How to 'fix' reddit: reclaiming the pre-DiggMelt glory days
Everyone on reddit has been complaining lately that the quality of posts (both suggestions and comments) has gone down along with the variety of topics. This may well be true, but I don't know that the problem is caused by the influx of ex-Digg users. Rather, I think these new users are just doing what reddit itself has naturally set them up to do. The problem of article variety, in any case, is something that's caused by one of reddit's core features: karma.
That's right, karma.
As a measure of relative importance in the reddit pecking order, karma is something all new users naturally want. And the only surefire way to gain karma points is to suggest articles that other redditors will upmod. The new users (in addition to the fairly homogeneous reddit old-schoolers) almost invariably upmod the same few topics, so new users have every incentive to suggest (as frequently as possible) every new Dawkins utterance, Bush gaffe, or cute cat picture in lieu of seeking out new content and posting infrequently.
Of course, karma is not to blame for all of reddit's problems. The general decline in redditor literacy is indeed a product of reddit's new success, but for me, anyway, that is a smaller price to pay than a decline in the quality and variety of daily stories. Particularly for RSS users, the top 25 or so posts are the most important part of the site and removal of the karma feature (or at least making it hidden from end-users) may help re-orient reddit's downward trajectory.
Labels: technology, web
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home