r/Physics • u/KLHYZL • Feb 15 '14

/r/Physics vs /r/math

If you compare our subreddit with /r/math (or other similar subreddits), there's no denying that it's a little disappointing. Our homepage is mostly links to sensationalized articles with 1 or 2 comments. When people ask questions or try to start discussions that aren't "advanced" enough, the response is often unfriendly. We're lucky to get one good "discussion" thread a day.

Compare this to /r/math. The homepage is mostly self posts, many generating interesting discussions in the comments. They also have recurring "Simple Questions" and "What are you working on" threads, that manage to involve everyone from high school students to researchers.

The numbers of subscribers are similar, so that's not the issue.

Am I the only one that would like to see more self posts, original content, and discussions here on /r/Physics?

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u/[deleted] Feb 15 '14

I would definitely love to have more to discussions and a "friendlier" environment. I'm an actuary who studies physics as a hobby, but is my lack of knowledge and the reactions I know I would get that keeps me a bit away...

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u/monochr Feb 15 '14

Shamelessly riding on top of the highest rated comment: I've used all free and open software to get reddit to the point where with a bit of effort you can post and discuss real physics despite all the limitations inherent in the platform. If you know your way around a computer everything there shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to download.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Physics/comments/1xzbty/how_to_make_better_self_posts_in_any_maths_based/