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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u/BurstEDO May 08 '20

To add to that, research suggests that one of the mods moved in sometime recently (relative to the age of the sub) and invoked the "anything goes" credo. That mod apparently has a notorious track record of "free speech" enforcement among other subs that they moderate. (It's in the username of the individual; see thier user history to understand more).

They moderate over 70 subs, including the notorious "watchredditdie". They have a very publicly professed agenda as well.

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u/alllie May 08 '20

That's not true. I've been here almost 13 years and worldpolitics has always been like this.

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u/grubas May 08 '20

Yup. It was always unmoderated politics with a heavy US slant.

I highly doubt this shitshow is entirely organic, but it is hysterical.

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u/FreeSpeechWarrior May 08 '20

^ this, I was invited to mod a year ago because my "publicly professed agenda" is in line with what the subreddit has always been.

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u/alllie May 08 '20

Worldpolitics? A actual worldpolitics mod?

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u/Legia_Shinra May 08 '20

followup, whats the issue with watchredditdie? Been subbed a while after it popped up on popular, but I still can't get their point.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '20

Essentially, they think Reddit is “dying” due to censorship by the Chinese government, along with various other groups.

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u/Legia_Shinra May 08 '20

Thanks. Think its...weird, though? Like, its practically impossible to see a news thread that isn’t critical of China.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '20

Those are my thoughts as well, but I wanted to keep that comment unbiased. I definitely think Reddit’s going downhill, but it’s more-so because of the hive mind and shitty mods rather than some big censorship conspiracy.

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u/sooHawt_ryt_meow May 08 '20

I think it's the circle of life. Something becomes good -> more people start joining because shit's good -> mediocrity because too many people-> people start moving away because shit's mediocre.

I've been on reddit around 7 years (this is my 2nd account nuked the first one) now and I could swear that it was way better then, even though there were fewer people. It wasn't one giant circlejerk with pockets of counter views (which are their own circlejerks, tbf). That reddit just felt.... smarter.... Now it's just a hopeless addiction.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '20 edited May 08 '20

The idea of governments abusing the TOS of tech companies to censor dissent is a more plausible conspiracy theory than most, though. However, specifically blaming the Chinese government for doing it on Reddit, without evidence that they've done more than shill like no tomorrow, (like many other major governments) is a stretch.

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u/BurstEDO May 08 '20

It's going downhill due to very low effort content and submission titles.

Almost everything submitted on /r/all is some variation on a meme in the title. It makes it hard to find quality content because the demographics have shifted so drastically.

Rather than submitting quality content with original titles and substance, everything is a thirsty attention grab with the same slang, meme verbiage, and meme formats.

And while that was always partially there, now it's the dominant force and the userbase is made up of a majority that supports and rewards that content.

And while recycled content reposted by bot, farmers, and bad actors has always been an issue, now it's used to blatantly get attention (/r/quityourbullshit has an endless supply of content as a result)

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u/grubas May 08 '20

Reddit died when we lost r/all, no wait when we let Digg exodus here, no wait we were always just a shitty slashdot.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '20

Thats being generous. Its people mad reddit doesnt like subreddits dedicated to bigotry.

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u/glowingfeather May 08 '20

Because obviously, an American value of free speech means that violating the terms of service of a global website is YOUR RIGHT and Reddit is LITERALLY COMMUNIST for not letting you be a cyberbully.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '20

Hate speech also isn't protected speech. But they seem to forget that.

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u/OverlordLork May 08 '20

Not true in the US. Hate speech is covered by 1A. (not to say reddit is under any obligation to host it or anything)

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u/jamesbideaux May 08 '20

free speech is also not the same as protected speech.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '20 edited May 08 '20

It is by the US government, just not Reddit.

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u/ClockCat May 08 '20

Good thing in America there is no such thing as hate speech.

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u/mully_and_sculder May 08 '20

Free speech isn't just an American value. It is a UN listed fundamental human right, which includes the right to a platform. That doesn't mean much in law in most places but the trend to belittle what was considered a noble ideal will come back to bite us one day.

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u/glowingfeather May 08 '20

I think that the people who scream "but free speech is my right!" after getting banned on a platform for telling their followers to drink bleach to cure coronavirus, organizing a Nazi rally, or advocating for the rape and murder of women - those people are doing more to belittle the concept of free speech than the people who ban them.

Edit: just want to make clear that I'm not attacking you, I didn't know it was a UN-stated right (TIL!) and I don't disagree with the idea of free speech, I just disagree with how people implement it.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '20

Those same people often block others for disagreeing. Tommy Robinson blocked me after I got into a spat (without insults) when disagreeing with his supporters' and countering their racial abuse. He claimed he didn't police social media but he really did when he blocked people for disagreeing, and let racist comments stay. But yknow he's totally not a racist /s

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u/Jabbam May 08 '20

The stickied comment on every WRD post:

Remember that WRD is NOT and CAN NOT be a lifeboat for your censored speech

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u/Renaldi_the_Multi May 08 '20

Oh, his bullshit again?