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Still not nearly as bad as Reddit. Subreddits have value, but look at the front page of Reddit. Zero value. On any given day, of any week, month, or year. Reddi

Still not nearly as bad as Reddit. Subreddits have value, but look at the front page of Reddit. Zero value. On any given day, of any week, month, or year. Reddit's front page is 100% wasted time. I demonstrate this by asking to myself: Ten years from now what will Reddit's front page look like? Answer: The exact nonsense memes and image macros posted today.

minimaxir 13y ago
This is mostly because Reddit's choice of default subreddits are poor (and cater to the lowest common denominator): http://i.imgur.com/9FLPgsW.png http://i.imgur.com/9FLPgsW.png You have manually curate the subreddits you want, unfortunately.
- philh 13y ago
  > This is mostly because Reddit's choice of default subreddits are poor Presumably this isn't entirely a choice: I would expect a good subreddit to get worse if it was made default. (And I've heard that /r/atheism got better when it was made undefault, but I haven't actually looked.)
  - mitchty 13y ago
    Thing is, those default subreddits were actually good before Reddit got too mainstream. What we're seeing right now is the after effects of popularity.
    - kenbellows 13y ago
      Ah, the Catch 22 of popular discussion based websites. You want to be popular, but you want to remain high in quality. It's shockingly difficult to do both.
      - mitchty 13y ago
        Yep, /r/science is about the only default that is ok. And if you've seen a climate change discussion there, you'll realize how painful it is to keep discussion on topic on reddit. I remember going to reddit and thinking, damn these comments are loads better than slashdot. I don't think I can contribute anything interesting, these people are sharp so I won't post at all. Might have just been me but there is a marked difference in tone on the site.
- Segmentation 13y ago
  Specifically, I think AdviceAnimals and Gaming are the most toxic defaults plaguing the front page. Reddit would have a substantially more intelligent front page if it got rid of those defaults. I would almost suggest replacing /r/gaming with /r/games, which is a 100x more intelligent subreddit with actual discussion (due to proper moderating and disabling of thumbnails), but I would hate to see that subreddit become toxic because of front-page publicity. It really depends on how dedicated its moderators are up for the task.
slig 13y ago
The reddit front page is a time waster, much like watching TV or messing with FB - there's no doubt about that. On HN one can fool himself think that he's getting value, but that isn't always the case.
Mikeb85 13y ago
The frontpage of reddit is what you make it. Get rid of the crap, subscribe to subreddits you actually like, and you're good to go. There are some decent subreddits...
skwirl 13y ago
I completely agree. I replaced (a good chunk of) my reddit browsing with HN browsing. I may burn excessive time here, but I feel like I'm at least learning/gaining something while I'm here. And the commenters here are actually intelligent and the top replies are generally decent and not "witty" one-liners. But I don't work in the startup world. I don't get the stress of second guessing everything I do because in the same week opinions on all sides of an issue germane to startups have been heavily upvoted at different times. So perhaps that is key.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
ebiester 13y ago
Sometimes, but other times /r/aww is exactly what I need to reset my frustration button on a problem.
Houshalter 13y ago
I don't think anyone has claimed reddit, or at least the default reddits, are a productive way to spend your time. All the default subreddits are pretty much just for entertainment.
edgarallenbro 13y ago
To me, watching Reddit grow has been an interesting perspective on how population size affects democracy. 4-5 years ago, you would more often see long articles or self posts where someone would make a case for something on a topic. People would read the whole thing, try and understand the issue, and talk about it. As reddit has grown, thoughtful posts have been replaced by one liners and memes. The front page is mostly just a dumping ground for whatever is viral at the moment. I think this, interestingly, mirrors what happened to democracy in the United States. The democracy that the founding fathers imagined was one run mostly by the educated few, with everyone else also having the ability to voice their concerns. What its turned into now is a chaotic mess of talking points and rhetoric, with two factions on opposite sides just screaming the same things at each other. I think its because the more people you get involved in decision making, the simpler you have to make the case for each potential choice in order for the most people to be able to understand it. People will choose an inferior choice that they can understand over a superior one that they can't. And the problem then is that oftentimes the most important things are the things that are hardest to understand.

minimaxir 13y ago

This is mostly because Reddit's choice of default subreddits are poor (and cater to the lowest common denominator): http://i.imgur.com/9FLPgsW.png http://i.imgur.com/9FLPgsW.png You have manually curate the subreddits you want, unfortunately.

philh 13y ago
> This is mostly because Reddit's choice of default subreddits are poor Presumably this isn't entirely a choice: I would expect a good subreddit to get worse if it was made default. (And I've heard that /r/atheism got better when it was made undefault, but I haven't actually looked.)
- mitchty 13y ago
  Thing is, those default subreddits were actually good before Reddit got too mainstream. What we're seeing right now is the after effects of popularity.
  - kenbellows 13y ago
    Ah, the Catch 22 of popular discussion based websites. You want to be popular, but you want to remain high in quality. It's shockingly difficult to do both.
    - mitchty 13y ago
      Yep, /r/science is about the only default that is ok. And if you've seen a climate change discussion there, you'll realize how painful it is to keep discussion on topic on reddit. I remember going to reddit and thinking, damn these comments are loads better than slashdot. I don't think I can contribute anything interesting, these people are sharp so I won't post at all. Might have just been me but there is a marked difference in tone on the site.
Segmentation 13y ago
Specifically, I think AdviceAnimals and Gaming are the most toxic defaults plaguing the front page. Reddit would have a substantially more intelligent front page if it got rid of those defaults. I would almost suggest replacing /r/gaming with /r/games, which is a 100x more intelligent subreddit with actual discussion (due to proper moderating and disabling of thumbnails), but I would hate to see that subreddit become toxic because of front-page publicity. It really depends on how dedicated its moderators are up for the task.

slig 13y ago

The reddit front page is a time waster, much like watching TV or messing with FB - there's no doubt about that. On HN one can fool himself think that he's getting value, but that isn't always the case.

Mikeb85 13y ago

The frontpage of reddit is what you make it. Get rid of the crap, subscribe to subreddits you actually like, and you're good to go. There are some decent subreddits...

skwirl 13y ago

I completely agree. I replaced (a good chunk of) my reddit browsing with HN browsing. I may burn excessive time here, but I feel like I'm at least learning/gaining something while I'm here. And the commenters here are actually intelligent and the top replies are generally decent and not "witty" one-liners. But I don't work in the startup world. I don't get the stress of second guessing everything I do because in the same week opinions on all sides of an issue germane to startups have been heavily upvoted at different times. So perhaps that is key.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

ebiester 13y ago

Sometimes, but other times /r/aww is exactly what I need to reset my frustration button on a problem.

Houshalter 13y ago

I don't think anyone has claimed reddit, or at least the default reddits, are a productive way to spend your time. All the default subreddits are pretty much just for entertainment.

edgarallenbro 13y ago

To me, watching Reddit grow has been an interesting perspective on how population size affects democracy. 4-5 years ago, you would more often see long articles or self posts where someone would make a case for something on a topic. People would read the whole thing, try and understand the issue, and talk about it. As reddit has grown, thoughtful posts have been replaced by one liners and memes. The front page is mostly just a dumping ground for whatever is viral at the moment. I think this, interestingly, mirrors what happened to democracy in the United States. The democracy that the founding fathers imagined was one run mostly by the educated few, with everyone else also having the ability to voice their concerns. What its turned into now is a chaotic mess of talking points and rhetoric, with two factions on opposite sides just screaming the same things at each other. I think its because the more people you get involved in decision making, the simpler you have to make the case for each potential choice in order for the most people to be able to understand it. People will choose an inferior choice that they can understand over a superior one that they can't. And the problem then is that oftentimes the most important things are the things that are hardest to understand.