General

Re: a redditor's appeal

AJ — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:25:28 GMT

Also, inject posts in carefully-chosen points in the debates on the MAIN PAGE. That's what gets read, and where the more amenable people are.

Not just the obvious threads, but the ones without political titles but that nevertheless devolve into political/economic discussion (an unexpectedly large number of them do). Or the ones where you can make an unexpected libertarian point - remember the counterintuitive! The subreddits are full of hardset ideologues. Even I don't check the politics subreddit, or any of the others. The main page is where the big numbers are (500,000 viewers in a day recently).

Re: a redditor's appeal

AJ — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:12:30 GMT

Solarist:

You will get buried or trolled, the ignorance of some of the up voted threads there just makes me cringe.

Redditors are opinion-change junkies. They love controversy and surprising answers. Post a well thought-out comment that leaps totally out of left field, and it will usually be upvoted.

There is a reddit style. Look at the kind of dissenting comments that get upvoted for clues. Brevity, avoidance of certain buzzwords, counterintuitive-ness (which individualist libertarianism has in spades), and wittiness are inordinately important. If you choose your posts and your words carefully, it's quite possible to pull off a major contrarian upset, where even people on the opposing side are upvoting you like mad because you made them see things from a new light. Once again, redditors are opinion-change junkies...and I see here on these forums a fervent collection of opinion-change experts.

Re: a redditor's appeal

ChroMattic — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:35:57 GMT

I like the idea in theory, but in practice? It seems as if there would have to be a lot of coordination so that the Miseans don't start arguing amongst themselves regarding little points of contention or what not... a lot of effort for a lot of people who care a little.

Re: a redditor's appeal

PEZ — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:08:22 GMT

Nitroadict:

Stranger:

Grayson Lilburne:
It's not about finding a place where people agree with us. It's about educating through debate. And /r/politics is a good place to do that.

Sounds to me like they don't want to be educated.

Believe me, most of them don't. I've spent time on there long enough to know this. It helps if you don't make it easy by using labels & terms they can red-flag your posts & completely ignore, though.

Consequealists arguments do have a chance, but it's not much.

IMO, don't bother too much with reddit aside from submitting links. Hacker News is better though, & pretty good debates on Keyenesianism has been known to spring up there.

You have to also account for that which is not seen. That is people who only read the posts. A lot of the leftist "contribution" to reddit threads are very angry and non-constructive (like I've tried to point out before). If some of the more well versed libertarians leave polite, calm and sensible answers we'll help the cause for sure. Yes, the main battle can be moved to more fertile ground, but at the same time we need to also leave a dent on reddit. Giving up is not an option.

Re: a redditor's appeal

Daniel James Sanchez — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:23:05 GMT

Here's yet another redditarian trying to organize:

OK /r/libertarian, this is a self-post so upvote and report in to be friended. Minarchists, anarchists, agorists, voluntarists, deontologicals, consequentialists and everyone else! Let's use those orangered names to catch our eye outside of this subreddit. Let's do this social media thing right.

Re: a redditor's appeal

Nitroadict — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:18:42 GMT

Stranger:

Grayson Lilburne:
It's not about finding a place where people agree with us. It's about educating through debate. And /r/politics is a good place to do that.

Sounds to me like they don't want to be educated.

Believe me, most of them don't. I've spent time on there long enough to know this. It helps if you don't make it easy by using labels & terms they can red-flag your posts & completely ignore, though.

Consequealists arguments do have a chance, but it's not much.

IMO, don't bother too much with reddit aside from submitting links. Hacker News is better though, & pretty good debates on Keyenesianism has been known to spring up there.

Re: a redditor's appeal

Daniel James Sanchez — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:55:42 GMT

Stranger:

Grayson Lilburne:
It's not about finding a place where people agree with us. It's about educating through debate. And /r/politics is a good place to do that.

Sounds to me like they don't want to be educated.

The redditors who debate us probably won't change their minds, but the ones just reading very well might.

Re: a redditor's appeal

Stranger — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:46:35 GMT

Grayson Lilburne:
It's not about finding a place where people agree with us. It's about educating through debate. And /r/politics is a good place to do that.

Sounds to me like they don't want to be educated.

Re: a redditor's appeal

Daniel James Sanchez — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:36:38 GMT

Stranger:

Grayson Lilburne:

I think if there was some coordination, it might be different. Of course we're going to be outnumbered. But if Mises folk were to tag-team it, the feeling of isolation would be dispelled, and some real impact might be made. (Especially if we made a distinct effort to be completely respectful and scientific in how we conduct ourselves.)

Why such a desperate attempt to save their system?

Where do you get "desperate" from? I swear, you make even innocuous topics unpleasant.

Stranger:
Just setup your own reddit.

It's not about finding a place where people agree with us. It's about educating through debate. And /r/politics is a good place to do that.

Re: a redditor's appeal

nirgrahamUK — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:36:11 GMT

i just find reddit so ugly to look at......

Re: a redditor's appeal

Stranger — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:27:25 GMT

Grayson Lilburne:

I think if there was some coordination, it might be different. Of course we're going to be outnumbered. But if Mises folk were to tag-team it, the feeling of isolation would be dispelled, and some real impact might be made. (Especially if we made a distinct effort to be completely respectful and scientific in how we conduct ourselves.)

Why such a desperate attempt to save their system?

Just setup your own reddit.

Re: a redditor's appeal

Daniel James Sanchez — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:25:56 GMT

Solarist:

I lurk around reddit

I have to say it just doesn't feel worth the effort. Place is stuck your basic political paradigm. You will get buried or trolled, the ignorance of some of the up voted threads there just makes me cringe. I often find myself coming directly to Mises after reddit as if I'm drowning and gasping for air.

I think if there was some coordination, it might be different. Of course we're going to be outnumbered. But if Mises folk were to tag-team it, the feeling of isolation would be dispelled, and some real impact might be made. (Especially if we made a distinct effort to be completely respectful and scientific in how we conduct ourselves.)

Re: a redditor's appeal

Solarist — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:18:46 GMT

I lurk around reddit

I have to say it just doesn't feel worth the effort. Place is stuck your basic political paradigm. You will get buried or trolled, the ignorance of some of the up voted threads there just makes me cringe. I often find myself coming directly to Mises after reddit as if I'm drowning and gasping for air.

Re: a redditor's appeal

Stranger — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:10:09 GMT

Quick answer: because there's no point going to a place where we're not welcome.

a redditor's appeal

Daniel James Sanchez — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:50:05 GMT

"psykocrime" asks...

Why no libertarian presence on /r/politics? I know it's a socialist echo-chamber, but should we not at least try to maintain a presence to offer better alternatives?