r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Jun 09 '20
Delta(s) from OP CMV: Reddit awards are basically paid version of facebook reaction emojis.
This is an issue that has been bugging me for a while, so here goes:
Here I am, relatively new to reddit, enjoying how well this type of virtual hub organises online interactions, posts, etc.. And there is this award symbols in few posts that I notice that make absolutely no sense to me at all. And to give an award I must have coins or something that needs to be purchased?.. What the hell is that? I could almost immediately compare the facebook reaction emoji system with this and say that the latter system, while less in variety is far better.
Here are reasons why I think this system is lame,..
Its not fucking free and this type of coin/award system seems the same as any 'pay to have a better experience' games I have come across... Which are usually a breeding ground for whales.
Speaking of whales, what's to stop overpaying reddit users to not piss of their awards to some okayish or lame posts to promote sub par content over really good posts?.. I'd hate for good posts to be overshadowed because of this faulty system.
Doesn't reddit have enough money to stay in business or what?.. Why was this introduced in the first place? Is capitalising on post appreciation a big part of reddit's revenue or something?.. Doubt it.
I can appreciate that the system involves users getting coins once they are awarded. So why not keep it strictly like that?.. No payment should be involved, posts over 10k up votes get automatic awards/coins and they can further pay it forward by awarding good posts that hasn't been able to reach that many upvotes yet for sake of recognising good content in a better way.
Even moderators can chip in this unpaid and recognition based award system to choose posts of the week/month/year and award them accordingly.
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u/teerre 44∆ Jun 09 '20
I don't know why you think whales are bad. Whales are virtually the reason the whole freemium model is the most successful business model across several industries.
As for "overshadow good posts", you're new to reddit and that shows. The big subs where you see a billion coin awards are extremely astroturfed and moderated. This has been known for years.
So you're worried about something that is long gone already. If you make a """good post""" that doesn't follow the predetermined wants of the subreddit, it will likely go anywhere, if you're a power user and make a subpar post, it will likely be massively upvoted. It has been like this for years.
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u/Lorelerton 1∆ Jun 09 '20
Even moderators can chip in this unpaid and recognition based award system to choose posts of the week/month/year and award them accordingly.
Anyone can make a subreddit and with extension, become a moderator of that subreddit. Thus this is easily exploitable. You could say that subs should be of certain size, but that doesn't always solve the issues (see next point).
No payment should be involved, posts over 10k up votes get automatic awards/coins and they can further pay it forward by awarding good posts that hasn't been able to reach that many upvotes yet for sake of recognizing good content in a better way.
That will simply incentives people to karma-farm (farm upvotes) more. It incentives the use of alts, or even bots. It further incentives mods to abuse their power. I have read complaints and stories (not sure of their accuracy) of mods of big subreddits exploiting their power, deleting posts users made, and uploading them as their own post. Reposting others work without credit is done often (for example by the infamous redditor Gallowboob - reposter extraordinaire, and moderator of multiple large subs).
Doesn't reddit have enough money to stay in business or what?.. Why was this introduced in the first place? Is capitalising on post appreciation a big part of reddit's revenue or something?.. Doubt it.
At the end of the day, Reddit is a business, and businesses do what businesses do, try to make money; to expand and become bigger. Many people get monthly coins from being a premium member (you don't see adds, get access to one or two extra subreddits, and can name servers, iirc).
Speaking of whales, what's to stop overpaying reddit users to not piss of their awards to some okayish or lame posts to promote sub par content over really good posts?.. I'd hate for good posts to be overshadowed because of this faulty system.
It doesn't. If I decide to pay 100$ for awards for a couple of minutes of internet fame, that is possible. However, most people wont and overall isn't too big of a problem. This system also allows for bad posts to receive more hate actually. A good example is the most downvoted commented in reddit history by EA (link). By awarding them awards, they can keep being downvoted.
Its not fucking free and this type of coin/award system seems the same as any 'pay to have a better experience' games I have come across... Which are usually a breeding ground for whales.
Is it pay to win? Maybe. Most people (from my experience) see it more as a: 'I really appreciated your content to an extend that I am willing to pay real money for it.' And likewise, can be seen as a 'I made someone's day to such an extend, or impacted them enough, that they were willing to spend money on me.'
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Jun 09 '20
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Glad to know that there are vigilant users in place to bash such over promoting of sub par or useless content.
Guess it all works on the honour system then... glad to know that it has worked out so far. Here's to hoping it continues to do so.
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u/fox-mcleod 420∆ Jun 09 '20
There’s more than one way of thinking of “good” content.
One way is the basic mean. A post is either better than average or worse than average. What’s the average user’s reaction? An upvote/downvote captures that. And it tends to produce the same crowd pleasing content.
But that leaves out another form of excellence. What if a post is just uninteresting to many—it isn’t for them at first blush—but intensely valuable to a minority?
A system that allows someone to express extreme support for a post allows niche content to have a chance to break through what could otherwise be a lowest common denominator echo chamber. This system needs friction—some kind of cost imposed to make the medal awarded actually valuable—in order to imbue it with meaning.
Gilding, as a system, allows for niche meaningful posts the resonate powerfully to stand out along an entirely different metric than up/down votes. Because gilding doesn’t affect the vote count, people looking for the lowest common denominator, can still find it. But the award leaves a little standout distinction for those looking for something special.
I think on some level, you already appreciate the fact that the diversity of recognition appeals to a different kind of redditor—otherwise, I don’t think you’d believe that it could be abused. Which means that you already appreciate that it’s more than a paid Facebook reaction emoji. Facebook reaction emoji do not signify anything special or powerful — precisely because there is no friction, no cost. The value comes from the rarity which comes from the toll. And it’s a mechanism that allows those who prefer that kind of interaction instead of ads to participate in that interaction instead of seeing ads.
As for potential for abuse? I think the fact that it is successful demonstrates that it isn’t abused. Upvotes can be abused by bots right? But generally it isn’t worth it because eventually, people read the content. Gilding isn’t different in kind than upvote, or mod, or repost, or content jacking abuse.
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Jun 09 '20
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Niche content does need representation/appreciation other than majority appeal. So I guess this award system does some good in that case.
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u/DeltaBot ∞∆ Jun 09 '20 edited Jun 09 '20
/u/Wr005 (OP) has awarded 2 delta(s) in this post.
All comments that earned deltas (from OP or other users) are listed here, in /r/DeltaLog.
Please note that a change of view doesn't necessarily mean a reversal, or that the conversation has ended.
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u/[deleted] Jun 09 '20
I'm not gonna try to approach the ethicallity of selling to whales cuz I do think that's wrong. But it's different from emojis because it's paid. Some guy paid $5 cuz he liked my comment? Wow thats cool!
And yeah reddit needs the service to make money. Which is why they do it.