I refer to reddit often in the comments here, for people who are interested in criminal law issues but lack the background, education or knowledge necessary to have a firm grasp of issues of law. Plus, those who feel compelled to scream, “all cops are thugs” and similarly idiotic things. I tell them they would be happier at reddit, because I want them out of SJ.
But I do so because reddit offers a sounding board for everyone, not matter how smart or stupid, sane or batshit crazy. What reddit offers is the freedom to find a place to express one’s views without the limitations of a curmudgeon like me or the finger-wagging prunes who want to tell everyone else how to behave. It offers freedom.
Correction: It offered freedom. The interim CEO, Ellen Pao, has chosen to hitch her wagon, and with it, reddit’s, to political ideologues who are all about shutting down all sound that doesn’t please their ears, throwing out all staff that doesn’t appreciate the need to turn reddit into a marketing machine, and adding happy faces all around.
Redditors are in revolt. If they can’t overthrow corporate HQ, then they should vote with their feet. Don’t let the school marms own the internet. Don’t let them turn the only bastion of freedom left into a politically correct cash machine.
I may not be a fan of reddit per se, and may find much of it disgusting, nasty and brutish. So, I don’t go there, don’t participate in the community. Nobody can make me, and nobody gives a damn if I go my own way. And you can go yours, without anyone telling you that you better be nice or you’re banned. #Redditrevolt.
For all the nasty and stupid, Reddit was a bastion of freedom online. The school marms will not control the internet. #RedditRevolt
— Scott Greenfield (@ScottGreenfield) July 5, 2015
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Pao and I were classmates at Princeton; we were minimally acquainted and lived several dorm building apart in the same quad. The distinct impression over mediocre meals of tofu parmigiana, tater tots and vegetable medley: intelligence (even by the standards of that hothouse) and lack of humor (though perhaps my humor was properly adjudged tasteless.)
My mother wanted me to go to Princeton instead of Cornell. That’s when I decided that my epitaph should read, “I’d rather be dead than in New Jersey.”
Still waiting for you to do another AMA.
It could be so much fun!
I hear they shut down AMA and want to reopen it as a lean-in group.
That’s pretty good for a Sunday esteemed one. You shouldn’t sit on your zingers as often as you do.
Good thing I ran out of horseradish while mixing my first Bloody Mary this afternoon.
I have my moments. And a Bloody Mary without horseradish is like a day without sunshine.
Jalapenos are better than horseradish, anyway.
Nuh uh.
I like Reddit in moderation, mostly subreddits like /r/Navy (I served in the Canoe Club), /r/hockey and /r/legaladvice. My browsing reflects my interests for the most part and I’m able to avoid the windowlickers who populate the rest of the place.
While I am no fan of Chairman Pao, most redditors miss the fact that the website is a business and Advance publications and the investors who put in $50M last year want a return on their investment. Not an unusual expectation in my opinion.
Unfortunately, what made Reddit popular was its commitment to anything goes, and that position is at odds with management’s business goals.
P.S. I don’t like the equations we’re required to do before commenting. I am too pretty to do math.
r/legaladvice is a shithole of stupid. Good luck with that.
While it’s true that reddit is a business, it’s a curious model. It produces nothing. It creates nothing. It exists exclusively as a blank slate for redditors. It’s business is the content its customers provide on that blank slate, and without that content, it doesn’t exist.
There is no question that reddit management has the right to run its business any damn way it pleases, but when it does so in a fashion that eliminates its own reason for its existence, then it ceases to exist. And takes with it the valued “product” of internet freedom.
Yes, /r/legaladvice is certainly a shithole of stupid but I read it for the entertainment value.
Example: “I got pulled over and the cop saw the ten pounds of weed on my front seat. He didn’t get a warrant and never read me my rights before I got put in the cop car. Even though he didn’t question me, can I get this dismissed?”
As for Reddit producing nothing, it’s an aggregation site. Thousands of other sites do the same thing and somehow make money at it.
The internet is a curious place.
You probably meant this as a reply, but forgot to use the reply button, thus shitting up my comments by starting a new thread. I’m not reddit. Please don’t shit up my comments.
As for thousand of other aggregation sites making money, the “making money” part isn’t always what it appears to be from the outside. If you consider $12 a month making money in ad revenue, then yes, they’re making money. That said, they aren’t reddit.
I apologize for shitting up your comments section. I did in fact mean to reply to your previous comment but sometimes I am not a smart man. My parents told me I was born with the cord wrapped loosely around my neck so I will blame that.
That’s what parents always say so you have a built-in excuse. Mine too. Damn parents.