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The same is true with Reddit. The default feed is absolutely awful, but the bar required to curate something individually interesting and useful is too high fo

The same is true with Reddit. The default feed is absolutely awful, but the bar required to curate something individually interesting and useful is too high for most new users, given the toxicity + banality of the default.

i_love_retros 2y ago
I'm sorry but reddit is trash. Every subreddit, no matter how niche, is basically cringy phrases being repeated or photos of some "home set up" or said niche product someone bought who is looking for validation of their decision. It's so bad I blocked reddit from my search engine results.
- eitally 2y ago
  Clearly we're using different subs. ymmv.
  - i_love_retros 2y ago
    Provide an example of a sub that isn't like that?
    - ColdTakes 2y ago
      Both /r/Science and /r/AskScience are very heavily moderated and verified industry experts discuss papers on it.
      - qqqult 2y ago
        There's a lot of interesting discussions on r/science but like the rest of reddit it's such an echo chamber that you end up with bizarre one-sided arguments that discourage all opposing views.
        jemmyw 2y ago
        Is there much space for opposing views on a forum answering science questions? Presumably the purpose is to answer from established science.
        swatcoder 2y ago
        > Is there much space for opposing views on a forum answering science questions? Perhaps more than anywhere. Science is a process of challenge and response, not a static body of knowledge. > Presumably the purpose is to answer from established science. "Established science", which is still subject to debate itself, isn't what link aggregators cover. They bias towarss stuff more like science news and novel study outcomes, which are nothing to do with established science except as a seed for critical discussion.
        kragen 2y ago
        If something is "established" and has no "space for opposing views" it's the opposite of science. "Dogma", perhaps. In science, by contrast, every belief is at best contingent, subject to rejection when better evidence becomes available. That's what makes it science in the first place!
        ColdTakes 2y ago
        I don't see any benefit in entertaining flat-Earthers in discussion.
        kragen 2y ago
        If you prohibit arguing about the shape of the Earth, you're banning people from explaining that EGM08 is generally more accurate than EGM96—and where it isn't. That is a significant harm. Trolls advocating obvious nonsense like flat-Earthism isn't a significant harm, because nobody over the age of 6 will be misled. Even if you were right that debate on the shape of the earth had no benefit, forbidding it still wouldn't be science. Science is not coextensive with beneficial things.
      - potato3732842 2y ago
        Broadly appealing subs like that should be the last subs you cite if your goal is to provide evidince that Reddit isn't lowest common denominator trash. Even in fairly niche subs I find that "surface level" content quality dominates and nuanced takes are frequently unpopular which is basically a recipe for anyone who knows anything to leave. I find the best subs are satire subs because having to know enough about something to be able to satirize it weeds out all the people who create and perpetuate surface level content. I assume there are some super niche subs that are similar.
    - filchermcurr 2y ago
      /r/CreaturesGames/ - Discussion about the Creatures artificial life simulation games. I haven't seen anything particularly cringey on it.
lupusreal 2y ago
On reddit the defaults are shit and the rest of the site bans you by default until you've karmawhored yourself past an arbitrary threshold on those defaults. Trash website. I used to use it years back. Some subreddits were really great but they all inevitability devolved so I lost any interest in maintaining active accounts there. r/skookum had really interesting content for a while but devolved into idiots reposting the same skookum brand wrenches over and over again.
evantbyrne 2y ago
I finally quit my barren Twitter when the Musk takeover resulted in my feed being flooded with porn (including illegal content) and arabic carpet cleaning ads. I seriously doubt anyone's default Reddit front page has ever looked like that.
- commandlinefan 2y ago
  I keep seeing people say they've experienced this, but I've been on twitter for years (pre Musk and stayed post Musk) and I've never once seen porn on there. How does this happen by accident?
  - swatcoder 2y ago
    They're going to have a pretty developed and stable picture of you and what you respond to by now, especially of their view of you aligns with high- value placements already. So they probably don't bother to audition that kind of content for you very often because they already have strategies that milk your attention, engagement, and wallet better. When you hear other people share their experience as new or different users, keep in mind how customized all these platforms are and how idiosycratically optimized they'll already be for you as a long-time, engaged user. Most people can't go back in time to get where you are, and don't have any sure (or worthwhile) road to get there.
  - SmirkingRevenge 2y ago
    In my case, my (now deleted) account (which was primarily read-only) would get several porn bot followers per day. If I didn't log in for a week, I'd have dozens of new "p#i#c#s#i#n#b#i#o" type accounts following me. Towards the end, there would often be porn in replies of many posts on all kinds of topics, like politics, news, etc.
    - commandlinefan 2y ago
      > several porn bot followers per day Ah, ok, yeah, you're right, that did (and still does) happen to me. I had forgotten about that, I just ignore followers now.
ge96 2y ago
YouTube is nuts when not logged in as well. Those crazy clickbait thumbnails eg. Mr. Beast or whatever.
- jiggawatts 2y ago
  My logged-in YouTube shows me almost entirely 3blue1brown, Applied Science, and the like. Logged out it is 100% chum and garbage.
  - ge96 2y ago
    I wish the home was better showing the stuff you followed vs. having to go into subscriptions tab. edit: there are a limited number of tiles to show but yeah

i_love_retros 2y ago

I'm sorry but reddit is trash. Every subreddit, no matter how niche, is basically cringy phrases being repeated or photos of some "home set up" or said niche product someone bought who is looking for validation of their decision. It's so bad I blocked reddit from my search engine results.

eitally 2y ago
Clearly we're using different subs. ymmv.
- i_love_retros 2y ago
  Provide an example of a sub that isn't like that?
  - ColdTakes 2y ago
    Both /r/Science and /r/AskScience are very heavily moderated and verified industry experts discuss papers on it.
    - qqqult 2y ago
      There's a lot of interesting discussions on r/science but like the rest of reddit it's such an echo chamber that you end up with bizarre one-sided arguments that discourage all opposing views.
      - jemmyw 2y ago
        Is there much space for opposing views on a forum answering science questions? Presumably the purpose is to answer from established science.
        swatcoder 2y ago
        > Is there much space for opposing views on a forum answering science questions? Perhaps more than anywhere. Science is a process of challenge and response, not a static body of knowledge. > Presumably the purpose is to answer from established science. "Established science", which is still subject to debate itself, isn't what link aggregators cover. They bias towarss stuff more like science news and novel study outcomes, which are nothing to do with established science except as a seed for critical discussion.
        kragen 2y ago
        If something is "established" and has no "space for opposing views" it's the opposite of science. "Dogma", perhaps. In science, by contrast, every belief is at best contingent, subject to rejection when better evidence becomes available. That's what makes it science in the first place!
        ColdTakes 2y ago
        I don't see any benefit in entertaining flat-Earthers in discussion.
        kragen 2y ago
        If you prohibit arguing about the shape of the Earth, you're banning people from explaining that EGM08 is generally more accurate than EGM96—and where it isn't. That is a significant harm. Trolls advocating obvious nonsense like flat-Earthism isn't a significant harm, because nobody over the age of 6 will be misled. Even if you were right that debate on the shape of the earth had no benefit, forbidding it still wouldn't be science. Science is not coextensive with beneficial things.
    - potato3732842 2y ago
      Broadly appealing subs like that should be the last subs you cite if your goal is to provide evidince that Reddit isn't lowest common denominator trash. Even in fairly niche subs I find that "surface level" content quality dominates and nuanced takes are frequently unpopular which is basically a recipe for anyone who knows anything to leave. I find the best subs are satire subs because having to know enough about something to be able to satirize it weeds out all the people who create and perpetuate surface level content. I assume there are some super niche subs that are similar.
  - filchermcurr 2y ago
    /r/CreaturesGames/ - Discussion about the Creatures artificial life simulation games. I haven't seen anything particularly cringey on it.

lupusreal 2y ago

On reddit the defaults are shit and the rest of the site bans you by default until you've karmawhored yourself past an arbitrary threshold on those defaults. Trash website. I used to use it years back. Some subreddits were really great but they all inevitability devolved so I lost any interest in maintaining active accounts there. r/skookum had really interesting content for a while but devolved into idiots reposting the same skookum brand wrenches over and over again.

evantbyrne 2y ago

I finally quit my barren Twitter when the Musk takeover resulted in my feed being flooded with porn (including illegal content) and arabic carpet cleaning ads. I seriously doubt anyone's default Reddit front page has ever looked like that.

commandlinefan 2y ago
I keep seeing people say they've experienced this, but I've been on twitter for years (pre Musk and stayed post Musk) and I've never once seen porn on there. How does this happen by accident?
- swatcoder 2y ago
  They're going to have a pretty developed and stable picture of you and what you respond to by now, especially of their view of you aligns with high- value placements already. So they probably don't bother to audition that kind of content for you very often because they already have strategies that milk your attention, engagement, and wallet better. When you hear other people share their experience as new or different users, keep in mind how customized all these platforms are and how idiosycratically optimized they'll already be for you as a long-time, engaged user. Most people can't go back in time to get where you are, and don't have any sure (or worthwhile) road to get there.
- SmirkingRevenge 2y ago
  In my case, my (now deleted) account (which was primarily read-only) would get several porn bot followers per day. If I didn't log in for a week, I'd have dozens of new "p#i#c#s#i#n#b#i#o" type accounts following me. Towards the end, there would often be porn in replies of many posts on all kinds of topics, like politics, news, etc.
  - commandlinefan 2y ago
    > several porn bot followers per day Ah, ok, yeah, you're right, that did (and still does) happen to me. I had forgotten about that, I just ignore followers now.

ge96 2y ago

YouTube is nuts when not logged in as well. Those crazy clickbait thumbnails eg. Mr. Beast or whatever.

jiggawatts 2y ago
My logged-in YouTube shows me almost entirely 3blue1brown, Applied Science, and the like. Logged out it is 100% chum and garbage.
- ge96 2y ago
  I wish the home was better showing the stuff you followed vs. having to go into subscriptions tab. edit: there are a limited number of tiles to show but yeah