Merus Posted June 12, 2015 From what I remember, r/news got taken off the default subreddit list when it became clear the mods would bury stories they didn't like. That's also glossing over a core problem with the platform: any subreddit that gets popular enough inevitably (and I do mean inevitably) gets overwhelmed with low-effort posts, like pictures, memes and suchlike. If you look at r/gaming, you'll see what I mean - very little in terms of gaming news, heavy on the 'look, it's a video game' pictures. It's a weakness of the reddit platform, that it democratises what a subreddit's purpose is, but has no way of differentiating between people who have a strong investment in the community and people who don't. The community cannot keep focus as it grows, unless it ruthlessly excludes. You don't even have to look at 'the wrong people are moderating this subreddit' to see where Reddit fails. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Merus Posted June 12, 2015 I specifically think of 4chan because there are definitely okay boards or threads on there that are okay, but it's not worth it for the overwhelming amount of shit on the rest of the site. Honestly, I can see the comparison - 4chan has the same problem as reddit, in that the software doesn't allow committed members of the community any control over the purpose of that community. It's a little different in that 4chan boards, because they have no defences against attack or subversion (because anyone can post), tend to drift into toxicity, while reddit mods can easily get rid of that kind of thing, but they've got the same problem that once the subversion attempt is a success, the people who really liked it back when it was functioning well have no way to wrench it back on course, and have to abandon it to the trolls. Also, 4chan is adamant that they're not reddit, which is a clear sign that they're a lot like reddit and trying to use defining differences to bury that fact. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vainamoinen Posted June 12, 2015 Yeah... fuck reddit, but praise the mods that at least give some kind of shit about organized harrassment. http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/mcy7l/today_i_received_nonstop_phone_calls_and_emails/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vorlonesque Posted June 12, 2015 Reddit is weird for me because I for a long time it was this thing that people sort of talked about and I ignored but had an idea of what it was like (like Facebook or Twitter). Its still something that I only barely interact with and have a sort of fuzzy idea of. Even given all that just in little sort of subreddit islands that aren't as much a part of capital 'R' reddit in my mind you occasionally see some bleed over of assholes I think. Its hard to tell for sure because there are assholes that pop up almost everywhere (I think this is one of the few places I've not seen a lot of that on to its credit)...but I do see a particular brand of asshole on reddit in particular and I think the upvote/downvote thing makes it worse. I think the first thing that really cemented Reddit in my mind as a thing was an incident where a couple guys were going to sites like shacknews and stealing people's fucking personal stories about their kids or their dead relatives or whatever and then posting them as their own for upvotes. There was one guy who did it constantly and it was both fucked up and also funny in this surreal creepy sort of way that there was this guy who was a personal experience vampire or something who got his upvotes or whatever from sucking up people's stories elsewhere on the internet. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Deadpan Posted June 13, 2015 Never been fond of it. Reddit's shtick about being this completely democratic platform where the best stuff will naturally float to the top is the usual lie of meritocracy that people who simply happen to be ignorant of the challenges others face in this environment tell themselves. Even outside of its openly hateful subreddits, there's a certain assholeness embedded in the culture of the site, like it would be in any big site that prizes "free speech" over stringent moderation. Like with 4chan, anybody can post there in theory, but in practice only a very small group of people will actually end up sticking around for long in a place like this. This limits the material that ends up on the site something fierce (given how its anti-spam rules dictate you must be active there to be allowed to occasionally point something new out to the group), not to mention how it skews what views end up being prevalent. All of which I'd find slightly less terrible if not for the airs of superiority. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Apple Cider Posted June 13, 2015 Oh yeah, people routinely steal content for upvotes. It's such a mind-boggling thing. People do this on Tumblr too, for reblogs. I'm sure there's some level of monetization somewhere but most of it is really stealing other people's artwork and stories and content for...popularity? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vainamoinen Posted June 13, 2015 Something like it, maybe. Good analogy here. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Problem Machine Posted June 13, 2015 Blehhhhh, I dislike the implication that as adults we're no longer supposed to give any fucks what anyone thinks of us, that we're never supposed to want encouragement or adulation. A better perspective might be to observe that the need for acknowledgement and encouragement isn't being met in many people's day to day lives, and that pushes them towards an empty and distant version of the same. Just dismissing it as kid shit is socially deaf and vaguely cruel. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vainamoinen Posted June 14, 2015 I specifically think of 4chan because there are definitely okay boards or threads on there that are okay, but it's not worth it for the overwhelming amount of shit on the rest of the site. From the people who brought you #freebleeding ... comes a new and exciting trending hashtag, which is obviously entirely gamergate related... #WrongSkin. Courtesy also of Milo Yiannopoulos, Mark Kern and Mike Cernovich. One of these days, gamergate supporters should wake the fuck up. Blehhhhh, I dislike the implication that as adults we're no longer supposed to give any fucks what anyone thinks of us, that we're never supposed to want encouragement or adulation. A better perspective might be to observe that the need for acknowledgement and encouragement isn't being met in many people's day to day lives, and that pushes them towards an empty and distant version of the same. Just dismissing it as kid shit is socially deaf and vaguely cruel. Fair enough! However, Marc Maron's text here is combined with Gavin Aung Than's pictures, which characterise social media less as "kid shit" and more as a drug. And that's what we're seeing, that's what I wanted to demonstrate: An addiction to, on the whole, meaningless expressions of appreciation through 'likes'. And I'm still much on the fence whether I'd even want to regard these kinds of achievement type instant gratification systems as "acknowlegement and encouragement". A ten word comment should still mean a million more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Problem Machine Posted June 14, 2015 It's obviously a super hollow form of acknowledgement, but I think that's the yearning it feeds. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BadHat Posted June 14, 2015 Something like it, maybe. Good analogy here. LOL, that was by Marc Maron? Dude is infamous for being one of the most bitter, petty, self-absorbed stand-ups in the business and he's lecturing people on emotional immaturity and needing constant recognition? Okay. (I don't actually dislike Marc, I used to listen to his podcast semi-frequently, just found this a little rich.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Christopher Posted June 17, 2015 LOL, that was by Marc Maron? Dude is infamous for being one of the most bitter, petty, self-absorbed stand-ups in the business and he's lecturing people on emotional immaturity and needing constant recognition? Okay. (I don't actually dislike Marc, I used to listen to his podcast semi-frequently, just found this a little rich.) I'm not sure I agree with this reading of the Maron piece. (Setting aside the fan comic drawing it, which does come across to me as a bit too didactic.) The piece, specifically, is not lecturing people on their emotional immaturity as if he himself is not emotionally immature. It's precisely the opposite: he is talking about his own emotional immaturity and need for recognition. He is exposing his own human weakness to the audience both to provoke laughter and also greater insight into the way that we all might have a similar experience. And that, in general, is one of the important functions of standup comedy in the style Maron performs. His work is deeply personal, not criticizing society as if here were an objective observer not facing the same problems. So, it's absolutely not "rich," as if you are realizing hypocrisy he does not see. How this overlaps with his own personality is explicitly central to how the piece functions, not something he is unaware of. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Merus Posted June 17, 2015 Yeah, uh, Zen Pencils is infamous for recontextualising quotes to strip any character out of them. Take this one from Ayn Rand, turning one of the 20th Century's most divisive figures into a kid trying to get cookies. He's also got that inspiration guru thing going on where any critic is reframed as being a hater, so he's been doing this for years, never growing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BadHat Posted June 17, 2015 Yeah, that was a pretty harsh read in retrospect. I'd just seen or read some stuff about Marc recently that probably coloured my view of what he had to say. Generally he's pretty self-aware and contrite about this stuff so I should've known better. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tegan Posted June 17, 2015 Yeah, uh, Zen Pencils is infamous for recontextualising quotes to strip any character out of them. Take this one from Ayn Rand, turning one of the 20th Century's most divisive figures into a kid trying to get cookies. He's also got that inspiration guru thing going on where any critic is reframed as being a hater, so he's been doing this for years, never growing. Remember the time he portrayed Hayao Miyazaki, a pacifist who has been extremely critical of the anime industry on all points, piloting a giant robot to beat up "haters"? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vainamoinen Posted June 17, 2015 Castle in the Sky had robots. Not giant, but still. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rilen Posted June 17, 2015 Castle in the Sky had robots. Not giant, but still. This line was my favorite time I looked at your portrait and pictured it coming out of the wizard's mouth. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gormongous Posted June 17, 2015 Remember the time he portrayed Hayao Miyazaki, a pacifist who has been extremely critical of the anime industry on all points, piloting a giant robot to beat up "haters"? Jesus, that comic couldn't have less awareness of who Miyazaki is or what his works are about. It would make more sense for him to have Miyazaki resurrecting the God Warrior from Nausicaä in order to exterminate the "blight" of critical scrutiny, because those people are totally the protagonists of that movie. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vainamoinen Posted June 18, 2015 Meanwhile, in gamergate... http://www.polygon.com/e3-2015/2015/6/18/8806411/anti-feminist-frequency-pamphlets-appear-on-poles-around-e3-convention Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Henroid Posted June 18, 2015 Meanwhile, in gamergate... http://www.polygon.com/e3-2015/2015/6/18/8806411/anti-feminist-frequency-pamphlets-appear-on-poles-around-e3-convention So that's what Mark Kern has been up to lately! (This is a joke!) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Problem Machine Posted June 18, 2015 What makes me really sad about stuff like this, the flyers, the endless shitty sargon of akkad videos that somehow get into my recommendations, etc, is that now I have a negative association built up with Anita Sarkeesian's face since it's so often used for their asshole propaganda. It disgusts me that they've succeeded even in that minimal way to get into my head. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Merus Posted June 19, 2015 On YouTube's front page, there's an option beside each video to tell it to stop recommending this shit to you. It works, eventually. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Problem Machine Posted June 19, 2015 It hasn't yet, and I play asshole whack-a-mole every time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ninety-Three Posted June 19, 2015 Am I the only one who's amused by seeing those videos? I don't watch them (good god no), but I always get a giggle from the absurdity of video titles like "Anita Sarkeesian vs Marilyn Manson" or "Feminism vs FACTS (Anita Sarkeesian DESTROYED!)" So much of that stuff is indistinguishable from a parody The Onion would write. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Problem Machine Posted June 19, 2015 Yeah it's dumb and kind of funny, but it bothers me, not least because I find it super gross that youtube thinks I want to see that shit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
