Home
登录
注册
学习内容
Loading...
听力练习
听力练习
/
Video
/
CGP Grey
/
What is reddit?
What is reddit?
选择学习模式:
查看字幕
选词
重写单词
Highlight:
4000 IELTS Words
3000 Oxford Words
5000 Oxford Words
3000 Common Words
1000 TOEIC Words
5000 TOEFL Words
字幕 (91)
0:00
What is reddit?
0:01
For much of The Internet reddit is the gateway to everything interesting going on in the
0:05
world.
0:05
Checking reddit.com is like reading the daily newspaper except that reddit is
0:09
- timely - interactive
0:10
- personalized - participatory
0:11
- horrifilying absorbing at times
0:13
...basically, *good*.
0:15
The way it works is that people submit links to reddit (blog posts or images or videos)
0:19
and other people vote those links up or down. It's a simple idea but it makes reddit into
0:23
a list of the best stuff that people are reading or watching on The Internet right now.
0:27
The name is a contraction of 'Read It' as in: I already read it on Reddit, which if
0:31
you spend significant time on the site, is what you'll say to everyone who tries to show
0:35
you anything. It's a kind of awesome curse.
0:38
Because there are no editors on reddit you never know what you're going to find but you
0:41
can bet it's going to be funny or interesting or enranging because 1,000s of other people
0:45
have already voted that it's something to see.
0:48
Think of it this way: if Google is where you go to search for things, then reddit is where
0:51
you go to see the things that people have found.
0:54
But reddit is not just one list of stuff: reddit is a beautiful fractal with sections,
0:58
called subreddits.
0:59
If you just like politics or programming or funny image captions or sports or world news
1:03
there are subreddits that list only that stuff. And there's going to be a subreddit for your
1:07
city or country or region.
1:09
Love a TV show that ended years ago? There's a subreddit where people are still talking
1:13
about it as though it just aired.
1:15
Tech have geeks their technology and flag geeks have their vexillology and -- and on
1:18
the off chance you're interested in something the doesn't yet exist, just press a button
1:21
and a new subreddit is born.
1:23
Each subreddit works just like the main page: an updating list of interesting stuff according
1:27
to the people interested in that stuff.
1:29
And when a subreddit grows large it can be terrifyingly good at this: for example AWW,
1:33
a section devoted to adorableness, is a GLOBAL 24-HOUR-A-DAY BATTLE TO FIND THE CUTEST IMAGES
1:38
EVAR!
1:39
Turns out if you give people with baby animal photos a place to have their baby animal photos
1:43
compete the result is the highest density of cuteness human civilization has yet created.
1:48
But without editors running the site, how does that sorting process work? There's no
1:52
time to get into the code, but you can think of it like this:
1:54
Links people sumbit are balloons floating up and down the list. When someone votes up
1:58
a link it adds a bit of helium and a down votes sucks out little bit of helium. Periodically
2:02
reddit puts weights on all of the balloons -- giving newer links that show up later a
2:06
chance to compete against the ones that have been around longer.
2:09
This method is shockingly good at sorting stuff, be it international politics or pictures
2:13
of computer setups.
2:14
Of course, when a website covers the whole of human endeavor things get weird: like subreddits
2:19
for only photos of birds... with arms or only photos of hitler... with socks and then there
2:23
are always the other kinds of photos humans like to look at and sometimes collections
2:27
of horrifying things that cannot be unseen.
2:31
So yeah, this has taken a turn for the worse. But remember reddit can be weird not because
2:35
reddit is weird but because humans are weird. And the great thing about reddit is that it
2:39
changes to suite you: as you join subreddits you like and leave those you don't the main
2:43
page becomes *yours*: listing all the best stuff from all the subreddits you follow and
2:47
leaving out stuff from the ones you don't.
2:49
So reddit is lot like life: it is what you make it.
2:53
But links are only the tip of the redditberg, because people can discuss the links and this
2:56
is where the true heart of reddit lies.
2:59
Most forums on The Internet are hideous, but Reddit ain't your grandma's bulletin board.
3:02
Just as that baloon sort method finds the best links there's some math that's more complicated
3:07
(and less explainable) that finds the most interesting comments in a discussion and brings
3:10
them to the top. And reddit displays comments in a way that encourages back-and-forth discussions.
3:14
(Unlike some *other* comment systems).
3:17
This sorting and threading means that the discussion of a link on reddit is always more
3:20
interesting than the link itself.
3:22
So there are subreddits that are nothing *but* discussion: such as Change My View for debates
3:25
or Ask A Scientist where experts answer questions. Or there1s 'IamA' where people say what they
3:30
are "I am a fireman" or "I am an Escort" or "I am a prison guard" and answer questions
3:34
from the comments.
3:35
And because people on reddit are anonymous, discussions are way more interesting and open
3:39
than if people were forced to use their real names. ::cough:: YouTube & Google+ Integration ::cough::
3:41
3:41
Though, with anonymity you'll find that not everyone's private thoughts exposed are beautiful.
3:45
And sometimes it can be uncomfortable to see what the faceless group thinks about a topic.
3:49
But luckily reddit has a way to deal with comments you think are unhelpful. And despite
3:53
people who act badly it's clear that reddit can only exist because the majority of people,
3:58
even when anonymous, are good.
4:00
But this anonymity isn't required, however so you'll also find Actors and Authors, Presidents
4:04
and prime ministers all on reddit answering questions from the community.
4:07
And reddit really is a community with it's own culture and history and that increasingly
4:11
has an effect on the physical world with things like: meeting up in person and raising money
4:15
for charity and defending the Internet and helping a family be with their sick child
4:19
and holding the word's largest secret santa and sending teachers the supplies they need.
4:24
With its rapid-fire democracy and shocking quick reactions, reddit can sometimes makes
4:28
you feel more like a citizen of the Internet than a citizen of your own country.
4:32
But in the end it's hard to understand reddit without just jumping in and commenting and
4:36
voting, which you really should. And once you get the hang of the place, you'll wonder
4:40
how you ever Internetted before.
4:44
[After credits]
4:51
P.S. If you are already a user of reddit and love the site, you should consider buying
5:06
some reddit gold to support it. I was surprised to learn while making this video that despite
5:10
its increasing popularity reddit still isn't profitable. So if, like me, you use reddit
5:15
*all day* it's more than worth a couple bucks a month.
What is reddit? - Video học tiếng Anh
