The amount users allows niche subs to flourish. In this way it can be a goto for information or discussion.
Example, yesterday I instantly found a stream to watch the Dayton 500.
Want to talk about your city, profession, hobby, or sports team? There is a sub for that. The user base here is just too small to facilitate that.
/r/buildapcsales is a great tool.
The fact is, most of their user base WANTS the censorship they provide.
I hate reddit but if there is information I want, and know I can find there, I'll visit.
How do you know that most of the user base supports censorship when anyone who speaks up against it is banned and their comments deleted? I think there's a vocal something (minority, majority, unsure) that likes censorship as long as it's not happening to them. I think their posts that suck off the power tripping mods remain on the site.
It is like protesting/rioting without the approval of the rulers. If you protest you might end up in jail with property seized, that is quite a deterrent.
Good point. We really have no way of knowing how many of us their are, other than just antidotal evidence from daily life. So many people don’t want to shake the boat and maybe just repeat the script that hate is bad. It takes a true enlightenment to see hate is just a defense against the statically true behavior for a bell curve of people. I think it is not easy to reach this enlightenment these days and many would choose to just outright look away versus rocking the boat. Sadly with free speech come things that rock the boat and scare away vast swathes of people.
I was going to say something similar. The number of "unofficial support" subs for weird things are numerous, it's one of the best places to get ideas and information on oddball single-board computers, and even mainstream things like Arduino.
I will admit, even those can be toxic. However, if you're looking for pure information that isn't mainstream news, you simply can't beat Reddit.
Yep.
My friend has an arcade cabinet that he is in the process of converting to MAME. The person who was helping him apparently didn't know as much as he said, so I told him I'd help. I know for sure if I have questions about anything I'll be able to find the answers on Reddit faster than anywhere else.
I deleted my account almost 10 years ago. I still check around 4 subs regularly. But like you said, its purely for information. I obviously don't post or contribute anything but I get good info. The Modest Mouse sub was awesome during their last tour. Every night I could find posts with Isaac hanging out with fans after each show. You can't find that anywhere else.
I actually got about 100 bucks for my account back in 2016. For some reason people were paying for old accounts. I've since created a new account for lurking and sometimes I post if I have a question. It isn't like I want to be a part of that community or care about karma.
Same here. I have a read-only account that never posts, it's just used to track all the tech and SBC subs I want to view.
You just have to know where to look. Reddit is overrated.
Bro I rather use an old school forum. Redditors have only one way to display status, being a Google regurgitating robot. To reddit dwelling midwits, knowing stuff = status, you can tell they're midwits because they only accept Google approved sources and constantly use that as a form of argument.
Some of the shit they say is completely wrong and it gets upvoted. It's like getting financial advice on tik tok.
I rather deal with old school forums, less ego and people are more willing to help. God forbid the forum gets full of redditors, the quality drops like a neutron sledgehammer.
My understanding is most don't want the censorship, but put up with it like you do because they use the small communities.
most of their user base WANTS the censorship they provide
I came here (to this thread, that is) with a similar thought. There is something alluring about being in an authoritarian system - whether it's online forums (fora?), law enforcement/government, what have you. The prospect of one day being able to call the shots and impose my will is hard to ignore.
Recently was reading an article about how we all craft our online experience to a large degree. We are the kings of our domain in that sense. We determine who we interact with, what information we want to get, etc.
You and I have chosen at least one place where we'll get a different stream of info, but even here we have the ability to block users, subs, etc. (This is by no means a complaint about those site features, merely an observation)
So all that to say, reddit users want to be dominated.
Good point about the hobbies too. I jumped into wet shaving back in the day, with a lot of help from their "community." Will never go back to "canned goo", cartridge razors, or reddit.
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