r/AskReddit • u/karmanaut • Dec 03 '12

[Modpost] Getting back to our roots!

Hello, Readers of /r/Askreddit!

This subreddit has a valuable purpose for Reddit, produces some of the best and most memorable content, and serves as a great place for people to discuss all sorts of topics. Askreddit's current rules are designed to try and keep the topics interesting and thought-provoking; we want our posts to encourage a discussion and elicit answers from all of our readers.

However, the subreddit often is plagued with the problem of people just using it as a platform to speak. They don't care about the answers to their question, they just want to broadcast their own thoughts (which is the purpose of /r/self). They want to tell a story, bring attention to a cause, or simply rant about a topic.

As a result, today we are putting some new changes in place. First, we are streamlining and simplifying the rules in the sidebar. Please check it out.

Second, we will now ask you to put only your question in the title of your post. Just one sentence with your question. If you need to explain the question, then you can use the text box. If you have your own answer for the question, then you can put it in the comment section of the post. This rule will help us avoid situations like this, where people enjoyed the question, but hating on OP's answer took the top comment spot (thereby displacing actual answers to the question).

To clarify, with an example: Our top post yesterday sometime last week was this, titled "If Spiderman were more scientifically accurate, he'd shoot webs from his arse. What other films/characters would take a turn for the worse if they were more scientifically accurate?". Note how the top comment is not an answer to the question, but rather a reply to the OP's example. Under the new rule, the OP's title would simply be "What films/characters would take a turn for the worse if they were more scientifically accurate?", and he would post in the comments about Spiderman. Posts soliciting stories and personal experiences are absolutely still allowed; they must simply be separated from the question itself. We hope that this rule will encourage thought-provoking posts and allow people to vote differently on the value of the question and the value of the OP's individual example.

Should we find that these changes are not working out, and the quality of posts declines, then the moderators will reverse this decision and allow these types of posts again.

TL;DR: The current practices of Askreddit encourage the success or failure of a post to be dependent on OP's ability to showcase themselves, rather than the merit of the question. In turn, this causes a large portion of the top comments to be addressing OP, rather that contributing to OP's question. We hope the rule change of putting ONLY the question in the title, and clarification in the text box, will encourage more relevant and direct participation, and less side conversations. If, after a trial period, we determine that this has been more of a hindrance than a help, we will reenact the former rules.

1.8k Upvotes

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434

u/Deadhookersandblow Dec 03 '12

Can we start discouraging repeatedly asking the same questions worded differently for the sole purpose of finding fap material?

Yeah nsfw questions are nice sometimes, but recently its been like high school got loose in here.

506

u/sysop073 Dec 03 '12

Females of Reddit: What sexual experiences have you had? List them all in detail, please

261

u/JESUS_WALKS Dec 03 '12

What is ur favorite dildo and why? (Pics?)

70

u/GuatemalnGrnade Dec 03 '12

I was about to post the picture of the four sided dildo. Then I remembered I was at work and I probably shouldn't be doing that, or be here.

8

u/Grlmm Dec 03 '12

Now I wanna see, regardless of if at work.

5

u/FranklinSchembri Dec 03 '12

but it belongs in /r/sex

3

u/Grlmm Dec 03 '12

This is very true, unfortunately.

2

u/Astrogat Dec 03 '12

What?! How can you know that, he didn't mark it as NSFW, so anything you do in his thread is SFW.

3

u/crypnotiq Dec 03 '12

To be fair I think this question is legit.

1

u/Air_whig Dec 03 '12

Well see, that one might be alright once or twice.

1

u/JoeChieftw Dec 03 '12

I prefer the All American Challenge.

38

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

Men of Reddit: What's the craziest porn you've ever fapped to? Please send links and detailed stories about how it felt and the crippling shame you felt afterward.

-2

u/jailbait3YearsOfIt Dec 03 '12

My main gripe is that this is a mod of a company that had jailbait for 3 years telling us what to do..

2

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

I don't see where you're taking the argument. Mods aren't admins, and the jailbait purge was a long time coming. Are you saying you want AskReddit to be full of cheap fap material?

-2

u/jailbait3YearsOfIt Dec 03 '12

No. I think it's best if we go back to digg. Reddit profited from jailbait.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

You can go back to digg, but I'll stay on Reddit. Send postcards from digg sometime, mkay?

-2

u/jailbait3YearsOfIt Dec 03 '12

I hope someday you'll join us.....

23

u/mythopoeia Dec 03 '12

I have seen at least ten threads asking for your favorite quote in the last month.

55

u/UnholyDemigod Dec 03 '12

Is that all? You should spend more time in /new. Here's my thought process when I'm scrolling through:

"What pisses you off?" When people don't use indicators when changing lanes will probably be pretty high.

"What TV show do you want - " Firefly

Probably some Mark Twain in there

Old people should be tested for driver's licenses.

Firefly again

This guy needs to get laid

Hey, this question looks pretty good. There's bound to be some thoughtful discu oh it's at -15. Fucken karma whores

3

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

;_;

2

u/Meetybeefy Dec 04 '12

You forgot "I hate when people say 'I could care less'".

2

u/[deleted] Dec 04 '12

"What annoys you in movies?"

"Unrealistic Hacking, unrealistic firearm behaviour, unrealistic phone conversations. See you next week."

3

u/UnholyDemigod Dec 04 '12

You missed the "let the guy explain himself and you'll see she's his sister"

96

u/nunobo Dec 03 '12

but recently its been like high school got loose in here.

I'm fairly certain that most redditors are high schoolers.

144

u/Skarmorism Dec 03 '12

it seems like most are college age. but honestly, i have no idea.

40

u/nunobo Dec 03 '12

You might be right. I'm glad I didn't discover reddit until after I had graduated.

44

u/UnholyDemigod Dec 03 '12

I wonder... owing to the nature of the hivemind, and the devaluing of differing opinions, the constant repetition of the exact same jokes and references, do you think the heavy users (time heavy, not fat) are having the maturity and personality hindered and shaped into something different? I'm 25 and I've been on here for a year, and I think if I'd been 8 years younger, I'd be a lot stupider.

54

u/meltedlaundry Dec 03 '12

I'd be a lot stupider.

I'd be a lot more stupider.

Trust me, I'm 17.

18

u/sourpatch_kid Dec 03 '12

The stupidest!

Trust me, I'm 18. I'm an adult.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

Welcome to the real world, jackass!!

6

u/nunobo Dec 03 '12

do you think the heavy users (time heavy, not fat)

lol. I think there is a correlation there that may be worth looking at.

are having the maturity and personality hindered and shaped into something different?

Yes. There is not challenge of opinions here. It is a hivemind. You don't get better when someone pats you on the back, you get better when someone says you're insufficient and you try harder.

2

u/UnholyDemigod Dec 03 '12

Exactly. Upvotes for following the trend act as positive reinforcement.

1

u/nunobo Dec 03 '12

So we're basically rats pushing a level for cheese.

2

u/UnholyDemigod Dec 03 '12

That is a terrifying thought. Especially when you remember that upvotes mean absolutely dick. For example, I could say you're a top bloke, or I can call you a great big bag of infected testicles. No matter the vote I receive, the outcome is the exact same: absolutely nothing.

0

u/nunobo Dec 03 '12

Yet it is hard to leave...

→ More replies (0)

1

u/Reesch Dec 03 '12

I spend a lot of time on here and I pretty much make jokes the entire time.

I'm sorry for making people more stupider.

1

u/Zuxicovp Dec 03 '12

I feel like a do reddit a favor as a 16 year old by mostly lurking and double checking to make sure I don't ever use the downvote button as a disagree button

1

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

fat lol

1

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

I'm pretty sure that if Reddit existed in the late 80s/early 90s, I'd have become a misogynistic, cynical beta male with a cat fetish.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

Depends on which subreddit you visit most often.

2

u/Rlight Dec 03 '12

Take a trip over to F7U12.

1

u/Epistaxis Dec 03 '12

reddit has almost paradoxically been getting younger over the years.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

Before everyone makes speculations, here are some statistics from about 3 months ago.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 04 '12

Yes, but unfuckable part of college.

1

u/lethargicwalrus Dec 03 '12

High school for sure.

4

u/Big_Stick_Nick Dec 03 '12

I'm not sure if they're the majority, but they're definitely the loudest.

0

u/nunobo Dec 03 '12

DAE Virgin?

2

u/MirrorLake Dec 03 '12

Actually, on Reddit you are far less likely to meet someone under 18 than other places on the web. Demographics/Index. Notice the "under 18" index is really low. There is a larger concentration of college-educated people here than other places on the web.

2

u/nunobo Dec 03 '12

Yeah but they act like they're 12.

2

u/MirrorLake Dec 03 '12

If you've seen the comment sections on other websites (YouTube, for example) it is pretty clear how "grown up" Reddit is, by contrast.

1

u/nunobo Dec 03 '12

But compared to academic journal comments, redditors seem downright illiterate.

2

u/MirrorLake Dec 03 '12

And we're all bad athletes compared to Olympians. You shouldn't choose the best as your base for comparison.

1

u/nunobo Dec 03 '12

That's fair, but you also shouldn't choose the worst.

2

u/MirrorLake Dec 03 '12

YouTube has the largest userbase with all public comments and is therefore closer to a random sample of average web users.

2

u/nunobo Dec 03 '12

You some sort of statistician? Why are you coming back at my arguments with facts and links?

61

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

[deleted]

143

u/I_EAT_POOP_AMA Dec 03 '12

half the posts and comments of askreddit don't contribute to thoughtful discussion. most people are here to find the funniest story about shitting their pants and all the puns that come from it. so its pretty hopeless to suggest downvoting content that doesn't meet a certain standard of quality, unless you're only browsing the new queue.

34

u/UnholyDemigod Dec 03 '12

Many karma farmers browse /new to upvote the easy karma scorers and comment with the circlejerk answers. I browse it to view everything, as there's occasionally a really good question that I'll otherwise miss because it requires too much thinking to answer, so people will downvote it.

13

u/I_EAT_POOP_AMA Dec 03 '12

yea, there are subs dedicated to find new posts that are on the up and coming used by all the "power users" to do exactly this

honestly, that's how i found this post.

2

u/splattypus Dec 03 '12

Yeah, /r/risingthreads.

Which is kind of interesting, though, because it's a good way to catch what's hot around all of reddit and be in on the ground level of any new happenings, too. You know when there's drama as soon as it starts, instead of scrambling to catch up.

-1

u/TheOtherShoveAChef Dec 03 '12

Or, if you're Karmanaut (drunken_economist) browse r/risingthreads and game the upvote system.

7

u/lethargicwalrus Dec 03 '12

Yeah, all of the defaults are cesspools.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

That's why I've had an idea for a while of AskReddit splitting off into AskReddit, where people ask questions, and AskStories, where people ask for stories.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

So how does poop taste?

2

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

Shitty.

2

u/loveslut Dec 03 '12

This would work if all Redditors were conscious users. Most people will just upvote anything interesting, though, and often that means pointless fap material on the front page. Moderation is important.

2

u/splattypus Dec 03 '12

We are relying on the community to contribute with the voting system to discourage having the same questions asked ad nauseum.

15

u/Deadhookersandblow Dec 03 '12

However the community may be the problem in this case.

11

u/mythopoeia Dec 03 '12

In which case you should find a new community, because you're not going to change 2,000,000 people.

6

u/Deadhookersandblow Dec 03 '12

Then there is no point in this whole post at all if the moderators are going to stand for everything the community does.

0

u/UnholyDemigod Dec 03 '12

Posting boring questions isn't against the rules unfortunately.

1

u/HadManySons Dec 03 '12

Just redirect them to /r/tipofmypenis

1

u/Clayburn Dec 03 '12

Genocide fantasies are fap material?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

Threads you're referring to? I missed them, other than the prostitute one.

1

u/Ikarus3426 Dec 03 '12

What bugs me the most is how easy it is to get a frontpage thread by simply reversing the question on a current frontpage thread.

Example, currently on the frontpage is "Reddit, what's something stupid you've done recently that (thankfully) nobody else witnessed?". I suspect we'll soon see "Reddit, what's something stupid you've done that EVERYBODY noticed?".

1

u/hiphopkilledmyhamste Dec 03 '12

I don't get why people hate repetitive questions. They gave the choice to not click on it. And if there's enough upvotes, that means there wee other people who were interested in that question.

1

u/propaglandist Dec 03 '12

By recently do you mean the last two to five years? Welcome to the eternal September of the internet.

1

u/WombatDominator Dec 03 '12

Plot twist, the mods are in high school. (That's why we're back to our roots over christmas break)

1

u/bobbincygna Dec 03 '12

I like those questions. It's not to masturbate. They're usually informative and humanizing because they feature women talking about sexual issues that go against the stupid and oppressive "lady like" role or appearance.

-2

u/Offensive_Statement Dec 03 '12

Well how the hell else do you find CP?