Sophia Hughes90 said:Look, I'm curious too—will there actually be an explanation provided?
Behaviorists argue there are a few ways animals—and humans, for that matter—react: the primary ones being "fight" or "flight," and the secondary one being "playing dead."
This last tactic is used quite effectively in politics. For example, you have masses of people protesting in the streets (I'm looking at current events happening across America and the world), demanding change, only to eventually disperse and head home.
Meanwhile, "the government" stays silent. They simply act as if nothing out of the ordinary is happening, pretending they aren't even noticing the commotion. They just lie low, "play dead," and continue doing exactly what they were doing before.
But this isn't a harmless game. Politicians play on the idea that the public will eventually tire itself out; they bet on the fact that people will get bored if their efforts don't yield immediate results. It's a dangerous gamble, though, because things can quickly spiral into a chaotic mess that sweeps the politicians away along with everyone else.
It seems like that same tactic is being attempted here on Reddit.
Any thread whose narrative doesn't align with the site's agenda, or fails to meet the standards of some higher authority that issues the "lock" command, gets shut down overnight. Sure, any of you users could take the question to a different platform, but—as the "Reddit administration"—we’ll just play dead.
Take the thread below as another example—the one regarding the moderator Mr. Brown, who is clearly someone's clone (and we all know clones aren't allowed under Reddit rules, let alone a clone posting on the same COVID PDF under a different name).
When someone brings it up, after a few pages of failed attempts at verbal gymnastics and mental maneuvering to justify why someone should be exempt from the rules (which he, by the way, created himself), the thread is simply locked. We "play dead," and everything is forgotten.
Ultimately, it feels like they're telling us that what's permitted for Jupiter isn't permitted for the rest of us, so deal with it.
Honestly, I think this way of "solving problems" is shortsighted. It drives people away (to put it in economic terms: it loses clicks). Reddit relies on economic viability; the owner makes money from it, and every time they act like this, they're just putting another pebble in their own shoe. And pebble by pebble, you end up with a palace (or in entrepreneur language: dollar by dollar equals a full wallet).
Of course, Reddit won't go bankrupt just because they drive a thousand people away, but any smart entrepreneur knows that "every little bit counts" (to paraphrase a common slogan you hear on American TV).
Besides, forum-style platforms are dying out anyway due to new communication methods and emerging internet technologies.
Personally, I find that a shame, but hey—new era, new challenges. I'd be sad when this forum eventually becomes obsolete and gets shut down. It's inevitable, unfortunately, but it makes me wonder why the Reddit administration is using these kinds of tactics to speed up the process.
