Expose:

Addressing a Minor Issue on Reddit

May 1, 2009 by Kyle Brady
Tags: Reddit, SPAM
As required by the FTC, a Full Disclosure is available - this piece adheres to the Code of Ethics

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I've been getting annoyed recently by some users on Reddit (one example here), because they seem to feel that submitting some of what I create here to Reddit classifies as SPAM - even though I'm an active part of the community.  I have reasons why I feel that this is most definitely not SPAM, and want to elucidate them for a wider audience.

Note to readers:  if you're one of the "angry mob" who's going to complain, but don't read the whole piece, then you don't deserve to whine at me anymore.  Know this in advance, because I'm only going to present the full argument once - right here.  It will be linked to in the future without further explanation or reasons.

Look at how Reddit describes the submission process, with special attention to the bottom:

A useful and/or entertaining title can also go a long way toward piquing someone's interest. Alternatively, deceiving readers with false or misleading titles is a surefire way to suffer karmic retribution from your fellow redditors. Likewise, linkjacking an article from its original source in order to drive traffic to your personal blog will likely just drive down your karma. Submitting personal work isn't taboo, but trying to flood reddit with every blog entry you've ever written is certain to be punished.

Let's cover these points then.

1. The submissions don't have false or misleading titles.


2. I don't linkjack original sources either.

That covers 2 of 3 points.  Funny how quick that was.

"Submitting personal work isn't taboo" ... maybe that should be mentioned more freely around Reddit.  But the krux of this last part will need some more clarification:  "trying to flood reddit with every blog entry you've ever written is certain to be punished".

If you look carefully at my submission history, you'll see that I don't submit everything I post.  While I try to post only thoughtful, detailed, and occasionally enlightened pieces here on my blog, a few slip through the cracks just by way of necessity.  This excludes the "Thought of the Day" posts which I consider amusing, and I know many others do too.

For example (in recent history), this, this, and this have been created and not submitted to Reddit.  Why?  Because they're mostly about me directly, or this blog, and there probably isn't any outside-world interest in them... if there's any interest at all.

But when I take the time to carefully express my thoughts and opinions, or write the odd news piece, I like that to get some exposure.  Not out of monetary reasons (having ads doesn't mean I make piles of money... I've received no checks yet), but because I think what I said is worth reading - or at least having a cursory look at.  People need to stand up against loudmouth idiots like Rush Limbaugh, support Obama/science when a majority of the country is science-apathetic (at best), and correct people where they're wrong or shortsighted.  Do you really want to rail against me for trying to support a more intelligent world?

Let's assume not.

Then the only other issue is when I submit my programming assignments, or other random code that I want to make public.  Maybe it's not interesting to many people.  I get that.  But when some kid is trying to learn how to program, and pokes around on Reddit for where to start looking at for the basics of 2D game design (because he's 13yrs old and bored), maybe he'll find my post on flood-filling 2D maps.  For those that don't understand, it would come in useful if you were designing something like the original Pokemon or Mario games.

The Tie-In

When I start submitting SPAM, then I'll let you whine about it.  But I try to be conscientious of what I submit, making sure it has outside-world value, so who really cares if it's my own content?  Most of the good stuff is already submitted, so why should I submit duplicates?  That's dumb and frowned upon as well.

I'm submitting original content that has potential value to people on Reddit.  Maybe it's my own content, but at the end of the day, that shouldn't really matter - don't read it if you're not interested.

Quoted directly from Reddit itself:

Please Don't... Moderate a story based on your opinion of its source. Quality of content, not location, is what matters.

Go cry to someone else.

Expose pieces are irregular posts attempting to hold people and organizations accountable for their actions.
Kyle can be found on Twitter and MySpace, or reached via email.