In a pretty significant departure from tradition, the administrators of Reddit have reorganized the scheme of default subreddits.
Advice Animals is gone. Now, new Redditors will have to actively seek out this wonderful form of "comedy". Linked for slurs.
/r/technology was removed about a week ago, and the awful /r/politics has been un-defaulted as well. This, along with the addition of /r/twoxchromosomes and /r/listentothis (a subreddit for women and fans of independent music, respectively), suggests that the Reddit administrators want to move away from the stereotypes of the community as neckbearded and nice-guy-ish. /r/fitness and /r/getmotivated are now defaults, too. Perhaps the admins are telling Reddit to get off their asses and get in shape. /r/creepy and /r/nosleep are no default, and /r/wtf has been taken off default. This is interesting. The first two are horror subs with a shitton of awful content that many Redditors would not wish to see, and the third was meant to be a collection of strange photos, but quickly devolved into hundreds of pictures of festering wounds and dead animals. For a while, the highest-rated post was of a surgical procedure to remove some kind of scrotal infection.
In the old days of Reddit, the most popular subs would be default, but now times have changed. /r/listentothis, /r/creepy, and many of the other new additions are relatively small communities, when compared to non-default subs like /r/sex or /r/atheism. The Reddit administers have decided to move away from their "everything except child porn is allowed" policy, and have begun to take a more active role in moderating the community and controlling the public's perception of Reddit. That so many subs were added and taken off of the default list, presumably without the consent of the moderators, is huge. For the first time since the /r/jailbait scandal or the removal of /r/atheism and /r/technology from the default list, the administrators are actively deciding what should and what should not be shown to the public. I think this is pretty commendable. Although the mods of /r/twoxchromosomes must be horrified that the largely-male Redditbase will look at their subreddit, the addition of that sub might significantly help tone down the misogyny of the Reddit hivemind.
Goodbye, Advice Animals, and goodbye, WTF. You'll not be missed.
Advice Animals is gone. Now, new Redditors will have to actively seek out this wonderful form of "comedy". Linked for slurs.
/r/technology was removed about a week ago, and the awful /r/politics has been un-defaulted as well. This, along with the addition of /r/twoxchromosomes and /r/listentothis (a subreddit for women and fans of independent music, respectively), suggests that the Reddit administrators want to move away from the stereotypes of the community as neckbearded and nice-guy-ish. /r/fitness and /r/getmotivated are now defaults, too. Perhaps the admins are telling Reddit to get off their asses and get in shape. /r/creepy and /r/nosleep are no default, and /r/wtf has been taken off default. This is interesting. The first two are horror subs with a shitton of awful content that many Redditors would not wish to see, and the third was meant to be a collection of strange photos, but quickly devolved into hundreds of pictures of festering wounds and dead animals. For a while, the highest-rated post was of a surgical procedure to remove some kind of scrotal infection.
In the old days of Reddit, the most popular subs would be default, but now times have changed. /r/listentothis, /r/creepy, and many of the other new additions are relatively small communities, when compared to non-default subs like /r/sex or /r/atheism. The Reddit administers have decided to move away from their "everything except child porn is allowed" policy, and have begun to take a more active role in moderating the community and controlling the public's perception of Reddit. That so many subs were added and taken off of the default list, presumably without the consent of the moderators, is huge. For the first time since the /r/jailbait scandal or the removal of /r/atheism and /r/technology from the default list, the administrators are actively deciding what should and what should not be shown to the public. I think this is pretty commendable. Although the mods of /r/twoxchromosomes must be horrified that the largely-male Redditbase will look at their subreddit, the addition of that sub might significantly help tone down the misogyny of the Reddit hivemind.
Goodbye, Advice Animals, and goodbye, WTF. You'll not be missed.
