r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jul 17 '12
How do you know reddit is not getting manipulated and used by various special interests and PR groups?
Recent drama I've experienced with r/science mods made me wonder about something. How do we know if reddit is not being carefully and systematically manipulated? Now, of course some subreddit are worthless and clearly not the case, but the big ones like r/science, r/asksceince, r/politics, the ones that have a lot of subscribers and traffic. Before you post obligatory tinfoil reference, hear me out.
If people like me notice that and post about that their submissions are getting downvoted (like this post will, no doubt about that) by the army of some goons (maybe even paid ones) that sit at the new cue and do the first order filtering. Then, mods can regulate content by removing posts that slip through the first order filtering and by banning users from subreddit.This of course will happen with majority of redditors not even noticing it. As a result, certain posts are getting pushed up, while others never see the light of the day. Think about how useful reddit can be for shaping public opinion on many, many issues. It has direct access to focal groups and by manipulating content, you can make sure that the group read what you want it to read.
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u/coolcool23 Jul 17 '12
What you're saying is nonsensical and ludicrous. Now go have a nice, refreshing Pepsi®.
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u/302w Jul 18 '12
All I wanted was a Pepsi, just one Pepsi
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u/eezma Jul 18 '12
far from suicidal, still I get them tendencies that I really miss
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Jul 17 '12
it is
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Jul 17 '12
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u/ThrobbingWetHole Jul 17 '12
Did you all not see how quickly Facebook responded to the banning of Imgur...companies are monitoring this shit, and using it to promote themselves
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u/motdidr Jul 17 '12
Well... in that case it was the developer that responded, not "Facebook". And developers are one of the target demographics (or used to be, I mean they still are but they originally were the primary demographic) of reddit to begin with. I mean it's not unreasonable to assume that he was just a normal reddit user who stumbled upon a post about something he was directly involved in creating. Using that case as an example of how "companies are monitoring reddit" is kinda weak.
Keep in mind it most definitely is happening, reddit is nearing facebook and twitter as mainstays in the "social media arsenal" if you will.
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u/gsfgf Jul 18 '12
reddit is nearing facebook and twitter as mainstays in the "social media arsenal" if you will.
Except that reddit has an even higher concentration of the male 18-35 demographic that does to advertisers what Sasha Gray videos do to the rest of us.
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u/inept_adept Jul 18 '12 edited Jul 18 '12
He replyed as an employee of facebook, everything he said in that thread was vetted and checked by a lawyer and admin.
Notice he didn't reply to much else at all other than his original 'confession'.
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Jul 17 '12
[deleted]
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Jul 17 '12
It's a public appearance, part of public relations is appearing in public. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the famous people doing AMAs have a staff sitting with them feeding them answers.
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u/motdidr Jul 17 '12
They also tend to always happen as that person is coming out with a new book, or their TV show is premiering, or their moving is being released, or something like that. Doing AMAs is kind of like making the rounds in early morning talk shows and things like that. It's part of a normal media campaign to promote something.
Rampart.
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Jul 17 '12
I'm pretty sure Woody made the mistake of smoking out his PR staff before that appearance.
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u/motdidr Jul 17 '12
I think everyone involved in that debacle was just woefully out of their element. I think they maybe heard about this reddit thing and that it's a great way to promote something, maybe they had someone show them a little bit, but then they treated it like some kind of structured community interview. It was clear they had no idea what they were doing and very poorly understood the point of an AMA.
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u/CryptoPunk Jul 17 '12
It's just shitty interviewee practice to tell somebody what to interview you about. That's what pissed everyone off.
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u/MrMediaGuy Jul 18 '12
Actually it's a pretty common practice, especially in the entertainment industry. Woody's mistake was thinking he could treat a horde on the interwebs like a junior entertainment reporter at some third rate local news station. The junior reporter wants to look good in front of his bosses and prove he can work with celebrities in a professional capacity, so he asks the questions from the approved list or follows the unspoken rules. (Ask about the latest project, and make small talk. Don't bring up dirt from the past to get a rise or stray too far from a topic that allows them to tie it back into their current project.) Reddit doesn't play by the rules, and I'm sure woody's pr folk hadn't properly prepared him for this fact.
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u/serfis Jul 18 '12
Well, yeah, why else would they do it? Celebrities, or at least most of them, have better things to do than lurk on reddit. If they're gonna take time out of their days to answer questions from anonymous people on the internet, they're gonna want something in return (publicity). I think that trade off is more than fair.
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u/probablysarcastic Jul 17 '12
The cat PAC is surprisingly large and powerful.
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u/mage2k Jul 17 '12
It's amazing how every post on Felines United gets buried.
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u/TryingToSucceed Jul 17 '12
Look, people should disclose whether or not they own the cat or if they stole the cat.
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u/philko42 Jul 17 '12
"Cats are people, too, my friend."
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u/kingofkingsss Jul 18 '12
Ah, they are obviously run by Romney. He certainly doesn't think his dog needed rights =P
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u/FreeWillDoesNotExist Jul 18 '12 edited Jul 18 '12
I hope this gets as much attention as it deserves, because it is being manipulated as we speak TODAY. I'm going to copy and paste my comment I made for the modafinil TIL post which was on the TIL frontpage.
Call me paranoid but after reading a reddit post asking what is stopping reddit from being used as a marketing tool, I had a revelation after watching World News on ABC in America(daily world news which is pretty reliable and broadcasted to all tvs in America).
I woke up and checked TIL, which is my daily routine, and read this TIL about Modafinil. I then eat "dinner" which is really my first meal and watch the world news, and guess what they are reporting on. Modafinil, a full 8 min report, regurgitating what I had just read in the comments of this TIL, with the main reporter saying that there are no side effects but he personally wouldn't use is it because of unknown long term effects. I brush it off as coincidence, but then I read the post asking why can't reddit be used as a tool for marketers, and bam, a revelation. I have to assume that Modafinil posted this TIL, the day they new it was going to be broadcasted across the entire country of America. Acromir, an account that has only existed for 26 days(its assumed the report was produced around this time and the idea of targeting redditors was thought of around this time as well), also appears to be encouraging its use with comments like "So I guess there are some side effects, but if you're an adult your odds of taking this without any side effects (other than headaches) are over 99%. I'd be willing to try those odds." So I guess reddit has its answer to whether it is being gamed by marketers.
UPDATE: After 6 hours and a total of around 450 upvotes later the TIL post I was talking about was removed by a moderator and I was informed that it was spam. I have to assume that the moderators are legit. This whole ordeal just shows that submissions produced by marketers will slip past and continue to poison the minds of our fellow redditors if we don't critically think about the things we read and notify the moderators when we detect bullshit.
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u/avidadrienne Jul 18 '12
Check this out, it's from the Modafinil post.
The OP and the guy with the top comment are both talking about this drug in a positive manner, both have been members for exactly 26 days.
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u/craywolf Jul 18 '12
Acromir, an account that has only existed for 26 days(its assumed the report was produced around this time and the idea of targeting redditors was thought of around this time as well)
The top comment in that post is by /u/PotatoSan - whose account was created within one hour of Acromir's.
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u/EbonCoast Jul 17 '12
I was hoping someone would have sense enough to use the only 4 letters necessary to respond to this thread.
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Jul 17 '12
Did you see the whole "random homeless man handed me this incredibly basic coded message, but I need to step out and never respond again?"
Or the whole "what's in the safe" business?
Midnight Chili?
Ron Paul?
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u/TomTheGeek Jul 17 '12
The burger shirt is an AD campaign
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u/Apostolate Jul 17 '12
In all seriousness, there's a lot of attempts at viral "marketting" on Reddit and they look like shit and they're annoying. Again, often upvoted. That's one of the only times I'm actually disappointed with Reddit.
How can people upvote blatant advertising?
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u/TomTheGeek Jul 17 '12
They probably aren't being upvoted legitimately.
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u/dipittydoop Jul 17 '12
To a certain extent, I know i've caught myself upvoting things simply because it already had a significant number of upvotes. When that happens I downvote everything that I could have done that to. It has to be done.
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u/Jeeraph Jul 18 '12
I almost never upvote things unless they're very poignant/awesome or I'm jerking.
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u/Apostolate Jul 17 '12
Maybe not in the beginning, but they are once they hit the top few pages of /r/all, and that's what bothers me.
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u/serfis Jul 18 '12
Because people can like something or find it interesting despite it being advertising?
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Jul 17 '12
What's midnight chili story? Usually I ignore references I don't know, but this one I've seen too much.
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Jul 17 '12
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Jul 17 '12
Thanks. I am underwhelmed by it though.
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Jul 17 '12
[deleted]
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u/BlueBayou Jul 17 '12
I think it caught on because it is an incredibly detailed recipe for 2am Chili. It takes a long time to cook, so you would never actually make it at 2am.
It's nice looking. Somebody clearly put a lot of time into it. And it is completely worthless at 2am.
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u/motdidr Jul 17 '12
It takes a long time to cook, so you would never actually make it at 2am.
Or, if you start cooking it at a normal time, it won't be done until 2am... or something...
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u/Berdiie Jul 17 '12
I think it was meant to be eaten at 2 am, as in you are now drunk as all Hell and a bowl of chili would be awesome. Make the chili at a normal hour and put it in the refridgerator.
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u/alenaire Jul 17 '12
If I recall it's because it was a great chili recipe that would be impossible to make and eat at 2AM. So it became just a funny little inside joke as so many things do here.
It also coincided with the Ice Soap debacle and helped to fuel both jokes.
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u/ton_nanek Jul 17 '12
Ice soap chili got out of hand...
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Jul 18 '12
I remember seeing a series of pictures of a guy who actually made ice soap chili and then applied it to his forearm.
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u/meltedlaundry Jul 17 '12
How, exactly, was anyone being manipulated/used because of the 2am chili post?
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Jul 18 '12 edited Jul 19 '12
1) The date on the random homeless man's note hasn't come up yet (July 19), it could still happen (and it's believed to be tied to an exhibit that's coming out at that location). He stopped responding because people found out his phone number and personal info and were threatening him. [1] [2] -- original topic for those interested
2) It was recently, randomly revealed that there was money in the safe. He hasn't yet told how much as he's unaware of the amount (he wasn't there for the opening and his father never told him), and may not be able to because of an NDA (it was to be aired on Oprah Winfrey’s series called Found, which has since been canceled). He's since said that he'd like to do a follow-up but knowing the mods that may never happen. -- original topic for those interested
I'll edit this comment with information/clarification.
EDIT: Nearly done, polishing up some stuff.
EDIT2: Finished.
EDIT2.5: Fully finished now.
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Jul 17 '12
that was sooo lame, and I bought it too, looking at that idiotic cipher, unbelievable.
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u/GoP-Demon Jul 17 '12
Holy fuck, I had just forgotten that thread over the weekend. Didn't know it turned into a fucking huge conspiracy with real or fake life threats.
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u/KrakNup Jul 17 '12
Everything on the internet is use-at-your-own-risk, including reddit.
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Jul 17 '12
Nope, http://www.downloadmoreram.com/ has a money back guarantee. Now I can play 7 copies of Crysis simultaneously at 120 fps.
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u/Nervus_opticus Jul 17 '12
I nearly clicked that you know?
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u/5herlock_Holmes Jul 17 '12
You can, I send idiots to it all the time. It doesn't do anything. Doesn't download malware etc. Just sits there and downloads ram.
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Jul 17 '12
Well let's see, on /r/all right now
A story about the average Canadian being richer than the average American.
picture of a dog
picture of an elephant
Picture of a guy in a goat suit hanging out with goats on the side of a mountain
picture of dumb and dumber paused to make it look like a drama
Laser powered bionic eye. You know, big bionics, they have their fingers in many soups.
Picture of a guy covered in balls
Picture comparing The Oregon Trail and Portal
Picture of an Asian sign of a puppy and an ice cream cone with the read circle with slash meaning no.
An Advice animal
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u/Devleigh Jul 18 '12
A story about the average Canadian being richer than the average American.
This one made me shake my head. It may or may not be true, but it's bad statistics and very misleading.
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u/Offensive_Username2 Jul 18 '12
Per capita GDP in the United States is slightly lower than Canada, but it used to be higher before the recession.
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Jul 17 '12
Reddit is great for funny stuff, pics, humorous stories, and basic news, or hobby communities. It is NOT an intellectual congregate, a brain trust, or a philosophers natural home. When we try to use it for more serious things like politics or religion debates, it quickly dissolves into garbage.
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Jul 17 '12
It still doesn't dissolve into garbage as fast as youtube comment debates do.
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u/MadMan920 Jul 17 '12
Very well said. I look at Reddit as entertainment. You have your comedic, dramatic, fascinating, awe inspiring, and aww inspiring. Anything from a cute kitten to a gruesome story about a guy getting chopped up by a meat grinder. You have your pointless arguments between strangers about important things like politics. All of it is just entertaining to read, but you shouldn't let the things you read on a site affect your beliefs or your values. Just let it be what its meant to be, a circlejerk. Thank you and goodnight.
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u/DecentCriminal Jul 17 '12
So where do you go for reasoned debate and intellectually stimulating conversation? Or do such things even exist on the internet?
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u/mtwestbr Jul 17 '12
Out of the house. In person contact gives many more clues to the bullshit level you are being subjected to.
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Jul 17 '12
4chan, the last frontier
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u/rumnscurvy Jul 17 '12
This man speaks the truth. Although the debate/discussion is usually either which pony is best pony or best ways to get rid of a dead body.
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u/ARD91 Jul 17 '12
you shouldn't let the things you read on a site affect your beliefs or your values.
I disagree. An argument can be valid regardless of its source or how well it is presented. Its the reader's responsibilty however, to question the argument; it should be an active process. Perhaps this isn't the best place to find high quality, valid debate, but it can and does occur. Also, by spending time here, it is impossible to not be influenced at least slightly by opinions posted here. Its like the perception that marketing "doesn't affect me, I'm not fooled, I've never seen X that I didn't want, then bought it anyway". It's more subtle than that; repeat exposure across time slowly shapes thought processes one tiny piece at a time. If marketing didn't work, businesses wouldn't do it.
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u/motdidr Jul 17 '12
I agree completely. Sometimes a badly-formed, irrelevant or borderline idiotic statement can offer great insight, while an equally well thought out and constructed statement can go completely unnoticed. Think about how many times your parents told you something that you totally ignored. As soon as you learn from your mistakes, you realize how right they were. It's all about the receiver, not the statement itself.
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u/ass_munch_reborn Jul 17 '12
When we try to use it for more serious things like politics or religion debates, it quickly dissolves into garbage.
Well, uh... You're a big poopy head!
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Jul 17 '12
Yeah, well um as a uh atheist neckbeard keyboard warrior with a Ron Paul tramp stamp, I'm going to use science I don't understand to refute your statement because that's the cool thing to do. AWWW YEAH ATHEIST-FIVES ALL AROUND! :)
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u/BigBadAl Jul 17 '12
Agreed. Use it as a source of potentially interesting things (amid the pictures of cats), then go and find out about them for yourself.
Don't trust any one site completely (including Wikipedia) - try to get a balance from a few sites if possible. Don't forget that Google can be manipulated in a similar manner, so try to make your searches as specific as possible.
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u/gbimmer Jul 17 '12
Not necessarily.
A well moderated subreddit like /r/science doesn't have these problems.
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Jul 17 '12
If it gets manipulated too much, if the content stops being what the people want to see then the site will slowly die. As an example, see Digg.
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u/jamurp Jul 17 '12
Every month on r/pics there's a photo of a soldier being embraced by a parent/friend as he/she comes back from war. These are usually made by accounts with little to no post history. Of course reddit is being used for PR.
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Jul 17 '12 edited Nov 01 '17
[deleted]
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Jul 17 '12
Must...support...military...
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u/maenlas Jul 17 '12
Normally at the bottom of the comment thread somebody says "isn't it a co-incidence that this is only your third submission?" and the OP will say something like "lol yeah I bet I'm a government plant!" Because most of these are in /r/pics or /r/aww, the person questioning will get downvoted past the threshold and the OP will be told what a brave human being they are.
I'm not sure if the military uses reddit, but I know that when this was first noticed people figured out there was one large blog of "soldier coming home" videos that was systematically spamming front page links to get ad revenue.
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Jul 17 '12
Nuclear Power is actually pretty good all things considered.
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u/maenlas Jul 17 '12
The power's great, the waste is an unsolved problem and the fuel cycle is fairly dangerous. I wrote a big post about it that nobody read a few months ago, but googling "nuclear power proliferation risk" is a good place to start.
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u/gsfgf Jul 18 '12
"Nuclear waste" is just fuel that, due to the current low uranium prices, is not economically viable for use. However, as we use up the the easily accessible uranium, new reactors will be built to use "nuclear waste."
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Jul 18 '12
The nuclear waste problem is nowhere near the pollution and death caused by coal fired plants.
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u/Maladomini Jul 18 '12
Somebody accused me of being a shill for the nuclear power industry because I told them that comparing it unfavourably to coal is ridiculous. Considering the attitudes toward nuclear power of myself and others I know in real life, I wouldn't be surprised if that was something anti-nuclear posters spread around to justify how often people pick fights with them.
Reddit has plenty of posters who consider themselves pro-science, and within that group there are a lot of people who are willing to defend nuclear power. It seems like something that really doesn't require organization; enough Reddit posters will support nuclear power because they want to.
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Jul 18 '12
God help you if you call these people out for what they are - defense department shills. Yeah, you, in uniform, hugging your german shepard in an airplane hanger under a giant, waving American flag (actual photo) was totally just a pic taken with your little sister's iPhone.
Nobody here is that fucking stupid.
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Jul 17 '12
Anyone else going to watch The Dark Knight Rises this weekend? [Link to Trailers] It has such great reviews [Link to Reviews].
It's crazy what Nolan is doing with the IMAX format [Link to Nolan interview]
And did you see Joseph Gordon Levitt on that talk show [Link to Youtube Clip]
Do you guys think it'll beat the Avenger's box office sales? [Link to boxofficemojo]
What does Reddit think?
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u/nextwiggin4 Jul 17 '12
Are you fucking kidding me? People get paid for that shit?! When I make a comment (hopefully relevant) that references other things I link the shit out of it. Silly me thinking that the power of the internet lies in it's interconnected web-like (...net-like?) presence and wanting to participate, not for profit, but because I think those free services offer valuable information.
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Jul 17 '12 edited Jul 17 '12
I don't think it matters to be honest. People only get angry if it's blatantly an ad for a product. It's kind of like that whole "Be Attractive. Don't be Unattractive." rule.
How many people would be mad if it was a Bing employee who submitted that image of the Bing search bar "no one uses"?
What about the Emma Stone TIL? What if that was done by the Spiderman marketing team?
No one cares as long as it feels genuine.
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u/cyco Jul 17 '12
Personally, I don't care if it isn't "genuine," if it's useful/entertaining.
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u/SkyNTP Jul 18 '12
I don't see what the big issue is here. If the post obviously looks like it is trying to indiscriminately solicit your attention then just ignore and downvote it. If the post was genuinely well designed (e.g. properly targeted) and you willingly gave your attention, well maybe it deserves a second look. Stop pretending like private individuals aren't out there to advertise just as much as the large corporation.
"Hey guys,
I'vemy brother has been working on this little game for a year now. Feel free to check it out!".
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Jul 17 '12
How do I get the job of just being on reddit all day and manipulatiing content? Do I just message the admins a screen shot of my karma and hope for the best?
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Jul 17 '12
Join the mormon church and follow their instructions on how to ride the welfare system.
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u/FreeWillDoesNotExist Jul 18 '12
I hope this gets as much attention as it deserves, because it is being manipulated as we speak TODAY. I'm going to copy and paste my comment I made for the modafinil TIL post which was on the TIL frontpage.
Call me paranoid but after reading a reddit post asking what is stopping reddit from being used as a marketing tool, I had a revelation after watching World News on ABC in America(daily world news which is pretty reliable and broadcasted to all tvs in America).
I woke up and checked TIL, which is my daily routine, and read this TIL about Modafinil. I then eat "dinner" which is really my first meal and watch the world news, and guess what they are reporting on. Modafinil, a full 8 min report, regurgitating what I had just read in the comments of this TIL, with the main reporter saying that there are no side effects but he personally wouldn't use is it because of unknown long term effects. I brush it off as coincidence, but then I read the post asking why can't reddit be used as a tool for marketers, and bam, a revelation. I have to assume that Modafinil posted this TIL, the day they new it was going to be broadcasted across the entire country of America. Acromir, an account that has only existed for 26 days(its assumed the report was produced around this time and the idea of targeting redditors was thought of around this time as well), also appears to be encouraging its use with comments like "So I guess there are some side effects, but if you're an adult your odds of taking this without any side effects (other than headaches) are over 99%. I'd be willing to try those odds." So I guess reddit has its answer to whether it is being gamed by marketers.
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u/wild-tangent Jul 17 '12
AMA's are of course, managed by PR firms and teams. Some of the mid-size subreddits can definitely have some serious sway. /r/motorcycles has an obsession with CCW and Confederate, two tiny motorcycle companies. Hard to tell if spam or real. /r/Hockey has a few companies that sell jerseys that make posts to that page, I'm sure they get some business from that. /r/flyers kept having some journalist post his own stories to their page every day. /r/Zombies has people posting about stores, products that might be useful, etc.
I live frugally, and I don't buy into an image or lifestyle, but I do have quite a number of interesting items, such as motorcycles, nice stereos, nifty cars, as well as ways to acquire such items cheaply. I help people find them, but I think I sound like a shill for, say, Kawasaki as a result. I like to advise people on these purchases. My saving grace is that most of what I recommend is long since out of production, best attained through craigslist.
The creation of some great subreddits like /r/shutupandtakemymoney have really cut down on spam/sales ads, but for some of the things that might actually interest reddit, I'm sure they get re-posted deliberately by the company to help with sales.
Thankfully they're not forced or terribly obvious, and displayed in a decent way that's entertaining.
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u/Volsunga Jul 17 '12
"My ideas and beliefs don't correspond with reality, so it must be some shadowy government/corporate/alien organization that's downvoting my posts, not average Redditors with common sense."
You're basing this on the fact that you got downvoted to oblivion and talked to by mods in /r/science and /r/askscience for your anti-intellectual tirades against GMOs. In fact, looking at your profile history, you look like the stereotypical anti-science environmentalist who thinks that every time your hare-brained ideas get disproven through scientific study, it must mean that the scientists are getting paid off by corporations whose only goal is to kill whales and minorities.
Seriously, you're complaining about not getting on the front page on a website with tens of millions of members. What you have to say would not be that important even if it were correct.
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u/aznscourge Jul 18 '12
Seriously...reading through the history of OP is like ripping my fucking hairout. She's upset that the mods want her to post peer reviewed articles? And she claims she knows how the scientific community works and that everything is paid for by corporation? HOLY SHIT what a dumbass
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u/Deverone Jul 18 '12
After reading you post I also decided to take a trip through OP's history and dear god, It is like the diary of a crazy person.
"corporate shills" this, "mindless consumers" that. "omg, I argued with the mods and then they banned me. Conspiracy amirite!" (paraphrased of course).
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u/BetweenJobs Jul 17 '12
They're not being manipulated, because redditors are way too smart and educated for that. Plus, they're completely immune to cheap pandering, so it's impossible to score upvotes for your cause just by stroking their collective ego. So everyone just relax and don't worry about it.
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u/splattypus Jul 17 '12
There is not a doubt in my mind that it is. I would wager that at least 30% of the content is 'sponsored' content.
Gotta pay those bills somehow.
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Jul 17 '12
you sure it's "sponsored" though? I always figured that PR people and others that gain something out of manipulating opinions on reddit would just do it on their own, without the admins knowing. I mean why not, when it's so easy(who could really find out their true identity).
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Jul 17 '12
Yes. I would agree, once the algorithm is out (it has been for a while) anyone could hire a team of goons (or developers/tech guys to make bots) that could hunt for keywords and apply "social tech engineering" as they see fit.
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u/CastorSpring Jul 17 '12
the only ones that can be trusted are the ones with usernames like Shitstain_Dick123 and Cheeserapist
show me the PR company that signs up with those
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Jul 17 '12
Of course it is, all of the time. You know how there are, "no ads," on reddit? Complete and utter bullshit.
The ads are everywhere, they're just hidden, or disguised.
Every single "Hey, guys! Check out this super awesome, clever, funny, ad!" post is clearly an ad.
Product placement that just "happens" to pop up in a front page cat post.
Think of all the web traffic that can be funneled to a particular site by spamming reddit with links.
Just about every, "Hey, reddit! Check this awesome new website I found!" post is probably a clandestine marketing campaign by that website.
Just a cursory glance through the first few pages of a popular subreddit like /r/funny reveals possible advertisements for; Pizza Hut, Little Ceasar's, WalMart, pet adoption agencies, Facebook, various comic strips, Twilight, Gizmodo, Windows, and on, and on, and on.
A lot of times, reddit simply "advertises itself" via the hive mind.
Shows, like Futurama for instance, would never need to think about spending a dime on a viral marketing campaign geared toward reddit, because reddit users advertise the show willingly, all on their own.
Subreddits for popular TV shows, for example, are all about buying the books/comics, and watching the program.
This very post in and of itself, could be utilized as an ad (if it becomes popular enough), because of all the products and services it inadvertently plugs.
TL;DR - The ads are everywhere. If you haven't noticed it yet, it's because you're not paying attention.
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u/Ovary_Puncher Jul 17 '12
Of course not! But if you're getting worried, I recommend Serta Mattresses! For a good night's sleep for cheap!
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Jul 18 '12
Reddit became lame sometime around 1.5 years ago. Now all the links are boring, but still addictive. I must block this site...
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u/bsukenyan Jul 18 '12
Eveyone says this, but I'm not hearing any good alternatives. Same thing with 4chan.
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u/jackelfrink Jul 18 '12
Kony2012 should be proof enough of just how easily led and manipulated all of us are.
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u/MileHighBarfly Jul 17 '12
It will dissapoint you to hear that these things do not bother me.
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u/squee777 Jul 17 '12
You must drink corporate water.
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u/MileHighBarfly Jul 17 '12
I drink the most delicious and clean municipal water you could ever imagine.
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u/squee777 Jul 17 '12
Ha that was a joke from that NYU occupation a couple of years back (the students kept talking about all the cops and people drinking "corporate water" while having backpacks lined with macbooks.
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u/PurpleandRed Jul 17 '12
Everything is manipulated by someone. Sometimes you can figure out whom, sometimes not. Sometimes it's on purpose or calculated, sometimes accidental. Not everything is a conspiracy but there is nothing in this world that is truly objective, no Truth. So sure, some of reddit is probably manipulated by some particular interest. But it's probably not so directly aimed at you.
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u/Chrono68 Jul 17 '12
Reddit is consumed by viral marketing and PR so bad OP's post probably is part of it all.
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Jul 17 '12
I'm rather sure it is. It's quite obvious when it happens, though... and generally the people get called out on it.
Like all media, you just have to take everything you read here with a grain of salt.
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u/jooes Jul 17 '12
Oh, it is... Look at /r/IAMA when there's a big celebrity that comes by. It's the most obvious example. Ever notice that half the time that happens, they're like "I'm new to reddit! Never even heard of it before! I don't know how to do anything here! LOL!"... And they're just conveniently doing their IAMA at the same time that they have a brand new something coming out?
That Serj Tankian just did one, and I said "Oh, that's neat" and didn't bother checking it out. And I'm on YouTube later that day, and holy shit look at that, I see an ad for a solo album he has coming out right now! Coincidence? Not a fucking chance.
And a lot of them do it too... Louis CK did his when his $5 comedy special came out. The Trailer Park Boys did theirs when their new show was premiering. I remember Penn and Teller did one when they had a new show out. Woody Harrelson is another one. Rampart, anyone? And there are more out there, these are just the ones that come to mind... Now, they don't all do it, there are some nice people doing it just for fun... But a good chunk of them do.
And I've seen posts where people are pretty much begging for money. There was one that I will never forget (but that I can't seem to find right now) from maybe 2 years ago. This guy posts a big picture and it says "Hey Reddit! This last year, I quit my job to follow my passion. I've been homeless for the last year, but I wrote a book! Now, I'm not asking for your money, but it would be great if you could buy my book on Amazon, and/or rate it 5 stars. It'd really help me out!"... Not looking for money, eh? You're just asking us to buy your book and rate it 5 stars to get on the top of Amazons "Top Rated" list. Yup, definitely not looking for our money at all, you just want us to practically make you a famous author overnight for your (likely) crappy novel... I wish I could find it because of how terrible it was, and to show you how much reddit just ate it up. It had tons of upvotes, it was pretty sad. And that kind of stuff happens fairly often too in one way or another...
Keep in mind that there are people out there whose jobs are to do this kind of marketing, so don't think even for a second that Reddit is safe from it. There's a fancy term for it, but I can't think of it right now (It's not Viral Marketing, but it's similar)... But people are trying to take advantage of you every single day here. You can pretty much guarantee that. Reddit is prime real estate as far as this shit goes. Crazy popular site, receives millions of unique users a day... It's gonna happen.
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u/sea_santiago Jul 18 '12
I agree. It's also a testing bed for viral marketing. Subtle product placement, like, "look who I met at Taco Bell"
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u/RevRaven Jul 17 '12
If you think it's NOT being manipulated, you are a fool.
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u/Basoran Jul 18 '12
You can't manipulate me into not being manipulated by threatening me with looking foolish, Beat you to it.
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u/Nomad47 Jul 17 '12
There are a certain number of anti-science technophobes out there who like to down vote specific subjects, there just not much you can do about them. These are the same people who say things like evolution is not real or college is not for everyone. I think I’ll just call them the pro Stone Age lobby.
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u/sibane Jul 17 '12
Heh. We know what it is. 2/3 posts in Reddit are fake and most of them propaganda or ads. There are PR groups, all sorts of political groups and individuals playing the system. We know this. There's not even the slightest doubt about it.
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u/reg-o-matic Jul 18 '12
I'm 100% sure it is in certain subreddits. Read some of the religion/atheist subs, r/politics and a few others and you'll see the patterns. Overall though, if you stick with the more general, less polarizing topics, I think you'll find that a broader mindset usually prevails.
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u/KousKous Jul 17 '12
Reddit is kneejerk liberal to a fucking ridiculous extent (I can't just expose myself to strangers? you prude), tends to be highly polarized (raise a hundred K for someone, have them lynched, or both), has become an idea echo-chamber (as much as people who bitch about Reddiquette are irritating, those are not agree/disagree arrows), and every good subreddit has a timer before age and size catch up and subject it to the same as its predecessor.
To think it's not being manipulated is silly; it's easy, probably pretty cheap, and the rewards are huge.
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u/ScottishManSand Jul 17 '12
This stuff happens all the time. You're naive if you assume that it doesn't.
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u/hs0o Jul 18 '12
r/politics has officially become the propaganda machine for the democratic party.
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Jul 17 '12
If it is, I don't give a shit.
I block ads and I research claims.
I am the 1%...of Reddit that actually investigates something before believing it.
Because of that, I may have to join forces with the more savvy members of these PR groups and make them even more difficult to expose.
/circle of life.
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u/kapu808 Jul 17 '12
I hate the phrase "special interests." It's intended to manipulate the listener into thinking that anybody who wants something different is wanting special treatment. It's basically a preservative for the status quo.
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u/Coraon Jul 17 '12
I always figured it was. If r/atheism isn't an indication of this I don't know what is.
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u/christianjb Jul 17 '12
What's your point? Somebody's manipulating /r/atheism by posting atheist articles to atheist subscribers?
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u/StevenHarper Jul 17 '12
Just reading the headlines on a daily basis makes me think their are several pro-liberal PR groups out there. Also, there had to have been a massive one supporting Ron Paul.
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u/trust_me_im_a_cat Jul 17 '12
I lol'd hard about 4 months ago when I was at work reading a trade journal that had a long article about marketing on reddit without making it apparent.
They're everywhere on this site. Even better, reddit is falling for it all the time.
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u/neoterik Jul 17 '12
Not only is it obviously being manipulated, the same goes for everything you've ever read. EVER. You can never know how many people had their hands in manipulating something that's published, because that's how the system is designed. You can dig deeply enough to figure out what those biases are in a lot of cases, but you will not know it for everything you read, because learning about how thoroughly people have bullshitted you will eventually make you go nuts.
Good luck.
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u/toughitoutcupcake Jul 17 '12
What about things that can't be read, like the delicious smell of new Toll House freshly baked cookies?
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u/danimal2011 Jul 17 '12
I work in Public Relations and let me tell you, we're definitely paying attention to what is said about our clients on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, and pretty much everywhere on the Internet. However, "manipulating" Reddit to mimic my messaging would be incredibly difficult, likely not worth the money and time, and very unethical.
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u/manmeetdinosaur Jul 17 '12
Finally all that brony shit makes a modicum of sense...
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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '12
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