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Reddit. Do u use it? How? Because actually it sucks

D

Damian83

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 20, 2011
512
287
Hi, it's been a while that i'm wondering why reddit it's so popular.

But let's start from begin. Which is the best place to ask for various kind of help in no time, and to a virtually infinite audience? Forums of course! However if u need a one-time help, it can be a waste of time registering on a new forum to ask just one thing. Reddit it's the solution: one account for all possible and imaginable forums! At least at first glance... Why?


1) Rules rules rules

Everytime i post something on reddit i feel like being a suspect in an interrogation room: "anything you say may be used against you (not posted in this case)". It's enough you say something wrong and bot will void your post, or a mod (total no-lifers) will remove it in few minutes/hours. An example of what happened to me... A friend asked me to install a custom rom on it's android, to return a favor. Never did such things before. I had an issue so i asked on reddit (Lineage forum), it was a very generic question and many people answered me resolving my problem. After a while mod removed post. Why? I wrote my phone model and there were no official Lineage releases for it (rule says: only officially supported devices). I don't even know there was official and unofficial versions and my question was not even regarding it. It's just like asking "what's better? xenon or led lights?" on a lexus forum, while owning a toyota. i mean, what's the problem???


2) reputation, karma, whole twisty process to able to do something...

Let's say i want to ask something on a new subreddit... I join it and try to post something > i can't, i'm a new user, i have to build reputation first by answering to other threads > ok, i'm the god, i know answers to all universe's problem and i'm very benevolent today so i want to help everyone > i can't. there's a time limit between posts > ok i'm very patient. i will build my reputation and i'll post every 15 minutes to reach the needed amount of answers > there's no defined amount, and there's no way to know who decide it. it's a hidden defined value by the mod? it's something dependant of the mod's mood? no way to know it. Only way is to join the community, become a no-lifer, spending time on it, all for just one question!


3) auto closing threads

Most of the times issues we have are already present on google and many of them are on reddit. Fastest solution is answer to them, no matter if 5 years has passed, in most cases people remember things and can help u in a faster way than opening a new whole thread. NO WAY! thread is closed, you have to open a new one, and go through the nightmare described in point 2. PS: this problem it's also present on apple support forum btw


Now considering points above, i can't understand why of the success reddit have. I mean, registering on a new forum it's still a faster way to ask something. Or maybe i'm the wrong one and reddit's purpose is different than what i was looking for? Another community plenty of nolifers?
 
I don't really get it either. I suppose it's more appropriate to think of each subreddit as its own forum or community with its own rules. Reddit itself is more of a launching pad for finding subreddits and what's trending.

This write up will give more info. https://www.oberlo.com/blog/what-is-reddit

For myself. I tried getting into it but just don't like how it's setup. So, the only time I look at Reddit is if it comes up in my web search.
 
At least it's not a free for all. Yes you have to have established yourself so they don't get trolls. I have been on it for over a year, and have had no issues. Many forums are great and no BS. It takes a bit to get use to it. I enjoy it.
 
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Damian83 said:
Hi, it's been a while that i'm wondering why reddit it's so popular.

But let's start from begin. Which is the best place to ask for various kind of help in no time, and to a virtually infinite audience? Forums of course! However if u need a one-time help, it can be a waste of time registering on a new forum to ask just one thing. Reddit it's the solution: one account for all possible and imaginable forums! At least at first glance... Why?


1) Rules rules rules

Everytime i post something on reddit i feel like being a suspect in an interrogation room: "anything you say may be used against you (not posted in this case)". It's enough you say something wrong and bot will void your post, or a mod (total no-lifers) will remove it in few minutes/hours. An example of what happened to me... A friend asked me to install a custom rom on it's android, to return a favor. Never did such things before. I had an issue so i asked on reddit (Lineage forum), it was a very generic question and many people answered me resolving my problem. After a while mod removed post. Why? I wrote my phone model and there were no official Lineage releases for it (rule says: only officially supported devices). I don't even know there was official and unofficial versions and my question was not even regarding it. It's just like asking "what's better? xenon or led lights?" on a lexus forum, while owning a toyota. i mean, what's the problem???


2) reputation, karma, whole twisty process to able to do something...

Let's say i want to ask something on a new subreddit... I join it and try to post something > i can't, i'm a new user, i have to build reputation first by answering to other threads > ok, i'm the god, i know answers to all universe's problem and i'm very benevolent today so i want to help everyone > i can't. there's a time limit between posts > ok i'm very patient. i will build my reputation and i'll post every 15 minutes to reach the needed amount of answers > there's no defined amount, and there's no way to know who decide it. it's a hidden defined value by the mod? it's something dependant of the mod's mood? no way to know it. Only way is to join the community, become a no-lifer, spending time on it, all for just one question!


3) auto closing threads

Most of the times issues we have are already present on google and many of them are on reddit. Fastest solution is answer to them, no matter if 5 years has passed, in most cases people remember things and can help u in a faster way than opening a new whole thread. NO WAY! thread is closed, you have to open a new one, and go through the nightmare described in point 2. PS: this problem it's also present on apple support forum btw


Now considering points above, i can't understand why of the success reddit have. I mean, registering on a new forum it's still a faster way to ask something. Or maybe i'm the wrong one and reddit's purpose is different than what i was looking for? Another community plenty of nolifers?
Click to expand...
Never been in it. I only ever registered on two forums. This one and one other.
 
velocityg4 said:
I don't really get it either. I suppose it's more appropriate to think of each subreddit as its own forum or community with its own rules. Reddit itself is more of a launching pad for finding subreddits and what's trending.

This write up will give more info. https://www.oberlo.com/blog/what-is-reddit

For myself. I tried getting into it but just don't like how it's setup. So, the only time I look at Reddit is if it comes up in my web search.
Click to expand...

ok so from what ive read its more an community/social media than a forum. ridicolous thing is that how can u make a community in some a-lot-specific subreddits?? i was once asking for help on netflixVPN (or something similar) subreddit. well, what there's to talk in such "community", if it can even be such called??? once i setup vpn for netflix i'm done. i find ridicolous even netflix subreddit, or generally speaking all similar subreddits where actually there is more to enjoy/live that theme than blathering of it in a nonsense "community"...
 
AdamNC said:
At least it's not a free for all. Yes you have to have established yourself so they don't get trolls. I have been on it for over a year, and have had no issues. Many forums are great and no BS. It takes a bit to get use to it. I enjoy it.
Click to expand...
agreed.
 
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Custom ROMs communities are a few different types of people, 1) the actual creators of the forks/ROMs, 2) the people who figure out how to unlock the bootloaders/get a device to be able to have the various recovery systems/ROMs be flashable, figure out the source code for the drivers, 3) the people who modify the forks/ROMs to be usable on a device.

The ROMs themselves are classified as unofficial/official ports, so you basically need to find where that ROM is being worked at to begin with (like XDA-Developers), and ask there. The Lineage devs/community can otherwise only help you with problems that have to do with their own code.

If you don't have a different section for VPNs, it's like jailbreaking the iPhone, it'll take up the whole main section of a r/netflix related sub. VPNs are more of a reference point that need to be maintained/updated than a community.

The whole reputation/voting system is also so that people don't just show up when they have a question or have some YouTube video to promote.
 
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Jessica Lares said:
Custom ROMs communities are a few different types of people, 1) the actual creators of the forks/ROMs, 2) the people who figure out how to unlock the bootloaders/get a device to be able to have the various recovery systems/ROMs be flashable, figure out the source code for the drivers, 3) the people who modify the forks/ROMs to be usable on a device.
Click to expand...

but do u read at least what ive wrote? ive asked a general question that can be asked on many other subreddits, so who cares of all this ROMs stuff u just wrote.

and the whole reputation/voting system its stupid, because i cant spend a life on reddit/shinywc just to ask how to clean my wc
 
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Reddit is fine when you find an okay subreddit or you don't join in the discussion, otherwise it can be extremely annoying. If you dare to cross the wrong person, you can expect a DM where they attempt to continue the discussion after the mods finally clean up their posts. Or you might get a message from the auto-mod saying someone has reported you for potential self-harm giving crisis hotlines even when you never mentioned depression.

That said, the karma system isn't too bad. Most of the time, you just have to comment in more mainstream subreddits like Ask Reddit and your karma will be acceptable for most subreddits in a day if not in a few hours. Then as long as you aren't a spammer, post in places where you fit in, and follow the rules, you'll never have to worry about your karma kicking you out.

Reddit's biggest problem is their moderation. Individual subreddits are typically fine, for example if you're a member of a pro-LBGT+ subreddit, you can reasonably expect any homophobes and transphobes to be banned then have their comments wiped in minutes. But Reddit as a whole will allow horrible subreddits to fester for too long, Reddit has improved since real world violence linked to certain subreddits has light a fire under their butts but it's still bad. Any user can just make a new subreddit when their old one gets taken down.
 
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The only thing I don't like about reddit, been on it for over five years, is it is one very toxic, whiney, feel sorry for me, the world is doomed, and oh, feel sorry for me because I just graduated high school and I should be making millions already and everyone over the age of 35 has it in for me so I can't get ahead in life. :)
 
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