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"talking armies of Indians and Eastern Europeans" The problem with Reddit is the army of intolerant atheists and the anti-GOP circle jerk. If you just take a l

by katz 18y ago

"talking armies of Indians and Eastern Europeans" The problem with Reddit is the army of intolerant atheists and the anti-GOP circle jerk. If you just take a look at the front page you will see that this is true. American politics is really not that interesting after the 10th GOP bashing blog-spam article.

jwesley 18y ago
Most web communities are politically polarized in one way or the other. If you do not like the political stories, Reddit allows you to unsubscribe from the politics sub-Reddit. Or just don't visit the site.
- katz 18y ago
  The problem is that most stories about atheism is not posted in the atheism subreddit. Most of those stories spill over into worldnews or math or science. Stuff about conservative american commentators gets labelled 'funny'. "Or just don't visit the site." That was the solution yes. YCnews is fairly tame and people are well mannered.
- endtime 18y ago
  Unfortunately, people don't always use subreddits. People always think their pet issues belong in general, or perhaps worldnews. And it's not just political stories that are the problem with reddit. It's the fanatic tone that many users take in the comments of stories that really shouldn't be polarizing.
unalone 18y ago
There's a fundamental difference: a slim group of Digg users push everything. On Reddit, the circlejerk is encouraged by the users. I've been a user for 3 years (just deleted my second account and banned the URL yesterday), and people like those posts. I upvoted a few myself before I felt it got out of hand. A lot of people discover atheism and politics on Reddit, and it's wonderful for them because it's showing them new things. For everybody else it quickly becomes a problem. (It's a problem on HN too, to be fair: I've gotten into a few debates here with atheists who think religion is wholly awful, and their immediate reaction is often "if you don't hate all of religion, you're buying into a cult/a conspiracy".)
diN0bot 18y ago
there's reddit news outside proggit?! in seriousness, though, reddit's category system is broken because it lacks inheritance. people should be encouraged to provide the most specific leaf categories that apply when submitting articles. viewers may then customize as broadly or eclectically as they wish (ui can do the abstraction, whereas in the database every user has true/false on leaf nodes). auto-discovering categories might be useful. the fail point is still on ui, not performance, imho.
sho 18y ago
This is true of any large, established group. In the early days, anything goes, perhaps guided by moderation. However, after a certain critical mass is reached, a consensus emerges, supported by safety in numbers, and anyone opposed to that consensus is pushed out, while those in agreement are attracted. You can see this happen everywhere in all contexts and it's a well-studied phenomenon. Reddit has a pro-atheist bias, sure, and I for one am very comfortable with that. If you prefer a pro-religion atmosphere, there are plenty of sites catering to your tastes (Perhaps http://www.raptureready.com/ http://www.raptureready.com/). You could actually make a pretty good case that the reason HN remains a fairly neutral environment is that it has never been allowed to reach that critical mass. Hopefully, PG & co. maintain their strict moderation policy (or threat of it, which seems to be enough) and the narrow intended subject matter keep out the hegemonising swarm.
- katz 18y ago
  "Reddit has a pro-atheist bias, sure, and I for one am very comfortable with that." I am atheist/agnostic yet I don't feel comfortable with Reddit. This is because I am not obsessed over religion (or lack thereof) and I treat everyone with respect (i.e. I am not a foaming around the mouth atheist). Most atheists on reddit are extreme, annoying and post the same article and the same old comments over and over again. They are incapable of any rational thought - if you even dare to point out the good things that a religious group does you are downmodded and ridiculed (e.g. the catholic church's network of hospitals in 3rd world countries). It is the same with the GOP-bashing articles. I am not american and I do not support GWB – but they go to far with their bashing and I sincerely doubt of the sanity of most redditors.
  - sho 18y ago
    Hm. I guess I haven't really noticed. I admit, I don't read the comments much. I was mainly speaking about the headlines, which is all I really use that site for. I confess I'm a little confused as to what an "extreme" atheist even is. I mean, a normal atheist believes that there is no God. How do you go past "does not exist"? Anyway I'd like to say one thing: pointing out others' ridiculous, harmful beliefs is good and necessary. Of course, it's most effective if done politely and constructively but anything is better than nothing. I'd probably be pretty extreme towards someone trying to claim something demonstrably, obviously wrong in pretty much any field you care to name. And they'd complain how I was "incapable" of seeing their ludicrous point of view, no doubt. I think I'm kind of a classical nerd when it comes to such things. If you assert something, you better be able to back it up. If you can't, I'll call you an idiot. No free pass because it's religion or because the Catholic Church did this or that. Anyway, not really trying to start an argument or anything. My point: Some things deserve ridicule. Reddit commenters, though, I never read them, sorry for erroneously implying otherwise.

by katz 18y ago

jwesley 18y ago

Most web communities are politically polarized in one way or the other. If you do not like the political stories, Reddit allows you to unsubscribe from the politics sub-Reddit. Or just don't visit the site.

katz 18y ago
The problem is that most stories about atheism is not posted in the atheism subreddit. Most of those stories spill over into worldnews or math or science. Stuff about conservative american commentators gets labelled 'funny'. "Or just don't visit the site." That was the solution yes. YCnews is fairly tame and people are well mannered.
endtime 18y ago
Unfortunately, people don't always use subreddits. People always think their pet issues belong in general, or perhaps worldnews. And it's not just political stories that are the problem with reddit. It's the fanatic tone that many users take in the comments of stories that really shouldn't be polarizing.

unalone 18y ago

There's a fundamental difference: a slim group of Digg users push everything. On Reddit, the circlejerk is encouraged by the users. I've been a user for 3 years (just deleted my second account and banned the URL yesterday), and people like those posts. I upvoted a few myself before I felt it got out of hand. A lot of people discover atheism and politics on Reddit, and it's wonderful for them because it's showing them new things. For everybody else it quickly becomes a problem. (It's a problem on HN too, to be fair: I've gotten into a few debates here with atheists who think religion is wholly awful, and their immediate reaction is often "if you don't hate all of religion, you're buying into a cult/a conspiracy".)

diN0bot 18y ago

there's reddit news outside proggit?! in seriousness, though, reddit's category system is broken because it lacks inheritance. people should be encouraged to provide the most specific leaf categories that apply when submitting articles. viewers may then customize as broadly or eclectically as they wish (ui can do the abstraction, whereas in the database every user has true/false on leaf nodes). auto-discovering categories might be useful. the fail point is still on ui, not performance, imho.

sho 18y ago

This is true of any large, established group. In the early days, anything goes, perhaps guided by moderation. However, after a certain critical mass is reached, a consensus emerges, supported by safety in numbers, and anyone opposed to that consensus is pushed out, while those in agreement are attracted. You can see this happen everywhere in all contexts and it's a well-studied phenomenon. Reddit has a pro-atheist bias, sure, and I for one am very comfortable with that. If you prefer a pro-religion atmosphere, there are plenty of sites catering to your tastes (Perhaps http://www.raptureready.com/ http://www.raptureready.com/). You could actually make a pretty good case that the reason HN remains a fairly neutral environment is that it has never been allowed to reach that critical mass. Hopefully, PG & co. maintain their strict moderation policy (or threat of it, which seems to be enough) and the narrow intended subject matter keep out the hegemonising swarm.

katz 18y ago
"Reddit has a pro-atheist bias, sure, and I for one am very comfortable with that." I am atheist/agnostic yet I don't feel comfortable with Reddit. This is because I am not obsessed over religion (or lack thereof) and I treat everyone with respect (i.e. I am not a foaming around the mouth atheist). Most atheists on reddit are extreme, annoying and post the same article and the same old comments over and over again. They are incapable of any rational thought - if you even dare to point out the good things that a religious group does you are downmodded and ridiculed (e.g. the catholic church's network of hospitals in 3rd world countries). It is the same with the GOP-bashing articles. I am not american and I do not support GWB – but they go to far with their bashing and I sincerely doubt of the sanity of most redditors.
- sho 18y ago
  Hm. I guess I haven't really noticed. I admit, I don't read the comments much. I was mainly speaking about the headlines, which is all I really use that site for. I confess I'm a little confused as to what an "extreme" atheist even is. I mean, a normal atheist believes that there is no God. How do you go past "does not exist"? Anyway I'd like to say one thing: pointing out others' ridiculous, harmful beliefs is good and necessary. Of course, it's most effective if done politely and constructively but anything is better than nothing. I'd probably be pretty extreme towards someone trying to claim something demonstrably, obviously wrong in pretty much any field you care to name. And they'd complain how I was "incapable" of seeing their ludicrous point of view, no doubt. I think I'm kind of a classical nerd when it comes to such things. If you assert something, you better be able to back it up. If you can't, I'll call you an idiot. No free pass because it's religion or because the Catholic Church did this or that. Anyway, not really trying to start an argument or anything. My point: Some things deserve ridicule. Reddit commenters, though, I never read them, sorry for erroneously implying otherwise.