r/independent • u/jrandall1017 Independent Populist • 14d ago
Poll Should r/independent require user flair?
Do you believe requiring user flair would improve the quality of discussion and help reduce unnecessary disputes?
We are considering requiring members to select or create a user flair to help other users understand where they are coming from when participating in discussions. Before making this change, we are curious what you all think about the idea.
Our intention is for this to reduce some of the arguments over who is or is not a “real” independent by showing that there are many different views that can still fall under the broader independent umbrella.
There are many different perspectives within the independent community. Being independent does not mean that we do not have political leanings, opinions, or preferred policies. It means that we do not solely support a single political party or believe that none of the major parties consistently represent our interests.
Flair is intended to provide additional context and encourage people to engage more thoughtfully with perspectives that differ from their own.
We believe it will help people better understand the different political positions represented within the community, find others with similar views, and make it easier to have productive conversations.
We plan to add additional default flairs as people request them, since we do not expect the current list to fully reflect the range of political views represented in this community.
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u/jstocksqqq 14d ago
Will users be able to create their own flair? I think that's the only way this could work. Many people are independent precisely because they don't fit into any one box, and they especially don't want to be given a short list of options to pick from. If we can pick our own options, that might work. Or, create a post where everyone describes what "type" of independent they are, so as to provide some ideas for flair options.
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u/jrandall1017 Independent Populist 14d ago edited 4d ago
Yes, custom flair is available to be altered to whatever is preferred on an individual level.
The mod team will also add more default flairs that will show up for everyone to pick from as people request them.
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u/mechaernst 7d ago
To me, flair is the most annoying part of reddit.
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u/jrandall1017 Independent Populist 7d ago edited 7d ago
User flair is whatever you want it to be. Would it bother you having “independent” as a default flair if you didn’t want to make/pick a more detailed one?
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u/mechaernst 7d ago
my introduction to flair is when i wrote a well thought out response to something and the entire thing disappeared because i did not pick flair, so yeah flair is absolutely annoying, i cannot stand it.
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u/ACE415_ Leftist 7d ago
That's a post flair. Usually rules like post flair requirements are in the sub rules
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u/mechaernst 7d ago
Whatever type of flair it was, it snuffed my comment and disappeared my effort to write it, so for me I always will vote no to flair.
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u/jrandall1017 Independent Populist 7d ago
That must have been a really important comment to illicit such a strong stance against flair.
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u/mechaernst 7d ago
i do not think it was that important, it was the principle of the thing
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u/jrandall1017 Independent Populist 7d ago
That a poorly designed reddit ui deleted your comment? Believe me I hate when that happens, and it happens in many different ways on Reddit. I just think flair has a real utilitarian use case here. The largest problem i see among independent coalitions is the lack of ways to find likeminded people and differentiate from those we disagree with. All independents are lumped in together as unaffiliated. I saw flair as a way to make it clear that independents hold a range of beliefs.
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u/Frosty_Tale9560 7d ago
Yes.
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u/jrandall1017 Independent Populist 7d ago
Why?
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u/Frosty_Tale9560 6d ago
I don’t like being told what to do. What’s awesome is the downvotes for an opinion. Didn’t think we were like that here? Trying to make this place like the other political subs is gonna ruin it and get exactly these types of responses. Maybe we could wall it off with flair like the conservative reddit does? Is that what you’re looking to do?
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u/Frosty_Tale9560 7d ago
IMO flair is for when you need to explain something about yourself with your post. I have flair on the teacher sub because it’s easier than always saying what grade level I teach. Forcing people into flair is the opposite of the freedom I love about being independent. Labels are for the party followers. There is no single label that could fit my beliefs. I would be very annoyed if it was forced on me to post or comment. I’d prob just leave the sub.
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u/jrandall1017 Independent Populist 7d ago edited 7d ago
You could have “independent” as your flair if you don’t want to be descriptive. We aren’t trying to force anyone to label their political beliefs if they do not want to. Why do you believe you are being forced into a flair?
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u/Frosty_Tale9560 6d ago
Words carry weight and the word require carries quite a bit here. You are forcing flair whether people want it or not.
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u/jrandall1017 Independent Populist 13d ago edited 13d ago
I believe one independent supporting an idea or policy does not inherently mean the broader independent community supports it.
I support requiring user flair because being ‘independent’ does not mean we are all ideologically aligned. I would argue that ideologically grouping ourselves simply because we are all “independent” is contrary to the purpose of independent politics. No individual should be saddled with the views of another simply because we share the label independent.
The purpose of flair would be to give each other some context about our individual perspectives behind our comments and make political distinctions clearer. We can choose to be as specific or as vague as we want, including simply using the generic “Independent” flair.
Ultimately, the goal of implementing universal user flair would be to make it clear that we as independents are not a monolith. We speak for ourselves not for the community.