It doesn’t matter if the “nerds” are outnumbered. Lurkers outnumber actual content creators by insane multiples, yet everyone knows that the content creators are the ones that keep people coming back.

What about mods? Looks like many of them use 3rd party apps to help moderate their subs. They are outnumbered too, but are they worth less than millions of lurkers? I think not.

Reddit is betting that the loud minority are not the ones bringing value to their site. If they are wrong, it may be too late.

Content creators want their content to be viewed. They're not going to just go away, they want the internet points.

Comments are content too and often more insightful. Moderators for all the bashing some deservedly get are key to keep content creators happy. Each forum is a small organization. The sum of the heads of these orgs. and the identities of users is what makes Reddit valuable. We are however entering an age where identity becomes more portable so mess with all the leads of your teams at your own peril.

Content creators on digg wanted their content to be viewed too. Every social media org should have a framed copy of ozymandius on the wall.

The problem is, a very very very large portion of the mods are using third party apps. If the mods go away (because their tools don't work anymore), reddit will have a very big problem on their hands.

Yes people are missing the point here. I'm in Australia and I know when I check reddit groups moderated in other countries they are full of hate - like 4chan when the mods are asleep. I've seen an unmoderated reddit even just for a few hours, the site will be destroyed if people give up their unpaid voluntary work. They need the tools because it's not their fulltime job.

Exactly. Reddit without auto mod tools (that require API access) gets over run with hate speech and incels.

Reddit won’t work without API access… it just turns into a 4Chan-like cesspool over night without auto moderation.

I honestly hope so. A 4chan-tier cesspool would completely ruin their IPO.

Based on many of the mods' behavior, that might actually be a big win for users. Their persecution and abuse of users makes Reddit the cesspool that it is.

After all, Reddit is so shitty that HN will ban you for pointing out behavior here as "Reddit-like."

> Their persecution and abuse of users makes Reddit the cesspool that it is.

That's not what made Reddit seem like a cesspool to me. It was the commenters.

Just wait until you've been banned on sub's you've never visited before - because you made a comment somewhere else on reddit.

Mods can be great, and many of them are. But... there's plenty of bad ones out there that make participating in some communities stifling at best.

That is one of the exact things I'm talking about. Mass banning from subs you don't even participate in, or that could not have been related to whatever you're being persecuted for.

I'm sure there are plenty of bad ones. But I haven't participated in groups where those have been a problem.

I was banned from all field-recording-related subs because I asked a question about microphones, and the lack of a particular kind in the market. More people piled in, and eventually we contacted the CEO of a mic company who engaged with us and said he'd make a modified version of a product if enough people expressed interest.

Everyone involved with the thread was banned and it was deleted, with no excuse. I never raised the topic again, but was immediately banned from another recording-related sub when I answered a question about a recorder... as if my account had been flagged by some inbred cabal to auto-ban if I ever showed up.

This behavior utterly defeated the purpose of the forums and stole from users. Yes, stole. It's time that people took stock of the fact that the time we spend to compose questions and answers on forums is not free, and those who deliberately steal it should be called out every time.

Is your comment here more Reddit-like, or more HN-like?

It's a stand-alone. And it has already received a Reddit-like downvote. This behavior degrades HN. Here's a question from someone else that got down-voted repeatedly:

"Dumb question, but why is OS or browser support necessary? Couldn't an HTML canvas element and some JS that can parse the file format display any kind of image that you might want?"

Persecuting people who ask sincere and relevant questions is Reddit-like, and it happens right here on HN. And of course, when I asked why this guy's question was downvoted, my question was attacked.

That is pathetic. I don't know exactly what the solution is, but people are abandoning Stack Overflow for similar BS. I'm just not going to go quietly.

Downvote away.

Complaining about downvotes attracts downvotes. News at 11.

> "Dumb question, but why is OS or browser support necessary? Couldn't an HTML canvas element and some JS that can parse the file format display any kind of image that you might want?"

That one is not downvoted currently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36203733

Sometimes posts get downvotes "in the noise"; I've had some of my posts go to -1 or even -2 before jumping to >30. It happens; people have axes to grind, think you're stupid for asking a question, etc. and by chance sometimes they cluster just after you posted. Don't assign too much value to it; it's very rare that I see a normal on-topic question like that downvoted.

That may be true, but it is despicable to attack someone who comes to the defense of a sincere poster who asked a relevant and respectable comment. And that happens here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36206929

That currently stands at -3. And heaven forbid someone decry THAT. I mean, my comment two above this one stands at a negative. That's shitty behavior. So yes, I will call out those who bring down this site by attacking other users.

I would have downvoted your comment; while it's obviously well-intentioned and coming from a good place, it's also just off-topic noise. Sorry :-(

I've written an entire Stack Overflow rant on "a basic but valid question getting downvoted"[1] and this kind of stuff is one of the main reasons I no longer contribute there, so I do sympathize, but HN is not Stack Overflow; downvotes "mean" less here in the first place, and it doesn't seem to be a structural problem. I've asked plenty of basic questions over the years, and I've rarely been downvoted for it, and some of the replies have been very detailed and excellent.

At the end of the day it's impossible to get all thousands of people that can vote on HN to act reasonably, so sometimes unfair things happen. It is what it is.

[1]: https://www.arp242.net/stackoverflow.html

We don't ban accounts for that sort of reason, so I'd like to know which account(s) you're talking about.

I read it as a hyperbolic restatement of the Semi Noob Illusion Clause.

Oh --- wow --- another SNI clause!

I don't remember now, but thanks for asking.

You're welcome, and it's ok - I get how hard it is to remember these things and also how easily it can seem like we've banned an account for a bad or unfair reason. If you (or anyone) have that impression again in the future, you're welcome to ask. In a few cases there are details we can't disclose, but in most cases we're working with information that's public (like comment histories) and can tell you why we banned an account. You might not disagree with the reason and that's fine, but I'd rather that people disagree with the actual reason and not an incorrect one.