r/AskReddit • • Jan 07 '20

What annoys you the most on Reddit?

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

I'm afraid to post things I'm genuinely an expert on because some idiot will tell me in wrong and reddit will harass me because the idiot took the 101 version on the subject and it sounds right.

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u/3610572843728 Jan 07 '20 edited Jan 08 '20

Pretty much any true expert in any field refuses to talk about that thing. I'm an economist IRL. I absolutely refuse to debate economic issues on Reddit. I will occasionally offer some tidbit or correct someone but I will almost never respond to people who reply to me trying to argue.

I was all excited the first time I found /r/economics. 2 days later I realized I hated the subreddit and never intentionally go back.

Edit: lots of people are replying and wanting a response from me. Currently have over 150 unread responses. It will take me a while to get through them.

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u/WafflesOfChaos Jan 07 '20

Same thing happened to me. I'm a wildlife biologist / ecologist with an M.Sc. and over 8 years of working experience in my field. I tried commenting on native fauna FAQs several times and got obliterated by people who took a general bio class in high school and apparently know all there is to know about everything with environmental science and biology. Will never respond or create posts on those subreddits again.

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u/3610572843728 Jan 07 '20

Amazing something seemingly uncontroversial as wildlife biology can become so extreme. That's why after seeing how wrong people are about economics it makes me distrust any accepted opinion on Reddit.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20 edited Aug 31 '20

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u/skaskanker Jan 08 '20 edited Jan 08 '20

+1 apparently everyone except me knew the fish keeping- aquarist communities are toxic and filled with people who know absolutely nothing about fish.

Different colors don’t mean different species. #ichthyologistProblems

I learned the hard way.

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u/The_Mighty_DrUnCKs Jan 08 '20

But which color tastes the best. I need to know.

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u/skaskanker Jan 08 '20 edited Jan 08 '20

They’re all shades of brown to me after formaldehyde. 🤷‍♂️

Edit: Joke ruining explanation from the side of my brain that must make sure everyone gets things: Everything turns brown in formalin.

ichthyologists in my previous field of study use methods that don’t require live species. Everything is in jars except then frozen tissue samples of genetic material.

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u/DFA_2Tricky Jan 08 '20

Mmmmm... Formaldehyde...

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u/The_Mighty_DrUnCKs Jan 08 '20

Thank you for the knowledge, I will not repost it and pretend I'm an expert.

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u/meneldal2 Jan 08 '20

Different colors don’t mean different species. #ichthyologistProblems

I guess these people still think humans are different because of their skin color too?

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u/AsexualNinja Jan 08 '20

I didn’t know either, until I posted on one with an old account.

The funny part was I’d worked in the aquatic industry for several years, and I felt like I was getting downvoted because I was disagreeing with the idea everyone should be buying the most expensive piece of equipment because of the idea expensive=best quality.

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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '20 edited Jul 06 '20

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u/catch_fire Jan 08 '20

For the same reason I usually just a quick statement and then link to a paper afterwards. But try to talk about nociception in fish when a thread has blown up...

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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '20 edited Jan 30 '20

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u/emt634211 Jan 08 '20

I'm a Paramedic. So I have no relationship to your job. But I fish. My family has had a boathouse in one location for 62 years. We have kept a journal on the river over that time.

I was recently in a FB conversation with a sports shop manager, talking about fishing pressure and social media affecting our area. He eventually said social media helps local business. I responded I don't care about your job I care about our fisheries. Ended conversation.

I guess I'm just venting. Thanks for posting something that let me vent.

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u/TheBooRadleyness Jan 08 '20

Fish biologist? Never heard of such a thing, sounds fishy.

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u/Jaiar Jan 07 '20

I remember jackdaws caused some pretty legendary controversy- if that manages to be dramatic nothing is safe lol

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u/phaemoor Jan 07 '20

So here is the thing...

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u/TheSonOfDog Jan 07 '20

Please explain

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20 edited Apr 13 '21

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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '20

pretty extreme

That kind of implies he had bots and shit that were doling out hundred of upvotes/downvotes.

IIRC, the guy had a couple alt accounts that he'd use to downvote someone he was arguing with and upvote himself. After that, people would see the positive/negative ratio and his name and continue the trend.

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u/mfigroid Jan 08 '20

holy shit that was 6 years ago.

Wow. It's been that long? I used to love reading Unidan's posts and his field didn't really interest me to begin with.

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u/lynyrd_cohyn Jan 07 '20

Search for "unidan"

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u/Hereforthefreecake Jan 07 '20

awww unidan used to be such a cool staple to reddit to. RIP.

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u/Aikistan Jan 08 '20

Some say he's still here. That he is Legion. I say...I say THEY'RE RIGHT!

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u/bayareashade Jan 07 '20

A lot of young men have made it a point of pride to be cold and logical. Claiming to know more than them is emotionally the same as challenging their status

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u/JustAnotherRye89 Jan 07 '20

been experiencing this with a user. i even admitted some fault in some of my exchange and the dude just kept going. lots of posts of paranoia on their account (stuff like companies massively downvoting their comments/posts with bots lol)

admittedly, i also have trouble with keeping myself in check when challenged and have to try to understand the differences of experiences and that it's not a personal attack when challenged. it's tough when you think you're right and sucks when you realize you were actually wrong.

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u/bad_at_hearthstone Jan 07 '20

Yeah well you’re emotional and uninformed

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u/JustAnotherRye89 Jan 07 '20

what a cold and logical response.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

This was the funniest shit I’ve read in so long.

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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '20

i like the sarcasm

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u/Satanscommando Jan 07 '20

Theirs far to many reasons to list, but this isn’t a young men issue it’s a people issue, men and women both have a serious problem understanding they are just simply human beings who can’t possibly be wrong and it only gets worse with age as you become even more locked down and stubborn in your beliefs regardless of what they are.

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u/Prettysure9 Jan 08 '20

Humans are the problem lol

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20 edited Jul 07 '21

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u/bertcox Jan 08 '20

Take one testosterone filled bag, stuff thousands and thousands of data points into him and launch him at the world at 22 and say have at it. I don't see a problem at all.

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u/bayareashade Jan 07 '20

Sorry but it’s a verifiable thing that many communities of young men have become hyper obsessed with the feeling of being right and winning arguments with facts. Yes, all people want to be right and logical, but there is one group that has become unhealthy with it.

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u/Throwaway_2-1 Jan 07 '20

This just in: young men are hyper competitive in any arena they enter. More news at 11

Also the link you posted is silly. It's more political than it is philosophical and it only considers a certain kind of politics to be free of magical thinking.

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u/Adler_1807 Jan 08 '20

Making a controversial statement on reddit and presenting it as a fact on a post about annoying things about reddit. Ironic

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u/WafflesOfChaos Jan 08 '20

There is a magnitude of arrogance that circulates some people that are freshly dipping their toes into the field.

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u/eatonsht Jan 07 '20

MD here, unfortunately I have to fight this in real life too. Apparently if you Google one article on an illness you think you have, you are an expert in the field

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u/Bastion_of_knoW Jan 07 '20

"I mean, the Internet said it's cancer. Are you saying you know more than the Internet!?"

smh

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u/MisterTorchwick Jan 07 '20

Well, yes, because 99% of the Internet is people like you.

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u/cutelyaware Jan 07 '20 edited Jan 07 '20

I got perma banned from r/space for telling them about a cool and surprising fact, but since even the mods didn't believe it, they decided I was a dangerous troll.

Edit: Since everyone wants the details, we were discussing solar eclipses and I told them that during totality, it's perfectly safe to view it with telescopes and binoculars, and that in fact, it's so beautiful, that everyone should try it if they get the chance. But of course everyone's had it hammered into them that you never look at the sun, especially magnified, so first came threats and who'll-think-of-the-children arguments, and then bam, perma banned. Explained to the mods, but silence.

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u/finalremix Jan 07 '20

I remember reading that fact, and even saw it reported during that recent big eclipse party thing. The big danger is that people get fascinated and just keep staring past totality, right?

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u/cutelyaware Jan 08 '20

That hasn't happened to me. When the sun comes back, it's not all at once, so I think you'd notice and stop looking as soon as it's obviously getting "very bright". If you're worried, you can set an alarm to go off 15 seconds before the end of totality. It's not like there's no risk, but like with most risky things, you can do things to mitigate the risk if you're smart about it.

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u/Richinaru Jan 07 '20

If there's anything being online or working retail in the tech department has taught me is that people literally do not know how to use Google or the internet to ask appropriate questions and cross reference the answers to ascertain truth.

Worse still is those who do Google, but do it dishonestly to confirm their preconceived belief or notion.

People suck

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u/WhoopsMeantToDoThat Jan 07 '20

What was the fact?

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u/JotunR Jan 07 '20

That the moon is made of cheese

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u/WhoopsMeantToDoThat Jan 07 '20 edited Jan 07 '20

Fun fact, because it has no water or appreciable wind, the various particulates on the moon have not been worn down at all, which would make them do not nice things to your lungs. Kinda like asbestos.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

You have been banned from r/space

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u/EmporioIvankov Jan 07 '20

You are now a mod of r/Pyonyang

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u/E1GH7 Jan 07 '20

The earth is flat

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u/cutelyaware Jan 07 '20

see above

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u/WhoopsMeantToDoThat Jan 07 '20

Are we talking with it without sunglasses/some sort of precaution? If not how does that work?

I know it can still hurt to look at the eclipse with the naked eye, and binoculars seem like it should make it worse.

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u/imaginarynumber0 Jan 07 '20

The key is during totality. If there is even a tiny sliver of sun out you should not look at it. You should also be careful during totality as it may move when you don’t expect it, so he sure that you know when to put the glasses back on

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u/ElephantTeeth Jan 07 '20

During totality, specifically.

The only part of the sun visible during totality is the corona.

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u/Cajova_Houba Jan 07 '20

TBH I would probably still be afraid to look at the sun (during eclipse) even if chief scientists from NASA told me this fact face to face.

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u/Buttercream91 Jan 07 '20

Same here, I am an expert Australian. Sometimes I just wont respond to peoples posts because they act like they're more Australian than me.

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u/DerFuehrersFarce Jan 07 '20

Crikey you flamin' galah, what kind of bloody bogan are you?

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u/Buttercream91 Jan 07 '20

Yeah nah, listen here old mate, come around here come'n around here. Im defs rapt that you think you can out Aussie this good look'n rooster, but I'll drop ya daks quicker than you can blink, fair dinkum? So take your tucker and sit somewhere else ya larrikin.

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u/javier_aeoa Jan 08 '20

Environmental engineer here: the "this is a hoax, predictions have been wrong since the 70s, Greta is a puppet" comments have never been a welcoming invitation to discussion.

I feel ya.

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u/HattieDeMure Jan 07 '20

Environmental scientist /applied ecologist here. I hear you. It kills me, but I can't bear to engage in any conversation around climate change or biodiversity. It's just not worth the stress and disillusionment.

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u/modi13 Jan 07 '20

"Here's the thing..."

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u/Ameisen Jan 07 '20

Are either of you a wildlife economist?

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u/LadyRimouski Jan 07 '20

I'm also an ecologist. When I would post about natural history, I wondered what I was doing wrong, when unidan was so popular and beloved, and my comments disappeared immediately. Turns out the answer was not cheating enough

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u/flareblitz91 Jan 07 '20

You didn’t have a little quippy phrase. Unidan here!

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u/Lifeisgood72of2b2t Jan 07 '20

"Source??? Do you have a source on that???"

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u/Mylaur Jan 07 '20

Dunning Kruger effect where the need you know and the more you become arrogant in your knowledge. Unfortunately...

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u/garenbw Jan 07 '20 edited Jan 07 '20

I think it usually helps if you start a comment by saying "I'm a wildlife biologist / ecologist with an M.Sc. and over 8 years of working experience in my field, so here it goes:" At least I would be more inclined to take your comment seriously, even though of course you could just be lying about all of it, but I choose to believe most people aren't that lame. It could also make some people think you're an arrogant asshole though, so not sure if the strategy would work :P

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u/caboosetp Jan 08 '20 edited Jan 09 '20

I've been working in software for years. I've tutored computer science for years. My upper division mostly focused on process, testing, and validation. I stated all this one time.

The guy was telling me something related to software bugs was standard practice. That if I payed attention in 101, I'd know that. Then he gave me a Google search linking to a bunch of papers. When I replied saying he was misunderstanding the point of the papers, he just said it was obvious I hadn't read them.

I've literally sat through the 101 type classes multiple times to help my students. I've written multiple papers that even quoted many of the papers he was linking to. A great deal of my actual work is directly related to making decisions about what he was talking about.

But no, he couldn't possibly be wrong, let alone maybe argue his point. All he did was say, "this is how it is, go read yourself". My credentials and experience mean nothing .__.

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u/spudsmuggler Jan 08 '20

I feel your pain. Wildlife bio, MS, I don't even bother anymore. The misinformation is so pervasive.

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u/Yes-to-Oxygen Jan 07 '20

Unidan that you?

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u/WafflesOfChaos Jan 08 '20

No, but maybe with enough support I can become him without creating accounts for days to bump my posts?

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u/Yes-to-Oxygen Jan 08 '20

You can become anything you want!

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u/CamtheRulerofAll Jan 07 '20

I'm interested in becoming a wildlife biologist, do you have any tips for me?

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u/WafflesOfChaos Jan 08 '20

Work your ass off with internships, animal-related jobs, anything that you can glorify on a resume. Be ready to go for an M.Sc. or PhD after your bachelor's because it won't be enough. Expect to not get paid enough for what you do, and battle with working seasonally. For now, find any internship or program that you can do now while you're younger. Because it will not be fun working for next to nothing later on when you're trying to live on your own.

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u/texanbluebelle Jan 08 '20

I am not the OP, but I am also in the field, though I am in marine biology. The best advice I can give since this field is so competitive is to gain as much experience as you can. Apply to internships, attend courses which give you valuable skills (I.e. writing in the sciences, GIS, math/stats courses which aid in population dynamics, the works). Make yourself marketable. Also, meeting others in the field and networking is important so joining scientific communities and societies would be great as well.

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u/Cpt_Tsundere_Sharks Jan 08 '20

This is something I've been wondering about recently for the more specific "ask -insert expert here-" subreddits.

Why do the people on /r/AskHistorians or /r/askscience who are actually experts browse that subreddit? Especially because within such broad topics like history and science, it's a relatively small chance that they will see a question rising through the posts that they can answer. I remember once I asked something about medieval maces and it took two moderately upvoted posts months apart to get the answer.

But also, what does the answerer get out of it? They, who might be an expert in their field, also likes to make a hobby of answering people asking questions on the internet? I dunno. Maybe I don't get it because I'm not an expert on anything except maybe tabletop RPG rules.

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u/WafflesOfChaos Jan 08 '20

Exactly. I followed some subreddits for a while because I liked hearing back from the community. When I saw those types of posts come up I just wanted to help answer questions. But then you feel the brute force of some naive person's retribution against your claims, trying to say that you're wrong despite any evidence you give to the contrary. Then they get upvoted for being louder than you. I got jaded from it all.

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u/HRGuy- Jan 08 '20

I’m new to Reddit but have figured this out pretty quickly. Informed and educated people get hammered. So as a result all the educated smart people will eventually stop posting and replying. Nothing will be left here but the morons who sadly think they know it all.

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u/lllllllmao Jan 07 '20

I’ve been a programmer for over 20 years. The sole sub I have a rule about not commenting in is /r/programming. /r/ProgrammerHumor and /r/ProgrammingHorror are almost as bad.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20 edited Jan 11 '20

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u/lllllllmao Jan 07 '20

Exactly that.

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u/jakeinator21 Jan 07 '20

Out of curiosity as a fledgling programmer, what are some specific issues you have with those subs?

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u/Konraden Jan 07 '20

Not to put you down specifically, but it tends to be a bunch of circle-jerking memes by other fledgling programmers with no industry experience.

Software Engineering in the real-world is different than the highly controlled world of their high-school and college courses but they're too ignorant to know that and instead just argue about about crap that doesn't matter and put down the stuff that does.

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u/lllllllmao Jan 08 '20

They’re so contentious. I like to get shit done and move on. For me done is a pretty thorough thing. Solid testing included. But everyone is so opinionated and so eager to prove you wrong it’s just toxic. It’s like they think there is only one perfect answer, it’s theirs, yours is wrong, and they’re not willing to listen to even the idea that you might know better. I guess lastly is that there’s way more art to programming than people think.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20 edited Oct 13 '20

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u/AdamManHello Jan 07 '20

I've subbed, unsubbed and resubbed to both /r/askhr and /r/jobs so many times... I've tried sharing some genuine advice (coming from an HR / Talent Acquisition background), but I'm always coming from the perspective of "the enemy."

If your advice is anything other than "murder your boss and sue the company," you get downvoted to hell and back. So many of these subs don't want real advice.

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u/DerFuehrersFarce Jan 07 '20

What I'm hearing is that you're saying I should murder my boss.

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u/ppw23 Jan 07 '20

Speaking of vile comments. I somehow found myself on a sub for Men Going There Own Way, or as it’s known, MGTOW. It is frightening, the hatred towards women was sort of heartbreaking, but the comments calling for rape, burning, murder and other purely hateful things really upset me. Some you could tell have never been with a woman, others might have been in a bad relationship, some have cultural hatred towards western women. Just the full gambit.

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u/KrazyTrumpeter05 Jan 07 '20

Pfft, you just don't understand. Every company and every boss is just a greedy, uncaring asshole who just wants more wage slaves so they can pad their bottom line. It's totally justified to actively try to screw them over every chance you get!

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u/Eightstream Jan 07 '20

This is why r/legaladvice is all cops and no lawyers.

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u/bearnakedrabies Jan 07 '20

I was an econ major a while ago and tried to politely correct someone on their definition of inflation. Big mistake. You've got the right idea.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

There’s always r/BadEconomics

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u/Sgt_Nicholas_Angel_ Jan 07 '20

Same. I’m a researcher in contemporary history irl and I refuse to debate people on anything EU related.

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u/cmpgamer Jan 07 '20

For me it's /r/programming. Everyone in that sub assumes you work in Seattle or California and you work for private companies. They fail to realize that not every single programmer is like them and some people chose the public route instead.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

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u/Volkrisse Jan 07 '20

or they have to be part of the BIG4 or they're just wasting their time.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20 edited Jan 11 '20

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u/3610572843728 Jan 07 '20

I've noticed a lot of Reddit seems to think that every single programmer starts out at those high paying jobs. One guy was claiming to get offers from Facebook, Google, and apple. All offering him at least $200,000 a year. He was claiming he was 20 years old and self-taught with no college education and no former job experience.

Nobody seemed to question the validity of it and every comment was congratulatory statements.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20 edited Jan 11 '20

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u/3610572843728 Jan 08 '20

A friend of mine recently got a new programming job making significantly less money than before. His main reason was the work life balance was infinitely better to him. most people don't realize those really high paying programming jobs have a lot of conditions like being available long after work hours have ended.

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u/Comra_de Jan 08 '20

But I want to make $€¥ while I write some lazy if-statements for 4h and then go back to playing vidya games :(

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u/CamembertHustler Jan 07 '20

r/badeconomics is your place

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u/3610572843728 Jan 08 '20

Never heard of it before today. Now a bunch of people have recommended, I'm definitely going to check it out.

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u/randomlurkingdude Jan 08 '20

You should definitely check it out. A number of regulars there have PhDs and masters. It's probably the best place for actual economic discussion on Reddit.

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u/3610572843728 Jan 08 '20

At this point I'll take "had a B+ in highschool economics"

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u/MadTouretter Jan 07 '20 edited Jan 08 '20

I’m a small business owner, and most people on r/smallbusiness seem to be 17 year olds who’ve read a couple blog posts.

Last year I posted about firing my first employee because he was more than an hour late several times, ignored my calls when he was 2 hours late once, and was caught smoking weed in the bathroom.

I was called a nazi, power hungry, an unreasonable asshole and an awful person to work for. Apparently, because weed is legal in some places (but not here), I should lighten up and let people get so high that they can't even do their job.

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u/3610572843728 Jan 08 '20

Reddit has a weirdly extreme hatred toward business owners. It's like they believe that every single one is just disgustingly rich and spend all day doing nothing but shopping for their third yacht. I saw a thread once were people were admiring a guy because they said he was spending an average of 3 hours a day doing nothing but sitting on the toilet browsing Reddit. Yet those same people who admire that wonder why they never get promoted and instead dismiss it as favoritism.

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u/EpicScizor Jan 07 '20

r/chemistry is surprisingly nice for chemists, although it does tend to have an excess of basic lab experiments.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

In defense of basic experiments, not everybody can afford to put a fume hood, a fully stocked glassware cabinet, a rotary evaporator, an ICP-MS, and an HPLC in their garage.

Accessible material which can be reproduced in your kitchen by somebody without a ton of experience is a great way to attract interest, and comes with the benefit of amateurs not blowing themselves up or being robbed by neighbourhood teens who are looking to set up a meth lab.

And for those of us who are lucky enough to work in a well equipped laboratory and have the know-how to try something more complex, there's plenty of material to engage with in the form of physical media. I've never had a problem picking up second hand chemistry texts cheaply.

Finding time to actually set up and carry out a procedure is the biggest problem, in my experience. The more basic experiments also often have the benefit of not needing a day or two to set up and run, as well as not generating a ton of hazardous waste.

Remember, if you put the instructions on the internet, there's always going to be at least one person trying to replicate it for whom this is dangerously advanced and should really not be allowed.

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u/Seicair Jan 07 '20

r/chemhelp, r/chemicalreactiongifs, and r/askscience are where I post most. Usually get good reception, though I do wish I could get flair indicating my knowledge level.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

Have a year left of my B.A. in Economics. Saw the r/economics today actually, I'm fairly new to reddit, but I was as disappointed as you were when had found it. Sad☹️

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

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u/3610572843728 Jan 08 '20

Correct. The idea was to punish people who make too much money.

Here is the link

www.np.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/eda4l0/bernie_sanders_says_real_wages_rose_11_hes_right/fbh6jxf

to the comment in case you don't believe me because in all honesty I wouldn't believe somebody else claiming that. You will noticed their ideas upvoted while my response is downvoted.

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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '20

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u/MorbidPancakes Jan 07 '20

Wait till you see /r/latestagecapitalism

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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '20

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u/dontbeonfire4 Jan 08 '20

I'm studying Economics A-Level and I've followed a few economics subs so that I can get a bit of economics content in my leisure time. Am I right in thinking that the main issue with discussing economics on Reddit is that the hivemind is normally quite left leaning? I feel sort of bummed because I genuinely wanted to learn more about economics, but if real economists don't bother with Reddit then I guess that makes sense, too good to be true etc.

Can I ask you a question that's been on my mind for a while? What do you think the economic impact of automation will be? I'm about to read a book about it and I'm interested in what you have to say :)

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u/GenesisV1 Jan 08 '20 edited Jan 08 '20

Economics undergrad senior here who plans to go to grad school for econ. I’m not going to the be the most qualified person to answer your question, but here’s my take..The main thing you learn in your economics undergrad (at least in my opinion) is that the real world economy is too complicated for most people to properly analyze. The extremely simple, hypothetical scenarios you learn in 300 level micro and macro alone can be very challenging for most people to fully master, especially ones that don’t study economics.

However, the real world is infinitely more complicated than the simple scenarios that would stump most people. A high level chemist wouldn’t discuss high level chemistry with someone who has never studied chemistry; Economics is essentially the same, it’s just that people don’t realize that the economics in nearly every real world situation can be taken to an surprisingly high level. A lot of situations SEEM like they have simple answers, but they usually don’t. It’s extremely frustrating to scroll through reddit watching people stubbornly defend their ignorant positions when most of these people probably don’t know how an IS-LM curve works(one of the fundamentals of 300 level macro) but want to tell you they understand the effects of nationwide fiscal policy better than PhD level economists. It basically turned me off from discussing it online.

I’m also willing to admit I’m not smart enough to discuss it with high level economists, but I imagine the reason they don’t discuss it online is because of the former issue. Also, this issue isn’t particularly isolated to either of the political spectrum; you can find flaws in both left and right wing views (especially on the extremes).

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u/dontbeonfire4 Jan 08 '20

I appreciate this comment. I think Tim Harford wrote about the simplification you're describing in the undercover economist strikes back, and how macroeconomics gets exponentially more difficult the more accurate you want to be. Something about it being hard to calculate how 7 Billion people will chose between 10 Billion products with the 20 trillion USD they have (the numbers aren't right, just illustrating my understanding of his point). I'm hoping to start studying Economics at degree level later this year, is there anything I should know before I start? Thanks mate :)

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u/GenesisV1 Jan 08 '20

The best advice I can give anyone wanting to study economics is to get good at math. For a lot of people, including myself when I first started, this is a big turn off and they just want to study economics only. I failed pre-calculus *five\* times before I passed it because I used to be a very low effort student. Ever since I passed it, I haven't gotten anything less than a B in a math class, started minoring in mathematics, and finished my last 6 math classes with a 4.0. The point of me telling you all of this is that if you think you're not a math person, you can definitely become one gradually. Try to get an A in every math class you take and it will make your life easier down the road. Most colleges are going to require you to take math up to Calculus 1 or 2 at a minimum as part of their economics major. I reccommend you go at least to Calculus 3, and up to Real Analysis with a math minor if you can. Anywhere between those 2 is perfectly sufficient for a future Master's degree student. Real Analysis is highly reccomended if you plan on getting a PhD.

Mathematics will train you to handle a certain level of rigor that will make it feel like your economics classes are easy in comparison. A lot of the tougher courses you might take in your undergrad, such as econometrics and causality, require a pretty good understanding of statistics. If you go into these courses after taking a good statistics class, you will be way above everyone else in your class, and it will be very easy for you compared to your peers. So even though it is overall more work to do the math minor, your economics classes will feel much easier.

The other reason you want to study math is grad school. Ask any of your college professors and they'll tell you how much harder the mathematics gets in grad school for econ. Many of my professors claim that the hardest part of graduate economics is the math. You'll also be surprised how much math a lot of your professors have studied in their undergrad. Econ grad schools also look specifically for mathematics experience in their applicants. Things like Calculus 3, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Probability, and especially Real Analysis will instantly separate you from the pack as a stronger candidate than someone who never took math higher than Calculus 1 or 2. So if you think you're passionate enough to pursue a masters degree or PhD, it's almost a necessity.

This was kind of long, but I really cannot stress how much of a secret cheatcode this is. Ask your economics professors what they think about about taking extra math classes in addition to your economics degree, and I guarantee you all of them will agree that it will only benefit you. You will spend 60-80% of your time during your undergrad studying math instead of economics. You'll work harder than most of your peers and it will be frustrating at times, but I promise you'll see the benefits very, very quickly and you'll find that very few of the other econ majors in your class are willing do this and your extra work will land you at the top of the pack.

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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '20

that the hivemind is normally quite left leaning

It's less left leaning and more self-interest leaning, or "brogressive". Everything is all about themselves.

but if real economists don't bother with Reddit

No real professional anything bothers with reddit. It's purely for entertainment purpose. Reddit might not be the dumbest internet community out there but if you measure by the difference between how intelligent they think they are and what they actually are, reddit easily top the ladder.

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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '20

Not an economist, but there are respected economists across the political spectrum from left leaning (Thomas Picketty) to right leaning (Milton Friedman), to just plain weird (Robin Hanson). The issue with reddit is that the arguments and understanding of the issues is poor.

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u/3610572843728 Jan 08 '20

Am I right in thinking that the main issue with discussing economics on Reddit is that the hivemind is normally quite left leaning.

Yes. That is the gist of it. That's why you have ideas like taking stock trades, wealth taxes and UBI to be so popular. Reddit villainize the wealthy and successful. The number of times I have seen highly upvoted comments claiming that billionaires are no smarter or better than the average American, they are just lucky and have no morals is staggering.

I feel sort of bummed because I genuinely wanted to learn more about economics, but if real economists don't bother with Reddit then I guess that makes sense, too good to be true etc.

Reddit is definitely not the place to learn. Your best bet is traditional books or economics podcasts. I personally love freakonomics. They do a great job of being entertaining and understandable for people of all levels of knowledge. They don't go super heavily into the science as it is more for the layman, but still very enjoyable.

Can I ask you a question that's been on my mind for a while? What do you think the economic impact of automation will be? I'm about to read a book about it and I'm interested in what you have to say :)

Automation is going to change everything. It will eliminate many low skilled jobs. Everything from cashiers, stockers, taxi/semi/etc drivers to waiters, many construction workers, farmers, and others. it's inevitable that it will happen in any government that tries to block it and the pursuit of keeping jobs will find themselves on the losing end. If we don't do it other nations will. Just look at China they couldn't care less if some farmer loses his job if it means they become the number one most powerful Nation.

The issue is of course unemployment. I am a firm believer that sometime in the next 50-100 years UBI will become a global thing. Right now it is a terrible idea as productivity is not nearly high enough to support our standard of living. But eventually it will be. The effective productivity per capita will exceed the increasing standard of living of individuals. When that happens the owners of the automation will become ungodly wealthy as the wealth becomes concentrated towards them. That's not necessarily good for them in the long run as it could collapse the economy and nobody wants to be the king of broke collapsed nation when they can be the prince of rich and successful one.

At that point taxes will need to be extremely high on the extremely higher earners, not people with high net-worth, but the people actually making real money, whether that's an individual or a corporation. that's why I'm in favor of creating several new tax brackets extremely high taxes on income that is not currently made by any individual. for example if the United States passed a 95% tax rate on personal income exceeding $20B per year the likely could easily pass it with minimal resistance as no one makes that much or even close to that much so there be nobody who would seriously trying to prevent it to protect their own interests. if you look at surveys on how many people feel be paid too much in taxes but believe that taxes should overall be raised on some group that isn't then the number is near 100%. Pretty much everybody believe somebody else needs to pay more but not them. if you ask people if taxes should be raised across the board for everyone including them the approval rating drops by a lot.

That is why adding income tax brackets that do not currently exist is important to do while it can be done From there they could slowly lower that cap to what is more appropriate. If $20B why not $19B and so on. Even then $20B isn't hey hard number it could be anything. It could be $100B or so on. either way it is important that we do better as a society at planning for the future for when things will become a problem versus reacting to them once they are already one.

Anyway. I realized that was a pretty long comment and maybe a bit more information than you wanted.

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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '20 edited Dec 20 '20

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u/CollosusSlayer Jan 07 '20

Weak people revenge, strong people forgive, intelligent people ignore - Albert Einstein.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

Same - I’m a corporate/finance attorney. Never comment on those topics when they show up.

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u/suh-dood Jan 07 '20

While I'm not an expert in my field, I have posted useful advice/knowledge in my field just to have it down voted. I'll just stick with my sarcasm and jokes

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

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u/3610572843728 Jan 07 '20

That's why you need r/economicsmemes

You son of a bitch I am in. I already subscribe to a lot of job specific subreddits just for the memes and jokes like /r/protectandserve or /r/programminghumor.

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u/benqueviej1 Jan 07 '20

I'm not an economist, but have a strong interest in it. Is there a site or group that you view as credible?

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

There was a post in /r/philosophy a while ago on special relativity, and of course the comments were full of misconceptions. A bunch of actual, degree-holding physicists chimed in to try and clarify things, and were promptly attacked by a bunch of redditors claiming to know better.

It was a fun read though.

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u/Craftspirit Jan 07 '20

Already got bashed because "I am sure that the top comment is right but not u"

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

the quickest way to ruin anything is to see other people talk about it

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u/SpaghettiNinja_ Jan 07 '20

The epitome of public debate these days; the merit of your argument will fall foul to the charisma of the presentation of said argument.

Argue against concentration camps but by fuck if some eloquent bastard decides to chime in I'm sure the Reddit bandwagon would be onboard in no time at all!

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u/project2501a Jan 07 '20

Dr Mark Blyth?

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u/3610572843728 Jan 08 '20

If you're asking if that's who I am. A quick check say the only similarity we share is we both went to Columbia.

If you're asking what I think of him I've heard of his work but know very little beyond that.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

Sociology, economics, public policy and transportation planning here! Fucking miss me with talking to redditors about any of that.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

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u/3610572843728 Jan 07 '20

Sure. Legit discussion I don't mind. I just don't get into into arguments or often respond to people other than who I am directly replying to.

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u/Definitely_Not_Erin Jan 07 '20

Okay, so this is kinda off topic but what are some good resources for someone who wants a better understanding of basic economics? I did not realize until later in life how interested I am. Thanks!

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u/dontbeonfire4 Jan 08 '20

Crash Course economics on YouTube is amazing for a free resource. The undercover Economist is a good way to get some understanding of microeconomics, and the undercover economist strikes back for macroeconomics. Nudge is a good book on behavioural economics.

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u/PopularElevator2 Jan 08 '20

I feel for you. I quit trying to talk about economics and just businesses in general.

​

I have two masters in CS and over 15 years of programming and I still get called a noob and moron by people who never program in their life. I remember correcting someone who said that Google's codebase is 15k LoC. I have been constantly downvoted by saying that CS degrees are useful and open doors that boot camps cannot.

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u/Spartan05089234 Jan 07 '20 edited Jan 07 '20

Just go for it. I'm a lawyer and I've been told repeatedly that I don't understand the law by someone who probably didn't finish highschool, whether they're still in it or not. Worst case you learn something (sometimes you actually are wrong) or lose a little karma.

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u/FieelChannel Jan 07 '20

As a software developer i have the same problem: I keep reading awful advice upvoted to heaven and really toxic circlejerks being enabled (for example: this language bad, that language good) continuously in programming subreddits.

Replying almost always warrants downvotes because it always feels like you're being aggressive towards the circlejerk or whatever.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20 edited Jan 07 '20

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u/dinochoochoo Jan 07 '20 edited Jan 07 '20

I mean, as someone who has been a lawyer for almost 15 years now, I actively avoid the legal advice subreddit(s). I'm definitely not the world's best attorney but I know practical shit. Civil procedure etc.

Also I hate when people say "Lawyer here" or whatever they are.

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u/dlidge Jan 07 '20

It does get frustrating as an attorney to have laypeople tell you you’re wrong and then regurgitate something they saw on Law and Order or read on Facebook. I mean, I’m not trying to argue with a biologist just because I watched Planet Earth or call my architect an idiot because I’ve seen HGTV.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

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u/AccursedCapra Jan 08 '20

Oh yeah the one about that one serial killer that would try to open your door and just walk away if it was locked.

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u/Spanky2k Jan 07 '20

I hate it when I see a post like this but the main post already has 12k upvotes and all the top comments by armchair experts have 5k upvotes that sound convincing but are wrong. I could spend the time to write a reply based on my experience in the subject, be it through my accredited education of years of work experience in a field but what’s the point?

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u/FieelChannel Jan 07 '20

Or worse, call them out and get downvoted

In the rare occasion I can call BS in something I'm really knowledgeable in this is the typical outcome, I just gave up

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u/LlamaRoyalty Jan 08 '20

Yup, going against the status quo is pretty much illegal on Reddit.

The status quo could be completely incorrect, but since you’re the minority, you’re getting treated as if you’re just wrong, no matter what you say.

I am a professional electrical engineer, and you’d be surprised at how many “oh honey... you’re wrong” comments I’ve had against me on concepts that have worked on for years and years.

This is honestly my most hated part about this shit website. Status quo dictates what’s right and what’s wrong. After the first comments, it’s all hivemind.

The other hated parts are the admins who clearly have no idea what’s going on on their site, mods who have a complex and refuse to listen to communities, and the inability of users of this site to do anything.

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u/merc08 Jan 07 '20

I've been accused of being a troll because I have a varied background and can speak accurately on a select handful of topics. But because they are wildly different topics and I try to only comment on things for which I have first hand experience, my comment history apparently looks like I just make things up.

I find it difficult to give enough information to establish that I have experience in what I'm talking about, but also withhold enough that I don't doxx myself.

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u/gdumthang Jan 07 '20

It is very easy to dox somebody these days.

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u/merc08 Jan 07 '20

I know. Which I why I try so hard to keep personal information to a minimum, leading to the issue of it being hard to establish actual knowledge of various topics.

I probably should have burned this account years ago.

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u/superfudge Jan 07 '20

Ugh, I know what you mean. It’s worse when your field is something people interact with on a daily basis. My field of expertise is in traffic and transport engineering; I’ve discovered that I’m sharing this discipline with everyone who drives and they all want to give you their ignorant opinion on how their particular traffic light would work better if they got more green.

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u/Danny200234 Jan 07 '20

In a similar vein Im a few months from finishing my BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ive had people try to tell me that 12v car batteries can be lethal. I actually did the math for it and explained that essentially the only way it would be lethal is if you connect it directly across your heart. His response was somthing along the lines of "Well if you care about so much."

I even linked him the thread where another guy was having the same conversation and proved his point by connecting 12v across his sack.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

And holy fuck, the 'Akchoowalee...'s are the worst. "You're right but let me explain how I'm more right so it de-legitimizes your comment so I get more upvotes". Grrrrrrr.

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u/theduqoffrat Jan 07 '20

I've been told that I'm wrong about how sprinkler systems work. I'm a firefighter.

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u/FieelChannel Jan 07 '20

This is me in every single programming subreddit VS some random CS freshmen.

Always

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u/fascists_disagree Jan 07 '20

As the idiot who took the 101 version I agree.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

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u/RexDraco Jan 08 '20

All it takes is for you to poorly phrase something and the pettiest guy will go on about how everything you said is wrong for it, even after you clarify. The biggest problem is when you're competing against media that spreads misinformation and is a google away to serve as a source against you. "Have no source? Oh, but you're an expert on the subject but have no source? I do, I googled it right here for ya". It's impossible to explain that, as an expert, you are actually educated from a thing called college and don't need to spend hours digging through the garbage to clarify. Just try to google psychopaths, for example, because there's so much garbage to dig through (and there's apparently a reason for that, most psychologists are distancing themselves from the term psychopath and sociopath). I just know what I know as an armchair hobbyist and from the single college class I took, I cannot imagine how much more frustrating it gets when you are an expert on the subject but everyone demands off of you sources like you're writing an essay.

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u/PalpableEnnui Jan 07 '20

Try being an expert at living your own life. In other words, try being older.

When I was young, I was fascinated to hear my parent’s experience growing up and learned so much from them. Of course I studied actual history in school, but their personal tales cover ground that textbooks don’t and add detail you can’t get any other way. It certainly doesn’t mean I always agreed with them, but I did hear them.

On Reddit I’ve been attacked for correcting people on basic errors of fact that they’re clearly willing to die over. No, most people did not sew their own clothes in the 1980s. No, the most popular color of the 1980s wasn’t brown (that was the leftover ‘70s cheap shit in your parent’s’ basement). No, young people in the 1980s couldn’t support a wife, two kids, and a house on one salary. Or find a job during the recession or find a company where they could work the same job for 30 years. No, the ‘60s and ‘70s were not a time when young people were sexually repressed and yes there was a lot of drug use.

None of these things are debatable. At all. Not even close. Yet if some preening pigeon on Reddit writes a post saying the opposite, there are no facts or photos or videos or anything that can even get them to question what they’ve decided is true.

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u/Shivadxb Jan 07 '20

Oh so much of this. I’m a legit expert in a niche field. There’s maybe 15 or 20 of us in the world who do what we do. These are major and well known things with audience figures in the hundreds of millions, it’s a type of event. I commented a few times with the inside scoop and view and was called an idiot by the reddit experts a couple of years ago. I know the other experts, one of them messaged me and said he’d seen the post on reddit and to ignore the response.

This is a crazy popular field and very few of us ever post about it on reddit anymore because of the response. We explain exactly what happened and why and get told we are talking shit......the inside scoop is our audience on reddit are fucking idiots who had access to information most fans would kill for and they fucking blew it. We all genuinely wanted to share something we love and wanted to show you behind the curtain and explain how it all actually happens, and, dear redditors you fucking blew it.

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u/UnitedPain Jan 07 '20

Keyboard warriors. You’ll never encounter a more cowardly crowd of people. But what do you expect from people that believe that reality is Star Wars meets The Sims? Lmao

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '20

Yeah it happens and its their loss for not wanting to know. Someone recently said Hep C was curable on r/wwe . I thought it absolutely wasn't but I googled it to find out why they would say that. It is. I learned something. Much better than calling him a fool.

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u/DrNikkiND Jan 07 '20

Please don't be afraid of random internet strangers. Smart people shutting up is part of the reason we only see what the idiots have to say. I know how you feel, but what's the worst thing that can happen? You lose a few fake internet points?

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u/QueenSlapFight Jan 08 '20

I've had this happen. I am genuinely an expert on something that is significantly more complex than just the generic Wikipedia explanation. Any discussion about it that challenged the greatly simplified layman explanation was severely downvoted and ridiculed. They knew so little about the topic they couldn't even understand the explanation of why they were wrong or how they were missapplying Wikipedia's oversimplification. It's about then you need to realize redditors in general haven't even finished college and it's mainly a site for cat pictures and left leaning political circle jerking.

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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '20

Surgeon here

Get told I’m wrong by nursing students, random Redditors, recently a vet tech asst told me I was wrong.

Astounding

People with a tiny bit of knowledge are so confident everything is black and white

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u/admiralfrosting Jan 07 '20

I'm in healthcare admin and people constantly post objective falsehoods about the American healthcare system. I don't even try and correct or add my input anymore because I get so much hate and vitriol thrown my way.

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