Difference between revisions of "Reddit"

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−	[[File:Redditalien.jpg|thumb|right|The Reddit Alien: Reddit's logo]]	+	{{Nav-Bar|Topics#R}}
−	'''Reddit.com''' is a social news site in which users, known as Redditors, can post questions, opinions, user generated content, and links relevant to the interests of the users. <ref> http://www.reddit.com </ref> Redditors then can “Upvote” or “Downvote” the submission to make then it move toward the front page, the most frequented part of the site. The user who submits the post also receives one point of “Karma” for the each of the Upvotes the post receives, and a negative point of Karma for each Downvote. Karma is amassed in each user’s profile, showing “how much good the user has done for the Reddit community.” <ref> Reddit Help: Frequently Asked Questions. (n.d.).Retrieved from: http://www.reddit.com/help/faq	+	{{SoftwareInfoBox
−	</ref> The sense of community plays a large role on allowing in the actions of Redditors to act charitably and use Reddit as a place to cultivate gains social capital.	+	|HEIGHT=730
		+	|NAME=reddit.com
		+	|LOGO=Redditalien.jpg|300px
		+	|SCREENIMAGE=reddit_page.png
		+	|CAPTION="Reddit"
		+	|IMAGEURL=http://www.reddit.com/
		+	|TEXT=Site
		+	|PLATFORM=Cloud Service<br>Android Tablet<br>Android App<br>iOS App<br>API
		+	|PRODUCT=News Website<br>Social Bookmarking
		+	|TYPE=Social Bookmarking<br>Open Source Project
		+	|SITEURL=http://reddit.com
		+	|URLTEXT=www.reddit.com
		+	|STATUS=Active
		+	|LAUNCH=2005
		+	}}
		+	<br>
		+	'''{{initial|R}}eddit''' is an [[internet forum]]  where users, known as "Redditors", can post images, videos, questions, opinions, user-generated content, and links relevant to the interests of the community. <ref> [http://www.reddit.com Reddit] Retrieved on 18 April 2016.</ref> Each individual community within Reddit is known as a subreddit. For example, there is a subreddit called "Today I Learned", which is about interesting facts Redditors recently learned. There are thousands of subreddits, all covering different topics and attracting different users. The name Reddit is a play on the words "read it", i.e., "I read it on Reddit".<ref>Reddit FAQs [https://www.reddit.com/wiki/faq]</ref>
		+	The sense of community plays a large role in allowing the actions of Redditors to act charitably and use Reddit as a place to cultivate and gain social capital. However, ethical issues within Reddit arises from the existence of "circle jerks," where homogeneous, hyper-polarized opinions are socially acceptable and reinforced. Moreover, the ease of user account creation allows a single user to obtain multiple identities in a single online community, leading to questions of authenticity, embodiment, and identity. <ref> Bergstrom, K. (2011). Retrieved on 18 April 2016</ref> Additionally, biased moderation may present a barrier to freedom of speech.
		+
		+	==History==
		+	Launched in 2005, the company was started by two [[Wikipedia:University of Virginia|University of Virginia]] grads, Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman in the Y Combinator program. The two wanted to create a site where users could access the most shared links on the Internet, essentially a "front page" of the Internet. With an investment from Y Combinator, Huffman and Ohanian started working on Reddit in Medford, Massachusetts. <ref>[http://mashable.com/2014/12/03/history-of-reddit/#EPQniurvOkqu]</ref> Two others, Christopher Slowe and Aaron Swartz, later joined the team.
		+	[[Wikipedia:Conde Nast|Conde Nast]], owner of [[Wikipedia:Wired Magazine|Wired Magazine]] and other popular magazines/websites, acquired Reddit in October of 2006. In September 2011, the company changed hands from Conde Nast to its parent company, [[Wikipedia:Advanced Publications|Advanced Publications]]. As part of the new structure, Reddit incorporated and now reports directly to a board, including Alexis Ohanian, Bob Sauerberg (President), Joe Simon (Chief Technology Officer) from Conde Nast, and Andrew Siegel (Senior Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development) from Advance.<ref>CrunchBase. [http://www.crunchbase.com/company/reddit reddit] Retrieved on 18 April 2016.</ref> Also, in May of 2016 Reddit ahiggz, a Reddit product manager, posted about how they would be shutting down Alien Blue, a mobile client for Reddit. However, they would be releasing a mobile version of Reddit, and they told users to comment their favorite features from Alien Blue<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/AlienBlue/comments/46gg1f/a_new_chapter_reddit_for_ios/</ref>.
		+	[[File:Reddit.GIF|400px|thumb|right|A screenshot of Reddit's home page]]
	== Structure ==		== Structure ==
−	The content of Reddit is decided solely on how users vote.  An Upvote makes either the submission or comment rise closer to the top of the page, while Downvotes act in the opposite way.  The front page of Reddit contains the submissions most Upvoted by Redditors, and is the most prominent and visible place on the site.	+	=== Voting ===
−	=== Sub-Reddits ===	+	The content of Reddit 's front page is decided based on how users vote.  An upvote makes the submission or comment rise closer to the top of the page (and ultimately the front page, the most popular page on the site). Downvotes act in the opposite way, moving the article away from the top of the page.  The front page of Reddit contains the submissions that were most upvoted by Reddit users.
−	Reddit is comprised of hundreds of sub-Reddits, each narrowly focused on a specific topic. Some large Reddits include ‘world news’, ‘pictures’, and ‘funny’, which are displayed on the front page for all new users. Local Reddits also exist for many major universities and cities around the world, allowing users to schedule and generate interest in meetups.	+
		+	=== Subreddits ===
		+	Reddit is comprised of thousands of subreddits, with each narrowly focused on a specific, shared interest. Users can choose to follow and track particular subreddits if they wish. Once followed, the subreddit has a higher chance of appearing on a user's front page, customizing it. For example, if one follows a random boating page, which is relatively unpopular, the highest voted content will appear on a front page, even if some other content has more total upvotes. Some popular sub-Reddits include ‘world news’, ‘pictures’, and ‘funny’, which are displayed on the front page for all new users. Anyone can create a sub-Reddit, which enhances the diversity and creates a stronger sense of community on the site.
		+
		+	====IAmA====
		+	One of Reddit's most popular subreddits, IAmA, allows ordinary people or public figures to answer questions about their life and work. Often, celebrities, such as actors or politicians, will host "AMA's" (Ask Me Anything) where they will answer questions on the platform. Due to the popularity of the site, high-profile figures often conduct AMAs, most notably former United States President, [https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/z1c9z/i_am_barack_obama_president_of_the_united_states/?utm_content=title&utm_medium=user&utm_source=reddit Barack Obama].<ref> Madrigal, Alexis C. (January 7, 2014).[https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/01/ask-me-anything-how-a-weird-internet-thing-became-a-new-form-of-media/282860/ Ask Me Anything: How a Weird Internet Thing Became a New Form of Media] The Atlantic. Retrieved April 23, 2017. </ref>
		+
		+	Reddit values authenticity, down-to-earth behavior, and humor in AMA respondents, and will quickly turn on anyone seen to be using an AMA to "shill" or profit for their own benefit. Most notable are the cases of [https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/p9a1v/im_woody_harrelson_ama/ Woody Harrelson] and [https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1c5zxh/i_am_morgan_freeman_ask_me_anything/ Morgan Freeman]. Both were perceived as inauthentic and manufactured, and have been turned into jokes around the site.
	== Karma System ==		== Karma System ==
−	The Karma system acts as a cumulative recommender system in which users receive points, or Karma, for their input to the site. One positive point of Karma is given for each Upvote received, and one negative point is given for each Downvote.  A user’s Karma score is displayed in their profile page, separated into two categories, comments and submissions.	+	[[File:0019.jpg|thumb|100px|left|Upvote and Downvote arrows are used to rank posts to the site<ref>funnytshirtfactory.com: "Reddit Arrows" http://funnytshirtfactory.com/index.php/reddit-arrows.html" Retrieved on 16 April 2016</ref>.]]
−	=== Controversy ===	+	The Karma system acts as a cumulative [[Recommender Systems| recommender system]] in which users receive points, or Karma, for their input to the site. One positive point of Karma is given for each upvote received, and one negative point is given for each downvote.  A user’s Karma score is displayed on their profile page, separated into two categories, comments, and submissions.  A user's Karma score shows how much good they have done for the Reddit community.  The higher the karma, the more they are respected and less likely to be considered a spammer. <ref>Bergstrom, K. (2011). Don't feed the troll: Shutting down debate about community expectations on Reddit.com. First Monday, 16(8), pp. 10. </ref>
−	Some users believe the Karma system causes problems from people who post or comment in agreement with the majority opinions on the site purely for the purpose of acquiring Karma.  According to a comment from a user who has since deleted their account, “Reddit is corrupt, karma invalidates valid opinions in lieu of popularity, in this sense reddit is a celebration of lowest common denominator thought pieces.” <ref> Anonymous. (07/2011). Reddit.com: "I love Reddit to death, but sometimes I think Reddit would be better off if it just eliminated accumulation of karma for users". Retrieved from http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/irb53/i_love_reddit_to_death_but_sometimes_i_think/. </ref> Another concern with this points system is the existence of users who “repost” material to gain Karma.  Reposting is a problem in an environment like Reddit, because it causes content to be recycled and prevents new content from reaching the front page.  Some users believe that Reddit would have better and more original content if the Karma system were removed.	+
		+	The best way to accumulate karma is by submitting links that other users like and vote for.  While Karma can serve the purpose of providing an unofficial qualification check of user contributions, the owners of the site don't want Karma accumulation to be the main focus.  Instead, they advise users to "just set out to be a good person, and let your karma simply be a reminder of your legacy." <ref>Reddit FAQs</ref>
	== Reddit as a Community ==		== Reddit as a Community ==
		+	Reddit has developed a sense of community that holds members responsible for their actions, going as far as organizing meetings in real life for Reddit members to meet and socialize<ref>"Reddit Worldwide Meetups". Reddit.com. Retrieved 18 December 2011</ref>.  Ethical behavior comes along with this sense of community, as people feel a social responsibility to act according to the ethical norms created for the environment.  A moral framework called "Reddiquette" is one way that allows users to adapt to the new moral objects present on Reddit. Reddiquette is “an informal expression of Reddit's community values” that helps shape what ethical behavior is on the site. <ref> Reddit Help. ["Reddiquette." http://www.reddit.com/help/reddiquette] Retrieved on 18 April 2016. </ref>  Reddiquette is an extensive set of morals, organized in a set of what to do, which is comprised of twenty items, and a set of what not to do made up of thirty-seven entries.  Some subjects covered in the section of what not to do include revealing personal information, compromising others' personal privacy, complaining about reposts, pleading for votes, and posting comments that lack content.  In the “Please do” section, some topics covered are linking directly to the page of the original source of content and moderating on the basis of quality, not opinion.
−	Reddit has developed a sense of community that holds members responsible for their actions. Ethical behavior comes along with this sense of community, as people feel a social responsibility to according to their ethical norms adjusted to the environment.  A moral framework called Reddiquette is one way that allows users to adapt to the new moral objects present on Reddit.	+	==Ethics on Reddit==
−	=== Reddiquette ===	+	Over the course of the maturation process of Reddit as a community, much of the intellectualism that originally existed in what was the grassroots community has deteriorated. Reddit lost much of its credibility and many of its more objective users. Today, the Reddit community is largely homogeneous, which presents specific ethical concerns. On the other hand, Reddit has created an environment in which many users act ethically, fostered social pressures encouraging that works to make Reddit a better place. Certain sub-communities work together to suppress hateful speech, act charitably, and help fellow Redditors out with either advice or favors. <ref> thetacticalpanda (08/2011). Reddit.com [http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/jjsws/i_just_received_some_hate_mail_in_my_reddit_inbox/?sort=top "I just received some hate mail in my Reddit inbox. What's an appropriate response? Or is the only winning move not to play?"] 15 August 2011. Retrieved on 18 April 2016.</ref> Due to the fact that Reddit is one of the most popular social news sites, many users will copy content that was original from Reddit and post it on other social news applications. Often you will see that content on Reddit is passed around but it is never the same person who is distributing the content. Because of this the original poster of the content does not always necessarily get the credit or recognition.
−	According to a statement on the webpage, Reddiquette is “not meant to be a list of commandments”, but more of “an informal expression of reddit’s community values” that helps shape what ethical behavior is on the site. <ref> Reddit Help:Reddiquette. (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://www.reddit.com/help/reddiquette. </ref>  Reddiquette is an extensive set of morals, organized in a set of what to do, which is comprised of twenty items, and a set of what not to do, made up of thirty-seven entries. Some subjects covered in the section of what not to do include personal privacy, complaints about reposts, pleading for votes, and comments that lack content.  In the “Please do” section, some topics covered are linking directly to the page of the original source of content, and moderating on the basis of quality, not opinion.	+
−	n a 1970 interview, the German critic Gunter W. Lorenz asked Miguel Ángel Asturias why he began to write and the novelist replied:	+	===The Daily Me & Group think===
−	Yes, at 10:25 pm on the 25th of December in 1917, an earthquake destroyed my city. I saw something like an immense cloud conceal the enormous moon. I had been placed in a cellar, in a hole, in a cave or someplace else. It was then that I wrote my first poem, a song of farewell to Guatemala. Later, I was angered by the circumstances during which the rubble was cleared away and by the social injustice that became so bloodily apparent.[1]	+
−	This experience, at the age of 18, led Asturias to write "Los mendigos políticos" ("The Political Beggars"), an unpublished short story that would later develop into his first novel, El Señor Presidente.[2] Asturias began writing El Señor Presidente in 1922, while he was still a law student in Guatemala. He moved to Paris in 1923, where he studied anthropology at the Sorbonne under George Raymond. While living in France, he continued to work on the book and also associated with members of the Surrealist movement as well as fellow future Latin American writers such as Arturo Uslar Pietri and the Cuban Alejo Carpentier.[3] The novel was completed in 1933, shortly before Asturias returned to Guatemala.	+
−	Even though El Señor Presidente was written in France and is set in an unnamed Latin American country, governed by an unnamed President in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, there is still plenty of support linking the novel to the Estrada Cabrera era in Guatemala. For example, as critic Jack Himelblau explains, "Asturias [...] wrote his novel primarily with his compatriots in mind, who, undoubtedly, had lived through the tyranny of Estrada Cabrera from 1898 to 1920."[4] Manuel Estrada Cabrera was notorious for his brutal repression of dissent in Guatemala, and Asturias had been involved in protests against his rule in 1920.[5] Asturias integrated and reworked incidents from Estrada Cabrera's dictatorship into the novel, such as the torture of a political adversary, who had been tricked "into believing that his innocent wife had been unfaithful to him".[6]	+
−	Estrada Cabrera was eventually forced out of office as a result of popular disturbances and the intervention of U.S. and other foreign diplomats. Rather than go into exile, however, the ex-president opted to defend himself against criminal charges.[7] In the ensuing trial, Asturias served as a legal secretary and so, as Gregory Rabassa's biographical sketch points out, he had the opportunity to base his own fictional leader—the President—on his observations of the disgraced Guatemalan dictator.[8] As Asturias himself put it:	+
−	I saw him almost every day in the prison. And I found that there's no doubt that men like that have a special power over people. To the extent that while he was a prisoner people would say: "No, that can't be Estrada Cabrera. The real Estrada Cabrera escaped. This is some poor old man that they've locked up in here."[9]	+
−	El Señor Presidente was not published until years after it was written. Asturias claims that Jorge Ubico y Castañeda, the dictator of Guatemala from 1931 to 1944, "prohibited its publication because his predecessor, Estrada Cabrera, was my Señor Presidente which meant that the book posed a danger to him as well".[1] Additionally, because Ubico was Guatemala's dictator while the novel was being finished, critics have linked him with the characterization of the President in El Señor Presidente.[10] As Himelblau notes, elements of the book "could easily have been interpreted as reflecting [...] General Ubico's dictatorship".[11] The novel eventually first saw the light of day in Mexico, in 1946, at a time when Juan José Arévalo was serving as Guatemala's first democratically elected president.	+
−	Despite the manifest influence of Asturias's experiences in Guatemala under Estrada Cabrera and Ubico, and despite certain historical ties, critic Richard Callan observes that Asturias's "attention is not limited to his times and nation, but ranges across the world and reaches back through the ages. By linking his created world with the dawn of history, and his twentieth-century characters with myths and archetypes, he has anchored them to themes of universal significance."[12] Asturias himself affirms that he "wrote El Señor Presidente without a social commitment".[13] By this he means that unlike some of his other books, such as Leyendas de Guatemala (Legends of Guatemala) or Hombres de maíz (Men of Maize), "El Señor Presidente had a wider relevance because it did not focus so heavily on Guatemalan myths and traditions."[13] Asturias depicts aspects of life that are common to all dictatorial regimes, and so establishes El Señor Presidente as one of his most influential works.	+
−	According to Latin American literary scholar Gerald Martin, Asturias's El Señor Presidente, which was written and published before the Latin American Boom of the 1960s, uses a style now classified as the "new novel" or "new narrative".[48] In this novel, Asturias breaks from the historic and realist style that dominated novels at the time.[48] Martin argues that the novel "exemplifies more clearly than any other novel the crucial link between European Surrealism and Latin American Magical Realism. It is, indeed, the first fully-fledged Surrealist novel in Latin America."[49]	+
−	Richard Franklin contends that on occasion surrealist writing obscures meaning, but in El Señor Presidente Asturias avoids this flaw. His combination of rationalism with "a world of forms" creates "an imagery which reveals a deeper reality, one which is more deeply rooted in the human psyche".[36] As such, Asturias's surrealist style highlights the modern disintegration of long-standing belief systems.[48] Literary scholar Gabriele Eckart gives as an excellent example of Asturias's surrealist style his portrayal of The Zany's psychic processes in which "language sometimes breaks apart into incomprehensible sounds".[50] This allows Asturias to present the real and imaginary, as well as the communicable and incommunicable, as non-contradictory.[50] Himelblau also highlights how El Señor Presidente projects "reality in relative, fluid terms—that is it allows its characters to disclose the temporal setting of the novel's fictional events". In this regard, then, Himelblau notes that El Señor Presidente "is also, as far as we are aware, the first novel in Spanish America that seeks to render fictional reality of time as a function of point of view".[51] The novel defies traditional narrative style by inserting numerous episodes that contribute little or nothing to the plot as the characters in these episodes often appear inconsistently.[46] Instead of relaying the book's themes through characters, Asturias uses repetition of motifs and a mythical substructure to solidify the book's message.[46]	+
−	Asturias employs figurative language to describe dream imagery and the irrational. Literary critic Hughes Davies points out that Asturias frequently appeals to the reader's auditory senses.[6] Asturias's often incantatory style[6] employs "unadulterated poetry to reinforce his imagery through sound".[36] This helps readers to understand the physical as well as the psychological aspects of the novel. According to Knightly, "few of Asturias's characters have much psychological depth; their inner conflicts tend to be externalized and played out at the archetypal level".[52] More significantly, Asturias was the first Latin American novelist to combine stream of consciousness writing and figurative language.[53] Hughes Davies argues that from the outset of El Señor Presidente, the gap between words and reality is exemplified through onomatopoeia, simile and repetition of phrases.[27] Knightly notes that "animistic elements surface occasionally in the characters' stream of consciousness".[52] For example, in the chapter "Tohil's Dance", Tohil, the God of Rain in Maya mythology, is imagined by Angel Face as arriving "riding on a river of pigeons' breasts which flowed like milk".[54] In Angel Face's vision, Tohil demands a human sacrifice and is content only so long as he "can prevail over men who are hunters of men".[54] Tohil pronounces: "Henceforth there will be neither true death nor true life. Now dance."[54] As Knightly explains, this scene follows the President's orders for Miguel Angel Face to go on a mission that ends in his death,[52] and is "a sign of the President's evil nature and purposes".[52] Davies contends that these literary techniques, when "combined together with a discontinuous structure, give the text its surrealistic and nightmarish atmosphere".[27]sturias blurs the separation between dream and reality throughout El Señor Presidente, making it one of the novel's most prominent themes. Latin American writer and critic Ariel Dorfman notes that the mixing of dream and reality is partly a result of Asturias's frequent use of figurative language. This stylistic choice is reflected in the content of the story itself, which suggests that an important effect of dictatorial power is the blurring of dreams and reality.[55] Dorfman also notes that the President is sustained by fear, which further blurs the distinction between reality and dream. This fear grants him the voluntary or involuntary support of others, enabling the President to exercise his mandates.[56] Dorfman asserts that the President's use of fear elevates his mandates to legends. These legends are then able to "impose itself upon reality because men live it fully in a way to make sense of their humanity".[56] One example of this theme, elucidated by Eckart, is a series of scenes leading to the arrest of the lawyer Carvajal. When the President decides to blame Carvajal for the murder of Colonel Sonriente, it is clear that Carvajal is confounded by the charges.[57] Moreover, despite being a lawyer, Carvajal is unable to defend himself during the sham trial with "the members of the tribunal so drunk that they cannot hear him".[57] As Eckart asserts, "to be captured and tortured without ever knowing why is another horrible feature of a dictatorship. For the victim, reality unexpectedly becomes unreality, no longer comprehensible by a logical mind."[57] Therefore, the use of fear by a dictatorship blurs the line between reality and dream for the people being ruled.	+
−	Asturias's ambiguous use of detail adds to the confusion between reality and dream. For example, the title pages of parts one and two state that they take place between April 21 and 27. Part three, on the other hand, occurs over "Weeks, Months, Years". While this time-scale initially appears very specific, no year is indicated. Furthermore, the novel is set in a country similar to Guatemala and includes references to Maya gods (such as in the chapter "Tohil's Dance") but no direct statement by any character confirms this. Bauman argues that Asturias, by "preferring instead to distance himself from the immediate historical reality and focus critical light on the internal problems", attends to what "he sees there".[58] This enables Asturias to address a wider audience, not restricted to Guatemalans, that can relate individually to the experience of living under dictatorial rule.	+
−	In obscuring reality, truth becomes unclear. As literary critic Mireille Rosello notes, it is the President who decides what is true, denying any other opinion, even if other characters witness an event with their own eyes or ears.[59] Unlike the characters in the novel, readers are aware that the characters are relying on a notion of truth or reality that no longer exists under the dictatorship of the President.[60] "Truth" does not exist before the President puts it into words,[61] and even at that, the only "truth" under dictatorial rule is the words the President is speaking at any given moment—one cannot even safely repeat the President's versions of events.[62] The characters are thus left unaware of what constitutes the	+
−	n a 1970 interview, the German critic Gunter W. Lorenz asked Miguel Ángel Asturias why he began to write and the novelist replied:	+
−	Yes, at 10:25 pm on the 25th of December in 1917, an earthquake destroyed my city. I saw something like an immense cloud conceal the enormous moon. I had been placed in a cellar, in a hole, in a cave or someplace else. It was then that I wrote my first poem, a song of farewell to Guatemala. Later, I was angered by the circumstances during which the rubble was cleared away and by the social injustice that became so bloodily apparent.[1]	+
−	This experience, at the age of 18, led Asturias to write "Los mendigos políticos" ("The Political Beggars"), an unpublished short story that would later develop into his first novel, El Señor Presidente.[2] Asturias began writing El Señor Presidente in 1922, while he was still a law student in Guatemala. He moved to Paris in 1923, where he studied anthropology at the Sorbonne under George Raymond. While living in France, he continued to work on the book and also associated with members of the Surrealist movement as well as fellow future Latin American writers such as Arturo Uslar Pietri and the Cuban Alejo Carpentier.[3] The novel was completed in 1933, shortly before Asturias returned to Guatemala.	+
−	Even though El Señor Presidente was written in France and is set in an unnamed Latin American country, governed by an unnamed President in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, there is still plenty of support linking the novel to the Estrada Cabrera era in Guatemala. For example, as critic Jack Himelblau explains, "Asturias [...] wrote his novel primarily with his compatriots in mind, who, undoubtedly, had lived through the tyranny of Estrada Cabrera from 1898 to 1920."[4] Manuel Estrada Cabrera was notorious for his brutal repression of dissent in Guatemala, and Asturias had been involved in protests against his rule in 1920.[5] Asturias integrated and reworked incidents from Estrada Cabrera's dictatorship into the novel, such as the torture of a political adversary, who had been tricked "into believing that his innocent wife had been unfaithful to him".[6]	+
−	Estrada Cabrera was eventually forced out of office as a result of popular disturbances and the intervention of U.S. and other foreign diplomats. Rather than go into exile, however, the ex-president opted to defend himself against criminal charges.[7] In the ensuing trial, Asturias served as a legal secretary and so, as Gregory Rabassa's biographical sketch points out, he had the opportunity to base his own fictional leader—the President—on his observations of the disgraced Guatemalan dictator.[8] As Asturias himself put it:	+
−	I saw him almost every day in the prison. And I found that there's no doubt that men like that have a special power over people. To the extent that while he was a prisoner people would say: "No, that can't be Estrada Cabrera. The real Estrada Cabrera escaped. This is some poor old man that they've locked up in here."[9]	+
−	El Señor Presidente was not published until years after it was written. Asturias claims that Jorge Ubico y Castañeda, the dictator of Guatemala from 1931 to 1944, "prohibited its publication because his predecessor, Estrada Cabrera, was my Señor Presidente which meant that the book posed a danger to him as well".[1] Additionally, because Ubico was Guatemala's dictator while the novel was being finished, critics have linked him with the characterization of the President in El Señor Presidente.[10] As Himelblau notes, elements of the book "could easily have been interpreted as reflecting [...] General Ubico's dictatorship".[11] The novel eventually first saw the light of day in Mexico, in 1946, at a time when Juan José Arévalo was serving as Guatemala's first democratically elected president.	+
−	Despite the manifest influence of Asturias's experiences in Guatemala under Estrada Cabrera and Ubico, and despite certain historical ties, critic Richard Callan observes that Asturias's "attention is not limited to his times and nation, but ranges across the world and reaches back through the ages. By linking his created world with the dawn of history, and his twentieth-century characters with myths and archetypes, he has anchored them to themes of universal significance."[12] Asturias himself affirms that he "wrote El Señor Presidente without a social commitment".[13] By this he means that unlike some of his other books, such as Leyendas de Guatemala (Legends of Guatemala) or Hombres de maíz (Men of Maize), "El Señor Presidente had a wider relevance because it did not focus so heavily on Guatemalan myths and traditions."[13] Asturias depicts aspects of life that are common to all dictatorial regimes, and so establishes El Señor Presidente as one of his most influential works.	+
−	According to Latin American literary scholar Gerald Martin, Asturias's El Señor Presidente, which was written and published before the Latin American Boom of the 1960s, uses a style now classified as the "new novel" or "new narrative".[48] In this novel, Asturias breaks from the historic and realist style that dominated novels at the time.[48] Martin argues that the novel "exemplifies more clearly than any other novel the crucial link between European Surrealism and Latin American Magical Realism. It is, indeed, the first fully-fledged Surrealist novel in Latin America."[49]	+
−	Richard Franklin contends that on occasion surrealist writing obscures meaning, but in El Señor Presidente Asturias avoids this flaw. His combination of rationalism with "a world of forms" creates "an imagery which reveals a deeper reality, one which is more deeply rooted in the human psyche".[36] As such, Asturias's surrealist style highlights the modern disintegration of long-standing belief systems.[48] Literary scholar Gabriele Eckart gives as an excellent example of Asturias's surrealist style	+
		+	Many of the regular users on popular subreddits are individuals that share a liking of the same type of content and content discussion. When groups of homogeneous individuals curate the types of news and content that they all like, the likelihood and risk of the hyperpolarization of radical ideals increases. Cass Sunstein (2001) calls for more randomly curated news and content distribution platforms, where users are confronted with content they wouldn't have otherwise sought for. <ref> Sunstein, C. (2001). The daily me. In, Sunstein, Cass, republic.com. (pp. 3-22). Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.</ref>
−	==Ethics on Reddit==	+	==="Karma Whoring"===
−	Reddit has created an environment in which many users act ethically, fostered by the presence of a community that works to make Reddit a better place.  Users work together to suppress hateful speech, act charitably, and help fellow Redditors out with either advice or favors. <ref>  thetacticalpanda (08/2011). Reddit.com Retrieved from http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/jjsws/i_just_received_some_hate_mail_in_my_reddit_inbox/?sort=top </ref> Several sub-Reddits allow users to ask for favors from other users, including [http://reddit.com/r/favors /r/favors], and [http://reddit.com/r/randomactsofpizza /r/randomactsofpizza], a Reddit in which users can donate pizza to less fortunate Redditors.	+	Posts that a user submits can receive positive karma for thoughtful or entertaining contributions to the community, or negative karma for disruptive behavior. It is common for many users to "re-post" popular images, viral videos, and news stories with the hope of generating more upvotes from users to whom the reported content is new. This practice is referred to as "karma whoring"
−	There also exists controversial content on Reddit which has come under scrutiny for being immoral.  In September 2011, Reddit garnered negative media attention for its subreddit r/jailbait. R/jailbait displays photos of non-nude underage girls in sexually suggestive clothing or positions. Most of these photos were taken from friends of the girls from their Facebook, Twitter, or other social media sites. Anderson Cooper featured it on his show AC360, criticizing it for spreading a form of child pornography and arguing it's lack of protection for the privacy of these young girls. This eventually led to the subreddit being shut down with the site administrators claiming it to threaten "the structural integrity of the greater reddit community." <ref>Reddit Staff. (10/2011). Reddit.com/r/jailbait </ref>	+	==="Circle Jerking"===
		+	A "Circle Jerk" refers to the dynamic within an infosphere where the commentary of likeminded users leads to a chain of responses and upvotes to one another's posts regardless of the quality of the comment. "Circlejerking" leads to a decline in original and thoughtful content.
−	The Reddit community backlashed Anderson Cooper and the media with explanations ranging from freedom of speech and press to the photos not being illegal. Other distasteful subreddits such as r/beatingwomen and r/picsofdeadbabies were also discussed being banned for the same reason as r/jailbait, but currently are still running.	+	===Authenticity in the Reddit Community===
		+	Creating a Reddit account is a simple process in which no personally identifiable information is required. There is no limit on the number of accounts that a single user can make. Many users manage multiple accounts where they portray various online identities. Using Reddit on numerous accounts allows regular Reddit community members to post with increased anonymity, which enables them to keep embarrassing or overly personal information from being associated with their main Reddit account. However, this ability to create multiple accounts raises questions about authenticity. Users counter this through the maintenance of groups norms like trust, respect, rules, and consequences to the violation of those rules. <ref> Bergstrom, K. (2011). Don't feed the troll: Shutting down debate about community expectations on Reddit.com. First Monday, 16(8), pp. 10. </ref> <ref> Baym, N. P. (1997). Interpreting soap operas and creating community: Inside an electronic fan culture. In Sara Kiesler, Culture of the Internet. (pp. 103-120). </ref>
		+	===="Throwaway"====
		+	"Throwaway" accounts are those created by Redditors to post content they do not want their friends, family, or coworkers to know about. They are generally temporary accounts with only a few posts on them, allowing users to gain a fresh start on the platform and to not have a post history that other users can track. This concept amplifies the anonymous aspect of the site and creates a platform for individuals to post embarrassing, revealing, or even threatening content on the site. A regular user's account generally contains identifiers and other information that others can utilize to figure out their identity. When individuals feel as if they cannot be found out, it creates an issue of those individuals utilizing the anonymity to take advantage of other users.
		+	====Value-Sensitive Design====
		+	Value-sensitive design refers to an approach to designing a website or app platform interface that accounts for human values in a comprehensive manner <ref> "Value Sensitive Design". Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation. 10 Feb 2019. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_sensitive_design </ref>. Implementing the karma system into the architectural code of Reddit is an example of developers practicing value-sensitive design. The cumulative points that users are given based on upvotes or downvotes determine which users are more respected and which users are considered more likely to be spammers on the site. According to the developers of the site, Reddit is democratic in its design. However, some argue that the platform's karma design enables glorification of certain posts that are not necessarily the "best" but simply reflect the post that the highest number of users upvoted. This can present an ethical conundrum because the only control over which mosts are promoted and viewed the most is held by the opinions of the users themselves. This can leave certain posts suppressed and unnoticed while other posts are highlighted and gain much recognition, without much consideration to the content of the post itself. For this reason, Reddit is an example of how the design of the architectural code of a website can have a drastic effect on the culture and behavior of the users on the site. According to Massanari, this design that embeds the value of karma into its design can present a toxic culture which enables misogyny and anti-feminist behavior when dealing with certain groups on the Reddit platform<ref> Massanari, Adrienne. (2017). "Gamergate and the Fappening: How Reddit's algorithm, governance, and culture support toxic technocultures".</ref>.
−	References	+	===Ethical/Unethical Subreddits===
		+	====Toxic Communities====
		+	Adrienne Massanari argues that the algorithmic politics and platform of Reddit allow and encourage discrimination against individuals and certain groups of people, creating what she calls a "toxic technoculture". Her team completed a three-year ethnographic observational study of the Reddit community to examine the sites experience with the actor-network theory (ANT), "how non-human technological agents can shape and are shaped by human activity." Anonymity, amongst other factors, contribute to hateful speech and the formation of discriminatory subreddits.<ref>Massanari, A. (2015). #Gamergate and The Fappening: How Reddit’s algorithm, governance, and culture support toxic technocultures. New Media & Society.http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444815608807</ref>
		+
		+	====/r/fakeid====
		+	/r/fakeid connects vendors of fake IDs to interested buyers. This is not only ethically convoluted but illegal. /r/fakeid has rules to protect all participants' identity. Personal information is prohibited, information about specific orders is kept confidential, and buyers enjoy affordances such as access to a choice of a fake id from various states. Some vendors go so far as to communicate with buyers through encrypted emails and accept payment only in bitcoin. While this community has existed for 6 years, as of April 2016, it has not been removed, despite having over 10,000 subreddit subscribers.<ref>/r/fakeidhttps://www.reddit.com/search?q=fakeid</ref>
		+	====/r/ShitRedditSays====
		+	/r/shitredditsays is a subreddit where users aggregate hateful and distasteful comments posted on Reddit.  An attempt to include users in the policing of the site, users post the types of comments portraying instances of misogyny, sexism, racism or other slurs targeting specific groups of people or sensitive topics <ref>Reddit. [http://www.reddit.com/r/shitredditsays "Shit Reddit Says."] Retrieved on 18 April 2016.</ref>.
		+
		+	====/r/jailbait====
		+	/r/jailbait displays photos of non-nude underage girls in sexually suggestive clothing or positions. Most of these photos were taken from friends of the girls on their [[Facebook]], [[Twitter]], or other social media sites. [[Wikipedia:Anderson Cooper|Anderson Cooper]] featured it on his show ''Anderson Cooper 360'', arguing about its borderline child pornographic aesthetic and its lack of privacy protection for young girls. /r/jailbait was shut down by site administrators who claimed it threatened "the structural integrity of the greater Reddit community." <ref>Reddit Staff. (10/2011). [Reddit.com/r/jailbait] </ref> Other distasteful sub-Reddits such as /r/beatingwomen and /r/picsofdeadbabies were also discussed being banned for the same reason as /r/jailbait, but currently are still running.
		+
		+	====/r/roasteme====
		+	/r/roastme is an interesting subreddit because posts are created by users who are asking to be cyberbullied. To post a picture, the person must pose with proof that they are requesting to be roasted. Even though people post on this subreddit with requests for crude comments, users sometimes take it too far. Comments can quickly become racially charged and seem more like bullying than playful jabs <ref>Chris. “The Most Brutal Roast Me Posts From The Infamous Reddit Roast Me.” Can You Actually, Can You Actually, 18 Mar. 2019, canyouactually.com/roast-me/</ref>. Though posters ask to be roasted and provide proof that they do, these hurtful comments may do more damage than fun. While the subreddit has produced some funny roasts, constantly cyberbullying such a large number of people will inevitably lead to some users feeling dejected. The community has shown redeeming qualities in the past, highlighted by one post of an individual claiming to be depressed <ref> Hays, Amina. “17-Year-Old With Depression Asks r/RoastMe To Roast His Photo So He'd Have A Reason To End It All, Internet Responds.” Bored Panda, www.boredpanda.com/russian-guy-crippling-depression-roast-me-people-refuse-wholesome-reddit/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic</ref>. The members of the subreddit refused to roast them and instead provided the original poster motivational and comforting messages.
		+
		+	====/r/SilkRoad and /r/DarkNetMarkets====
		+	The subreddit for Silk Road, the hidden [[Dark Web|dark web]] marketplace for illegal drugs and weapons, was a community formed to discuss a variety of topics involving the site. Users shared information about how to access Silk Road, methods for discreetly shipping items, and posted reviews and recommendations of sellers. It served as a guide for those unfamiliar with the service. While Reddit continued to let the subreddit exist, the sub’s moderators temporarily closed it in efforts to protect users’ identities following Silk Road’s first seizure.<ref>Love, Dylan. “The Silk Road Users of Reddit Briefly Went Dark, but They’re Back Now“.[http://www.businessinsider.com/silk-road-subreddit-2013-10] Business Insider. 3 Oct 2013.</ref> r/DarkNetMarkets functioned similarly but applied to other dark net markets as well. In March 2015, the federal government issued a subpoena to Reddit to reveal personal information for 5 members of the subreddit who they linked to the administration behind the dark web market Evolution.<ref>Greenberg, Andy. “Feds Demand Reddit Identify Users of a Dark Web Drug Forum.”[https://www.wired.com/2015/03/dhs-reddit-dark-web-drug-forum/] Wired. 30 March 2015.</ref> Reddit, citing a change in its content policy, banned r/DarkNetMarkets in March 2018. All content from the subreddit was removed. At the time of its closing, there were close to 160,000 subscribers.<ref>Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo. “Reddit Bans Subreddits Dedicated to Dark Web Drug Markets and Selling Guns”.[https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ne9v5k/reddit-bans-subreddits-dark-web-drug-markets-and-guns] Motherboard. 21 March 2018.</ref>
		+
		+	===Violentacrez v.s. Gawker===
		+	Violentacrez was an infamous troll of Reddit who was the moderator for many controversial subreddits including /r/jailbait and /r/CreepShots. Then, in October 2012, Gawker journalist Adrian Chen decided to unmask the troll as Michael Brutsch. Chen reportedly contacted Brutsch before his outing. Brutsch did not deny the things he had done but instead begged for his name not to be published, saying that it would have a detrimental cost to his disabled wife. Chen went ahead and published the piece with his name in it and Brutsch lost his job and his wife's life insurance immediately; when this was reported to the public it was celebrated. <ref>boyd, danah. [https://www.wired.com/2012/10/truth-lies-doxxing-internet-vigilanteism/ Truth, Lies, and ‘Doxxing’: The Real Moral of the Gawker/Reddit Story] Retrieved on 10 April 2017.</ref>
		+
		+	The CEO of Reddit, Yishan Wong, defended the content the Brutsch had posted on the site. “We stand for free speech,” Wong wrote in a private post on the site. “We will not ban legal content even if we find it odious or if we personally condemn it. Not because that’s the law in the United States … but because we believe in that ideal independently.” Wong stood by this ideal too when he condemned different subreddits for banning the Gawker link, although many still did. <ref>Fox News (2012). [http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/10/17/reddit-ceo-defends-free-speech-and-creepy-user-violentacrez.html Reddit CEO defends free speech -- even for creeps like Violentacrez] Retrieved on 10 April 2017.</ref>
		+
		+	===/r/fatpeoplehate===
		+	In 2015, in accordance with a new harassment policy, Reddit's admin team banned /r/fatpeoplehate, a subreddit devoted to sharing deprecating and hateful stories and pictures about fat people. In response, users of the site cited "political correctness gone wild" and started a Reddit clone called Voat.co with no censorship.<ref>Robertson, Adi [http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/10/8761763/reddit-harassment-ban-fat-people-hate-subreddit Reddit bans 'Fat People Hate' and other subreddits under new harassment rules.] The Verge. Retrieved 4/23/17. </ref> There is an ongoing ethical debate about censorship. Some argue that censoring online hate is unethical because it restricts freedom of speech. However, some argue in favor of "ethical censorship" in which particular content is censored in order to protect others. Reddit censored /r/fatpeoplehate in order to protect the victims of the hate, but in doing so censored others. The debate continues about when to draw the line when it comes to censorship, but Reddit took a stand in order to maintain a more positive online environment.
		+
		+	==Conclusion==
		+	Reddit has provided the internet with a platform where E-communities can congregate around both popular and obscure topics. As a fairly open-ended social network, even ethically convoluted interests can result in a forum, discussion-based sub-Reddit. While employing several moderators to monitor the content, these mods are seen as bias-laden, imperfect, and at odds with certain values of the Reddit community, such as freedom of speech. No E-community is perfect or free from ethical challenges, and Reddit is no exception. However, at its core, Reddit is trying to enable geographically disparate users to engage is the community, civic discussion, and intellectualism, which is a fairly noble undertaking in and of itself.
		+
		+	==See Also==
		+	{{resource|
		+	*[[4chan]]
		+	*[[9GAG]]
		+	*[[Internet Forum]]
		+	}}
		+
		+	== External Links ==
		+	{{resource|
		+	*[http://www.reddit.com Reddit's Website]
		+	}}
		+
		+	==References==
		+	{{resource|
	<references/>		<references/>
		+	}}
	[[Category:Websites]]		[[Category:Websites]]
		+	[[Category: Services]]
		+	[[Category:Corporations]]
		+
		+	([[Topics|back to index]])

---

Latest revision as of 18:57, 27 April 2019

reddit.com

"Reddit" Site Type Social Bookmarking Open Source Project Launch Date 2005 Status Active Product Line News Website Social Bookmarking Platform Cloud Service Android Tablet Android App iOS App API Website www.reddit.com

R

eddit is an internet forum where users, known as "Redditors", can post images, videos, questions, opinions, user-generated content, and links relevant to the interests of the community. ^[1] Each individual community within Reddit is known as a subreddit. For example, there is a subreddit called "Today I Learned", which is about interesting facts Redditors recently learned. There are thousands of subreddits, all covering different topics and attracting different users. The name Reddit is a play on the words "read it", i.e., "I read it on Reddit".^[2]

The sense of community plays a large role in allowing the actions of Redditors to act charitably and use Reddit as a place to cultivate and gain social capital. However, ethical issues within Reddit arises from the existence of "circle jerks," where homogeneous, hyper-polarized opinions are socially acceptable and reinforced. Moreover, the ease of user account creation allows a single user to obtain multiple identities in a single online community, leading to questions of authenticity, embodiment, and identity. ^[3] Additionally, biased moderation may present a barrier to freedom of speech.

History

Launched in 2005, the company was started by two University of Virginia grads, Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman in the Y Combinator program. The two wanted to create a site where users could access the most shared links on the Internet, essentially a "front page" of the Internet. With an investment from Y Combinator, Huffman and Ohanian started working on Reddit in Medford, Massachusetts. ^[4] Two others, Christopher Slowe and Aaron Swartz, later joined the team. Conde Nast, owner of Wired Magazine and other popular magazines/websites, acquired Reddit in October of 2006. In September 2011, the company changed hands from Conde Nast to its parent company, Advanced Publications. As part of the new structure, Reddit incorporated and now reports directly to a board, including Alexis Ohanian, Bob Sauerberg (President), Joe Simon (Chief Technology Officer) from Conde Nast, and Andrew Siegel (Senior Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development) from Advance.^[5] Also, in May of 2016 Reddit ahiggz, a Reddit product manager, posted about how they would be shutting down Alien Blue, a mobile client for Reddit. However, they would be releasing a mobile version of Reddit, and they told users to comment their favorite features from Alien Blue^[6].

Structure

Voting

The content of Reddit 's front page is decided based on how users vote. An upvote makes the submission or comment rise closer to the top of the page (and ultimately the front page, the most popular page on the site). Downvotes act in the opposite way, moving the article away from the top of the page. The front page of Reddit contains the submissions that were most upvoted by Reddit users.

Subreddits

Reddit is comprised of thousands of subreddits, with each narrowly focused on a specific, shared interest. Users can choose to follow and track particular subreddits if they wish. Once followed, the subreddit has a higher chance of appearing on a user's front page, customizing it. For example, if one follows a random boating page, which is relatively unpopular, the highest voted content will appear on a front page, even if some other content has more total upvotes. Some popular sub-Reddits include ‘world news’, ‘pictures’, and ‘funny’, which are displayed on the front page for all new users. Anyone can create a sub-Reddit, which enhances the diversity and creates a stronger sense of community on the site.

IAmA

One of Reddit's most popular subreddits, IAmA, allows ordinary people or public figures to answer questions about their life and work. Often, celebrities, such as actors or politicians, will host "AMA's" (Ask Me Anything) where they will answer questions on the platform. Due to the popularity of the site, high-profile figures often conduct AMAs, most notably former United States President, Barack Obama.^[7]

Reddit values authenticity, down-to-earth behavior, and humor in AMA respondents, and will quickly turn on anyone seen to be using an AMA to "shill" or profit for their own benefit. Most notable are the cases of Woody Harrelson and Morgan Freeman. Both were perceived as inauthentic and manufactured, and have been turned into jokes around the site.

Karma System

The Karma system acts as a cumulative recommender system in which users receive points, or Karma, for their input to the site. One positive point of Karma is given for each upvote received, and one negative point is given for each downvote. A user’s Karma score is displayed on their profile page, separated into two categories, comments, and submissions. A user's Karma score shows how much good they have done for the Reddit community. The higher the karma, the more they are respected and less likely to be considered a spammer. ^[9]

The best way to accumulate karma is by submitting links that other users like and vote for. While Karma can serve the purpose of providing an unofficial qualification check of user contributions, the owners of the site don't want Karma accumulation to be the main focus. Instead, they advise users to "just set out to be a good person, and let your karma simply be a reminder of your legacy." ^[10]

Reddit as a Community

Reddit has developed a sense of community that holds members responsible for their actions, going as far as organizing meetings in real life for Reddit members to meet and socialize^[11]. Ethical behavior comes along with this sense of community, as people feel a social responsibility to act according to the ethical norms created for the environment. A moral framework called "Reddiquette" is one way that allows users to adapt to the new moral objects present on Reddit. Reddiquette is “an informal expression of Reddit's community values” that helps shape what ethical behavior is on the site. ^[12] Reddiquette is an extensive set of morals, organized in a set of what to do, which is comprised of twenty items, and a set of what not to do made up of thirty-seven entries. Some subjects covered in the section of what not to do include revealing personal information, compromising others' personal privacy, complaining about reposts, pleading for votes, and posting comments that lack content. In the “Please do” section, some topics covered are linking directly to the page of the original source of content and moderating on the basis of quality, not opinion.

Ethics on Reddit

Over the course of the maturation process of Reddit as a community, much of the intellectualism that originally existed in what was the grassroots community has deteriorated. Reddit lost much of its credibility and many of its more objective users. Today, the Reddit community is largely homogeneous, which presents specific ethical concerns. On the other hand, Reddit has created an environment in which many users act ethically, fostered social pressures encouraging that works to make Reddit a better place. Certain sub-communities work together to suppress hateful speech, act charitably, and help fellow Redditors out with either advice or favors. ^[13] Due to the fact that Reddit is one of the most popular social news sites, many users will copy content that was original from Reddit and post it on other social news applications. Often you will see that content on Reddit is passed around but it is never the same person who is distributing the content. Because of this the original poster of the content does not always necessarily get the credit or recognition.

The Daily Me & Group think

Many of the regular users on popular subreddits are individuals that share a liking of the same type of content and content discussion. When groups of homogeneous individuals curate the types of news and content that they all like, the likelihood and risk of the hyperpolarization of radical ideals increases. Cass Sunstein (2001) calls for more randomly curated news and content distribution platforms, where users are confronted with content they wouldn't have otherwise sought for. ^[14]

"Karma Whoring"

Posts that a user submits can receive positive karma for thoughtful or entertaining contributions to the community, or negative karma for disruptive behavior. It is common for many users to "re-post" popular images, viral videos, and news stories with the hope of generating more upvotes from users to whom the reported content is new. This practice is referred to as "karma whoring"

"Circle Jerking"

A "Circle Jerk" refers to the dynamic within an infosphere where the commentary of likeminded users leads to a chain of responses and upvotes to one another's posts regardless of the quality of the comment. "Circlejerking" leads to a decline in original and thoughtful content.

Authenticity in the Reddit Community

Creating a Reddit account is a simple process in which no personally identifiable information is required. There is no limit on the number of accounts that a single user can make. Many users manage multiple accounts where they portray various online identities. Using Reddit on numerous accounts allows regular Reddit community members to post with increased anonymity, which enables them to keep embarrassing or overly personal information from being associated with their main Reddit account. However, this ability to create multiple accounts raises questions about authenticity. Users counter this through the maintenance of groups norms like trust, respect, rules, and consequences to the violation of those rules. ^{[15] [16]}

"Throwaway"

"Throwaway" accounts are those created by Redditors to post content they do not want their friends, family, or coworkers to know about. They are generally temporary accounts with only a few posts on them, allowing users to gain a fresh start on the platform and to not have a post history that other users can track. This concept amplifies the anonymous aspect of the site and creates a platform for individuals to post embarrassing, revealing, or even threatening content on the site. A regular user's account generally contains identifiers and other information that others can utilize to figure out their identity. When individuals feel as if they cannot be found out, it creates an issue of those individuals utilizing the anonymity to take advantage of other users.

Value-Sensitive Design

Value-sensitive design refers to an approach to designing a website or app platform interface that accounts for human values in a comprehensive manner ^[17]. Implementing the karma system into the architectural code of Reddit is an example of developers practicing value-sensitive design. The cumulative points that users are given based on upvotes or downvotes determine which users are more respected and which users are considered more likely to be spammers on the site. According to the developers of the site, Reddit is democratic in its design. However, some argue that the platform's karma design enables glorification of certain posts that are not necessarily the "best" but simply reflect the post that the highest number of users upvoted. This can present an ethical conundrum because the only control over which mosts are promoted and viewed the most is held by the opinions of the users themselves. This can leave certain posts suppressed and unnoticed while other posts are highlighted and gain much recognition, without much consideration to the content of the post itself. For this reason, Reddit is an example of how the design of the architectural code of a website can have a drastic effect on the culture and behavior of the users on the site. According to Massanari, this design that embeds the value of karma into its design can present a toxic culture which enables misogyny and anti-feminist behavior when dealing with certain groups on the Reddit platform^[18].

Ethical/Unethical Subreddits

Toxic Communities

Adrienne Massanari argues that the algorithmic politics and platform of Reddit allow and encourage discrimination against individuals and certain groups of people, creating what she calls a "toxic technoculture". Her team completed a three-year ethnographic observational study of the Reddit community to examine the sites experience with the actor-network theory (ANT), "how non-human technological agents can shape and are shaped by human activity." Anonymity, amongst other factors, contribute to hateful speech and the formation of discriminatory subreddits.^[19]

/r/fakeid

/r/fakeid connects vendors of fake IDs to interested buyers. This is not only ethically convoluted but illegal. /r/fakeid has rules to protect all participants' identity. Personal information is prohibited, information about specific orders is kept confidential, and buyers enjoy affordances such as access to a choice of a fake id from various states. Some vendors go so far as to communicate with buyers through encrypted emails and accept payment only in bitcoin. While this community has existed for 6 years, as of April 2016, it has not been removed, despite having over 10,000 subreddit subscribers.^[20]

/r/ShitRedditSays

/r/shitredditsays is a subreddit where users aggregate hateful and distasteful comments posted on Reddit. An attempt to include users in the policing of the site, users post the types of comments portraying instances of misogyny, sexism, racism or other slurs targeting specific groups of people or sensitive topics ^[21].

/r/jailbait

/r/jailbait displays photos of non-nude underage girls in sexually suggestive clothing or positions. Most of these photos were taken from friends of the girls on their Facebook, Twitter, or other social media sites. Anderson Cooper featured it on his show Anderson Cooper 360, arguing about its borderline child pornographic aesthetic and its lack of privacy protection for young girls. /r/jailbait was shut down by site administrators who claimed it threatened "the structural integrity of the greater Reddit community." ^[22] Other distasteful sub-Reddits such as /r/beatingwomen and /r/picsofdeadbabies were also discussed being banned for the same reason as /r/jailbait, but currently are still running.

/r/roasteme

/r/roastme is an interesting subreddit because posts are created by users who are asking to be cyberbullied. To post a picture, the person must pose with proof that they are requesting to be roasted. Even though people post on this subreddit with requests for crude comments, users sometimes take it too far. Comments can quickly become racially charged and seem more like bullying than playful jabs ^[23]. Though posters ask to be roasted and provide proof that they do, these hurtful comments may do more damage than fun. While the subreddit has produced some funny roasts, constantly cyberbullying such a large number of people will inevitably lead to some users feeling dejected. The community has shown redeeming qualities in the past, highlighted by one post of an individual claiming to be depressed ^[24]. The members of the subreddit refused to roast them and instead provided the original poster motivational and comforting messages.

/r/SilkRoad and /r/DarkNetMarkets

The subreddit for Silk Road, the hidden dark web marketplace for illegal drugs and weapons, was a community formed to discuss a variety of topics involving the site. Users shared information about how to access Silk Road, methods for discreetly shipping items, and posted reviews and recommendations of sellers. It served as a guide for those unfamiliar with the service. While Reddit continued to let the subreddit exist, the sub’s moderators temporarily closed it in efforts to protect users’ identities following Silk Road’s first seizure.^[25] r/DarkNetMarkets functioned similarly but applied to other dark net markets as well. In March 2015, the federal government issued a subpoena to Reddit to reveal personal information for 5 members of the subreddit who they linked to the administration behind the dark web market Evolution.^[26] Reddit, citing a change in its content policy, banned r/DarkNetMarkets in March 2018. All content from the subreddit was removed. At the time of its closing, there were close to 160,000 subscribers.^[27]

Violentacrez v.s. Gawker

Violentacrez was an infamous troll of Reddit who was the moderator for many controversial subreddits including /r/jailbait and /r/CreepShots. Then, in October 2012, Gawker journalist Adrian Chen decided to unmask the troll as Michael Brutsch. Chen reportedly contacted Brutsch before his outing. Brutsch did not deny the things he had done but instead begged for his name not to be published, saying that it would have a detrimental cost to his disabled wife. Chen went ahead and published the piece with his name in it and Brutsch lost his job and his wife's life insurance immediately; when this was reported to the public it was celebrated. ^[28]

The CEO of Reddit, Yishan Wong, defended the content the Brutsch had posted on the site. “We stand for free speech,” Wong wrote in a private post on the site. “We will not ban legal content even if we find it odious or if we personally condemn it. Not because that’s the law in the United States … but because we believe in that ideal independently.” Wong stood by this ideal too when he condemned different subreddits for banning the Gawker link, although many still did. ^[29]

/r/fatpeoplehate

In 2015, in accordance with a new harassment policy, Reddit's admin team banned /r/fatpeoplehate, a subreddit devoted to sharing deprecating and hateful stories and pictures about fat people. In response, users of the site cited "political correctness gone wild" and started a Reddit clone called Voat.co with no censorship.^[30] There is an ongoing ethical debate about censorship. Some argue that censoring online hate is unethical because it restricts freedom of speech. However, some argue in favor of "ethical censorship" in which particular content is censored in order to protect others. Reddit censored /r/fatpeoplehate in order to protect the victims of the hate, but in doing so censored others. The debate continues about when to draw the line when it comes to censorship, but Reddit took a stand in order to maintain a more positive online environment.

Conclusion

Reddit has provided the internet with a platform where E-communities can congregate around both popular and obscure topics. As a fairly open-ended social network, even ethically convoluted interests can result in a forum, discussion-based sub-Reddit. While employing several moderators to monitor the content, these mods are seen as bias-laden, imperfect, and at odds with certain values of the Reddit community, such as freedom of speech. No E-community is perfect or free from ethical challenges, and Reddit is no exception. However, at its core, Reddit is trying to enable geographically disparate users to engage is the community, civic discussion, and intellectualism, which is a fairly noble undertaking in and of itself.

See Also

External Links

References

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