2 hours ago
A very interesting thread I didn't have an opportunity to reply to. So here are my two cents:
Reddit is a good place to study group dynamics because it's a curious example of mob rule. Instead of a team of moderators regularly cleaning the place and the clear set of rules, you have the multitude of users creating their own subreddits and moderating them at their own whim or appealing to some mostly unwritten rules.
This decentralized form of moderation might appear more democratic at first but it quickly turns out that it's more authoritarian than traditional forums or even big social networks because apart from appeasing moderators who can ban you for merely having a different opinion, you must also please fellow members who can downvote your posts into oblivion. The math is simple; pleasing hundreds or thousands of people vs just a few.
I think it might work for some people but it got on my nerves so I spent there a couple if hours only before leaving for good. To each their own but I prefer traditional forums with old-styled moderation. Sure stars and likes or votes can be fun on condition that your "to be or not to be" on the platform depends on your obeying the site rules and not on likes or dislikes of peanut gallery.
Reddit is a good place to study group dynamics because it's a curious example of mob rule. Instead of a team of moderators regularly cleaning the place and the clear set of rules, you have the multitude of users creating their own subreddits and moderating them at their own whim or appealing to some mostly unwritten rules.
This decentralized form of moderation might appear more democratic at first but it quickly turns out that it's more authoritarian than traditional forums or even big social networks because apart from appeasing moderators who can ban you for merely having a different opinion, you must also please fellow members who can downvote your posts into oblivion. The math is simple; pleasing hundreds or thousands of people vs just a few.
I think it might work for some people but it got on my nerves so I spent there a couple if hours only before leaving for good. To each their own but I prefer traditional forums with old-styled moderation. Sure stars and likes or votes can be fun on condition that your "to be or not to be" on the platform depends on your obeying the site rules and not on likes or dislikes of peanut gallery.
