52 upvotes, 3 direct replies (showing 3)
View submission: Discussion: Dealing with low reading comprehension on reddit
The issue is that for reddit, the company, this is a feature and not a bug. The behavior you describe is good for engagement numbers, and anger keeps people clicking and commenting. Anything that forced users to read and article before commenting would cause lower engagement as the average user's attention span would run out before they got through a paragraph.
As a poster, you can always drop your own comment to try and drive the discussion, but generally the direction of the discussion is going to be driven by the first dozen or so commenters who are all racing to make the most engaging comment as fast as possible (which usually means not reading the content of the post).
Comment by rainbowcarpincho at 13/11/2024 at 21:21 UTC
6 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I remember reading news subreddits. Sometimes I'd catch a link to a long article just as it was being posted. By the time I was done reading the article, the comments section had already exploded...
Comment by YueAsal at 13/11/2024 at 21:12 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Or a person will make a reference to The Force Awakens and it becomes a discussion on Star Wars as opposed to whatever the article was about. I was seen many threds derail like thay
Comment by seeyoshirun at 13/12/2024 at 19:45 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Anything that forced users to read and article before commenting would cause lower engagement as the average user's attention span would run out before they got through a paragraph.
It would also mean users would spend more time reading rather than clicking. Gotta get those clicks per minute!