17 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)
View submission: The Descent of Reddit
I reread what OP said to see where you’re getting that stance from and I can’t find it. The recent presidential election I feel was used as an example more than a breaking point. I personally am in the same boat. I’ve been on here since 2013 and there were a couple big shifts for me when rhetoric got more extreme each time, 2016 election, covid lockdown, Elon buying Twitter and the exodus of users especially further left ones, and the recent election.
The quality of political discussion also feels like it has gone downhill more and more every year. There used to be debate in somewhat good faith and now users are quick to call you a bootlicker, nazi, commie, or whatever their buzzword gumbo word of the day is. It’s being treated more and more like Twitter where surface level virtue signaling statements have taken precedence over people actually expanding on their views and why they see something the same way. This is getting ranty but I think OP isn’t doing this in bad faith personally it’s just hard to express yourself super clearly in such a nuanced topic on a site that has changed so much over the decade+ it’s been around for.
Comment by kawarazu at 22/02/2025 at 22:06 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I have a specific frustration with these "observations" people have on r/theoryofreddit explicitly about conversations about vitriol, violence, etc, arguing there was always a shining moment and then there was darkness. Except if you were looking for it, you'd find it was always here, it was always sitting if you bothered to look for it.
Why I feel this is all in bad faith, is that people making this complaint don't acknowledge that they're the narrator in that famous quote about "first they came for", except it wasn't just about ethnicity, workers beliefs, but about site demographic. How "twitter was always worse", how "4chan was always a cesspool", "oh all the disgusting things are in stormfront" etc.
We've always had the scum here, no one ever spoke out, and now the scum has risen to the top, and it's here to stay, because it's everywhere now.
So instead of pretending that there was a better time, and that "the admins need to do something", perhaps just respect begrudgingly that no one will be here to help you, and instead identify where are the places you can defend at all. What subreddits still have mods with a shred of confidence, where can you find the information that is being removed due to controversy, etc.
You could always just leave. I've done it before, I needed a reddit break after they broke all our APIs, hell I still only visit this really on desktop now. Maybe there is no place on the internet anymore for rational speech-- that maybe it's best that reddit only be used for tight focused inspections, and only that.
Comment by TheTyger at 22/02/2025 at 22:40 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
It's impossible for there to be proper discussion when the main sub for one side bans anyone who disagrees and has become an echo chamber of crazy which has turned the "normal" political subs only the other side. Since one group has self segregated into a "safe space" and cannot function when viewpoints they don't understand are actually popular, and instead just make claims about brigading because the idea that they are an unpopular minority is beyond their understanding, since their home base is a highly curated, ban heavy place that silences 100% of views that could interfere with their narrative.