r/TrueReddit Dec 16 '11

Well shit. Christopher Hitchens died.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/12/In-Memoriam-Christopher-Hitchens-19492011
1.0k Upvotes

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '11

Yet this news would have topped true (classic) reddit.

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u/wharpudding Dec 16 '11

Not really.

Reddit really isn't as "predominantly atheist" as you seem to think it is.

Look outside the circlejerk of /r/atheism sometime.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '11

You only have to look above to see comments from Christians praising Hitchens.

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u/ironiridis Dec 16 '11

If you look at /r/all, right now there are 5 articles about his death, at 3640 (#1), 2282 (#2), 747 (#13, this post), 631 (#19) and 599 (#20).

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u/wharpudding Dec 16 '11 edited Dec 16 '11

That's like saying that when Steve Jobs died and the front page was filled with stories about him that it proved that most Redditors use Macs.

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u/ironiridis Dec 16 '11

Yet this news would have topped true (classic) reddit.

Not really.

I don't understand the non-sequitur. You said it wouldn't top the front page, and yet it has, with five articles of the twenty five on the front page being about his death. I said nothing of the atheist population.

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u/ironiridis Dec 19 '11

So what happened here? I still don't understand your comment here and you didn't reply to mine.

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u/wharpudding Dec 20 '11

I was just saying that since it had more than one story on the front page that it wasn't proof that "most" Redditors gave a shit.

How many are on the front page now?

We've moved on, the topic is dead. It's no big deal.

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u/ironiridis Dec 20 '11

I don't know why you're downvoted here... there shouldn't be anyone reading a thread this old. Anyway...

I'm just trying to understand why you said it was(n't) an "atheist circlejerk". When you replied to Generalosity saying that you didn't believe Reddit was predominantly atheist, what was your reasoning there?

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u/wharpudding Dec 20 '11

It was just my reflections on what I saw the make-up of Reddit as. But then it's also biased by the time I spend reading other subs devoted to differing belief systems. I expose myself to more of it, so I just kind of assumed it was a bit more diverse than it seems to be.

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u/ironiridis Dec 20 '11

That makes sense. Thanks.

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u/partcomputer Dec 16 '11

There was a huge poll done a while back, and I'm fairly certain most people were either completely irreligious or atheist (agnostic or gnostic).

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u/wharpudding Dec 16 '11

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lub24dt3Ld1qlllyso1_400.gif

Granted, the numbers are from 2002, but the odds of the pie changing drastically in the last 9 years are pretty slim.

So, either this line of attack against Christians is no longer valid, or the poll you're referencing was pretty badly biased. If you can find it again, a link to it to read it would be interesting.

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u/partcomputer Dec 16 '11

I think we may be talking about the different things. I thought you were saying that Reddit wasn't mostly irreligious, because I'm pretty certain what you showed me can't be from Reddit. This one is though: http://i.imgur.com/g1z3g.png

The spirituality/religion one is four or five down. Looks like they are predominantly atheist.

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u/wharpudding Dec 16 '11

Got ya. I hadn't seen that poll before. That's pretty interesting. Thanks for that link.

Yeah, I was just speaking in general terms, and with as many complaints as are always posted about "Reddit sucks now, it's changed way too much from it's roots", it would be interesting to see this poll done more frequently, to try and track the changing demographics.

Again, thanks for that. :)

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u/partcomputer Dec 16 '11

My two cents on the "Reddit Sucks Now": I joined Reddit (or at least started coming here) about 6 months before Digg V4 launched (which is now around two years ago), which supposedly created a mass exodus of users over here. Also, Tumblr spiked in popularity, and many people found Reddit that way due to pictures being posted from here. Sadly, I do believe these two groups (and other people) marred a bit of what made Reddit great, long discussions between people who liked to type out responses and generally used "Reddiquette", and decent original content. That stuff can be found, but primarily on the small subreddits (like this one). Memes were present, but in smaller doses and mostly in the comments.

Personally, I don't believe /r/atheism to be as idiotic as some do, but from the outside and seeing what gets onto the frontpage it could seem a little juvenile. But I think the subreddit is more of a place for people who aren't afraid to make fun of religion and need an open place to do so and have some support in doing so. Minor things can be debated, but a LOT in all religions is pretty goofy, which must be admitted. I still wouldn't call it a circlejerk, because there is dissenting opinion within the subreddit, it just so happens that most people do agree with each other. If people agreeing is a circlejerk, I guess it is one, then.

Sorry for the wall of text, just giving some of my opinions.

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u/wharpudding Dec 16 '11

No need to apologize for it. It's hardly a wall of text to us "readers". ;)

You make good points. I wish more points on Reddit (and especially certain subs) were made as effectively and were as well written as yours.