I've got a pretty above average intellect but years of being raised by narcissists have crippled me socially beyond the point of really taking advantage of it. Everybody's fucked somehow. (The nice way to say this is that we all have our strengths.) :-)
Even more depressing is the number of people who don't seem to realize that this goes on (or are conditioned into believing that it's actually ridiculous to suggest that it might.)
Might be a little less depressing if you realize that it's treated that way because practically every fontpage post is claimed to be a shill, manipulation, or what have you. There's almost literally never a shred of evidence besides one guy pointing at it and going "SEE? SEE? IT'S SO OBVIOUS HOW CAN'T YOU SEE THIS SHEEPLE" in the same tone that reminds people of the sprinkler rainbow lady.
The only thing more common than Reddit being gamed or manipulated in some fashion, is people claiming it is, with no evidence whatsoever, and no theory that stands up to serious scrutiny.
Because, I mean, we all know how fantastically brilliant Reddit detectives are, after we caught the Boston bombers - hah hah hah good thing that Sunil Tripathi and Mike Mulugeta were caught, they'll never bomb again! Good thing nobody ever cleared the two actual bombers as definitely not being suspects or anything, almost exclusively because they looked white! No, god, that would be horribly embarrassing.
I agree with you, but I think the overreaction is due to the fact that it's a very difficult thing to quantify or counter. Astroturfing is indistinguishable from organic support for an idea or meme by design. Unless you find a smoking gun or a whistleblower, there's nothing to be done about it, realistically.
Where in the past you'd at least have to hire a few dozen bums to hold signs and chant in a demonstration to fake support for your cause, now all you need is some software, a few proxies, and a couple hours of your time (or money to hire people.)
So yeah, of course there's crazy, unfounded accusations flying around. Tragically that probably makes it even easier for someone to actually pull manipulation off. "What, I'm a shill? Well gosh Mr. reddit detective, I tip my fedora to you!" etc etc.
Whatever people think of reddit and the people on reddit, the fact is that it's got a readership that rivals most (all) major news agencies and people *do* use it as a primary news source. It's also perfectly feasible to game the shit out of it. It's essentially inevitable that someone is or will do just that.
It wouldn't be a problem if humans were all fiercely independent self thinkers, but we're not.
It was pretty interesting a year (or two) ago when reddit admins made a blog post about viewership statistics, and Elgin Air Force Base was crowned "reddit's most addicted city."
Digg was no different. Once people figured out how to game it the site became one big meta game played by a small number of members. Since Digg was built on a cult of personality (Kevin Rose) it was only natural that other personality cults would soon appear and use the site for their own purposes as well.
I am only surprised that it took reddit this long to suffer the same fate.
I'm still in college, living with 18-24 year olds. Nothing makes you feel older faster than distinctly remembering events from the year someone was born.
I'm on 10 years, and it's not really such a great job. Stable though. Sadly I have this work/life dichotomy going that seems to be unhealthy according to... pop psychology I guess. I'm definitely not doing what I love. I'm paying my bills and keeping myself and my children in health insurance so that the parts of my life that don't suck continue to go well...
I've got really good momentum on a novel for the first time in a long time, and a goal of finishing it in a year, but I know it's not going to end my day job unless lightning strikes.
People have always thought that I'm older than I am, my whole life. I've got a high hair line and grumpy disposition which probably help.
Although the 22-ish admin on our team told me that she thought I was much younger when I turned 37 last week, so there's that. I'd think she was just being complimentary but I haven't seen evidence of that anywhere else... :P
I started going grey at the temples a couple years back. Right around the time that my youngest was born and ended up in the NICU because of hospital incompetence...
People refuse to believe me when I tell them my forehead has been this high since I was like, 9. :-P
Also Rym, best way to not feel your peak decreasing is not actually ever hit it. I'll be able to run 5-10 miles at a reasonable pace for as long as my knees hold up probably :-p
I avoid shaving since I got fat. I've got a goal of losing 80 pounds by next July, which will probably make me look a great deal younger, the grey notwithstanding.
Yes, it does, but the way proposed by the NRA is completely insane.
A law that basically says, "if you want to own a gun, you need to pass courses on proper use and safety of a gun" makes perfect sense. If you personally have no interest in having a gun, then you don't have to take said courses. In that case, it doesn't matter, since you don't want to have a gun anyway.
The NRA's proposal compels everyone to own a gun, whether they want to or not, even to the point where the government will buy you guns and ammo if you can't afford them yourself. They also mandate that gun proficiency be a mandatory part of education and that someone who could be brilliant in every other academic field but for some reason can't hit the broad side of a barn with a gun basically be flunked out of school.
While the guns argument is silly and designed to be the extreme polar opposite of current views, I think something like this with driver training would do a lot of good. Cars kill more people than guns every year quite easily.
Yes, it does, but the way proposed by the NRA is completely insane.
A law that basically says, "if you want to own a gun, you need to pass courses on proper use and safety of a gun" makes perfect sense. If you personally have no interest in having a gun, then you don't have to take said courses. In that case, it doesn't matter, since you don't want to have a gun anyway.
The NRA's proposal compels everyone to own a gun, whether they want to or not, even to the point where the government will buy you guns and ammo if you can't afford them yourself. They also mandate that gun proficiency be a mandatory part of education and that someone who could be brilliant in every other academic field but for some reason can't hit the broad side of a barn with a gun basically be flunked out of school.
Is this an actual proposal? Because it seems rather a modest proposal to me.
It actually makes sense to require training for everyone. That way even people who illegally acquire guns will have the proper training.
Er, uh, wut?
In that case, I suggest we require everyone to have training in pharmacology. Therefore, even people who illegally operate meth labs will have the proper training.
Comments
The only thing more common than Reddit being gamed or manipulated in some fashion, is people claiming it is, with no evidence whatsoever, and no theory that stands up to serious scrutiny.
Because, I mean, we all know how fantastically brilliant Reddit detectives are, after we caught the Boston bombers - hah hah hah good thing that Sunil Tripathi and Mike Mulugeta were caught, they'll never bomb again! Good thing nobody ever cleared the two actual bombers as definitely not being suspects or anything, almost exclusively because they looked white! No, god, that would be horribly embarrassing.
Where in the past you'd at least have to hire a few dozen bums to hold signs and chant in a demonstration to fake support for your cause, now all you need is some software, a few proxies, and a couple hours of your time (or money to hire people.)
So yeah, of course there's crazy, unfounded accusations flying around. Tragically that probably makes it even easier for someone to actually pull manipulation off. "What, I'm a shill? Well gosh Mr. reddit detective, I tip my fedora to you!" etc etc.
Whatever people think of reddit and the people on reddit, the fact is that it's got a readership that rivals most (all) major news agencies and people *do* use it as a primary news source. It's also perfectly feasible to game the shit out of it. It's essentially inevitable that someone is or will do just that.
It wouldn't be a problem if humans were all fiercely independent self thinkers, but we're not.
http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090313274
I am only surprised that it took reddit this long to suffer the same fate.
I've got really good momentum on a novel for the first time in a long time, and a goal of finishing it in a year, but I know it's not going to end my day job unless lightning strikes.
Although the 22-ish admin on our team told me that she thought I was much younger when I turned 37 last week, so there's that. I'd think she was just being complimentary but I haven't seen evidence of that anywhere else... :P
People refuse to believe me when I tell them my forehead has been this high since I was like, 9. :-P
A law that basically says, "if you want to own a gun, you need to pass courses on proper use and safety of a gun" makes perfect sense. If you personally have no interest in having a gun, then you don't have to take said courses. In that case, it doesn't matter, since you don't want to have a gun anyway.
The NRA's proposal compels everyone to own a gun, whether they want to or not, even to the point where the government will buy you guns and ammo if you can't afford them yourself. They also mandate that gun proficiency be a mandatory part of education and that someone who could be brilliant in every other academic field but for some reason can't hit the broad side of a barn with a gun basically be flunked out of school.
In that case, I suggest we require everyone to have training in pharmacology. Therefore, even people who illegally operate meth labs will have the proper training.