> Reddit has a reputation as the dark, unruly id of the Internet
Stopped reading there.
Stopped reading there.
Everything else on their radar is an editorial outlet, the home shopping network or the classifieds section. The closest they get to interacting with real people is Twitter and Facebook. Which appeal to the user's vanity, and following mechanics keep them in some approximation of the social bubbles they're in offline.
But Reddit has pseudonymous randos, with too many different names for a user to meaningfully fit in their brain, so it becomes a single voice to them. And they have ideas that aren't carefully crafted for palatability before presenting them. So reddit becomes "id."
That's quite an impressive euphemism for some of the stuff that you might see if you were to hit the "random NFSW" link. Not to mention the racial and misogyny hate groups that turn up, or the ubiquity of NSFW usernames.
But since you mention it, trendy clickable blogs can and do sell hate, sex and gratuitousness all the time, it is all in how they package it. NSFW is by definition the sorts of images and words that can't be repackaged in a way cubical dwellers can have on-screen while slacking, but site like The Chive still run right up to the NSFA (Not Safe For Advertiser) line with it.
I mean, how can a website with 200 million users be considered a "dark corner"? Absurd.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/redditstatic/award/9_year_club-40.p...
I don't think it's an entirely absurd statement.
On the Internet, nobody knows your age.
I know that first hand and see this as nothing new. Digg, Reddit or whichever are not immune from pressures to perform fiscally. This is probably just a first step, let's see if it works for them.
Whoever thinks Reddit is especially racist, sexist or whatever should just go out more often, or get out of their San Francisco political correctness bubble.