8 ms·

It's in part the upvote / downvote, an horrible gamification of online discourse triggering your need to win the "spectators", even if you end up not having any

by nolok 4y ago

It's in part the upvote / downvote, an horrible gamification of online discourse triggering your need to win the "spectators", even if you end up not having any vote at all because no one cares. Personally, I miss the old slashdot system. It was far from perfect, but it was still much better I think.

Scarblac 4y ago
(+5, Flamebait)
- red-iron-pine 4y ago
  (+3, Funny)
Consultant32452 4y ago
This reminded me of a time I got into an argument on Reddit. Someone eventually chimed in that I was probably right, that my logic was sound, but "look at all the downvotes you are getting". Even as they typed it out, it never occurred to them that there could be something more important than the internet points. I explained if you never get downvoted to oblivion, you're probably not saying anything interesting.
- wing-_-nuts 4y ago
  The thing I hate most about reddit are all the little bubbles that are created by bad moderation. Sometimes, this is even automated. You can only post on certain threads if you have the right skin color (r/BlackPeopleTwitter), or ideological disposition (r/conservative) or net worth (r/fatFire). The absolute worst are when some mod shadow bans you (all posts / comments are silently removed), and refuses to tell you why. I had that happen on my city subreddit, I guess because I said we needed a larger police presence to get property crime under control. That was the only remotely controversial thing I've ever said there.
  - jasonladuke0311 4y ago
    > You can only post on certain threads if you have the right skin color (r/BlackPeopleTwitter) The joke goes that BPT is all white people, and TwoXChromosomes isn’t actually moderated by anyone XX
  - ZiggySinclair 4y ago
    Mods do not have the ability to shadow ban users.
    - wing-_-nuts 4y ago
      Well, alright, explain how any post or comment I make on a sub instantly disappears, and it only happens on that sub?
  - tayo42 4y ago
    sometimes people want to get together and not be antagonized by contrarians and people looking for a fight on the internet. i get it, even if i think the results of something like conservative are overall negative. whats the alternative. black people in the US have some kind of shared experience they want to discuss, conservatives maybe don't want to fight with everyone all the time. its not my place to invade then. if there are people who to engage online with multiple viewpoints there are plenty of places to do that. i wish the city subreddits enforced residency requirement or something similar to post
    - wing-_-nuts 4y ago
      If you wish to constrain participation in a sub, simply create a private one and only invite those you want to participate. What I really disagree with is having a public sub that's basically 'read only' except for your chosen group. I will straight up filter your sub from r/all if you do that.
  - 01100011 4y ago
    The /r/sandiego subreddit, for instance, is controlled by a weirdo who masquerades as two moderators and who will shadowban you for merely participating in the subreddit created to escape his control(/r/sandiegan).
- anthonypasq 4y ago
  I automatically assume if im being downvoted im right lol.
sammalloy 4y ago
> It's in part the upvote / downvote, an horrible gamification of online discourse triggering your need to win the "spectators", even if you end up not having any vote at all because no one cares. Not everyone plays that game. I upvote all of my opposition in reasonable, heated arguments on Reddit to give them an advantage. That way, if my ideas truly have merit, the wisdom of the crowd will let me know. It’s a way to check myself and call BS on my own ego.
- thunderclaps 4y ago
  My current approach to the Reddit game is reportmaxxing. I'll make innocent-sounding comments with subtle triggers that will enrage some people, then pretend I have no idea what they're talking about in their furious replies, politely winding them up this way in our back-and-forth until they say something rash that I can report them for. If I can frustrate them enough to make a violent threat, that's usually enough to get their account permanently banned. And then I win. I got an account with an 11-year history wiped out the other day, that's my high score so far. Good times.
  - callalex 4y ago
    An accurate summary of your comment is “making people upset makes me happy” and I just want to make sure you’re aware of that.
    - thunderclaps 4y ago
      I like to think of it as freeing them from the conversational prison that is Reddit. As such, I'm essentially doing them a favour. If I didn't find this so personally enjoyable, it would be a wholly selfless act.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
01100011 4y ago
I'm sad we 'lost' /. to the morons. I think a lot of us gave up at some point and moved on to kuro5hin, reddit, hn, etc. It's too bad the content of a site is tied to its moderation system. It would be great if you could, say, use reddit but abide by a completely independent way of moderating.
- BashiBazouk 4y ago
  I miss kuro5hin and if we are going back in history, Plastic as well.
  - vidanay 4y ago
    I should check if my five digit slashdot account is still valid. Edit: yup, still works! #86xxx
    - trollied 4y ago
      Heh, mine still works too. #1xxxx id. Used to love the site back in the day.
    - nosianu 4y ago
      Slashdot user ID measuring contest? Okay I'm in: #130x The last time I was in such a contest I started out very proud of my low number, but was quickly and thoroughly beaten many times by people with numbers down to the single digits... Oh well, I was an early user of the WWW too, using Mosaic. Before that: nn and gopher.
- TwoNineFive 4y ago
  The morons are the ones who click on adverts, and so long as clicking on adverts is the goal, they will always win. That's why there are no social networks. They are moron menageries. Idiot aggregators. Stupidity sieves.
  - red-iron-pine 4y ago
    How many adverts have you clicked on at Reddit? Or HN. Plenty of ways to market without clickable ads. Shaping consensus and datamining reactions, in real time, is far more useful than getting the bottom 33% to click on ads which are easily blocked by modern browser plugins.
BashiBazouk 4y ago
Some sort of meta moderation of subreddit moderators could be such an improvement over there if well implemented... I miss the old slashdot system as well.
hk1337 4y ago
> an horrible gamification of online discourse triggering your need to win the "spectators" Win the crowd and you'll win your freedom.
wing-_-nuts 4y ago
I use a css script to hide all karma on reddit. Upvote me, downvote me, I don't care about imaginary internet points. The only thing I loathe is posting something factually correct, but unpopular, getting downvoted, and then reddit decides 'you've been doing that too much!' and stops you from posting. No thanks. I'll just close the tab and move on with my life.
- busyant 4y ago
  > 'you've been doing that too much!' and stops you from posting. What does this mean? Does reddit actually ban you if you're downvoted "too much"? Seems crazy.
  - wing-_-nuts 4y ago
    Nah, they just rate limit you to only posting once every 10 minutes if you're getting heavily downvoted. It's irritating as heck, but not a big deal, I just close the tab.
    - busyant 4y ago
      Thank you. That's fascinating. I never knew this. My brother's reddit account was suspended recently. He's somewhat conservative and the last bit of posting he made (that I could find) was arguing about COVID & masks. I don't know if he posted anything controversial beyond that because I haven't had a chance to talk to him recently. He seemed to relish going into hostile subreddits and "mixing it up."
  - lost_tourist 4y ago
    posting too much. Much like HN some reddit groups have a time out to let you cool off if you go over N posts, especially if your account is new. Happens to me a lot since I delete my account and start over ever 3 or 4 months. I don't care about karma more than say enough to not get rate limited.
- ZiggySinclair 4y ago
  Why hide instead of just ignoring?
piqi 4y ago
> It's in part the upvote / downvote, an horrible gamification of online discourse HN isn't any different. Possibly worse, since only accounts with a certain level of internet points are permitted to judge others.
- the_af 4y ago
  Agreed, this has been my experience as well. Well, I'd argue Reddit is worse simply because of the topics of discussion that proliferate there, and because insulting is allowed in many subs. But the gamification part and the subtle flamewars are very present here on HN.
- milesvp 4y ago
  HN might not be different in terms of upvotes and downvotes, and wanting to get fake internet points, but I still find it qualitatively different. In particular, I have never felt the urge to read downvoted comments on reddit. On HN, if it’s an interesting thread, I find I will often intentionally read the faintest comments. I’ve found that on good threads even the quality of unpopular posts provide me with something at least worth considering.

by nolok 4y ago

Scarblac 4y ago

(+5, Flamebait)

red-iron-pine 4y ago
(+3, Funny)

Consultant32452 4y ago

This reminded me of a time I got into an argument on Reddit. Someone eventually chimed in that I was probably right, that my logic was sound, but "look at all the downvotes you are getting". Even as they typed it out, it never occurred to them that there could be something more important than the internet points. I explained if you never get downvoted to oblivion, you're probably not saying anything interesting.

wing-_-nuts 4y ago
The thing I hate most about reddit are all the little bubbles that are created by bad moderation. Sometimes, this is even automated. You can only post on certain threads if you have the right skin color (r/BlackPeopleTwitter), or ideological disposition (r/conservative) or net worth (r/fatFire). The absolute worst are when some mod shadow bans you (all posts / comments are silently removed), and refuses to tell you why. I had that happen on my city subreddit, I guess because I said we needed a larger police presence to get property crime under control. That was the only remotely controversial thing I've ever said there.
- jasonladuke0311 4y ago
  > You can only post on certain threads if you have the right skin color (r/BlackPeopleTwitter) The joke goes that BPT is all white people, and TwoXChromosomes isn’t actually moderated by anyone XX
- ZiggySinclair 4y ago
  Mods do not have the ability to shadow ban users.
  - wing-_-nuts 4y ago
    Well, alright, explain how any post or comment I make on a sub instantly disappears, and it only happens on that sub?
- tayo42 4y ago
  sometimes people want to get together and not be antagonized by contrarians and people looking for a fight on the internet. i get it, even if i think the results of something like conservative are overall negative. whats the alternative. black people in the US have some kind of shared experience they want to discuss, conservatives maybe don't want to fight with everyone all the time. its not my place to invade then. if there are people who to engage online with multiple viewpoints there are plenty of places to do that. i wish the city subreddits enforced residency requirement or something similar to post
  - wing-_-nuts 4y ago
    If you wish to constrain participation in a sub, simply create a private one and only invite those you want to participate. What I really disagree with is having a public sub that's basically 'read only' except for your chosen group. I will straight up filter your sub from r/all if you do that.
- 01100011 4y ago
  The /r/sandiego subreddit, for instance, is controlled by a weirdo who masquerades as two moderators and who will shadowban you for merely participating in the subreddit created to escape his control(/r/sandiegan).
anthonypasq 4y ago
I automatically assume if im being downvoted im right lol.

sammalloy 4y ago

> It's in part the upvote / downvote, an horrible gamification of online discourse triggering your need to win the "spectators", even if you end up not having any vote at all because no one cares. Not everyone plays that game. I upvote all of my opposition in reasonable, heated arguments on Reddit to give them an advantage. That way, if my ideas truly have merit, the wisdom of the crowd will let me know. It’s a way to check myself and call BS on my own ego.

thunderclaps 4y ago
My current approach to the Reddit game is reportmaxxing. I'll make innocent-sounding comments with subtle triggers that will enrage some people, then pretend I have no idea what they're talking about in their furious replies, politely winding them up this way in our back-and-forth until they say something rash that I can report them for. If I can frustrate them enough to make a violent threat, that's usually enough to get their account permanently banned. And then I win. I got an account with an 11-year history wiped out the other day, that's my high score so far. Good times.
- callalex 4y ago
  An accurate summary of your comment is “making people upset makes me happy” and I just want to make sure you’re aware of that.
  - thunderclaps 4y ago
    I like to think of it as freeing them from the conversational prison that is Reddit. As such, I'm essentially doing them a favour. If I didn't find this so personally enjoyable, it would be a wholly selfless act.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]

01100011 4y ago

I'm sad we 'lost' /. to the morons. I think a lot of us gave up at some point and moved on to kuro5hin, reddit, hn, etc. It's too bad the content of a site is tied to its moderation system. It would be great if you could, say, use reddit but abide by a completely independent way of moderating.

BashiBazouk 4y ago
I miss kuro5hin and if we are going back in history, Plastic as well.
- vidanay 4y ago
  I should check if my five digit slashdot account is still valid. Edit: yup, still works! #86xxx
  - trollied 4y ago
    Heh, mine still works too. #1xxxx id. Used to love the site back in the day.
  - nosianu 4y ago
    Slashdot user ID measuring contest? Okay I'm in: #130x The last time I was in such a contest I started out very proud of my low number, but was quickly and thoroughly beaten many times by people with numbers down to the single digits... Oh well, I was an early user of the WWW too, using Mosaic. Before that: nn and gopher.
TwoNineFive 4y ago
The morons are the ones who click on adverts, and so long as clicking on adverts is the goal, they will always win. That's why there are no social networks. They are moron menageries. Idiot aggregators. Stupidity sieves.
- red-iron-pine 4y ago
  How many adverts have you clicked on at Reddit? Or HN. Plenty of ways to market without clickable ads. Shaping consensus and datamining reactions, in real time, is far more useful than getting the bottom 33% to click on ads which are easily blocked by modern browser plugins.

BashiBazouk 4y ago

Some sort of meta moderation of subreddit moderators could be such an improvement over there if well implemented... I miss the old slashdot system as well.

hk1337 4y ago

> an horrible gamification of online discourse triggering your need to win the "spectators" Win the crowd and you'll win your freedom.

wing-_-nuts 4y ago

I use a css script to hide all karma on reddit. Upvote me, downvote me, I don't care about imaginary internet points. The only thing I loathe is posting something factually correct, but unpopular, getting downvoted, and then reddit decides 'you've been doing that too much!' and stops you from posting. No thanks. I'll just close the tab and move on with my life.

busyant 4y ago
> 'you've been doing that too much!' and stops you from posting. What does this mean? Does reddit actually ban you if you're downvoted "too much"? Seems crazy.
- wing-_-nuts 4y ago
  Nah, they just rate limit you to only posting once every 10 minutes if you're getting heavily downvoted. It's irritating as heck, but not a big deal, I just close the tab.
  - busyant 4y ago
    Thank you. That's fascinating. I never knew this. My brother's reddit account was suspended recently. He's somewhat conservative and the last bit of posting he made (that I could find) was arguing about COVID & masks. I don't know if he posted anything controversial beyond that because I haven't had a chance to talk to him recently. He seemed to relish going into hostile subreddits and "mixing it up."
- lost_tourist 4y ago
  posting too much. Much like HN some reddit groups have a time out to let you cool off if you go over N posts, especially if your account is new. Happens to me a lot since I delete my account and start over ever 3 or 4 months. I don't care about karma more than say enough to not get rate limited.
ZiggySinclair 4y ago
Why hide instead of just ignoring?

piqi 4y ago

> It's in part the upvote / downvote, an horrible gamification of online discourse HN isn't any different. Possibly worse, since only accounts with a certain level of internet points are permitted to judge others.

the_af 4y ago
Agreed, this has been my experience as well. Well, I'd argue Reddit is worse simply because of the topics of discussion that proliferate there, and because insulting is allowed in many subs. But the gamification part and the subtle flamewars are very present here on HN.
milesvp 4y ago
HN might not be different in terms of upvotes and downvotes, and wanting to get fake internet points, but I still find it qualitatively different. In particular, I have never felt the urge to read downvoted comments on reddit. On HN, if it’s an interesting thread, I find I will often intentionally read the faintest comments. I’ve found that on good threads even the quality of unpopular posts provide me with something at least worth considering.