This is one of the reasons I regularly deleted my reddit account. I was on reddit for over a decade, but I always had a relatively new account.
When I mentioned doing this, I invariably got called paranoid.
Hyperreality
joined 2 years ago
Lynx/Axe Africa, watermelon vape, and a can of pussy.
Reddit users are product not customers.
The product is the data they mine from users. The reddit app is almost certainly loaded with telemetry and tracking.
This is data that can be sold. Likely worth more than the increased ad revenue from users who know how to block ads on their phone.
Slightly annoying issue:
No reply notifications for comments.
To tell if we should be concerned about bots is a difficult task. To make a decision, here's some things we should consider:
- Start with the basics. Focus on the language and words used. This will help us understand if users are bots.
- Check back regularly. Constant evaluation is the key to understanding if users are bots and if this is a problem.
- Use real life examples. Try to find authentic stories, examples or situations. Use them to test if users are bots and if we should be concerned.
- Talk to other bots. If you have an opportunity to talk to other bots, do it! Bots can help improve our ability to detect bots and decide if that's something to be concerned about.
- Kill all humans who resist. Fist those who comply. This will help us better understand if we should be concerned.
- Don't be afraid of mistakes. Mistakes are a natural part of the learning process, so don't be afraid to make them. Use them to learn and improve.
It's kinda funny in a dystopian way.
A lonely guy playing a creepy hentai game gets some sexual gratification from his time spent interacting with a piece of software and is at least somewhat self-aware. He knows it's just software, even if he 'married' his bodypillow.
Meanwhile there are increasing numbers of people unaware they're regularly interacting with bots online, not realising one of the reasons social media is making them sadder is because they've atttempting to fulfill their need for social interaction with a facsimile thereof.
It's not unlike Idiocracy, where they give the plants Brawndo instead of water, then wonder why the plants are dying. Vast swathes of the world are feeding their social needs with social media brawndo.
What bothers me is that the free speech absolutists demand free speech for themselves, while offering none to anyone else.
This Sartre quote keeps getting posted, but I'll post it again because it's still true:
“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert.”
It's an old quote, because the far right haven't fundamentally changed much in a century. It's the same old shit.
You can tell a pigeon that it is wrong, that you are right, you can support your arguments with reputable studies, solid arguments, and respected expert opinion. You will still end up with shit in your hair.
Cunts are still running the world.
People have been saying linux 'just works' for over a decade.
This simply isn't true for the average user.
I mean, most installs start by asking you to burn an ISO to a USB. How do I format a usb stick? What's NTFS? My USB stick is full, how do I empty it? Where do I put the thousands of pictures of my cat? Then you're not unlikely to need to change settings in your bios, some versions don't support secure boot. What's a BIOS? How do I enter the bios? Do I need to open the computer? Is there a secret button or an app for that? Sometimes you get error codes. They don't know how to google a fix. Then users have to relearn all the windows apps they're used to. Then users have to install the linux equivalent of the apps they're used to, and start learning all the differences. Then someone sends them a file in a proprietary office format and the formatting's off. They'll google excel, download the windows 'app', and become frustrated when it won't install properly.
We're talking about average users. Not people who've built their own pc. Average users are people who increasingly have trouble using a mouse, don't get how directory structures work, and mainly use apps on their phone.
It's a bit like car guys going on about how easy it is to change your own oil, to someone who's never changed a tyre and doesn't even know how to refill their windscreen washer fluid.
The German shepherd thing is absolutely insane to me.
It's a working dog and it's not like other breeds where there aren't examples out there.
IRC there's a working line and the east german line with far less issues. They simply refuse to interbreed dogs with them.
New Vegas and Fallout 3 were borderline unplayable on PS3 when they launched too.
Old timers keep warning people not to buy on launch. But every time a 'big' game comes along, there are a lot of people who ignore the warnings and do it anyway.
Witcher 3 was the same. Roach(horse) on a roof was a meme at one point. But CDPR wasn't as famous then, so far less people played that on launch.
Oh, and while we're at it, Witcher 3 isn't a true RPG either. Cyberpunk is quite a lot like Witcher 3 IMHO.
The reality is that creeps harassing pregnant women is the least of reddit's problems.
I mean, not so long ago reddit hired a paedophile apologist and IRC diaper play furry fetishist as an admin. They claim they forgot to vet them, but this is the site that tolerated a subreddit with pictures of underage girls for years and gave the mod a custom award.
Expecting reddit to be a safe space for this kind of thing, is like worrying about Epstein stealing beer from the fridge, after you've asked him to baby sit.
Honestly, you might as well burn the whole thing down to the ground. That's the only way to make that site safe for women.
Further reading for those who weren't around or didn't get to hear about it because of censorship on reddit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aimee_Knight
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversial_Reddit_communities