For, uh, purely scientific purposes I've noticed the posting volume on pr0n subreddits like /r/gonewild and uh, a few dozen similar subreddits, is perhaps 100 to 1000 times the sheer posting volume of a controversial subreddit like /r/the_donald. The sheer volume of relatively R rated pr0n is perhaps 1000 times the volume of everything else.
There seems to be tap dancing around the issue that reddit is a 1960s Playboy magazine fifty years in the future. There's just enough excellent articles to keep the advertisers amused, but the fact has to be faced that 99% of the traffic is young men looking at scantily dressed young women. You need a little submarine PR to stay controversial about subreddits nobody on a statistical basis reads to keep things legit appearing, whereas all the traffic and money is over there at /r/randomsexiness
Just like the old saying about Playboy, I only read it for r/ama not the nekkid ladies.
I'm not complaining; I'm just pointing out that reddit is THE most successful pr0n site out there with the most brilliant strategy I've ever seen. Please don't confuse it, and its achievements within the pr0n industry, with legacy news media or anything like that.
I think it's disingenuous to try to classify Reddit as only a porn site, or to report on its communities in that context - by nature of its size and nature, individual (or groups of) subreddits are nearly as disparate as two separate websites, and should not be generalized based on Reddit as a whole; while the porn communities of Reddit may be the largest section, that does not exclude functionally distinct bodies such as writing groups, political activists, and racist gatherings from existing, each with their own identities.
While there is doubtless overlap that influences demographics and discussion, that influence does not preclude non-porn subreddits from relevance or discussion.
> I think it's disingenuous to try to classify Reddit as only a porn site
I completely agree, there are zillions of different experiences depending the subreddit and many of them can amaze you. For example, I have asked very specific questions in subreddits like sysadmin and networking on how AWS and Google Cloud handle layer 2 network protocol like Ethernet, and received the correct answers that I never received posting on the specific AWS or Google Cloud groups outside Reddit.
I run a Reddit post scheduler (https://laterforreddit.com/), and I have noticed a substantial bias towards posting in various adult subreddits.
I suspect in my case that this has a lot to do with how people who are browsing porn use Reddit, versus how people use the rest of the site at large. Most subs moderate posts and discussion actively and have norms (and moderators) that act against posting frequently, cross-posting and self-promotion. On the other hand, most porn subreddits are quite happy to accept x-posts, self promotion, etc, because their goal/approach is to provide more porn faster.
This seems to be an emergent property of Reddit rather than a deliberate strategy, but they seem happy enough to keep the revenue coming (as am I).
> reddit is a 1960s Playboy magazine fifty years in the future [...] Just like the old saying about Playboy, I only read it for r/ama not the nekkid ladies.
That's a thought-provoking way of putting it, though I'd add the /r/gonewild subreddit and its variants makes it considerably more meta. A lot of people, particularly females, are posting explicit imagery of themselves - revealing a hidden culture exhibitionism as the vast majority of them do it for little profit beyond comments and upvotes. There are people on Reddit who do actually make money from posting explicit content, but the vast majority of users who do it are in it for a sense of self-worth from the "updoots" and the thrill of exposing themselves relatively anonymously.
Taking your observations about advertising into account, it's a complex ecosystem. The closest thing I've seen to Reddit is Usenet, but in a age where digital cameras are ubiquitous.
Have any data on it mostly being girls doing it for the thrill? It seems like every time I like a photo and look the posters profile, they've got something else going on where the free photo was just marketing. Tons of underwear selling.
> It seems like every time I like a photo and look the posters profile
No offence intended but could it be that well-proportioned, model-like subjects are more likely to have their profile viewed, so it's a case of sample bias?
While no, I don't have any hard data so my points are anecdotal, I tend to be disinterested in subjects that are more model-like as the point for me is to look at everyday people getting their kit off. And from what I can tell those everyday people make up the lions-share of self-posted content.
Not only do many females seem to enjoy exhibitionism on subs like /r/gonewild, there's also a not-so-hidden culture of exhibitionism that takes place in real life that "strangely" seems to have so far escaped being raised in the ongoing gender wars discussions. Human beings are very complex beings.
> culture of exhibitionism that takes place in real life that "strangely" seems to have so far escaped being raised in the ongoing gender wars
I'm not sure what discussing a lack of clothing or dressing provocatively would achieve - it's never an adequate defence for poor behaviour or assault by a third party. Any nuanced debate about the topic is difficult and likely to be a no-win scenario.
One of the few reasonable points to be made is that revealing clothing can be inappropriate in professional settings, however I think other females need to be the ones who encourage appropriate attire in the office. A male delivering the message would lead to anger and resistance as it'll be viewed as a form of control rather than something formed from consensus.
This might be an overly simplistic way of looking at it, but female exhibitionism is not dissimilar from a guy flashing how much power and resources they have. It's a signalling system, and it attracts both wanted and unwanted attention, but in a civil society assault and harassment are never acceptable no matter how provocative someone's behaviour might seem.
> the same action (wearing revealing clothing) is considered just fine and don't you dare even question it you victim-blamer when committed by one gender, and sexual assault when committed by another.
Well, no, wearing revealing clothes isn't considered sexual assault when done by either sex. Though I suppose if you mean that male public upper body nudity is treated as acceptable whereas female public upper body nudity is treated as criminal and a sex offense, but were just using slightly hyperbolic language about “sexual assault”, you'd have a point.
Though that seems to be in the opposite direction of the fantasy you are trying to sell.
> It might open people's eyes to some of the hypocrisy in the current public dialogue, just one of many issues being that the same action (wearing revealing clothing) is considered just fine and don't you dare even question it you victim-blamer when committed by one gender, and sexual assault when committed by another. Oh and by the way, "all we want is to be treated equally'.
I'm not seeing apples for apples in your argument - it'd be valid to say the popular female opinion (whatever that is) is hypocritical if their stance was that men couldn't wear revealing clothing, but you're making the point that they're hypocrites for wearing provocative clothing and then being upset if they're treated indecently or worse. You could argue their exhibitionism is inappropriate, but that is subjective, shaped by culture, and entirely different to saying their position is hypocritical.
If I'm rich and wave my money as I walk down the street, it's still a crime to rob me even if you feel as though I was asking for it.
> I'm not seeing apples for apples in your argument - it'd be valid to say the popular female opinion (whatever that is) is hypocritical if their stance was that men couldn't wear revealing clothing
Isn't that their stance? If a man went out in public with 1/3 of the flesh of his penis showing, everyone would be cool with it? The reality is, he'd be arrested for indecent exposure. In this case, the equivalent of what women do on a regular basis is quite literally illegal.
> but you're making the point that they're hypocrites for wearing provocative clothing and then being upset if they're treated indecently or worse
No I'm not.
> If I'm rich and wave my money as I walk down the street, it's still a crime to rob me even if you feel as though I was asking for it.
I'm not saying otherwise.
This conversation is actually not a terrible example of my overall point.
It's not very obvious, to me at least, what your overall point is?
> If a man went out in public with 1/3 of the flesh of his penis showing, everyone would be cool with it? The reality is, he'd be arrested for indecent exposure. In this case, the equivalent of what women do on a regular basis is quite literally illegal.
I don't understand what the specific double-standard you're alluding to it? I don't think a woman with exposed genitals is going to escape an indecent exposure charge.
Upthread you liken men wearing revealing clothing to sexual assault, but I've never seen this as a talking point in the gender discourse.
> There's just enough excellent articles to keep the advertisers amused, but the fact has to be faced that 99% of the traffic is young men looking at scantily dressed young women.
Then again, these young men probably aren't paying attention to the ads (unless maybe they're porn ads!), so those subreddits aren't a target audience.
If I may ask, how do you jump from posting volume:
> 100 to 1000 times the sheer posting volume
to traffic:
> 99% of the traffic
?
Also, just to clarify - do you consider porn something not legit or bad? Your tone suggests it, but I may have misread, so just want to make sure. If so, why?
There seems to be tap dancing around the issue that reddit is a 1960s Playboy magazine fifty years in the future. There's just enough excellent articles to keep the advertisers amused, but the fact has to be faced that 99% of the traffic is young men looking at scantily dressed young women. You need a little submarine PR to stay controversial about subreddits nobody on a statistical basis reads to keep things legit appearing, whereas all the traffic and money is over there at /r/randomsexiness
Just like the old saying about Playboy, I only read it for r/ama not the nekkid ladies.
I'm not complaining; I'm just pointing out that reddit is THE most successful pr0n site out there with the most brilliant strategy I've ever seen. Please don't confuse it, and its achievements within the pr0n industry, with legacy news media or anything like that.