn't explain why short and empty comments rise to the top while contrarian but in-depth comments get downvote buried. Even in this comments section, the most insightful top-level comment reply I've gotten as I write this is literally at the bottom: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30674104 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30674104 , while the second-highest comment is "This is just an article by a guy with bad opinions upset others don't agree with his bad opinions."
  - adamrezich 5y ago
    the point is, reddit used to be a place where dorks who sat down with a PC or laptop with the intent of using the internet hung out, just like everywhere else on the internet. now reddit, like all of the internet, is something anyone can casually access from the supercomputer in their pocket. this changes the demographics and usage patterns, and therefore target audience and platform expectations, massively.
JSavageOne 5y ago
Which subreddits would you recommend for high quality discussion on say politics and current events?

JSavageOne 5y ago

Any suggestions on better online communities for high quality discussion? I'd love to leave Reddit if I knew of better alternatives.