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> It is up to you to figure out how you want your experience to be.

No, it's up to the subreddit moderators. They are the hidden hand that shapes the conversation.

Many of the popular subreddits have been taken over by groups of full-time moderators who are pushing various agendas. Their actions can't even be seen. We can only see the posts they've chosen to allow in their subreddits.



This is what I call "bush sculpture moderation", as I mentioned in a past comment here:

>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34462443#34467156

>If a person saw a bush sculpture for the first time ever they would probably think how it's really curious the bush has this well defined shape, and happily conclude that the bush is just like that. "Pretty cool how there is a bush with the shape of a dog's face" they'll think.

>In the same way, visiting a subreddit you would think that that's just the community and content. But once you see how moderation works you realize that in reality, the community is pulling to all sorts of places at the same time, and by pruning the content here and there with the shears of moderation, using the chainsaw that is automod and by motivating growth with precision via shadowbanning and choosing what becomes popular, you can perfectly shape a subreddit into the content you want.


"Bush sculpture moderation" is a great term! I'll add that to my lexicon.




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