[BitwiseFool]

As a moderator you have the power to control what people see - subscribers and visitors alike. To me, it's easy to see how moderators with an agenda can curate content to match their views. It also wouldn't surprise me if some moderators are compensated - under the radar - by influencers and marketers.

[txcwpalpha]

>It also wouldn't surprise me if some moderators are compensated - under the radar - by influencers and marketers.

In GallowBoob's case, he's admitted before that posting on reddit is his job. He used to work at Unilad, getting paid by his company to promote viral shit all over reddit. I think now he's moved on from Unilad but does the same stuff at other companies.

It's pretty egregious that reddit admins allow him free reign to use reddit as his own astroturfing platform. I say good riddance to him if he truly is "done", though I have my suspicions that it's just a ploy for him to make an alt and do the same stuff with it.

[Quekid5]

To add to that, he's been accused of deleting posts, then reposting the same links/content without attribution. If you're watching closely I imagine it's pretty easy to see if a post is starting to gain a little traction and just... do that.

He's also been accused of lots of other shitty and possibly illegal behavior. I will say that evidence of this may be disturbingly easy to forge since it's all digital and everyone can use Ctrl+Shift+I in their browser. However, one redditor did mirror a nude which GallowBoob had allegedly posted to minors. I can personally attest that the photo itself definitely exists, but the circumstances around who it was sent to, etc. is... cloudy at the very best.

(Incidentally, I went to look at his profile to check up, but it turns I've blocked him ages ago. Good riddance.)

[charwalker]

Benefit of the doubt, I could see removing quality content by a PITA user and reposting to keep that content alive without feeding the user, but at that point the system seems broken enough to step back and re-access entirely.

[thejynxed]

He was caught red-handed doing it so he could get the karma. He was called out by the orignal poster who was not just the original poster, but the creator. He proceeded to ban that user and anyone who commented in support of that user.

I feel zero sympathy for gallowboob whatsoever.

[Quekid5]

You're far too generous. We're talking dog videos and such... and as adorable as dogs can be, there's not really any reason to keep that sort of content alive.

[commandlinefan]

When I first started on Reddit like 10 years ago, it leaned pretty libertarian (pro Ron Paul, pro free speech, etc.). I noticed over time that it leaned farther and farther left, and I wondered what had happened to all the previous users. Then there came a conspiracy theory that a handful of users had gamed the moderation system to take control of the tone of the site overall - especially the one that's the topic of TFA. There seems to be more and more evidence that the conspiracy theorists were right all along.

[dariusj18]

I think instead you would find that it has only become more partisan. Stratification of subs where people with opposing ideologies don't mix, and if they do they get hella down-voted.

[JoeSmithson]

I think they just got drowned out as it grew. Libertarianism is a very niche political position outside of the "opinionated hacker" crowd. I'd be very surprised if the actual gross metrics for /r/Libertarian have decreased rather than increased.

[mundo]

You don't need a conspiracy theory to explain why the majority won a vote.

[jboog]

I started on Reddit about a decade ago also.

Early reddit was a lot more like current HN. You're right you'd see more pro Ron Paul and libertarian stuff. Then the site went mainstream.

Users on the internet are more liberal than the general pop. Add that to the fact that Reddit up/downvote system does a terrible job of allowing unpopular/controversial views to reach the top.

Those same Ron Paul fans are all in r/conservative or r/The_donald, or other conservative subs now. There are way more now than there ever were.

You don't really need a conspiracy theory when the very nature of the site and the internet explain what happened really effectively.

[Mirioron]

>Those same Ron Paul fans are all in r/conservative or r/The_donald, or other conservative subs now. There are way more now than there ever were.

Is this true? I hold quite a few libertarian beliefs and those conservative subs don't seem any more inviting than their left wing counterparts. It's so much about partisanship that it's off-putting to me.

[camel_Snake]

The conservative subreddits have definitely experienced a tonal shift since Trump's candidacy. I would pop by occasionally for news/discussions and the change is extremely noticeable to even infrequent users like me.

Smaller political subs are probably your best bet. things like /r/moderatepolitics or /r/tuesday

[nl]

I think it's more like a bunch more people from different backgrounds joined the site.