(by wierd, I mean strange for reddit) Namely science uncensored and couples memes. Couples memes fell of really quickly, probably because most folks are single I suppose and had no stomach to see happy couples.
Then there is science uncensored, which sounds like a muskian “free speech” attempt.
Also am I ugly, and true rate me got popular really quickly.
I noticed this about a month ago, before the protests? I’m no internet historian so I may be off (also a stoner, so there is that), and I’m not combing through reddit to fact check myself so correct me if I’ve caught the stupid. I’ve been using reddit for about 4 or so years and I’ve never seen so many new subs get so popular in such a short amount of time.
- puts on tin foil hat *
Part of me feels like reddit is about to become a propaganda machine. Maybe the couples meme sub was an attempt at encouraging people to procreate. “Wow look at those happy couples I want that!”, was probably the intended effect.
Science uncensored speaks for itself, sure reddit was left leaning, but every once and a while an article would hit the front page that challenged the status quo of the left (my reference is a post about weed not being so amazing, see above comment about me not being an internet historian), so I don’t think there was a dire need for a science sub without “political censorship”.
True rate me and am I ugly are PG thirst traps. Lonely nerds love to comment on women, white night, degrade, its easy bait (my apologies if you’re a lonely nerd). All of the posts from these subs that hit the front page had attractive women, I never read the comments, I don’t need to read the comments. Maybe the comments were wonderful, but hey I was raised by the internet so I think I’m right here.
Anyways, before I take of my foil cap. I really think there is some weird corporate propagandizing going on. Between twitter and reddit, I think there is a concerted attempt to control information online.
Or maybe this is all an attempt to kill net neutrality, from the inside.
- takes off tin foil hat *
I never posted often on reddit because folks are mean there, or stupid, or both. I’m hoping for a different experience on lemmy.
I know my ideas are silly, but silly things make life fun.
Won’t you be silly with me darling?
I definitely saw a lot more of those. RateMe and AmIUgly especially! I thought it was so weird. I also didn’t think anyone else noticed. It seems like very tiktok-y sorts of subs to me.
I noticed that too! I moved here but checked back there while my app worked just to see once in a while.
Am I ugly and rate me are old subs that die off and bounce back once in a while when people realize they exist. That seemed pretty normal to me, trends like that come and go quickly.
That couples meme shit was an odd one. What kind of people are sitting around making loads of memes about boomerhumour couples? Who does that? Memes are almost always niche or inside jokes, not this. This is a marketing company going “we need a subreddit that focuses on happy millennial couples so we can slyly push products there” and coming up with something so…bland.
Yeah, /all has a bit of a snowball effect for mid size subs. It just takes one popular post to get people to start looking at that sub again and you’ll start seeing posts trend more frequently.
As soon as the protests started and subs went dark or changed formats, the myriad of subs I’ve never seen on popular ever started hitting the top consistently, and checking individual subs that reopened (forced or otherwise) had even shittier shit than what they would typically have, as well as a massive reduction in the average scores on posts.
The decline in quality could just be exasperated by the exodus, though. I mean, it was already in decline in that department all over the place, but it took a pretty sharp turn once people started leaving.
I didn’t notice anything particularly weird about the new subs, though. Just that they were crap.
Yeah it was a weird combination of whatever was leftover from the blackouts. Like yeah maybe 90% of your subs are offline but hey at least you still have /r/rayonsweatpants!
…but… but… I don’t have any rayon sweatpants! This is a tragedy, and I must go out and buy some immediately! [/s]
I’ll join the silliness. I also noticed a shift in the types of content reaching the front page during the lead-up to the blackout. Posts from subreddits that I haven’t seen before. The quality of posts and comments took a severe decline (even worse than usual). I kind of chalked it up to a decrease in active “power users” that post the large majority of highly upvoted content, and the regular users that would upvote said content. I think another possible explanation is that the admins were/are artificially boosting engagement numbers in preparation for their IPO.
Part of me feels like reddit is about to become a propaganda machine.
I’d argue that Reddit has been a propaganda machine long before you joined the site. Reddit has been slowly circling the drain for years now. The post and comment quality used to be so much better when it was still a relatively niche website. Bots, troll farms, and straight up propaganda accounts have been influencing the site more and more. Shit seemed to really start going downhill in 2015 and has only gotten worse. I haven’t looked recently, but it used to be easy to find websites that would buy your reddit account, almost certainly to be used for advertising and propaganda purposes.
Reddit used to feel organic and genuine. Real discussions with interesting points of view and information. Scrolling the front page in recent years has been disappointing and frightening. Obvious fake posts from subs like AITA and TIFU. Bots endlessly reposting content. Rage bait that could be a direct copy and paste from yesterday’s rage bait. Low quality memes that are transparently pushing an agenda, radicalizing idiots, and re-enforcing the status quo.
I think Cambridge Analytica really opened up Pandora’s box. The people that own us figured out how to keep us from ever escaping. They can directly influence what you think by controlling the content you consume. And with advancements in AI language models I only see it getting worse. Automated mind control of the masses brought to us by the fruits of our own labor. Reddit was built by the community, and now it’s been turned into one of the greatest propaganda tools you could imagine to control those very people.
Rage bait that could be a direct copy and paste from yesterday’s rage bait.
Also so many “meme” posts romanticizing depression and hopelessness, sometimes my r/all feed was full of these goddamned things, at least one or two per page. Like some bot farm pushing for a particular type of apathy and passive nihilism.
I don’t think it is completely safe to take that tinfoil hat off. Be careful with that.
i don’t know if reddit owners have a political agenda with reddit. But clearly Musk has with twitter, and it’s an absolutely insane far right agenda. Fitting for a Super rich son of an Emerald mine owner, apartheid white supremacist from South Africa. Completely disconnected from reality.
Just about the only good thing I can say about Steve Huffman is that he’s not (yet) as bad as Musk. But how long that lasts… I don’t know, lol, I’m glad I already left Reddit.
It felt like there was an overall shift on reddit. I had already seen that the people on it were getting shittier and shittier with their opinions (thank you r/hockey for exposing homophobes and transphobes in bulk), but post blackout it was a completely different site.
Going to have to help get the community’s I care about lively over here, but I hope it keeps to a more pleasant and dare I say, less bottled space.
I noticed that too. My final hours with Apollo were very confusing if I went anywhere my curated subs.
While I have no intention of going back, it’ll be interesting to see what happens in a few months.
Man, I fucking hate how many rate me or am I ugly or other attention grabing drivel subs are promoted now. Especially the am I asshole posts. I dont care for them
Not necessarily agreeing with you, but I noticed something similar. I can’t remember why I was logged out of the official Reddit app honestly, but I was, and all day yesterday I’ve been getting “suggested posts” and all of these were from r/amiugly, which was weird as hell, especially (again) considering that I was not even logged in, so there was not any sort of algorithm magic going on. I don’t know the numbers for that sub so idk if it’s just popular, but this is something that I noticed too.
I had a random mark Hamill verge interview start playing on my phone one morning. No apps open, no idea why it started, and I don’t follow the verge anywhere. Tapped on the thing and it opened Reddit. Didn’t go anywhere, just opened it.
I deleted the app after that. Switched to Apollo till it died and now I’m here.
