List of threads detailing the issue
- https://old.reddit.com/r/RedditAlternatives/comments/1frcdxs/it_looks_like_reddit_is_currently_trying_new_ways/
- https://old.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/1fqmwid/has_the_reddit_algorithm_recently_changed/
- https://old.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/1fmo04b/reddit_is_purposely_pushing_political_posts/
Just new Redditors speculating with anecdotes
That’s inaccurate given that 2/3 of the OPs and a lot of the commenters have really old (8yo+) accounts.
8 years is by no means “really old”!!
In this context it is - it means that the user saw how Reddit used to be, and is likely informed enough to have a good guess on what’s going on.
(Some accounts there are 12, 13, even 15yo.)
It’s all speculation and it been going on forever.
Every single every example is “hey has any anyone else noticed” With some speculation about the algorithm. No one knows anything, but it’s presented here fact.
Where’s your critical thinking ?
All I’m asking is for something a bit better than “I swear it’s true bro my cousin works at Nintendo”
I was focusing mostly on your incorrect claim about account ages. The reliability of the information (speculation vs. solid info) is another can of worms.
The reason why you see mostly speculation is because nobody knows how the algo work, except people inside Reddit itself. The most that people can do is to analyse patterns, and come up with a hypothesis explaining it; and while doing so by subjective means is by no means optimal, it is better than nothing.
Critical thinking is to neither change the goalposts once people contradict your claim, nor to conflate hypotheses with gullibleness-based argumentation (“I swear it’s true bro”).
You’re argument is that humans can’t discern patterns from noise?
If you were on reddit even for a brief period of time you can actually click through to reddit and see that the experience has changed.
People who want extraordinary evidence think that the claim is extraordinary but never question whether their own understanding is limited.
If requiring something more than “Hmmm seems strange” from a handful of Redditors is somehow “extraordinary evidence” to you - then yes, that’s what’s required to give this anecdote - offered to us as fact - a bit of credibility.
It’s not a big ask, and I didn’t expect you have such obvious difficulties, but there you go.