/r/interestingasfuck forced open, lowers its standard of what qualifies as "interesting", gets flooded with adult content [NSFW within two clicks]

Iron Lynx@lemmy.world to Malicious Compliance@lemmy.world – 147 points –
reddit.com

I think the title speaks for itself.

EDIT: UPDATE: So apparently the former r/jailbait mod that is The CEO purged the sub’s mods and forced the sub to re-reopen under the old rules.

Mission failed! We’ll get them next time!

EDIT2: aaaaaaand the sub's archived and no longer accepts new submissions. The garbage fire keeps going....

86

Reddit is only valuable because of the content users provide. If you don’t post valuable content, the site is worthless. Reddit can force subs back open, but they can’t force users to submit the content that makes the site valuable to begin with.

This is what Reddit forgot. They don't implicitly provide any value, it's the community that provides the value. Reddit is just the place where people happen to post.

So...do we know if Reddit iself is behind flooding subs with comments about how mods are being jerks and hurting the communities pointlessly? It's weird, the same kinds of comments in every sub I'm in. Also lots of comments about how Lemmy is too complicated. 😆

Given how much they have lied about already and the crap Huffman has pulled in the past, I would not doubt it in the least. I am sure they are doing all sorts of mind-games crap like this to try and keep users from fleeing. They have to be freaking out right about now.

All I can do as a user is take my content and time elsewhere. Which is why I'm here. Hoping that like has happened on mastodon, we will slowly move past the "Reddit news" phase and just transition into people contributing to communities and building apps for Lemmy/Kbin.

There have been screenshots of pro-admin/anti-mod comments that were clearly written by chatGPT (e.g. including the "as a neural network" or whatever boilerplate). They could be fakes or false flags, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were real.

The "Lemmy is too complicated" part I can believe is organic from normie Redittors, though.

I've suspected Reddit's ownership of running bots on their own platform for awhile. This feels like confirmation, to me.

I used to go to the /r/nfl free talk threads and the day after it opened HUNDREDS of new accounts were posting talking about how the mods were pussies and blah blah.

It felt fucking surreal like 2016 Russian bot astroturfing all over again.

i feel like speez is the ultimate reddit troll... a weird embodiment of the negative aspects of the spirit of the site.

maybe more subs should fight with this. it is kinda funny. i would love to see reddit flop from this.

Not just that but moderation curating that content prevents the site from enshittifying and degenerating into sludge.

People complain about mods but without mods you get essentially a forum where every poster is ChatGPT.

This is epic level malicious compliance. Best way to run a SFW sub into the ground is opening it up to NSFW content.

TIL reddit cant run ads on NSFW Subreddits!

Realistically nothing is stopping them from doing so it’s their own policies which is kinda dumb af. All they’d have to do is prevent ads from brands that don’t want to be associated with it from showing there.

The fact they don’t show advertisements on NSFW subs/posts just tells me their advertising tools and targeting are absolutely sub par.

As a professional marketer and advertiser, that's not correct.

What keeps them from doing it is that most high-dollar advertisers don't want their ads/brand appearing next to NSFW content.

It's probably more difficult for Reddit to filter out NSFW ad impressions rather than just let ads appear anywhere. But advertisers demand it, so they have to do it to get the dollars.

You literally just said I was right and regurgitated everything I said in other words...You just admitted its too hard for them so their system is subpar. They can advertise it would just make less than SFW advertisements.

Did that include the reddit app? If someone had their subscription set up with only NSFW subs would that not display ads on their home feed?

They are clearly itching to ban NSFW content site wide (paid API doesn't even include NSFW posts). This sort of thing might make a good excuse.

But at the same time, who is going to enforce that? The unpaid moderators you just fired? LOL

A lot of their users would leave.

It was why spez championed subs like /r/jailbait staying open until they got bad publicity in the mainstream press.

Why does reddit consolidating all nsfw content delivery under its website and first party app suggest they want to stop NSFW content?

They don't want to deal with the legal implications of it. Spez has said ad nauseum that they don't want to risk 3PA providing NSFW content to users that Reddit is not allowed to serve because they don't want to be held responsible for that. Especially now that some US states are requiring actual ID verification for 18+ content.

While Spez is a lying weasel, I don't doubt that Reddit is worried about NSFW-related lawsuits, bad press, and ad revenue impact.

And, the next step after having control of the content is to further restrict it.

i would say that nsfw content as well as grey legal content was a big part of reddits appeal. Frome homemade porn to piracy and dnm how tos up to documentation of current wars filled with gore.

It felt like users were relatively well considered self responsible adults, unlike on other platforms.

Losing that is another loss of value. all the while nsfw bans are difficult to enforce without enough moderators.

Reddit could require some kind of verification on the account level and still allow 3rd party apps to work though. Seems like an excuse or they are just being lazy.

Lmao. Reddit had a chance to reverse this crap. Now it's too late. Can't wait for their IPO.

I just wish they cared. This is a blip for them sadly

Actually they do care. These 2 does not go together:

  • We have not seen any significant revenue impact so far and we will continue to monitor. and this one will pass as well.
  • Force-reopening subreddits, removing moderators.

(Un)fortunatelly they still can't get over their beliefs that Reddit is still good old Reddit and that they can proceed as public trading company. I am honestly interested what is the tipping point for them until they (attempt to) stop their bullshit.. 😂

I support their decision. If admins are going to be dicks, then so be it. I hope they'll enjoy it.

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I like this more than what r/piracy and r/memes did, (especially r/piracy^) as the content now being produced in those subs is still "quality" content that won't deter users from Reddit.

What needs to be done, (assuming Reddit mods refuse to risk giving up their power) is to pollute the homepage and r/all with so much crap that people refuse to use the website.

^ r/piracy rant, taken from my Reddit comment: (made before switching to lemmy)

::: spoiler spoiler You have given up the protest.

You are helping Reddit twofold: Continuing to provide content, (even John Oliver content is still content) and removing unwanted content. (The discussion of digital piracy)

At this point you might as well remove the megathread as well. :::

What is piracy and memes doing? I haven't been back to reddit since last week (except to steal content).

r/piracy is only allowing pictures of John Oliver, and r/memes is only allowing medieval themed posts.

Haha! I gotta say, medieval themed posts is a little broad. I think there's too much room for variety there.

I honestly just found about Lemmy and signed up because I noticed the quality of content on Reddit (especially /r/all) took a nose dive.

Even in the comments so much nonsense and hate today.

Welcome! if you're new to the fediverse, I have a quick intro stickied in this sub. The main difference is looking for communities across different instances, not just on lemmy.world.

It's good to see another refugee! Hope this place fills that space for you that Reddit has left empty.

It's not GOOD content though. That's the point.

I fear for the fate of other subreddits who may also be forced open.

Mine is closed. But considering it has under 500 subscribers...

... Well, let's just say if Spez forced mine to open, then the site would literally be on fire.

Keep turning reddit into a shitshow and you'll keep hemorrhaging users.

I really enjoy this form of protest. The "landed gentry" is giving the users what they want. I really hope that more communities do what /r/interestingasfuck and /r/justnomil have done to deprive Reddit of its advertising revenue.

unfortunately that type of thing drive traffic to the site so its better to do thing that drive traffic down. I would imagine allowing NSFW content and moderating less would be a great start. If they don't care about you or what you do actively do it badly malicious compliance as best you can. learn from the dissenters in nazi germany. Find ways to stifle them without detection.

A lot of advertisers will pull their ads if there is adult content anywhere in view with thier ad. Flooding Reddit with a bunch of nsfw stuff, even if tagged and fuzzed out, will choke out a good bit of ad dollars

The possibilities here are endless

"Amagi's toes are interesting" "This penis has an interesting vain"

I can't wait to get off work, this sounds hilarious.

probably leaving Reddit for good soon...

I didn't see it mentioned, but reddit apparently doesn't advertise in nsfw subs, so it has more value than just the laughs it gives us.

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The worst thing for Reddit is that they don't advertise against NSFW content. This has major revenue implications for Reddit.

They're not lowering the standard on what qualifies as interesting, they're just taking the "fuck" part to the letter lmao.

They're missing an S for it to be interesting ass-fuck

I thought i was logged onto the wrong account LOL

Same. I never subbed to pornographic subreddits, so when I saw a lady broadcasting her breasts on my front page, I had to do a double take. And then I made this post here xD

Lol, I keep reddit just to enjoy the massive porn tsunami that will flood every subreddit.

Oh. my. god. That is hilarious! Looks like other subreddits are joining in on the shenanigans too hahaha

'interesting as fuck' sounds a lot different to someone from India

I really hope this leads to actual change. Subreddits are becoming meaningless to visit and frustrating for normal users, so hopefully they just stop using reddit altogether.

When your website relies on the free labour of thousands, you'd think you might want to tred carefully in hopes of not alienating too many people at once.

I already seen a bunch of comments like "why are mods doing this, it's hurting my and other users experience" and I'm sitting here like that's kind of the point haha. Reddit relies on all those mods to curate those subs and so now they're gonna to do it in a way to make the experience less appealing for them and for advertisers. Like it sucks but then again you are using a site heavily reliant on volunteers who are near universally upset by the recent changes

The sub is now /r/InterestANDFuck. I'm sure this is worse for Spez than the John Oliver sub changes, which I also approve of. Everyone knows advertisers love NSFW content being just out there for anybody to stumble upon.

What I realised to maybe as equally damaging is if all the original NSFW subs started allowing only SFW content. This would drive the fairly isolated but big userbase of those subs away.

Honestly, Reddit would probably like a few less NSFW subs. They've always had sort of a love-hate relationship with them. They don't want to deal with adult content at all, but they also don't want to go full Tumblr and drive half their user base away.

@Kombat Yes, it's nice to see the funny rules some subs are coming up with, including all the John Oliver stuff, but I'd like to see more of them just get rid of their rules and allow porn or whatever people want to post. I think that would be much more economically damaging to the company, especially after the mainstream media starts describing Reddit as a porn site.

@Iron_Lynx

I love that all of the massive subs are just going full r/worldpolitics at this point. No wonder lemmy/kbin are still growing exponentially after the blackout technically ended, the front page must be completely ruined by all of the huge subs doing this shit.

Yeah, no rules is definitely the way to hurt Reddit as a company, but I can see why some mods aren't as willing to go full no rules quite just yet. They're likely still holding onto hopes that they'll be able to return to business as usual and it's easier to recover from a flood of memes than it is from being a porn sub.

That being said, I imagine we'll see this even more come next month.

I read too that going no rules is basically abandoning moderating and giving Reddit more ‘legitimate’ reason to replace the mods.

They have 1 rule technically and are still going to moderate for reddit policies/rules. I'm assuming people are just saying "no rules" as shorthand.

I wonder if all this malicious compliance is also gonna screw with all that AI research people were interested in doing, if all the topics have essentially shifted....

This is the best way to harm reddit. More than a decade of carefully organized human sorted and ranked data by topic on. Destroy that data, it's ranking, it's sorting - you destroy the value going forward

Destroy that data, it’s ranking, it’s sorting - you destroy the value going forward

I would assume reddit has made at least one backup before they started all this.

Backups sure, but notice I said "going forward"

On the internet, something from two days ago can be stale data

They can have as many pristine backups as they want, but the people buying that data want the fresh data, and now, at least on pics/videos/interestingasfuck/etc they don't have that, they have John Oliver and porn (and sometimes both!)

That is less valuable than the authentic data from before this fiasco

I love how Mods Tell they are "forced" what is reddit gonna Do otherwise? Dont pay them?

Oh wait....

People get suckered into the sunk-costs fallacy all of the time, and managers of large communities are going to be extra prone to it when they're told they'll have "their communities" taken away from them.

Remember, these people are fighting to "save Reddit". They see the possibility of having corporate friendly scabs take over as a community-destroying and a Reddit destroying proposition.

The event horizon of a black hole is the 2-dimensional surface across which the possibility of turning back is eliminated. At that point, space and time become so twisted that there is no longer an "outwards" direction. Every road leads in. But in supermassive black holes, that event horizon is so far away from the centre that the actual tidal forces -- the forces which pull things apart when they're near large gravity sources -- are remarkably weak. You would not notice the difference between being 1 km above the event horizon and 1 km beneath it. If you weren't being careful, you could cross that event horizon without ceremony and without realizing you'd doomed yourself.

This is how it is with big services, too. The thing that makes them irrelevant happens long before revenues or usage decline. In fact, there's likely still growth! But there'll be an inflection point in the acceleration that those who don't know what to look for won't even notice. Then it could take months, or even years, for things to turn around and decay into nothing of value.

These mods are trying to save something that has already experienced its killing blow. Something that will cease being what it was long before it ceases to be. Something that has already quietly -- though not too quietly -- slipped past the event horizon.

The hard scifi nerd in me appreciated that metaphor.

I do think if they open with malicious compliance, it’s better than if they open with moderators that wanna replace and wanna do their best to keep the sub going