
Reddit prepares to launch new news website 'Upvoted' - jsnathan
http://www.wired.com/2015/10/no-comments-allowed-reddits-new-news-site-upvoted/
======
nindalf
> Rather it will post sponsored content paid for and approved by advertising
> partners—and written by the same editorial team that writes editorial posts.
> “They’re going to be just as interesting as actual content,” Chang says. “It
> could be a piece on Tesla, a piece on how WiFi works, no matter what it’ll
> be good content—and it’ll just happened to be sponsored.”

This gives me some disquiet. I realise that this is what advertisers want -
high quality ads that can't be blocked, but I think its harmful. In general, I
avoid going to sites that have a policy of doing this.

~~~
crdb
I talked to an Australian magazine that will remain nameless where the
executive on the other side of the table told me their business model was 100%
sponsored content. I couldn't tell, from their website. Every single article
was a sophisticated ad. He said they were doing fantastically and growing
fast, users wanted that kind of stuff.

It reminds me of Ogilvy's book on advertising [1]; Ogilvy's experience taught
him that informative ads that explained the advantages of the product were
most successful with customers. Sponsored content is exactly that, and the
opposite might be something like clickbait [2].

Sponsored articles are accessed voluntarily by the customer clicking on them
and reading them, and returning to the site; they are unobstrusive being
mostly made of text and of (relatively) higher editorial quality, with good
photography and so on. I wonder if they are the future of advertising.

On the topic of being unable to filter advertorial content from, well,
content, I don't think it's as clear cut as ads vs not-ads, since every writer
has their own set of opinions and presents their world view only (with few
exceptions). A necessary life skill is critical thinking, learning to dissect
an argument, examine its assumptions and data, and come to an independent
conclusion as to the point it is making.

[1] core principles are summarized in his "house ad":
[http://smartonlinesuccess.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/04/dav...](http://smartonlinesuccess.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/04/david-ogilvy-how-to-create-advertising-that-
sells.jpeg)

[2] famously (NSFW): [http://www.lazygamer.net/general-news/a-history-of-
evony-ads...](http://www.lazygamer.net/general-news/a-history-of-evony-ads-
the-insanity-continues/)

~~~
kawsper
In Denmark, you are required by law to state if an article is paid content or
not. The law extends to both articles in magazines, but also the web,
including blogs.

The ads are not only happening in articles, it is also happening on Vine,
where companies sponsor videos of popular users:

[http://mashable.com/2014/07/22/sneaky-vine-
ads](http://mashable.com/2014/07/22/sneaky-vine-ads)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YhqXUekgEc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YhqXUekgEc)

~~~
oneeyedpigeon
How on earth do they define that? If an advertiser gives me a discount off
their product, does that count? What if an advertiser provides a "review copy"
of something? What if a company already pays for advertising on my site, and I
write about one of their products?

~~~
kawsper
It is written like this:

>§4. An advertisement shall be designed, in a way that it will be clearly
recognisable as an advertisement of whatever form and whatever media in which
it is placed."

If you receive a review-copy you should state that, and if you get a discount
you should also write that. I am not sure about if the company already pays
for advertisement, but they want to stop hidden advertisements.

Some bloggers have received hefty fines for violating this, but it seems like
the readers are more used to the concept now.

~~~
digikata
How does this work in TV programs where there are embedded product placements?

~~~
kawsper
It is a mess.

On all Danish produced TV production created after 01/07-2013, product
placement is banned. This includes films as well, since they can be
broadcasted.

But foreign produced films and series are not included in this, so we can
still be able to enjoy James Bond on TV.

The trade association suggested to show a notice in the program, or
afterwards, when they used product placement, but it was never put in law, and
was it was banned instead.

------
jacobheller
As of Tuesday at midnight, here's what you see at
[http://upvoted.com](http://upvoted.com):
[http://i.imgur.com/KsnPvXN.png](http://i.imgur.com/KsnPvXN.png)

~~~
r-w
Could it end up being built on WordPress?

~~~
meritt
Sure. Something to monitor reddit for highly upvoted and interesting content.
Once it hits a certain threshold, add the post to WP. Generate the cache entry
and you're pretty well set.

~~~
r-w
Well, I was commenting in particular on the fact that the site is currently a
private WordPress server. The plan appears to be a bit more involved than
aggregation, comprising interviews with Reddit OPs and curated articles
written by Reddit staff themselves (although they’re probably hiring mostly
new people to work on that).

------
vnchr
Almost no mention of it on Reddit prior to this story [0] aside from rumors in
a couple small Subreddits. Feels weird as a Reddit user to see something like
this out in the news without attempts for creating community buy-in, as if the
Reddit team has lost faith in aligning with their user base and instead leans
toward working around them.

EDIT: The Wired article is starting to make its way around [1]

[0]
[https://www.reddit.com/search?q=upvoted.com&sort=new&t=week](https://www.reddit.com/search?q=upvoted.com&sort=new&t=week)

[1]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/3nnw6v/reddit_l...](https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/3nnw6v/reddit_launching_new_site_called_upvoted_that/)

~~~
debacle
Lets be honest here: Reddit has done a lot of censoring lately. It's not a
surprise you're not hearing anything about Upvoted on Reddit, it's just sad.

~~~
rspeer
...what? How does that make sense? You think Reddit is censoring discussion of
its _own news website_?

------
rayalez
I think it's a smart and awesome decision.

Curated reddit. It solves so many problems and can offer a lot of value to
everybody.

\- People who want "clean" and moderated reddit get what they want,

\- advertisers get what they want,

\- and, hopefully, reddit users get what they want(because there will be less
pressure to moderate reddit.com).

At the very least they will capture all the value that buzzfeed and other bad
blogs are currently taking from reddit.

Everybody wins.

~~~
cuchoi
I feel that this can disincentivize commenting. I am probably going to be a
user of Upvoted, taking me out of Reddit where I comment when a story compels
me to do it. If there is more people like me, you will reduce your commenting
user base.

------
jorams
> But most importantly, it just isn’t Reddit.

I think the thing that would set Upvoted apart, and that's basically the one
reason it could work, is the fact that under the hood it _is_ Reddit. Reddit
has an enormous community that practically supplies stories and also validates
them as "traffic-worthy".

I've seen several articles on other news sites that were clearly inspired by a
popular post on Reddit, though I can't currently find a good example. If other
people are doing it, why not Reddit themselves?

~~~
jonlucc
Every terrestrial radio station I've listened to has a story a couple times a
month about the "top 10 things people said about something" that is lifted
directly from a top post in /r/AskReddit. Some stations mention that it's from
Reddit, but some don't.

------
felixthehat
Buzzfeed, usvsth3m, The Metro and their ilk just recycle reddit submissions
anyway, I think it makes sense for reddit to take a slice of that pie
themselves.

------
DigitalSea
Eh. This feels like what Digg pivoted into, a news website. Except of course,
Reddit will be providing the content so it will be more straightforward.
Interestingly they mention that it has been in the works for the last year, it
seems like this is going to be a basic Wordpress site (unless the hosting page
currently is misleading).

~~~
almostarockstar
Using wordpress as a CMS would be quite suitable. I would assume what makes
more than 'just another wordpress site' will the back end. Load balancing,
caching etc.

I would have expected a custom landing page though.

~~~
wiiittttt
DNS for the domain only has a 300 second TTL. The site can easily be pointed
somewhere else before the launch.

    
    
      ;; QUESTION SECTION:
      ;upvoted.com.                   IN      A
    
      ;; ANSWER SECTION:
      upvoted.com.            300     IN      A       192.0.79.33
      upvoted.com.            300     IN      A       192.0.79.32

------
nahiluhmot
I've got a feeling that the Reddit community won't be too keen on this, mostly
seeing it as another news organization "stealing" their content. IMO a good
way to get users behind this would be to compensate the original posters for
their content being posted on Upvoted.

~~~
flashman
9.5-year-old Reddit account here, so perhaps my view is atypical, but I see
this as Reddit's answer to the new Digg, and to the broader trend of editorial
curation as a counterpart (not necessarily a competitor) to aggregation.

Reddit has web aggregation and communities pretty much sewn up as a market.
How can they grow? By leveraging their insight into that traffic to create
their own publication. I think they see their audience for Upvoted as people
who know what Reddit is, and perhaps use it, but aren't power users and just
like to have interesting and entertaining stuff presented to them.

Best of luck to them, I certainly don't think Upvoted's success is written in
stone (especially given Reddit's history of half-delivering on their
initiatives).

~~~
Grue3
>I see this as Reddit's answer to the new Digg

Why does the new Digg need answering though? It's now nothing but an obscure
website that is only mentioned in connection to how big it once was.

------
wingerlang
> Nor, despite its name, will it have any kind of upvoting system

Well the name says the stories have already been upvoted, so no system of the
sorts are really implied anyway. I'm sure there are more takes on that though.

------
snarfy
If I wanted editorial content and spin I'd read mainstream news.

------
romanovcode
Seems like Reddit has the same fate as Digg after all.

------
personjerry
So tomorrow Reddit launches its own version of 9gag?

~~~
romanovcode
More like own version of Digg

------
orthoganol
> Reddit has a reputation as the dark, unruly id of the Internet

Stopped reading there.

~~~
archagon
Sorry, but it's true. From what I've observed, Reddit has started to supplant
4chan in that role in the public eye.

~~~
orthoganol
? From what I've observed, people either don't know much about Reddit (usually
over 40 y/o), or they talk about Reddit like an established site. See
Bloomberg's interview with Sam Altman posted today. See the consistently
incredible turn out of famous figures to Reddit's AMA series.

I mean, how can a website with 200 million users be considered a "dark
corner"? Absurd.

~~~
pvg
I'm over 40 and my reddit badge looks like this:

[https://s3.amazonaws.com/redditstatic/award/9_year_club-40.p...](https://s3.amazonaws.com/redditstatic/award/9_year_club-40.png)

I don't think it's an entirely absurd statement.

------
dang
Also
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10336961](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10336961).

