FWIS3

I've decided that Reddit has a much higher proportion of internet assholes than other social media.

If you're not familiar with the platform, it's a large discussion board segregated into hundreds of topics called subreddits. Rommie has her very own subreddit. But the feature that has me ranting is where people can express their opinion of someone else's post by upvoting or downvoting. Basically a thumbs up or down, and the voting is anonymous.

I think people downvote just to be assholes. I can post the most innocuous thing and look back few hours later to see my score (the tally of votes) trending negative. Today I commented on the golf subreddit on an article about Rickie Fowler and his outlook for success next season. I said I think he has what it takes to win a major championship based on his performance at one of the other big tournaments. I also mentioned that the article had an error in it concerning the number of majors Rory McElroy has won. Pretty tame stuff and certainly the kind of thing you expect to see with a golf discussion. Downvoted.

In the Bend subreddit, someone started a thread complaining about Subaru drivers who think their All Wheel Drive cars allow them to drive normally in the snow. I commented than I tend to park mine during the winter but that's it's only a rear-wheel drive Subaru (few people know that Subaru makes something that isn't AWD). Downvoted.

And it's not just the voting. The written responses get pretty obnoxious, too. Assholes. Especially the Bend subreddit. This town is know for its nice people. I'm beginning to think it's because all the assholes are online posting on Reddit.

Does it bother me? Yes, it does.

So yeah, I'm obviously a fan of Reddit overall. I think this began back because there's just no real equivalent of PHP forums anymore like there was back when FWIS began (well ok I know there's Cosmoquest or whatever they call it now, but you know what I mean), and Reddit has replaced that. And, as geonuc noted, I have had a great amount of success there as a minor Internet celebrity- I'm in the top 100 for comment karma there, and have over 7,000 followers, mainly due to popular astronomy posts. And I obviously didn't get there because I dislike Reddit- on the whole, I have had positive interactions there, and am inspired in turn by the dozens of people who have reached out to me saying some post or another of mine inspired them to pursue a STEM career. (I also had my first ever encounter in Arizona with a fan who wanted a picture- celebrity style! It was a student interested in astro who ended up there after messaging me, and wanted to say thanks in person, to be clear, not a rando off the street or anything.)

That said, I think anything on the Internet that is as big as Reddit (#4 most visited site in the USA after Google, FB and YouTube, IRC) is going to have a fair number of assholes. I have also definitely noticed that some subreddits have more than others, and they're not the ones you expect- the only one I ever stopped posting in because it was so unfriendly was the amateur radio one, of all places. So I know everyone's experiences can be different- I've only ever had one troll on my subreddit who I've had to ban after two years or so of it running, for example, which is pretty fucking good for the Internet. (I've also blocked a few right wing subreddits so I never see them.)

I do find it funny when astronomers I know say they don't like Reddit because they've heard XYZ about it being unfriendly. Invariably it's someone who hangs out a lot of Twitter, which always strikes me as full of assholes. Maybe it's just a symptom of the Internet these days in general? I don't know.

Where do you guys find the time?
Anyway the most important thing to me is an RWD Subaru.
Quick research tells me all Subaru's come equipped with AWD except the RWD BRZ. It said, however, not all Subaru AWD systems are created equal.
Accurate? Thoughts?
My daily is currently a '10 AWD Outback with 6-spd manual.

Thumper wrote:Where do you guys find the time?
Anyway the most important thing to me is an RWD Subaru.
Quick research tells me all Subaru's come equipped with AWD except the RWD BRZ. It said, however, not all Subaru AWD systems are created equal.
Accurate? Thoughts?
My daily is currently a '10 AWD Outback with 6-spd manual.

I'm retired, but I've long ago embraced an online existence. Twitter is one I haven't, although I've had an account for a while.

Yes, the BRZ is the lone exception, which is why people think ALL Subaru's are AWD. Not many BRZs around.

Rommie wrote:So yeah, I'm obviously a fan of Reddit overall....

I figured you'd have a different take on it. You are indeed something of a Reddit celebrity.



As I think we're the only two Reddit users here, I doubt I'll get much discussion. Which is fine. I plan to bitch about the Yelp talk forums next.

You can b|tch about them all. Or we can talk about cars...

Thumper wrote:Where do you guys find the time?

So, honest answer, I'm sure you remember that just a few years ago I was bitching because I had way too much fucking spare time at work. And during that really slow moving train wreck, I cracked the algorithm a bit and learned how to write popular Reddit posts (I mean, interesting content is good, but understanding what will hit the front page is important to get popular posts). So nowadays I will check in the morning, and once in the afternoon right after lunch, and get in a few posts to see what will get popular.

As for chilling and watching cute kitty videos, bf invariably falls asleep before me so I scroll through the feed before bed.

Thumper wrote:Where do you guys find the time?

I don't.

I spend a fair amount of time on Facebook depending on the day. Some days much less than others. After that about the only other online social platform I engage in is... FWIS.

My general opinion is that online platforms seem to bring out the asshole in a significant way for a subset of the population. Reddit, from what I have heard was, until recently, more tolerant and thus attracted a special type of badger like internet troll population.

I usually only check in here at work. I've got too many things on the to do list to hardly get on a computer at home. The only time I have to read for enjoyment is when I'm on the crapper. So writing blogs, reading blogs, b|tching about blogs, b|tching about people b|tching about my blogs. I've got no time for any of that. I've got 300 hours of chores just waiting for me on a list plus the things that will come up that I don't know about yet. I don't have time to drive 5 miles to the nearest metro park and take an hour hike. It's moot anyway because the only time I'm home now, it's dark. I just don't know where I'd sneak in the time to even learn how to navigate around on Facebook. Plus I'd feel guilty knowing I completely blew an hour and a half screwing around on a computer when I could of got the truck brakes finished and off the jack stands.

Thumper wrote:I usually only check in here at work. I've got too many things on the to do list to hardly get on a computer at home. The only time I have to read for enjoyment is when I'm on the crapper. So writing blogs, reading blogs, b|tching about blogs, b|tching about people b|tching about my blogs. I've got no time for any of that. I've got 300 hours of chores just waiting for me on a list plus the things that will come up that I don't know about yet. I don't have time to drive 5 miles to the nearest metro park and take an hour hike. It's moot anyway because the only time I'm home now, it's dark. I just don't know where I'd sneak in the time to even learn how to navigate around on Facebook. Plus I'd feel guilty knowing I completely blew an hour and a half screwing around on a computer when I could of got the truck brakes finished and off the jack stands.

It's called selective ignoring. You selectively ignore the things that aren't critical.

My selection process sucks.

Thumper wrote:My selection process sucks.

LOL... I bet Mrs. T appreciates your selection process.

SciFiFisher wrote:

Thumper wrote:My selection process sucks.

LOL... I bet Mrs. T appreciates your selection process.

I think this is an excellent example of how the internet allows assholes to prevail. A Quiet War Rages Over Who Can Make Money Online

OVER THE PAST year, two popular forums for men who identify as involuntary celibates, or incels, have been banned by Reddit and a domain registrar in response to members’ history of toxic misogyny and celebrating violence against women. Now some of these men are trying to turn the tables. Members of the incel community—including the official Twitter account for incels.is, a central hub for adherents—have joined with other men’s rights activists, using the content policies of online payment companies such as PayPal as weapons to block female pornographic actors and sex workers from making or spending money online.

The campaign is called the “ThotAudit,” in reference to the derogatory term “thot,” which stands for “that ho over there.” It began over the Thanksgiving holiday as a grassroots effort to intimidate sex workers and women who sell access to private pornographic social media accounts by reporting them to the Internal Revenue Service for tax evasion—without evidence of wrongdoing. But it quickly morphed into a battle over who has the right to make money on the internet.

@Fisher

Even after a couple years of following that garbage my brain still confuses "thot" with "thetan" sometimes, which I guess makes sense in a weird way.

Abusive cults. Newspeak. Beliefs totally at odds with reality. Doctrine that claims to be shocking Truth but is really just a remix of the same old bigoted crap. Scapegoating.

Everything old is new again.

So far the folks at r/sourdough have been quite helpful with my breadmaking question.

geonuc wrote:So far the folks at r/sourdough have been quite helpful with my breadmaking question.

It's a trap.

SciFiFisher wrote:

geonuc wrote:So far the folks at r/sourdough have been quite helpful with my breadmaking question.

It's a trap.

Yes, clearly.

geonuc wrote:So far the folks at r/sourdough have been quite helpful with my breadmaking question.

It's a yeast thing.

Similarly, on Saturday I was at my relatives and saw a toy I enjoyed as a kid, set out for the next generation to play with. The folks at /r/nostalgia were similarly nostalgic for said toy- https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comm ... e_for_the/

See? It's fun!

Rommie wrote:Similarly, on Saturday I was at my relatives and saw a toy I enjoyed as a kid, set out for the next generation to play with. The folks at /r/nostalgia were similarly nostalgic for said toy- https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comm ... e_for_the/

See? It's fun!

Oh yeah, someone I knew had that too!

We didn't have the farm and barn. Friends did. We had the Fisher Price House.