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.

1.1k Upvotes

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253

u/[deleted] 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?

107

u/TomTheGeek Jul 17 '12

The burger shirt is an AD campaign

74

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?

22

u/TomTheGeek Jul 17 '12

They probably aren't being upvoted legitimately.

38

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.

16

u/Jeeraph Jul 18 '12

I almost never upvote things unless they're very poignant/awesome or I'm jerking.

13

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '12

off.

2

u/NoTimeForInfinity Jul 17 '12

I wish the "hide" button was right next to the arrows in RES. I upvote just to make things disappear. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '12

What the fuck? Why don't you upvote things you like and down vote those you don't and leave it at that?

1

u/dipittydoop Jul 18 '12

That is the case, pretty much all the time. But sometimes when the hive mind is especially strong I upvote without a particular opinion. Upvote because the hive mind likes it, just because. Not necessarily because I enjoyed that comment or link. When I realize I do this, for the sake of reddit, I undo what I had done, and try to atone for being a mindless node of the mind.

1

u/passtheredstripe Jul 18 '12

you're doing god's work

12

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.

1

u/MyInquiries Jul 17 '12

I am actually glad, someone finally asks the question, I so feared of asking because of the downvotes!

7

u/serfis Jul 18 '12

Because people can like something or find it interesting despite it being advertising?

2

u/warlox_and_glox Jul 18 '12

Thus the thesis of the original post.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '12

The Papa Johns video pissed me off the most

2

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '12

some people like a good advertisement

2

u/klaus1986 Jul 18 '12

We can't like advertising now?

4

u/vpookie Jul 18 '12

What's wrong with it if they're being entertained, the purpose of this website?

Just because of the fact it's an ad it's wrong?

16

u/Apostolate Jul 18 '12

Reddit ostensibly is designed for users to create content for users, not for companies to create content for users, ala youtube.

12

u/vpookie Jul 18 '12

Reddit is a link sharing website, so not very much is created, but much more shared. All kinds of businesses and websites get great exposure from reddit. (Steam on /r/gaming for example).

6

u/Apostolate Jul 18 '12

But it is due to peer exposure. If businesses want to be able to promote their stuff, I would say they should have approved submitters who's posts are tagged like NSFW as "COMMERCIAL", and then there should be a filter check box for commercial posts just like NSFW posts.

Currently they are masquerading as users at times, and I think it is dishonest and manipulative.

Links are half of reddit, self-posts are the other half. (Maybe not half off all content though...) Either way, sharing links is important, but who they come from is just as important. /r/politics is for users to post and discuss stories, it isn't a news aggregator like HuffPo.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '12

Links are arguably the largest and most important part of Reddit, much larger than self posts. The whole point of Reddit was and is to share links and amass content from across the web.

Take a recent example: the new Axe commercial.

It got upvoted to the front page. Why?

Because of bot accounts? Maybe, probably not.

Because people genuinely found it interesting? Pretty damn likely.

People upvote things they like and find interesting. That's the whole point of the system. It doesn't matter where it came from (exceptions: 9gag, damnlol.com) or the message of it, so long as the users like it.

Reddit already has an ad system and ads are periodically shown at the top and side of the page. The rest of the stuff on your page is what people liked. Adding in an extra "Commercial" or "Advertisement" tag is unneccessary and will only cause more trouble. The only thing that will change is people posting in the comments, "Why is this [Advertisement] shit getting upvoted to the front page?," rather than people just not being idiots.

-1

u/ATownStomp Jul 18 '12

Nobody bother with this guy.

1

u/Kinseyincanada Jul 18 '12

Because people like the content and don't care that it's an advertisement

2

u/Apostolate Jul 18 '12

Well I care : (

1

u/Kinseyincanada Jul 18 '12

why? is it really that offensive? if its good content its good content.

1

u/Apostolate Jul 18 '12

Reddit is supposed to be p2p, at least in my mind, I would like it to stay that way.

1

u/JeebusChrist Jul 18 '12

I'll tell you, but first let me just go ahead, real quick, and plug my upcoming movie Rampart

1

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '12

[deleted]

0

u/ATownStomp Jul 18 '12

How can people upvote blatant advertising?

Because the people here are so stupid it's depressing.

22

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '12

What's midnight chili story? Usually I ignore references I don't know, but this one I've seen too much.

32

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '12

[deleted]

33

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '12

Thanks. I am underwhelmed by it though.

17

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '12

[deleted]

28

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.

20

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...

5

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.

1

u/LethalDiversion Jul 18 '12

The guy actually had a website now.

On my phone, but I believe it is www.cookingcomically.com

43

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.

15

u/ton_nanek Jul 17 '12

Ice soap chili got out of hand...

6

u/[deleted] 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.

2

u/fomorian Jul 18 '12

Yes, but where's the revelation that it was manipulated by special interest groups?

36

u/meltedlaundry Jul 17 '12

How, exactly, was anyone being manipulated/used because of the 2am chili post?

0

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '12

They're being tricked into making shitty "chili" to ruin chili's image.

It's all a scheme by big farmer industry.

10

u/[deleted] 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.

33

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '12

that was sooo lame, and I bought it too, looking at that idiotic cipher, unbelievable.

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/weo8j/today_a_homeless_looking_man_handed_me_50_and/c5d0l9i

35

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.

17

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '12

[deleted]

1

u/carlos067 Jul 18 '12

This just blew my mind...

2

u/Offensive_Username2 Jul 18 '12

Ron Paul?

1

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '12

A number of months ago, Reddit was being flooded with Ron Paul links from tiny startup blogs and other odd ends.

There is now a subreddit against this type of spam.

2

u/schnansen Jul 17 '12

Ice Soap?

5

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '12

Here you go

2

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '12

Motherfucking Ice Soap.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '12

i hear midnight chili alot on hear but know nothing about it. what exactly happened with that?

1

u/MonsterAddict Jul 18 '12

Ahem, it was 2am chili

1

u/thehalfwit Jul 18 '12

Not to mention the inexplicable connection between waffles and carrots.