Does Reddit have an astroturfing problem? What the data suggests
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Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.
Does Reddit have an astroturfing problem? What the data suggests
Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.
nomilk · · focus · HN ↗
To give a simple example, one video game franchise subreddit bans any negative discussion on the most recent title. Over 5-10 years, this shielded them from negative feedback. But the franchise has tanked because core users weren't listened to, and they ended up making something nobody wanted.
aurareturn · · focus · HN ↗
Reddit's system rewards these low effort posts for some reason. Over time, the platform becomes less and less trustworthy until it becomes something like Quora.
gosub100 · · focus · HN ↗
It's not being first to the race, it's that some people are lazy and don't want to read "long" posts but will optimize for snappy quips that are more likely to be upvoted. This incentives some "karma whores" to make these posts instead of engaging with the topic more.