Is Reddit A Toxic Place?

[fleetiebelle]

Originally Posted by sas318

Some subreddits are more mature because people 30+ years old post. The worst ones are the ones that you can tell that they're all teenagers and 20s.

I love the AITA subreddit, and you can tell there are a lot of teenagers there. Anytime a parent asks if they're TA for doing XYZ to their kids, the answer is often a resounding yes, and you can tell it's some kid with an authority issue.

[digitalUID]

Originally Posted by rokuremote

I'd be cautious about relating it to age. There are forums (ahem) full of retired and other 50++ people that are some of the rudest, moronic, and immature places I've seen.

I can think of a few here.

Problem with some of the older crowds is that you become detached and can no longer relate to younger people. For some, you also become more self-assured, full of yourself, set in your ways. Empathy seems to die for others with age, unless of course it's something that happened directly to you, in which case "give me all the support and validation I need". I love how folks throw out incendiary comments like "snowflake" when literally every demographic has those who suffer from being overly sensitive. This forum skews much older, but has some of the strictest posting guidelines and moderation of any forum I've ever participated on. I heard once that they had a downvote or negative rep system, but too many people whined and complained about it and it was removed. Now, tell me that it's reddit that is full of overly sensitive "snowflakes".

[digitalUID]

Here's a great example of Reddit's hive mind and toxicity.

A year or two ago, a story got out about an NHL goaltender "liking" some controversial material on social media. Reddit, of course, took off and painted this guy as a Hitler-admiring Nazi. This narrative has been pushed for the past year and a half.

As a curious bystander, I decided to look into the matter myself. While the goaltender, Thomas Greiss, "liked" a post that likened Hilary Clinton to Adolf Hitler (doesn't sound complimentary to me), I haven't come across one single source where Greiss showed admiration for Nazism or Hitler.

I called this out in a recent discussion. Of course, Reddit's hyper-woke /r/hockey sub had a field day with this. While not a single Redditor could refute my allegation, my posts were met with downvotes and ad hominem attacks. I even linked to a source from the German Ice Hockey Federation, where the president stated:

“It’s very important to make clear that Thomas Greiss is definitely not a right-wing extremist nor a right-wing populist,” federation vice-president Marc Hindelang said.

The GIHF itself cleared Greiss of any association with Nazis and Hitler.

This happens all the time on Reddit as a result of the hyper-woke agenda on most of the subs. False narratives are latched onto and perpetuated, even in light of new sources and facts, so long as it aligns with Reddit's progressive ideals. I could literally make up two different fake submissions and guarantee the outcomes. If the one submission was critical of Trump, Republicans, or conservatism, regardless of the truth, it'd be met with dozens, if not hundreds, of upvotes. If the other submission was even remotely critical of a progressive agenda point, regardless of the truth, it'd be met with dozens, if not hundreds, of downvotes.

Reddit has a long, dark history of pushing false, harmful narratives. After the Boston Marathon Bombing, Redditors harassed and falsely accused several civilians of being the suspects in the bombings when they had absolutely nothing to do with it. Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/redd...ing-2013-7?amp

[nng]

To me, reddit is one of the best websites, to get insight on certain topics, thoughts, and different mindsets people have. Due to reading reddit and lipstickalley I've become really into feminism and female empowerment. You really get insight into different perspectives and viewpoints. I've also learned a lot about myself too. With the internet, it seems like an world of knowledge is right at your fingertips. It's amazing, the internet has transformed everything for us. My favorite subreddit is the purplepilldebate on reddit. My favorite forum on lipstickalley is the womanist/feminist forum. Lots of unique interesting views on there.