
Reddit algorithm changed for /r/all to prevent any one community from dominating - whamlastxmas
https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/4oedco/lets_all_have_a_town_hall_about_rall/
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aphextron
Please don't let Reddit drama start bleeding into HN. I come here specifically
to avoid that site.

~~~
whamlastxmas
I think this is relevant even outside the context of reddit drama. Any sort of
censorship (or call it whatever you want) done on a huge scale like this is
relevant tech community news.

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labrador
r/The_Donald wants to have it's freedom of speech to dominate reddit, but
anyone who posts dissenting opinions in their subgroup gets a lifetime ban. I
don't mind being banned, but fair is fair. Good riddance. Their top response
today, typically histrionic:

JOURNALISTS: We know you're reading this. This is a HUGE story. Reddit is
changing the fundamental structure of the site from community-selected content
to admin-selected content in order to silence a political movement.

Do not let this happen quietly.

~~~
whamlastxmas
There's a pretty big difference between the_donald banning people disagreeing
and admins censoring /r/all. Reddit's biggest problem is abusive moderators
censoring users of a community, or running a subreddit in a way contrary to
how the vast majority of users want to use it.

That isn't really the case with the_donald. That subreddit has behaved in this
way from the very start, and their bans over anything anti-Trump is sort of
part of the joke/culture of the subreddit as a community. The vast majority of
people in that sub want anti-Trump people banned. It's not a place for real
discussion and the bans are pretty much just done for laughs. It's an example
of a subreddit working well _because_ of the moderators, when it's usually a
subreddit working decently despite moderators stifling discussion and pushing
their own agendas.

Additionally, bans on reddit are a joke. An account takes 5 seconds to make
and even if admins want to IP ban you, it doesn't accomplish much. Censoring
the most viewed listing of content on the entire site has a real, meaningful
impact.

~~~
labrador
I agree with you in regards to r/news moderators acting badly recently, but
does reddit or it's users need or want 25 r/The_Donald links on the front
page? I don't think so. Reddit has a right to exert some editorial control.

~~~
whamlastxmas
Considering how overwhelmingly they are upvoted, yes, it does seem like they
do want that.

Reddit has the legal right to do whatever the fuck they want, but they are
censoring a platform built for discussion, and people are going to leave
because of it.

~~~
d0mine
It doesn't look like genuine upvotes. r/The_Donald reminds me 4chan but with a
paid agenda to elect Clinton.

~~~
jakeogh
Trump got more GOP primary votes than and GOP candidate in history. It should
surprise nobody that the sub(dom)reddit is incredibly popular.
[http://img.ccrd.clearchannel.com/media/mlib/15172/2016/06/de...](http://img.ccrd.clearchannel.com/media/mlib/15172/2016/06/default/gop_primary_popular_vote_0_1465386905.jpg)

~~~
d0mine
If Reddit were representative of voters then Sanders would be the Democratic
nominee.

Are you trying to tell that r/The_Donald reflects genuine views of Trumps
supporters and moreover it reflects the views of the majority of Reddit?

r/The_Donald is the textbook example of the Internet trolling -- as in you
literally can write a book on how to become a troll using its submissions as
the educational material. Though usually trolls are not hired guns and have
less malicious motivation (the usual motivation being to induce an emotional
response for your own amusement).

~~~
jakeogh
If you don't think the vast majority of people there are real and genuine
supporters then you don't understand this political movement. To you it looks
like a bunch of trolls, but that's expected, you fundamentally disagree and/or
do not understand their POV. As is so common, you cite no examples. Sure there
are trolls, there are entire sub's devoted to trolling r/the_donald.

For example, they don't like Saudi Arabia. Do you? Should we allow one of the
most oppressive and rich governments on the planet influence our news and
politics?

~~~
d0mine
I don't mean "troll" as an insult here. I mean it as the description of the
activity that is not about opinions it is about facts.

Usually there could be a gray area where it is not clear whether some online
activity can be classified as trolling -- r/The_Donald is not one these cases
-- the signal is very clear. You could use any common definition e.g.,
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29)

Though some of the submissions might be genuine (given the demographic) due to
Poe's law (extreme views and their parody are hard to distinguish)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law)

