[trts]

it's a fairly common and incredible experience for me to see people on reddit assert the most inane drivel that collect hundreds or thousands of upvotes and enthusiastic agreement.

It makes me feel some combination of

1. Reddit is flooded with bots or brigades that seem to have cryptic agendas

2. My own reality is really far afield and the internet is bursting that bubble OR

3. The present young adult generation exists in a seriously orthogonal reality and absolutely sweeping societal changes are on the horizon (as may already be becoming evident)

I still find a lot of pleasant discourse on the smaller subreddits. But it's an absolute shock to visit some of the larger communities sometimes.

[TheNewsIsHere]

I think #3 is closest to the mark, but I don’t think it’s caged to young adults.

For example, if you were to look anywhere on Reddit and found yourself in a thread that just barely, tangentially, almost-not-in-this-plane-of-reality touches on something related to law, a hundred people will show up to give you all sorts of the most inane and dangerous legal advice.

Granted, for something like legal advice you: 1) shouldn’t go Reddit; and 2) should search for an attorney. That said, there are (were?) some places on Reddit where you could find advice or discussion attached to the reality shared by the rest of us. But that isn’t the current draw of the site to the masses.

I’m one of the people who (until this past week) used Reddit in a technical capacity.

That shouldn’t be taken as “I get my solutions from Reddit.” Rather, I posted and consumed niche technical information for unusual problems. There were (are?) a boatload of smaller, vendor specific, etc subreddits that _did_ (do?) have smart people who collaborate or rubber ducky tricky issues.

Most of Reddit is not and was not that.

And as I type that, I realize I must apologize for sort of hijacking your reply with a response to the parent comment. I’ll leave this and have prepended a direct response to the points you raise and added a reasonable segue.

[samtho]

> Granted, for something like legal advice you: 1) shouldn’t go Reddit; and 2) should search for an attorney.

Counterpoint, not everyone has access to an attorney, a mechanic, a doctor (sadly), tradesperson, or any number of expensive professionals when someone just needs to know if they can ignore something, can fix it themself, or if they should seek out professional advice. These communities can be of great help to people who just need to guided to the next step.

[TheNewsIsHere]

Wholeheartedly agreed.

[castlecrasher2]

I also avoid the larger communities. The value in reddit is having a number of doors to open and shut at will. Can I find a better place for discussion in a specific forum? Probably, but reddit is great for being able to visit and consult with many different groups.

[smackeyacky]

This is the crux of the problem and why free moderation doesn't scale. Communities simply can't exceed a particular size without attracting chuds, and smaller communities self regulate because "being a member" of something useful is valuable.

Online discussions communities since Usenet always suffer the same problem. They become useful, attract too many users of the wrong kind and die. Reddit will be no exception.

[soundsgoodtome]

4. Most people are idiots.

The older I get, the more I go with #4

[ttctciyf]

> assert the most inane drivel

Thank goodness that never happens here!

[hotpotamus]

Number 3 just seems like a fancy way of saying that you're getting older. Not that I disagree; I'm also getting older.

[throwaway22032]

The Reddit algorithm of upvotes and downvotes means that, if >51% of voters agree with something, it's visible. If <49% do, it's at the bottom of the page or hidden.

This makes basically anything even remotely controversial within the specific demographic of the site invisible to reddit users.

[andybak]

I’m 52 and frequent a mix of large and small subreddits.

Can you elaborate?