5 ms·

Sincere question: To the extent that "the open internet" IS valuable data, isn't Reddit in the best possible position to capitalize on it? The mechanic of the w

Sincere question: To the extent that "the open internet" IS valuable data, isn't Reddit in the best possible position to capitalize on it? The mechanic of the website allows for people all over the world to contribute free-form content and then has mechanics built in where the content provided is graded by free human reviewers and moderators, and graded accordingly. Not saying it is perfect data, but surely there is not better alternative to it, no? I just don't understand how this data is "terrible" -- other than very limited things like newspapers or other very highly curated (and limited sources), what other large scale data repos are better?

J_Shelby_J 3y ago
I’m in a weird position of both valuing Reddit highly as a source of unique and niche information you literally can’t find any where else, while at the same time feeling that the general quality of discourse in the more mainstream subreddits has taken a nose dive and is now pretty much worthless.
SilverBirch 3y ago
The problem is the grading is trash. In some sub-reddits the grading is literally inversely proportional to the quality of the content. In others its inversely proportional to traditional grammar rules. In some places it's highly correlated with misogyny. Like how often do you want your LLM to slowly transition it's response to a question into the Fresh Prince of Bel Air meme?[1] Compare it to other forms of content - news sources and journals which are extremely well curated, digitized books - a massive back catalogue of well edited and well structured data, Wikipedia - extremely high quality. I would put it this way, training an LLM on reddit is like teaching a child to play piano entirely by exposing them to freeform jazz. [1]: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bel-air-fresh-prince https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bel-air-fresh-prince

J_Shelby_J 3y ago

I’m in a weird position of both valuing Reddit highly as a source of unique and niche information you literally can’t find any where else, while at the same time feeling that the general quality of discourse in the more mainstream subreddits has taken a nose dive and is now pretty much worthless.

SilverBirch 3y ago

The problem is the grading is trash. In some sub-reddits the grading is literally inversely proportional to the quality of the content. In others its inversely proportional to traditional grammar rules. In some places it's highly correlated with misogyny. Like how often do you want your LLM to slowly transition it's response to a question into the Fresh Prince of Bel Air meme?[1] Compare it to other forms of content - news sources and journals which are extremely well curated, digitized books - a massive back catalogue of well edited and well structured data, Wikipedia - extremely high quality. I would put it this way, training an LLM on reddit is like teaching a child to play piano entirely by exposing them to freeform jazz. [1]: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bel-air-fresh-prince https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bel-air-fresh-prince