

Reddit: Obama visit generates most activity ever - gregpurtell
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57504734-38/reddit-obama-visit-generates-most-activity-ever/

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simonsarris
It's a shame that it was seemingly(?)[1] a mere PR move and not very well
thought out, or else intentionally much too whimsical.

A much better format, if we really wanted to ask the president anything, would
have been a two-stage AMA where Day 1 solicits questions, and Day 2 a new
thread is made that replies to the top X most upvoted questions, and the
comments for the second thread become a discussion of the answers.

Many video AMAs work that way, and when the answerer doesn't want to spend all
day in the thread I think it usually lets them answer less fanciful/quickly
posted questions and more the questions that the community actually wants
answered. Since Obama only allocated 30 minutes to answering, it definitely
would have been a better choice.

[1] It seems that one(?) of the questions might have been staged, as this user
created their account on the day and asked the question very, very quickly
into the thread: <http://www.reddit.com/user/hmlee>

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rayiner
The drama about hmlee's post was completely non-sensical, resulting from a
redditor's overestimation of the status of DOJ interns in the overall pecking
order. It was the reddit hive-mind overreacting at its finest. There is of
course little that reddit likes more than a conspiracy theory.

In reality, the poster in question was a recent law school graduate (and
classmate of mine) who interned at the DOJ, just like hundreds of law students
each year. Her story was a common one even at top law schools: "took out a ton
of debt and am still looking for work" and the question wasn't softball at all
given what an explosive issue student debt is for people in the 18-25
demographic.

~~~
beedogs
> The drama about hmlee's post was completely non-sensical,

This describes all reddit witch-hunts ever. I swear, any time anyone posts an
anecdote there, the "forensic experts" come out of the woodwork, calling
bullshit for instant comment karma.

It's tiresome.

~~~
jrockway
_It's tiresome._

I like it. Back in the day, I thought Reddit was for serious discussion and
after being trolled one too many times, swore it off for good. But recently,
I've learned that Reddit is for the consistency and experience. So, of course
there's going to be a "forensic expert" that comes out of the woodwork for a
high profile story. That's what makes it so amusing.

Since I've started reading Reddit again, my highest-ranked comment is "[
_citation needed_ ]". Not quite the same place as HN.

(And no, I don't use my real name on Reddit anymore.)

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ramblerman
By the general reaction on reddit I would imagine this was an extremely
successful PR move. From an objective standpoint however it was exactly that:
PR. No real answers or interesting points were raised anywhere within the
thread.

In fact the most interesting questions (for me) were sidestepped like:

    
    
      - stance on drug legislation
    
      - SOPA and copyright laws
    
      - Assange persecution (bradley manning)
    
    

The most disappointing thing for me personally though was to see how effective
it was. I'm not American, but a lot of reddit was literally walking on air for
days after the event singing his praises. Nothing new was said though, he was
just ... present.

That being said I would probably vote for him myself, given the alternatives.

~~~
s_henry_paulson
How are you gauging it as "successful"?

There's plenty of backlash in tons of the subreddits for exactly what you
point out. There was a recent bestof post that attempted to paint the picture
that at least one of the answered questions was planted there deliberately.

Then there were multiple negative articles about the whole thing in Forbes,
Business Insider, and other publications.

It definitely generated a lot of PR (good and bad), but I don't see a clear
notion that this was "effective".

~~~
ErrantX
I agree.

On the other hand; the frickin president of the USA did an AMA on Reddit.

He might only be feeding his policy lines, but that's a major part of his
public job anyway - especially in election year.

This time it might not have managed to corner him on difficult/key issues.

But it's good to start somewhere; and this has to be one of the most
accessible moments for the president ever. Maybe next time it will be a longer
QA - or his opponents feel they have to respond with similar sessions.

All of this can only be good; exposing him to you and you to him.

I wish the politicians here (UK) would do the same.

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error54
I think the fact that the admins kept the site running (albeit slowly) while
getting hit with an unprecedented amount of traffic is pretty darn impressive.

On another note, I can't wait to see other politicians try an AMA. I have a
feeling that they're just going to see it as another PR stunt and won't be
prepared for the (often) blunt line of questioning. It's important to remember
that an AMA can turn out quite well (as in this case) or really hurt someones
reputation (Woody Harrelson anyone?).

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logn
Maybe I'm missing some replies but I would have liked to have seen discussion
of IP laws and the drug war.

For actual thread see:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/z1c9z/i_am_barack_obam...](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/z1c9z/i_am_barack_obama_president_of_the_united_states/)

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quicksilver03
It would be interesting to know by how much Reddit's AWS bill increased
compared to the previous month, to gauge the impact of the extra instances and
the additional traffic.

