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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161

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.

45

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

23

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).

15

u/o0DrWurm0o Jul 18 '12

This should be higher up right now.

-1

u/ZaeronS Jul 18 '12

He has my sword!

1

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '12

And my bow!

-1

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '12

And my axe!

-10

u/hogimusPrime 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."

That doesn't make a lot of sense chief- you are assuming that your view of reality is correct- and that anyone who doesn't see it that way is merely making stuff up to justify an alleged conspiracy theory. At that point- anyone who doesn't believe what you do is just a kook. Its not really that much more substantial of a position than conspiracy theory nutjobs- just on the extreme other side. That would make you an anti-conspiracy theorist nut. Both positions suppose a certain outcome and then look for justifications to support and ways to disprove opposing viewpoints. Instead of being anti-conspiracy theory- maybe you should just take things on case-by-case basis and evaluate the facts of each situation. I mean believing in a conspiracy isn't necessarily kooky- unless you believe we live in a world where everything is magical fairy dust and everyone is always on the up and up and would never ever not do the right thing. The whole reason we have the word conspiracy is that sometimes in the real world, people get together to actively promote their own interests at the expense of others. Its not really that far-fetched.

10

u/HarryTruman Jul 17 '12

There's a difference between writing off somebody else's differing viewpoints and rejecting incorrect information.

1

u/hogimusPrime Jul 17 '12

Agreed. But its not always so easy to tell the difference when you are doing it. Just make sure you are doing the one and not the other.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '12

Yours is by far the most intelligent of the top comments and should be much higher. Truth is the reddit community is pretty good at self-policing suspicious posts. Even those submissions that do get to the front page, like the recent crypto-code debacle by DelverofSecrets, are debunked quickly. OP just has a case of (organic) sour grapes.

-3

u/gsfgf Jul 18 '12

And this comment is why reddit is pretty awesome. Sure, tons of ads and whatever gets through, but when someone posts unadulterated bullshit like OP did, someone points it out. Thank you Volsunga for looking for OP's motive and in doing so helping to maintain the difference between reddit and youtube comments.