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New Study Finds That Most Redditors Don't Actually Read the Articles They Vote On (vice.com)

Posted by msmash on from the reading-pattern dept.

Michael Byrne, writing for Motherboard: According to a paper published in IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems by researchers at Notre Dame University, some 73 percent of posts on Reddit are voted on by users that haven't actually clicked through to view the content being rated. This is according to a newly released dataset consisting of all Reddit activity of 309 site users for a one year period. In the process, the researchers identified signs of "cognitive fatigue" in Reddit users most likely to vote on content. Online aggregation is then somewhat a function of mental exhaustion.

27 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. In similar news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    99% of /.ers don't read the articles posted before commenting.

    1. Re:In similar news by datavirtue · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah...but we can pull it off. Your average Reddit scum is not qualified to comment without knowing the facts.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    2. Re:In similar news by volodymyrbiryuk · · Score: 2

      The majority doesn't read the summary, hell not even the headline. They go straight into troll/off-topic mode.

      --
      sudo rm -r -f --no-preserve-root /
  2. Isn't that what mod points are for? by foghelmut · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I mean, that's how it works here too, right?

    1. Re:Isn't that what mod points are for? by Guyle · · Score: 5, Funny

      If I had mod points I'd mod this up because it told me that's what my mod points are for. I didn't even have to read your comment! I just knew it was the right thing to do!

    2. Re:Isn't that what mod points are for? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Rather, where people don't care about the context or even the facts of what's being said, rather they want self-reinforcement of an opinion even if it's wrong.

      Even worse than that is when those people get mod points, and use them to create the echo chamber.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:Isn't that what mod points are for? by Mashiki · · Score: 2

      i meta-moderated your mom last night.

      In soviet russia, your mom meta-moderates you straight back to the basement.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    4. Re:Isn't that what mod points are for? by goose-incarnated · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Ask yourself why you self-identify as as male feminist instead of an egalitarian. And no, don't say you identify identify both because one is more important important you than the other, and you identified as one before the other.

      You should also be wondering why self-identified egalitarian mostly don't identify with you.

      --
      I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
    5. Re:Isn't that what mod points are for? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      Your question is based on the assumption that feminism and egalitarianism are somehow incompatible or at odds. I see them as complementary.

      Feminism started out as the study of why women were not equal. It grew into the study of how systems negatively affect both men and women.

      That's why I'm interested in it. The way to get to an egalitarian state is by understanding the problem and finding solutions. That's what feminism is. I look at how women were liberated in the 60s, freed from the 1950s housewife mould and want the same thing for men today. It would be crazy to ignore decades of study and thought, and crazy not to accept the help that is on offer.

      Many of the problems are basically the same anyway: things have to be pink/tactical matte black, magazine models are photoshopped to unrealistic ideals, some social norms are actually harmful.

      So to me, to be an effective egalitarian who works towards an egalitarian society, you should also be a feminist.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    6. Re:Isn't that what mod points are for? by Baron_Yam · · Score: 3, Interesting

      >Feminism started out as the study of why women were not equal. It grew into the study of how systems negatively affect both men and women.

      And in most of the cases that come to the public's attention, it's altered into a political ideology of 'men are evil, time to put them down'... which is why mentioning 'feminism' in a post is a pretty good way to ensure a polarized shouting match instead of a debate.

      It's also the reason why you're going to get a negative reaction if you identify yourself as a 'male feminist'. The common conceptions of modern feminism and egalitarianism ARE incompatible and at odds. One is about women attempting to relegate men to a socially inferior status by stereotyping them all as violent misogynists, the other is about treating everyone using the same standards.

      And honestly, if you believe they ARE the same... there's no need to use the word 'feminist', is there?

    7. Re:Isn't that what mod points are for? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      And straight in with the down-mod. This is the cancer that is killing Slashdot.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    8. Re:Isn't that what mod points are for? by Pfhorrest · · Score: 2

      As other people have already said, this issue is a landmine of people having different ideas of what words mean. It makes me afraid to call myself anything, without my interlocutors first saying what they mean by the words, or simply "tabooing" the words and saying in long form what my position is.

      I think in the end the morass of confusion comes down yet again to people not understanding basic set relations. I wish I could just shove a simple Euler diagram up every time the topic comes up to explain to people the relations between them. (Not you, who seem to already understand them; you just prompted me to think of this again).

      Hell, I have a bit of web space, so here's a simple graphic to shove in people's faces for the future.

      Egalitarianism promotes equality. Feminism most literally promotes the feminine. Feminism just to the point of equality, defending women's rights, is therefore also egalitarian. But not if it goes beyond that, which is not unheard-of; individual acts of misandry promoting women over men are still feminist, both by self-appelation of many of the people doing them, and just plain literal application of the word, even if feminism as a whole isn't like that. Promotion of the masculine would be masculism, not that anybody uses that term. Masculism just to the point of equality, defending men's rights, is therefore also egalitarian. But not, of course, if it goes beyond that, into misogyny.

      Simple set theory here, people.

      --
      -Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
      "I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
  3. Of course by Galaga88 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm going to fully support the results of this study, although I have yet to actually click on it.

  4. Write your Redditor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now is the time to write your Redditor and let them know exactly what you think. When your letter is received, you can rest assured that it will be voted upon, regardless of whether it was read.

  5. UNBGBBIIVCHIDCTIICBG by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Upvoted Not Because Girl, But Because It Is Very Cool; However, I Do Concede That I Initially Clicked Because Girl.

    --
    Summation 2
  6. I don't believe it by nospam007 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not reading TFA?
    Call me shocked.
    The author must be a newbie.

    1. Re:I don't believe it by Luthair · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The real irony is of course that it was posted on Slashdot 20-years after this was discovered.

  7. Bots by leathered · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Reddit upvotes are heavily botted, and I imagine the publishers of these articles are the prime suspects. Clicks mean cash.

    --
    For all intensive porpoises your a bunch of rediculous loosers
    1. Re:Bots by Urist+McSlashdot · · Score: 2

      "Study participants were recruited through posts to various subreddits. Participants were required to be a registered Reddit user. Their account must have been created at least a week before installing the browser extension in order to remove the potential for malicious users."

      So unless those were some really sophisticated bots that could understand the calls for participation and decide to participate and then follow the instructions to sign up, I'm pretty sure all of the study participants were human. Bot behavior isn't included in this study.

  8. Confirmed by 110010001000 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I just vote up headlines that confirm my worldview and downvote the ones that don't.

  9. Re:Did these users consent to being tracked? by thaylin · · Score: 4, Informative

    They knew they were being studied (it was done by a voluntary browser plugin) but didnt know what specific habits they were studying.

    --
    When you cant win, ad hominem.
  10. Whether or not this is a problem by king+neckbeard · · Score: 5, Insightful

    To determine whether or not this is a problem, we have to determine what percentage of articles are actually worth reading over the headlines. If the articles are typically just fleshing out the headline, without anything meaningful added, this is efficient, rational behavior.

    --
    This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
  11. Orville S1E7 - Majority Rule by brendan.robert · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This episode of The Orville reminds me of this -- it seems that people just make split decisions because they can't be bothered with hearing and weighing the evidence presented to them. Probably because people aren't being asked to think into the areas of possible ambiguity, we just raise them to pick from a selection of choices. The millennial generation might as well be called the multiple choice generation. So glad I'm from the "Choose your own adventure" generation. ;)

  12. Re:Just show me all the comments. Fuck the voting. by omnichad · · Score: 2

    Most people don't have time for that.

  13. Technicality by freeze128 · · Score: 2

    Posters don't click on the article because they are *NOT* commenting on the article, but rather commenting on other poster's comments. So what.

  14. Re:Just show me all the comments. Fuck the voting. by JonnyCalcutta · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Maybe the opinions you agree with are just shit and badly expressed? Its funny how many people who like to think they are 'non-mainstream' also think that everyone mainstream is just a stupid sheep. I actually usually find the opinions of people who use phrases like 'group-think', 'mindless masses', 'sheep' and (worst of all) 'sheeple' to be boring and lacking critical thought. Perhaps they are too dumb to understand all the nuances the rest of us see (which I think is also the issue with many who dabble in conspiracy theories).

  15. Reddit vs 4chan by Hal_Porter · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As someone observed after the "He will not divide us" episode where 4chaners found the flag in a rather clever cunning way - "4chan is smart people pretending to be dumb. Reddit is dumb people pretending to be smart".

    https://www.inquisitr.com/4060...

    So how did 4chan find and steal the He Will Not Divide Us flag?

    It turns out, Shia made one mistake in setting up the camera on the soon-to-be-stolen flag. It was such a simple thing that normal people would never have noticed, but the 4chan trolls sprung into action when they realized the camera was aimed in part at the sky.

    According to various users on 4chan, members of the board used jet contrails, flight paths, and astronomy to determine the general location of the He Will Not Divide Us flag installation. After narrowing down the location to somewhere in Tennesee, 4chan sleuths drove around the area honking their horns to see if the sound would show up on the live stream.

    And as it turns out, they were successful almost immediately, as 4chan found the flag site less than a couple days after it went live. The trolls replaced the stolen flag with the hat and T-shirt mentioned earlier.

    Besides the obvious issues with theft and harassment, 4chan's actions in this incident are merely a part of what has become known to many who study the impact of social media in society as the "Great Meme War."

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;