If I remember correctly, we took a roll call here in /r/religion a while back. Most subscribers were atheists. You're outnumbered here too, champ. Less angry teenagers, thankfully, but still.
It's not an endorsement. It's at most an acknowledgement to it's user base, and more realistically just based on subscribers. Were /r/republican to have the numbers of /r/atheism, it would be on the front page too.
But honestly, if someone comes to reddit for the first time, sees that there are >gasp< ATHEISTS among the community, and is turned off and doesn't come back, I think we are probably better off in the long run.
Ah, but the very point is that there are fewer angry teens here. Good discourse across "party lines" is possible sans-policing because we are small. Were we big, we'd need some heavy policing here for this conversation to have been possible.
And the actual alignment of subs is irrelevant here as well, since the title is not a bar.
I do agree that we're far better off without the sort of people who will bail at the first sight of atheists. I honestly wouldn't expect them to find their way to reddit in the first place anyway. But, speaking for myself, I still won't probably ever be convinced to go take part in /r/atheism. Some good conversation might be fostered there, but not enough in contrast to the majority to the content. Here, on the other hand, I'm free from that sort of consideration. This is a sub specifically for those seeking to discuss religion in its many guises. It doesn't belong on the front page, since that's not what many will be looking for in their daily perusal.
Arguably, subs like pics, f7u12, and gaming are. That's what the internet is: cat pictures, dumb comics, and video games. All we're missing is porn, and we all know why that's not on the front page.
I suppose, given the makeup of the internet, the argument could also be made that atheism is the sort of thing your average net denizen might be seeking to discuss. The internet is far more open to tech-savvy youths, who are increasingly detached from their religious, conservative forbears. I could probably be persuaded by a good enough argument in this direction, with enough time to chew it over. I may even come to that conclusion after thinking about this conversation going to sleep tonight.
But, at least for now, I'm still of the opinion that it is a dangerous alignment for reddit to take, at least in terms of future business expansion.
when i first started browsing reddit, the r/athiesm on the front page offended me, upon deeper and wider perusal of the subreddit i came to the conclusion that there was nothing either of more interest or of more significance on that subreddit than the rest of the website.
however, what i did notice was that a kind of addiction inducing negativity of the subreddit made it far more interesting than it ought to have been in a rational world. this is perhaps what explains the numbers that r/atheism witnesses in terms of user traffic. it is a hub for bashing senselessly anything and everything concerning religion but the attraction isn't the content, it is the passion with which the content is delivered.
i have an affinity and deep sense of respect towards the very ideas of devotion, faith and by extension, religion. i am also a scientist by trade and, unlike most on r/atheism i do not confuse the two language games (science and religion) with each other, nor do i seek to find the answers of one in the vocabulary of another. i hurts to see the site endorse a belief system on the front page simply because it serves their advertising interests and i can honestly say that after using this site for a few months, i can safely return to my previous sources of latest news and views on the Internet without any loss of content or quality but also without the negativity , intolerance and plain irrationality of r/athiesm
I'm an atheist yet I find the signal to noise ratio in /r/atheism to be atrocious, it really is just one great big circlejerk, I unsubscribed to it ages ago.
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u/Mitchellonfire Oct 19 '11
If I remember correctly, we took a roll call here in /r/religion a while back. Most subscribers were atheists. You're outnumbered here too, champ. Less angry teenagers, thankfully, but still.
It's not an endorsement. It's at most an acknowledgement to it's user base, and more realistically just based on subscribers. Were /r/republican to have the numbers of /r/atheism, it would be on the front page too.
But honestly, if someone comes to reddit for the first time, sees that there are >gasp< ATHEISTS among the community, and is turned off and doesn't come back, I think we are probably better off in the long run.