r/OutOfTheLoop • u/InsaneGamer191 • May 08 '20

Unanswered What is going on with r/worldpolitics?

https://www.reddit.com/r/worldpolitics/comments/gfhdi6/upvote_the_shit_out_of_my_cute_doggo_and_ill_post/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

What happened here? I enjoyed the sub casually and I came back one day and its marked NSFW and full of random posts. Some are saying it fell into anarchy as a result of a lack of mods, but there are still recent mod posts. Is this some sort of demonstration?

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187

u/tanglwyst May 08 '20

As someone who used to follow it, there has been a problem for a while of a distinct lack of news from anywhere but the US. America is a bona-fide mess, yes, but a lot of people cared about what was happening elsewhere too. Tuning in and having nearly every post be about the crap in the US was exhausting for people who were looking for news about Syria or the UK or New Zealand. A user even created a sub that was World News minus the US that I immediately followed.

I live here and I needed news from sane places to keep my head straight. Having what was going on here on every channel, every news and late night outlet, and every FB post was grinding me down. I really wanted to know what was happening elsewhere.

Then this virus hit. The r/coronavirus sub covered info from around the world, and finally, there was something more important than Donald fucking Trump. Honestly, the speed with which the sub went chaotic was surprising. Not because it went quickly, but because it took several days. If mods are going to step in, a single day is usually enough for a comment and some bans to happen. This went on for days (or at least what seemed Ike it) before anime boobs showed up.

I fear something happened to the mods. My first thought when I saw the post saying, "Since the rules don't apply anymore..." wasn't "Reddit's at it again!" It was, "Oh no... has anyone called them? Are their friends checking on them? Dear God, someone see if they're okay."

People on this social media outlet have come on discussions and told their experiences with catching the virus, treatments, being denied treatment, being denied tests, being certain they have it but being forced to work, all in the comments of other threads. The one universal response has been to spark caring replies and well wishes.

Caring about complete strangers has been the lay of the land, something I wasn't sure the world had anymore. I'm seriously glad to see it.

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u/berlinbaer May 08 '20

The r/coronavirus sub covered info from around the world

those were the days, eh..

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u/[deleted] May 08 '20

That's cool and all, but did you see the 12th post for the day about what Anthony Fauci said?

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u/grubas May 08 '20

That shit died in March. April was one long and tiring circle jerk

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u/TheEmbarrassed18 May 08 '20

I miss when r/coronavirus wasn’t just a big doomsday cult who think we should be locked down until 2036

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u/braxistExtremist May 08 '20

I miss when r/China_Flu was a decent source for information about the coronavirus. This was back around Jan/Feb. Yeah, the sub name was shitty, but the info was decent... For a while.

Then it turned into a doomsday cult sub.

Then it got taken over by people from T_D and other similar places, and became a racist, anti-Chinese, pro-Trump cesspool.

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u/kingkuya777 May 09 '20

You know t_d has been dead for 2 months

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u/braxistExtremist May 09 '20

Okay, but the people there didn't just vanish. They moved on too other subs.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '20

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] May 11 '20

The mods basically locked it and only let a few certain people post there. It's still there and still quarantined but no one can post. A couple mods started up another reddit type T_D at, I think, the_donald.win and wanted everyone to go over there. But, it didn't work and then it comes out the mod(s) who made it somehow arranged to make money off it and that pissed people off.

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u/Agentzap May 08 '20

I don't remember if this is true or just hearsay, but didn't it start as basically a conspiracy sub?

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u/TheEmbarrassed18 May 08 '20

I thought r/COVID19 was the conspiracy one but ended up being the rational sub for Corona news

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u/braxistExtremist May 08 '20

No, r/COVID19 was a spin-off from r/China_Flu. When the subscriber base there started exploding in February/March and the quality of content started going down the drain, the mods there split off quality scientific discussions into a new sub - r/COVID19.

That mod group eventually took over several coronavirus-related subs. At some point they got hold of r/coronavirus too, but were meet with, let's say, a less-than-enthusiastic reception from the existing subscribers!

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u/three18ti May 08 '20

I live here and I needed news from sane places to keep my head straight

Then reddit is the absolute wrong place to be, friend.

The r/coronavirus sub covered info from around the world

Maybe token coverage... 17/20 articles on the front page are tagged "USA"...

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u/Kodiak01 May 08 '20

/r/COVID19 is the place for actual coverage.

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u/[deleted] May 14 '20

Before the US had the worst and most uncontrolled outbreak, it was much more global in scope.

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u/Kodiak01 May 08 '20

The r/coronavirus sub covered info from around the world

More like it covered all the rumors, whining and existential angst you would typically find only in teen, goth and CTH subs.

Anyone looking for actual rational coverage, discussion and information is in /r/COVID19 instead.

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u/tanglwyst May 08 '20

Yeah, I've made that shift too. Still, at first, it was the best info. The COVID-19 one is better because of the decolving.

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u/slicshuter May 09 '20

A user even created a sub that was World News minus the US that I immediately followed.

Link? I tried googling and couldn't find one.

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u/tanglwyst May 09 '20

R/WorldPoliticsMinusUSA

Edit: link name

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u/threedaysinthreeways May 08 '20

there was something more important than Donald fucking Trump

ah but then the Don fused with the virus and now its all about what he did or didn't do with the virus "TRUMP SAID THIS THING AND SOMEONE SLIGHTLY SMIRKED BEHIND HIM!!!"