I went back to Reddit this morning. Yeah I know, but I just wanted to check the place out after all the blackouts. As I was scrolling through my typical stuff I was down voting dumb things as is pure habit and it struck me… after being here only 2 days and not having any down vote button, what was just a pure habit suddenly felt a little dirty.
Those people I just down voted didn’t do anything wrong I just didn’t agree with them. But by down voting them I’m basically doing one little part in actually silencing them. It felt bad. In fact all of Reddit felt bad… like, it was just such a habit and I was ready to go back, but once I did it wasn’t as good as I remembered it.
All it took was 2 days away using a different platform that gives me essentially the same stuff I want to read and this no down vote thing somehow has resonated with me more than I would have thought. I actually went back and removed the down votes. Those people have the right to feel how they do whether I agree or not. I don’t need to silence and invalidate people over things that are so incredibly minor.
I’ve decided I will use Reddit only via Google search if it has the content I’m looking for, just like any other webpage, but I think Lemmy, and Beehaw specifically, are my new home. It no longer feels like “the alternative.” It feels like a place I actually chose to be. I wrote in my application that I wanted less toxicity in my life and I think that’s already happening. I’m really grateful to have discovered this place.
For the longest time, I avoided Reddit because of just how toxic it was becoming. This is really true of a lot of social networks. That’s why I joined this instance (lemmy.blahaj.zone) because it doesn’t have a downvote button, allows NSFW content for when I want it, and seems to have a friendly userbase. I was initially on Lemmygrad, but it really felt like an echo chamber and quite frankly I need a detox from “tankie” spaces.
I’m starting to realize the value in curating my spaces and paying attention to what I expose myself too. The last several years have been unbearable. Social media has put gasoline on a civilization that is on fire. It’s been terrible for all of our well-being and mental health. And behind all of this are algorithms keeping us addicted and logged-on. What was once fun became an inescapable curse.
The thing is none of us are to blame for all this. Everyone was manipulated into it. But now we know we can at least try to do something about it. Independent and federated networks are part of that solution. Taking the social influence out of the hands of corporations who control what we see and manipulate our emotions so they can harvest and sell our data is key.
In the collapse of major social networks there is a silver lining—we have the ability to change the tide. This is a major opportunity for us and we should us it to make the Internet a better space. We all both need and deserve that.
[they] didn’t do anything wrong I just didn’t agree with them
And that’s why it’s disabled! That’s not what it’s meant to be for, it’s meant to be for things that don’t add to the conversation. If it’s factually wrong then fine - downvote, but don’t do it to suppress others’ opinions.
My habits on Reddit were to upvote if I liked it, ignore most of it, downvotes I mostly reserved for people being toxic.
What’s sad is that back in the old days of Reddit, Reddiquette was actually a thing and people followed that rule more. In recent years, though, it feels like Reddiquette is completely dead.
Post any kind of dissenting opinion and you’ll get downvoted into absolute oblivion. And I’m not just speaking about politics. You can write a well thought out comment in any sub that goes against the grain, and the culture is just totally to downvote for disagreement. I think my most downvoted comment of all time on Reddit was on r/juicing when I questioned whether carrot juice was actually effective for depression lol.
And a lot of people end up downvoting just because somebody else already did. I would see people posting milquetoast dissenting “hot takes” that are really just room temperature takes and then get downvoted to -68 over it. And then somebody would go “why was this downvoted” and he at +3
Yes, I completely agree with you. Reddit could become such a nasty place, and I fully admit that I was part of the problem. It didn’t feel like a problem because it was so socially accepted, even encouraged, within Reddit’s own culture, but I was definitely part of the problem down voting people into oblivion for “being dumb”. I never thought twice about it until the last two days. Now it feels dirty. Now I recognize I don’t want to be a part of that culture any longer.
Haha, I think I just had a little rant at you there even though you were saying the same things I was saying. Bad habits… I don’t think I’ll be on reddit much now, hopefully enough people stay around to make this place quite active still.
It should be fine - it was busy enough before the blackout, and of course all the good apps will stop working soon, along with a bunch of essential tools for modding, etc.
I think its a good example of how one platform with its ecosystem/culture can shapes our habits.
in my opinion, i think the feature of up voting and down voting in reddit are created to bring something relevant to the surface, while “hiding” something that deem not important to the discussions.
While over the years, this trend and culture changes just to silences someone that doesn’t share the way we see the world. Or on the other hand, we upvote someone that shares our ideology.
I do not like disabling the downvote button because of this, but i think it is better to disable it, if we tend to abuse it
I do not like disabling the downvote button because of this, but i think it is better to disable it, if we tend to abuse it
In theory voting things up and down for relevancy is a fine idea, a good one even. But human nature is often the reason why we can’t have nice things. It’s just way too easy to fall into that trap. Simply having an upvote button does allow the best ideas to rise to the top, but it doesn’t silence alternative opinions or encourage dog piling on someone with groupthink.
Important note: I apologize in advance for this lousy suggestion.
Do you know that you can edit post titles? This is a great candidate for a lame joke. Just change it to “Going back to Reddit: feels bad, man”.
I popped into one of the few subreddits I participate in and the consensus was mostly, “Who cares about the API/third-party apps, I just want my Reddit back.” Whatever, they can have it.
I’ve been working to curate my RSS feed in the last couple of days so I never need to visit Reddit at all (outside of being directed there by a Google search result).
I’ve been working to curate my RSS feed in the last couple of days so I never need to visit Reddit at all
Ironically that would make Aaron very proud! He was one of the Reddit founder, but also a creator of RSS, and his prosecution for basically accessing an API led to his suicide…
So many don’t understand that the mods need those tools, and don’t care about people who need the accessibility (although I suspect that argument is popular more for having the moral high ground).
You’re right, the culture there has grown rotten.
The only reason I’ll be heading back is to wipe out my history and migrate my subreddit content here.
