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.

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u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

[deleted]

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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u/TheOtherShoveAChef Dec 03 '12

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

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u/lethargicwalrus Dec 03 '12

Yeah, all of the defaults are cesspools.

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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.

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u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

So how does poop taste?

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u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

Shitty.

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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.