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I'm just somewhat puzzled that twox is a default. It seems like a prime candidate not to be just due to these sorts of inevitable problems. Lots of people new t

by lambda 12y ago

I'm just somewhat puzzled that twox is a default. It seems like a prime candidate not to be just due to these sorts of inevitable problems. Lots of people new to discussion boards tend not to understand there may be different rules, sets of expected behavior, or the like on different sub-boards, so making something a default is likely to attract lots of people who are new and don't understand the rules. Once you couple that with the general population skewing fairly male, young, not necessarily good with social norms, and a strong pseudo-libertarian streak, it just doesn't seem like a good combination with a sub that's supposed to be by and for women. I'm curious why the mods decided to let it become a default.

fourstar 12y ago
Mods don't decide to make a subreddit a default, admins do.
- lambda 12y ago
  I was under the impression that the admins consulted with the mods before doing so, but I could be wrong; how the front page has worked has changed many times over the years, and I haven't been keeping very close track.
  - cookiecaper 12y ago
    I'm sure that the admins would remove any sub that asked from the default list.
  - fourstar 12y ago
    They send you a message, but at that point it's already been decided what they have chosen to be the defaults.
    - smikims 12y ago
      You can always opt out though. There's literally a check box you can change if you don't want it anymore. You don't uncheck that box without a lot of communication and deliberation generally, but it's there.
- Semaphor 12y ago
  That's not true, mods can opt out of becoming a default and at least in some cases the admins talk to the mods first anyway. edit: http://i.imgur.com/IbiMa8g.png http://i.imgur.com/IbiMa8g.png
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - arfliw 12y ago
    That they can opt out does not mean they can opt in.
  - tobylane 12y ago
    That image related to posts from that subreddit being seen in /r/all. Automoderater puts /r/all flair on such posts in certain subreddits.
    - Semaphor 12y ago
      The highlighted part is only 15 words. Why stop reading after 7?
  - doginabathtub 12y ago
    This is true. I am a moderator for /r/mildlyinteresting and two weeks before we became a default, we were asked if we wanted to opt-out. It was hotly-debated between the moderators for about a week and any one of us could have answered the admin, but we put it to a vote and ended up becoming a default.
- gergles 12y ago
  Mods can opt out of being in /r/all (and from being a default with the same checkbox.)
- Gracana 12y ago
  The mods were absolutely involved in the decision to make the subreddit a default. Unfortunately, moderators are not elected and they cannot be usurped. They have no obligations to their subscribers, and indeed in this case they made the decision behind closed doors.
  - zmmmmm 12y ago
    > Unfortunately, moderators are not elected and they cannot be usurped. They have no obligations to their subscribers, This is one of the big weaknesses of Reddit right now. As far as I can tell, who gets to moderate powerful subreddits comes down the the accident of history of who happened to think of it first. Several of the subreddits I frequent have had moderators slam down rules that most of the community disagree with (just for example /r/Android has a rule that you cannot post "questions", it is only for "news about Android" ...). This leads to a high variability in the quality of the moderation and curation of various subreddits. I'm not sure what the best alternative idea woudl be, but something better than "whoever thought of it first" should be possible.
  - dangayle 12y ago
    The other end of the spectrum is the Stack Overflow method, which ends up with the most uptight and pedantic users ending up with all the control, who use their power to rain havoc upon those who might otherwise have been much better moderators. With Reddit, you at least have a chance of having a semi-decent group of moderators who can care for and foster their community without it turning into an anal retentive hell.
VLM 12y ago
"I'm curious why the mods decided to let it become a default." Seeing as reddit is just usenet of the 80s and early 90s on a web page in 2014, both in application, discussion topics, and more or less in culture, one lesson from usenet readers of the dark ages was there are or should be no default groups. I don't remember any default usenet groups in nn, tin, gnus... The same social pressures that lead to no defaults then, most likely apply now, even if the tech is slightly different. "a sub that's supposed to be by and for women." I lurked there and read a lot. Interesting to see their opinions vs mine. Eventually it got boring. Encouraging half or more of the new user population to lurk before posting was another usenet thing. So looking at it that way, it might be a good idea to force noobs to read, at least till they learn how to remove a default subreddit. So I've presented two arguments, one for and one against. I think the argument against is slightly stronger although I could appreciate a good alternative interpretation.
- Tomte 12y ago
  > I don't remember any default usenet groups in nn, tin, gnus The news protocol specifically included a recommendation mechanism for "default subscribed groups", so that a news administrator could point new users to some important groups. In Gnus that behaviour is triggered by the variable gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups. I'm certain that nn, tin and whatnot supported it, as well.

by lambda 12y ago

fourstar 12y ago

Mods don't decide to make a subreddit a default, admins do.

lambda 12y ago
I was under the impression that the admins consulted with the mods before doing so, but I could be wrong; how the front page has worked has changed many times over the years, and I haven't been keeping very close track.
- cookiecaper 12y ago
  I'm sure that the admins would remove any sub that asked from the default list.
- fourstar 12y ago
  They send you a message, but at that point it's already been decided what they have chosen to be the defaults.
  - smikims 12y ago
    You can always opt out though. There's literally a check box you can change if you don't want it anymore. You don't uncheck that box without a lot of communication and deliberation generally, but it's there.
Semaphor 12y ago
That's not true, mods can opt out of becoming a default and at least in some cases the admins talk to the mods first anyway. edit: http://i.imgur.com/IbiMa8g.png http://i.imgur.com/IbiMa8g.png
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- arfliw 12y ago
  That they can opt out does not mean they can opt in.
- tobylane 12y ago
  That image related to posts from that subreddit being seen in /r/all. Automoderater puts /r/all flair on such posts in certain subreddits.
  - Semaphor 12y ago
    The highlighted part is only 15 words. Why stop reading after 7?
- doginabathtub 12y ago
  This is true. I am a moderator for /r/mildlyinteresting and two weeks before we became a default, we were asked if we wanted to opt-out. It was hotly-debated between the moderators for about a week and any one of us could have answered the admin, but we put it to a vote and ended up becoming a default.
gergles 12y ago
Mods can opt out of being in /r/all (and from being a default with the same checkbox.)
Gracana 12y ago
The mods were absolutely involved in the decision to make the subreddit a default. Unfortunately, moderators are not elected and they cannot be usurped. They have no obligations to their subscribers, and indeed in this case they made the decision behind closed doors.
- zmmmmm 12y ago
  > Unfortunately, moderators are not elected and they cannot be usurped. They have no obligations to their subscribers, This is one of the big weaknesses of Reddit right now. As far as I can tell, who gets to moderate powerful subreddits comes down the the accident of history of who happened to think of it first. Several of the subreddits I frequent have had moderators slam down rules that most of the community disagree with (just for example /r/Android has a rule that you cannot post "questions", it is only for "news about Android" ...). This leads to a high variability in the quality of the moderation and curation of various subreddits. I'm not sure what the best alternative idea woudl be, but something better than "whoever thought of it first" should be possible.
- dangayle 12y ago
  The other end of the spectrum is the Stack Overflow method, which ends up with the most uptight and pedantic users ending up with all the control, who use their power to rain havoc upon those who might otherwise have been much better moderators. With Reddit, you at least have a chance of having a semi-decent group of moderators who can care for and foster their community without it turning into an anal retentive hell.

VLM 12y ago

"I'm curious why the mods decided to let it become a default." Seeing as reddit is just usenet of the 80s and early 90s on a web page in 2014, both in application, discussion topics, and more or less in culture, one lesson from usenet readers of the dark ages was there are or should be no default groups. I don't remember any default usenet groups in nn, tin, gnus... The same social pressures that lead to no defaults then, most likely apply now, even if the tech is slightly different. "a sub that's supposed to be by and for women." I lurked there and read a lot. Interesting to see their opinions vs mine. Eventually it got boring. Encouraging half or more of the new user population to lurk before posting was another usenet thing. So looking at it that way, it might be a good idea to force noobs to read, at least till they learn how to remove a default subreddit. So I've presented two arguments, one for and one against. I think the argument against is slightly stronger although I could appreciate a good alternative interpretation.

Tomte 12y ago
> I don't remember any default usenet groups in nn, tin, gnus The news protocol specifically included a recommendation mechanism for "default subscribed groups", so that a news administrator could point new users to some important groups. In Gnus that behaviour is triggered by the variable gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups. I'm certain that nn, tin and whatnot supported it, as well.