Reddit openly allows bad-actors and AI/bots to post on the platform masquerading as people on a platform that was mostly real people.
Ok, I find that hard to believe but then again... Reddit is
so much bigger that the small part that I'm partcipating in; I simply don't know.
Thus let's say for the sake of argument that this is true.
So what?
You can't tell who's:
- A real person
- A person with bad-intent
- A person financially motivated to push countering views
- Someone's secondary account used for the last 2
- A bot part a farm
- Any of the above with state/country actors and their missions
I'm really failing to see the big problem here to be honest. I can do you one better: YouTube? SO many videos that narrate stories yet you can cleary
hear that it's all artificial. It's not as if Reddit is alone on this.
And it's everywhere. For example... right now I also can't tell if you actually typed all this out yourself, or merely copy/pasted the whole thing. But the same applies: so what?
Not to mention: what's wrong with holding people accountable for their own (inter)actions? I mean, no offense, but to me this is the same kind of complaint that some platforms allow "trolling" even though we all know that trolls usually balance on the thin lines of the rules.
But then I once again wonder: so what? Trolls can be a problem, sure enough (!), but
only because some people can't resist feeding them. Which then often leads to the kind of discussions you see on Steam: "
Why was I banned, I was only calling out the trolls!" (not a literal quote). Yah, who would have known that 2 wrongs don't make a right? I'd say anyone with a brain and enough common sense to realize that unless you're a moderator it's not your place to call out people on "the rules", let alone on doing "the wrong thing". Context applies of course, but calling out people for trolling is often just as bad as the trolls themselves.
I'd say the same applies to these issues. Whatever happened to just ignoring the garbage which you don't like instead of trying to call people out on it? Seems like a virtue some people can't seem to handle for some reason; and I don't get it.
And you can't tell who or what votes posts.
So what? That also makes sure people can't harass others over up/down -voting them, or those they don't like.
Video game subreddits are an easy downvote within 5 minutes of anything posted,
lol... my experiences are
quite,
quite different. (<= that's 2 different gaming subreddits btw). Even kinda "silly" questions are often still met with positivity
like this one. I mean... where do you live in Skyrim? I can easily understand that some people think that's a stupid question (and my insights showed as much) but even so: I mostly got positive feedback.
Couldn't it be that this has more to do with the kind of stuff that got posted on those subreddits?
I mean.... you're clearly showcasing a severe misunderstanding of Reddit here. Each sub-reddit is its own community with its own rules, habbits, do's and don't. It's
not "a collection of videogame subreddits" and if you treat it as such... then yes, I can understand that you won't have a fun experience.
And also... it's simply true that sometimes reputation matters.
This post of mine was originally rejected, partly because of the specific contents, but after manual verification of both the post
and the poster (me!
) it eventually got accepted.
Still, in the end it's all about learning the ways of the subreddit. I made posts in... say... r/EliteDangerous which I'd never do like that in others like... maybe r/Skyrim.
But if you ignore all that and treat
all of them the same as "videogame channels"... that's not gonna work out.
Yet that has nothing to do with Reddit as a whole but more so about the way those sub-reddits operate. Not to mention the way they got treated.
and if enough "things" downvote, fresh accounts are shadowbanned (no notice; your profile goes invisible from /u/ and Reddit lets you post like nothing happened but nothing ever goes public;
With all due respect... it's kinda easy to blame "bots" for downvotes, though I won't deny that that there's definitely a group mentality in place at times.
But "
where two people fight...". Downvotes often happen within heated discussions, especially if you go against the general vibe of a channel. Which is why plenty of newbie channels (
cough,
r/NewToReddit, cough!) will
strongly advice you to stay out of those. Especially if you're still new to the platform.
Yet shouldn't that also be kinda common sense? I mean... if I'm new somewhere then I don't go out boasting and venting as if I own the place and know better than the others. And if you, as a newbie, start spouting strong opinions then yah, some people are going to call you out on those. And on Reddit that can manifest itself in votes. Both down
and up I might
say add.
I don't see the problem.
For the record... been on the platform for a few years already and I also had my share... gained 100 karma, moved into a heated discussion and the next moment I was back down to ... I dunno, 50 or 60. Lessson learned.
But the way I see it... downvoting is part of the process. I've also had my share of comments getting voted into oblivion... just like I had comments like
this one. If you want to talk about sometimes hostile channels then r/gtaonline can most definitely be one of those. Yet once again... if you follow the channel, if you pick up the main vibe... then it's not that hard to have some fun.
I've met wonderful people on Reddit who I even befriended ("internet friends", 2 of them are now also Steam friends), I've also had my downs
and ups on Reddit and overall... I'll take Reddit over any of that other "social" media stuff out there.
r/FreeBSD anyone?
Fun fact: I also got some downvotes on a few comments I made on the channel, even though I didn't say
anything wrong. But I'm not blaming bots, in fact.. I don't even blame the Redditor who downvoted me. Because I realize that I'm essentially
still an r/freebsd newbie, and I started out a bit (too?) strong. Just look at the all the other comments and you'll see what I mean. Also notice the lack of mass downvotes? We both had our pissing contest, now it's time to move on.
It's my impression that too many people just can't accept such facts and let their ego get in the way. Yah, then you'll have a bad time on places like Reddit.
)
Everyone ties so much emotion into their sway nowadays for stuff out of context or not relevant for most people; and those posters are motivated by something.
:
