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