4 ms·

That's because you're just unaware of how astroturfed it is. I just headed over to one of the popular subreddits and randomly picked an account that posted a t

That's because you're just unaware of how astroturfed it is. I just headed over to one of the popular subreddits and randomly picked an account that posted a top meme https://www.reddit.com/user/esberat/submitted/ https://www.reddit.com/user/esberat/submitted/ The account has 8 million post karma and every single post it submits to a subreddit ends up on the front page of Reddit... without fail. The account isn't a mod of any of those subs, but they're clearly using upvote manipulation to get every single one of their posts to the front page.

DanielVZ 4y ago
Of course the front-page will look like that. Niche subreddits are a completely different experience.
Doctor_Fegg 4y ago
But in the context of TFA - searching Reddit to get factual answers - what appears on the reddit.com front page from day to day is largely irrelevant, surely?
- A_D_E_P_T 4y ago
  By extension, high-karma accounts that are run by marketing companies can post in a niche subreddit to subtly promote their product or disparage their competition, and they'll end up on the front page of that subreddit. They'll get a lot of views and a lot more engagement than the average unsophisticated user's post would -- and those astroturfed posts would, on average, rank higher in searches. This is analogous to SEO, but rather more insidious and sneaky. You can spot SEO blogspam from a mile away. You don't know if a Reddit user is a real person, a bot, or a company's representative.
  - CuriouslyC 4y ago
    Reddit bots are used for upvote manipulation of legitimate posts by brand ambassadors/etc. The post histories are just to make the bot look legitimate.
- michaelt 4y ago
  I always assumed the botted accounts on Reddit were in the hands of marketing companies, ready to upvote posts saying "My Brand X headphones sound great" or "I changed from Brand Y to Brand Z cigarettes because the smooth taste never leaves me feeling over-smoked" or "I made big gains by putting my life savings into this sketchy investment" or whatever they're being paid to promote at the time. I'd wager you could do a lot to influence public opinion with just an upvote ring, without the botted accounts actually needing to post messages.
deafpolygon 4y ago
Who cares? The real reddit stuff is not in the front pages.
- bobmaxup 4y ago
  Someone must care, no? Those threads get a large number of impressions, assumedly from real users.
moffkalast 4y ago
> I just headed over to one of the popular subreddits That was your first mistake, the defaults are cesspools full of karma farming bots. Nobody goes to those for advice.
- A_D_E_P_T 4y ago
  What makes you think that the niche subreddits aren't also full of marketing firms, bots, and upvote networks? With very few exceptions, they are.
  - parasubvert 4y ago
    They also have an okay s:n ratio in my experience, as the mod team can work the experience. Like for example, q&a type threads tend to be useful. There are folks promoting things but it’s obvious when they are.
  - moffkalast 4y ago
    Because the tiny niche audience isn't a cost effective marketing group? Advertisers want to maximize their reach and well, it's not like they know these groups even exist. I'm sure it happens a lot regardless, but the vast majority of content in those is still just from regular people. You can tell by the information posted as it tends to be more or less truthful and useful. Once it stops being that it'll be obvious enough. Like when Russian bots invade your average Ukraine related r/worldnews post.
    - dsfyu404ed 4y ago
      >Because the tiny niche audience isn't a cost effective marketing group? A That's the magic of Reddit, 4Chan and every other cesspool where any niche is only a slight URL change away from any other niche. It's trivially easy to add niche subs 2, 3 and 4 to the list of places that you target.
      - moffkalast 4y ago
        Yeah and then any mod with half a brain sees you're spamming things everywhere and bans you.
ilyt 4y ago
That looks just like making content tailored to subreddit it is posted, no shit it's popular. Also how the fuck "Building a hobby-shelter while camping in Kelowna" or some random funny pictures is "astroturfing"?

DanielVZ 4y ago

Of course the front-page will look like that. Niche subreddits are a completely different experience.

Doctor_Fegg 4y ago

But in the context of TFA - searching Reddit to get factual answers - what appears on the reddit.com front page from day to day is largely irrelevant, surely?

A_D_E_P_T 4y ago
By extension, high-karma accounts that are run by marketing companies can post in a niche subreddit to subtly promote their product or disparage their competition, and they'll end up on the front page of that subreddit. They'll get a lot of views and a lot more engagement than the average unsophisticated user's post would -- and those astroturfed posts would, on average, rank higher in searches. This is analogous to SEO, but rather more insidious and sneaky. You can spot SEO blogspam from a mile away. You don't know if a Reddit user is a real person, a bot, or a company's representative.
- CuriouslyC 4y ago
  Reddit bots are used for upvote manipulation of legitimate posts by brand ambassadors/etc. The post histories are just to make the bot look legitimate.
michaelt 4y ago
I always assumed the botted accounts on Reddit were in the hands of marketing companies, ready to upvote posts saying "My Brand X headphones sound great" or "I changed from Brand Y to Brand Z cigarettes because the smooth taste never leaves me feeling over-smoked" or "I made big gains by putting my life savings into this sketchy investment" or whatever they're being paid to promote at the time. I'd wager you could do a lot to influence public opinion with just an upvote ring, without the botted accounts actually needing to post messages.

deafpolygon 4y ago

Who cares? The real reddit stuff is not in the front pages.

bobmaxup 4y ago
Someone must care, no? Those threads get a large number of impressions, assumedly from real users.

moffkalast 4y ago

> I just headed over to one of the popular subreddits That was your first mistake, the defaults are cesspools full of karma farming bots. Nobody goes to those for advice.

A_D_E_P_T 4y ago
What makes you think that the niche subreddits aren't also full of marketing firms, bots, and upvote networks? With very few exceptions, they are.
- parasubvert 4y ago
  They also have an okay s:n ratio in my experience, as the mod team can work the experience. Like for example, q&a type threads tend to be useful. There are folks promoting things but it’s obvious when they are.
- moffkalast 4y ago
  Because the tiny niche audience isn't a cost effective marketing group? Advertisers want to maximize their reach and well, it's not like they know these groups even exist. I'm sure it happens a lot regardless, but the vast majority of content in those is still just from regular people. You can tell by the information posted as it tends to be more or less truthful and useful. Once it stops being that it'll be obvious enough. Like when Russian bots invade your average Ukraine related r/worldnews post.
  - dsfyu404ed 4y ago
    >Because the tiny niche audience isn't a cost effective marketing group? A That's the magic of Reddit, 4Chan and every other cesspool where any niche is only a slight URL change away from any other niche. It's trivially easy to add niche subs 2, 3 and 4 to the list of places that you target.
    - moffkalast 4y ago
      Yeah and then any mod with half a brain sees you're spamming things everywhere and bans you.

ilyt 4y ago

That looks just like making content tailored to subreddit it is posted, no shit it's popular. Also how the fuck "Building a hobby-shelter while camping in Kelowna" or some random funny pictures is "astroturfing"?