Reddit - it's not great is it

the_pen_turner

i like it for the small subreddits. there is usually a place to talk about any hobby or interest

i hate the downvote system. its far to easily manipulated. i like to see both sides of a debate rather than just the side your on.

the biggest problem is that there is no lengthy discusions . here on boards threads can go on for weeks or even years. on reddit a post is dead after a few hours in most cases. if you want to discuss something you need to be there when the post is first made or your post is lost.

For Forks Sake

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121643383#Comment_121643383

Quantity ≠ quality

Arghus

I find Reddit to be good for just flicking through or glancing over. Hit and miss if you want proper information about something.

The way that the format has been devised makes it almost impossible to conduct a long running discussion, much less read it.

Obviously it's not great that things can get downvoted into oblivion and, yes, that can produce a group think or consensus culture quite easily - but then on the other hand, you can see how the traditional message board approach of equal space being given to the sane and insane/ rational and irrational can be a different, but equally damaging method to destroying a discussion too. When I pop in to have a look at the endless back and forth here in the likes of the CA forum I do wonder if maybe I've overrated the usefulness of the discussion format.

I suppose it's an irritant to see that there's no "institutional" memory, so you'll see the same subjects/discussions come up CONSTANTLY.

I don't mind that the r/Ireland clearly leans a little more to the left and has different concerns than boards does for instance. Okay, some of it is a bit right-on at times - but I think boards is a bit too far the other way: being a bit reactionary and increasingly fuddy duddy.

Say Your Number

Was looking at the Ireland page and saw posts whinging about immigrants getting a lot of upvotes, also complaining about the GAA, the government and RTE and the neverending Father Ted references.

Doesn't seem that much different to this place.

hoodie6029

I didn’t like the interface so never got into it. Didn’t find it at all intuitive or user friendly.

Glad I didn’t now. They shut down Wall Street bets and passed all the user info to the FBI during the GameStop short squeeze. Users were behaving perfectly legally but the company shut them down to protect pirates. Sorry, I meant hedge funds.

Lillyfae

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121644772#Comment_121644772

If you'd responded with this to his Reddit posts you would have got LOADS of upvotes

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058332314/reddit-its-not-great-is-it

Boards went to **** when it went offline for 2 weeks and everyone except the old and the right leaning left. Reddit went to **** when they closed off their API and moderation. Both are crap now.

I don’t use it much at all, but when I do it’s usually to give support, affirmation, advice and reassurance to people with questions regarding facing a stoma operation, and other health issues I’ve experienced. People are often in distress over these topics and I often get a lot of upvotes, and I come away feeling good. But I haven’t engaged in debate or opinion like I have here.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121643539#Comment_121643539

I dunno, I enjoyed the outraged reaction to me posting the Evanescence are a one hit wonder.

I must go back and tell them the Motley Cru are a no hit wonder

yagan

At best reddit is a throwaway distraction. I'd like to say boards is better but the amount of times I've seen posters here being allowed to repeatedly spam discussions had me tune out often.

I'll use boards for factual stuff like weather, but sometimes general discussions can seem like the comments section of the journal.

The truth is Boards and Reddit are shite in their own ways.

ancapailldorcha

It has its uses but it blows my mind that a website that big has such an appalling interface. Comments sections tend to be very echo chamberish, even in places you wouldn't expect.

Comparing Boards.ie with Reddit is like comparing The Dealer to Amazon. It's not remotely a fair comparison.

Thelonious Monk

irish reddit is ok, at least you get a range of views and people posting there, this site is all one demographic nowadays really, 40+ men who talk about immigration and the greens all day.

EmmetSpiceland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121654021#Comment_121654021

Well, at least you acknowledge that your opinions are, indeed, bad.

riffmongous

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121652947#Comment_121652947

You monster, how can you even think of such a thing

SuperBowserWorld

I think there is a lot of hard earned wisdom on boards that is missing from Reddit Ireland. It's a shame that boards is left to languish.

Every generation throws a social network up the pop charts as Paul Simon sang.

riffmongous

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121652942#Comment_121652942

That's nice, I remember when I first was on Reddit the positivity was really enjoyable and a welcome change.

I don't know if you can really put it down to The GOP/ Trump and the change in American politics but I feel like the general attitude (as much as you can have one in a place full of echo chambers) changed a lot over the last decade. More cynicism, negativity, less can -do spitit

riffmongous

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121653956#Comment_121653956

Oh r/Ireland is definitely on the way there too

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121654843#Comment_121654843

r/Europe is a cesspit. I'm shocked at how vile a place it is and I've been here since 2009.

SimpleDimple

I find that Reddit is great for scratching the surface, but if you start to go deeper or are on a subreddit for something you are knowledgable about, it gets fairly useless.

r/guitar for example is just loads of people posting asking about what guitar suits beginners, same for some other topics I’m interested in.

Also the voting means that it’s just a big popularity contest, and discussion is stifled as dissenting opinions are buried.

Also it’s full of bots and karma whores and too American focused

ancapailldorcha

Some of the subs have weird unspoken rules that, when violated, trigger hordes of angry people. I read a comment on a UK one about someone who asked a question about cats on r/cats. The UK doesn't have much in the way of dangerous wildlife but the poster got such abuse from the virtue signallers on r/cats that they felt the need to withdraw from it. I shared a meme there once and got accused of supporting breeding. Same result.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121654736#Comment_121654736

I did have to revise my position and admit Evanescence were a two hit wonder.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121654776#Comment_121654776

Bring back P45.net!

riffmongous

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121655046#Comment_121655046

I can live with that. Certainly a one album wonder anyway

Iseedeadpixels

I prefer reddit to Boards as its easier to navigate and there's just more in general, but in saying that I'd rarely post on the main subs but here I'd gladly jump into a discussion.

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121655106#Comment_121655106

Well is that Irish related content or in general ?

Cause there is a ton of stuff on Reddit, way, way outstripping what's on Boards.

But the Irish related stuff is pretty lacklustre + Fr. Ted memes, which seem quaint and overused now. The actual guy who created Fr. Ted wouldn't even be allowed on Reddit there days. QED.

riffmongous

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121654905#Comment_121654905

It's a shame these big current affairs forums aren't flagged to newcomers for their bias from the start, then maybe an alternative might actually have a chance

Iseedeadpixels

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121655157#Comment_121655157

Just in general but I do frequent /r/Ireland, I'm also banned from the soccer forum here so need reddit for that 😅

riffmongous

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121648770#Comment_121648770

When you consider that's the hot output of 811,000 thousand subscribers, jaysus.

In fairness though it is a lot quicker off the ball for Irish topics that aren't immigration related, you do get posts from more varied political views, plus it's not hindered so much by the legal side of things like here.

Sometimes they have nice or interesting photos too, but, I don't give a **** about your dog pal

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121655183#Comment_121655183

Don't think that that'd achieve much. r/europe was a lot less toxic than it currently is IMO. Adding labels would hurt traffic and that's the last thing any site would want to do.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121655302#Comment_121655302

A lot of those will be inactive or people who've forgotten they subbed to begin with. That said, I agree with the rest of this. I quite like the odd Simpsons meme as well and there was a few good memes while Britain was doing weird stuff.

riffmongous

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121654969#Comment_121654969

Any computer game subreddit I'm in is just the exact same questions every day:

"Should I buy X?"

"X is on sale for 1 dollar, is it worth getting?"

"Why do people say Y is better than X?"

"My hot take is X is better than Y"?

Every single day, it doesn't matter if you upvote or downvote or reply, they keep coming