7 votes

What groups and subgroups should we allow before there's too much fluff on Tildes?

I feel like it's been pretty well established that Tildes is supposed to be a place of discussion with maybe occasional fluff here and there that can be filtered out. But there's a large grey area that I think should be addressed.

I'll take a few of Reddit's subreddits as an example.

I think it's pretty clear that a group resembling /r/aww should not be allowed on Tildes since it is pure fluffing and does not really bring a big quality of discussion to the community as a whole.

But how about a community such as /r/QuitYourBullshit? That could arguably be either unnecessary or a place of good discussion. There's a lot of grey area regarding the quality of that subreddit.

Now, I know what some people might try to say. We shouldn't try to replicate Reddit, and we should instead let the communities grow organically.

Yet, if Tildes is going to grow at all from Reddit, people are going to want to replicate the communities they so dearly loved on Reddit, regardless of quality. People who were active on /r/dankmemes are going to want a /r/dankmemes equivalent here. People who were active on /r/todayilearned or /r/JusticeServed are going to want an equivalent here as well. So the question is: how are we going to deal with the large demand for variably fluffy groups while simultaneously keeping the quality of discussion up?

I think this is a real issue that is going to have to be dealt with before widespread adoption of Tildes can occur.

17 comments

  1. [5]
    unknown user
    Link
    Yup, I'm one of those people who'd say that. I think seeing this place as "the new reddit" or as "an alternative to reddit" is the best way to end up with a reddit clone. reddit still exists, and...

    We shouldn't try to replicate Reddit, and we should instead let the communities grow organically.

    Yup, I'm one of those people who'd say that.

    Yet, if Tildes is going to grow at all from Reddit, people are going to want to replicate the communities they so dearly loved on Reddit, regardless of quality. (...) People who were active on /r/dankmemes are going to want a /r/dankmemes equivalent here.

    I think seeing this place as "the new reddit" or as "an alternative to reddit" is the best way to end up with a reddit clone. reddit still exists, and you can continue to visit and participate in your favorite reddit communities, so I don't understand the urge of having /r/TIL or /r/dankmemes or whatever on here. They can keep reading the same TIL reposts every week or seeing the dankest of memes on reddit.

    It is my understanding that Tildes wants to be the things reddit is not, or maybe the things reddit was supposed to (or trying to) be a decade ago: a place for civil, meaningful discussion. I'd urge @Deimos and whoever else might have some decision-making powers here to stick to that vision.

    20 votes
    1. [4]
      Deimos
      Link Parent
      Sorry, I'm quite busy right now so I won't write a big reply, but this post is pretty much exactly correct. Tildes is not intended to be a reddit replacement. If anything, it's going to be a...

      Sorry, I'm quite busy right now so I won't write a big reply, but this post is pretty much exactly correct. Tildes is not intended to be a reddit replacement. If anything, it's going to be a reddit complement because reddit is showing that they want to focus on lowest-common-denominator content at the expense of higher-quality content. So they can keep things like /r/dankmemes and /r/quityourbullshit and so on, and hopefully we'll be able to cover some of the higher-quality subjects.

      This is probably something I should write up properly and add to the FAQ on the Docs site.

      16 votes
      1. Baldemoto
        Link Parent
        I feel like that would be a perfect way for deterring this, because a lot of people I show Tildes to seem to be under the impression that this is just a better Reddit, which is clearly not the...

        I feel like that would be a perfect way for deterring this, because a lot of people I show Tildes to seem to be under the impression that this is just a better Reddit, which is clearly not the case. Making that clearer to everyone would solve a lot of potential issues in the future.

        4 votes
      2. [2]
        unknown user
        Link Parent
        Did I actually summon you? 😂 If so, I'm sorry. I was under the impression that user mentions didn't trigger a notification, though it would make sense that mentioning you did. Thanks for chiming...

        Did I actually summon you? 😂 If so, I'm sorry. I was under the impression that user mentions didn't trigger a notification, though it would make sense that mentioning you did. Thanks for chiming in though!

        2 votes
        1. Deimos
          Link Parent
          Nah, I just happened to be reading the thread. I generally read all the posts in ~tildes, even if I don't always reply.

          Nah, I just happened to be reading the thread. I generally read all the posts in ~tildes, even if I don't always reply.

          4 votes
  2. Axelia
    Link
    I think discussion communities in the vein of r/ChangeMyView or r/AskHistorians would be welcome here since their main content is, well, discussion. Any community primarily based on posting images...

    I think discussion communities in the vein of r/ChangeMyView or r/AskHistorians would be welcome here since their main content is, well, discussion. Any community primarily based on posting images is probably a no-go based on the current goals of the site.

    11 votes
  3. [5]
    space_cowboy
    Link
    You said it yourself: we shouldn't try to replicate reddit. Some communities might be better served by reddit, and that's okay. Tildes isn't trying to compete with or replicate reddit; instead,...

    You said it yourself: we shouldn't try to replicate reddit. Some communities might be better served by reddit, and that's okay. Tildes isn't trying to compete with or replicate reddit; instead, it's an alternative to reddit, with qualities more attractive to some redditors than others. At least, that's how I see it.

    9 votes
    1. [4]
      Baldemoto
      Link Parent
      Yet the problem is that people will try to replicate Reddit if any widespread adoption is to occur. So how are we going to deal with that demand? Will we just ignore them and veto any communities...

      Yet the problem is that people will try to replicate Reddit if any widespread adoption is to occur. So how are we going to deal with that demand? Will we just ignore them and veto any communities they try to make? Or will we deal with it in another way?

      1 vote
      1. [2]
        space_cowboy
        Link Parent
        As long as tildes is focused on text-based content, communities centered around image sharing should hopefully be repelled by the very nature of the site.

        As long as tildes is focused on text-based content, communities centered around image sharing should hopefully be repelled by the very nature of the site.

        4 votes
        1. Axelia
          Link Parent
          This seems like the simplest way to exclude memes and low-effort content. There are plenty of other image sharing platforms (Reddit, imgur, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram), we don't need to cater...

          This seems like the simplest way to exclude memes and low-effort content. There are plenty of other image sharing platforms (Reddit, imgur, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram), we don't need to cater to that need.

          2 votes
      2. tan
        Link Parent
        The way subgroups are planned is that if enough posts are tagged a certain way, that subgroup will be formed. So the 'we' deciding is the community as a whole.

        The way subgroups are planned is that if enough posts are tagged a certain way, that subgroup will be formed. So the 'we' deciding is the community as a whole.

        1 vote
  4. [5]
    Ten
    Link
    I feel like this is deja vu.. As long as we don't have meme subreddits and the same freaking jokes all the time, I'll be happy.

    I feel like this is deja vu..

    As long as we don't have meme subreddits and the same freaking jokes all the time, I'll be happy.

    4 votes
    1. [4]
      ZaphodBeebblebrox
      Link Parent
      This particular situation is why we need a search function as quickly as possible. Without one, we keep getting reposts.

      This particular situation is why we need a search function as quickly as possible. Without one, we keep getting reposts.

      7 votes
      1. [3]
        Deimos
        Link Parent
        Oh, if only the mere presence of a search function meant that people would search before posting. We'll absolutely keep getting reposts after too (but it's not a big deal, really).

        Oh, if only the mere presence of a search function meant that people would search before posting. We'll absolutely keep getting reposts after too (but it's not a big deal, really).

        5 votes
        1. [2]
          ZaphodBeebblebrox
          Link Parent
          I did not mean it would stop all reposts, but it should cut the number significantly.

          I did not mean it would stop all reposts, but it should cut the number significantly.

          2 votes
          1. Ten
            Link Parent
            I was thinking maybe have similar posts show up via tags but then that would require proper tagging. Maybe a suggestive tagging system?

            I was thinking maybe have similar posts show up via tags but then that would require proper tagging. Maybe a suggestive tagging system?

  5. OptimalBasis
    Link
    Proposed litmus test for new groups: Does the topic foster quality discussion? Porn doesn't. Memes don't. News does. Politics does.

    Proposed litmus test for new groups:

    Does the topic foster quality discussion?

    Porn doesn't. Memes don't. News does. Politics does.

    3 votes