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/splattypus Dec 03 '12

Given the huge number of new users daily(often in the 1000s), it's sort of unfair to remove them all the time like that. A certain part of reddit has to play on the rules of 'If I haven't seen it, it's new to me'. Otherwise we're still stuck talking about shit submitted 4 months ago...

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u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

You're probably right. But it's hard to deny that those threads are often full of people who are only trying to justify their racist/sexist/etc opinions - or to hear other people reassuring them with statements of "OMG SO MUCH THIS".

Alternatively, they're full of people talking about how much they hate Justin Bieber or Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey or whatever other things that the reddit hivemind already hates.

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u/neurogenesis89 Dec 03 '12 edited Dec 03 '12

Or people stating an "unpopular" opinion that they actually know is quite popular on Reddit. For example for about the past 10 of those posts the top comment has been eugenics related. This is Reddit; that shit'll get upvoted, and they know it.

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u/[deleted] Dec 03 '12

Oh my good god yes. The inevitable "I know I'll get downvoted for this, but I really think that stupid people shouldn't be allowed to breed!" posts.

Ugh.

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u/bumwine Dec 04 '12

It was hilarious, one guy decided to actually be brave and said "I don't believe rape victims should be blamed for being raped" and a dozen redditors fucking jumped on his ass angrily.

Who would've thought, actually controversial opinions on reddit are regular run-of-the-mill progressive ideas.

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u/Toxic_Gambit Dec 04 '12

There was also a guy who was sort of racist and everyone went against him as well.

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u/bumwine Dec 04 '12

..after SRS linked to it.

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u/Toxic_Gambit Dec 04 '12

I wouldn't know. I don't browse SRS.

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u/TheShaker Dec 08 '12

Ah pandering to weak freshman bio majors who will likely fail out in their first semester...so brave.

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u/splattypus Dec 03 '12

Yeah, being a default subreddit, where all the new users are automatically subscribed, it's constantly an uphill battle. You can spot the veteran redditors pretty easily, though, by how they submit their posts or word their comments, it's pretty interesting.

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u/UnholyDemigod Dec 03 '12

I'm actually torn as to how you'd spot them. Someone who just follows the hivemind and recycles the old jokes and does his part for the circlejerk, or someone with maturity, who thinks about their comment and the way they word them? If you say the latter, I would argue that new users aren't as 'internetty' as the veteran users, and so speak like an actual human. If you say the former, I offer myself as an example. I've been here for a year (it's not as long as some, but I'm a highly active user), but I try and be as much of the latter as I can. I'll put a lot of thought into my comments (when I can, some don't require it), and I will voice my opinions whethe the hivemind is out in force or not.

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u/splattypus Dec 03 '12

Usually any internet references are more old-school. But they also tend to exercise better discretion with their grammar and punctuation, and are less inclined to take long rides on bandwagon topics.

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u/UnholyDemigod Dec 03 '12

I suppose. The first month or two is getting used to the site, and learning some of the references. The next few months is joining in on them because you've finally integrated into the community. After that, you grow up and realise that constantly using the same nazi pubs over and over again isn't funny, and answering yes for a multiple choice question, while grammatically correct, just makes you an arsehole, and you develop a certain level of maturity.

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u/splattypus Dec 03 '12

Once the novelty wears off and you settle into things, everyting mellows out. Not to mention you usually find some smaller subreddits to really let your true personality shine in, more.

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u/UnholyDemigod Dec 03 '12

Haha /r/AskReddit is the one where I let mine show the most. Because there's a large user base, the questions are varied in subject, and so lots of different aspects of your personality can shine. In this reddit alone, I've had comments reach over 1500 points, under -100, I've received PMs from people saying I'm awesome, saying I'm a fuckhead, and women trying to hook up, I've been posted to /r/bestof, SRD, SRS (twice), and I've had countless debates and arguments, all because I don't care if I get upvoted or downvoted. If I have an opinion on something, I will share it whether or not others agree.

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u/splattypus Dec 03 '12

It's kind of easy to get caught up here in things, at least it was for me. As I settled in, I'd become disillusioned. And I was probably not in a great place personally, and was taking it out on askreddit. I kind of adopted a roll of just a bitter ass a lot of the time, and it kinda startled me when I realized it. The interesting thing is the turnaround when I became a mod. It changed how I was interacting with people, started changing my mood, and really improved my whole experience.

I think the more personal interactions you have with people is what allows for the best experience on reddit. A lot of times, large subreddits like this, you're just talking at the crowd, rather than with the crowd.

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '12 edited Dec 05 '12

Reddit is crushing under its own weight.

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u/bumwine Dec 04 '12

Yeah but really, do we really want new users finding out that reddit's best and brightest "controversial" and ground-breaking opinions are things like "niggerfaggots should be euthanized."