Why I avoid Reddit

          I usually lightly browse the reddit for the silly and sublime but occasionally I actually attempt to engage, then Ouch! big time pain!

          Yesterday someone posted via /r/explainlikeimfive a rather simple query: "ELI5: What is supersymmetry?" I thought what the hell, why not. So I wrote something like (I don't really remember what I wrote. And, as I have deleted it, I don't really care):

          Supersymmetry is the idea that each Boson matches a supersymmetric Fermion and each Fermion matches a supersymmetric Boson.

          Then the shit hit the fan as my (purposely simple) offering got down-voted by the cognoscenti of Reddit. 'Tis a pit filled with petty guttersnipes nipping at ones heels, if you ask me. For context, I am /u/Another_Physicist at that place.

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darkmatter's picture

for anonymous downvoting. It is allegedly to prevent trolling, but that instrument turns into a hammer and everything someone even slightly disagrees with becomes a nail.

I think the C99 approach, which is essentially thumbs-up or ignore, is better.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

..... because you have half a brain! (Or more, of course!) Smile

Reddit acts as the Anti-Philosophers' Stone. It touches gold and converts it to fermenting cat feces on contact! How mahakali overdrive stands it I know not.

Your discussion on some of the reasons why/how are quite cogent.

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

mjsmeme's picture

that she's put a great deal of time and effort into, which gives a lot of exDKer's and many other Berners a place to gather and exchange information and ideas about how to advance this progressive movement.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

PriceRip's picture

          Oh my yes! I should have been careful. Just as no one should fault JtC and good company for my faults, I (almost) never attribute failings to the operators of the various sites.
          I am a behind the scenes type myself. It's the front end users that drive me crazy. I am actually impressed with the way Reddit has been "put together" and the incredible Mods are really top drawer. I really like the various verification routines. When I first encountered that I felt like I was prepping for my Defense of Dissertation. Shades of Déjà vu all over again.

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I wasn't talking to you but thanks for your concern. You spoke of reddit in general and a particular site of interest to you. thanatokephaloides made mention of MO and reddit in your thread. look up.. Mjsmeme appears to have misunderstood thanatokephaloides' comment.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

PriceRip's picture

          I wish someone would/could design a nice "thread follower" graphic. Then the user could "tap", "click", or otherwise clearly indicate the point of insertion. Even better, it could involve a full graphical interface wherein the user could drag and drop, post production, to realign the dependencies.
          Like VisuWords: an awesome way to display relationships.

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is on the to do list. without a steady stream of revenue, it is hard to do.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

thanatokephaloides's picture

I was indeed commiserating, and expressing my admiration, for mahakali overdrive's being able to do anything at all with that user- and administrator- hostile platform!

Thank you, dkmich!

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Thumb's picture

How mahakali overdrive stands it I know not.

That's like saying "How can that person stand living in, you know, that neighborhood?" Like much of the internet, it is what you make it.

We have a very active moderator team lead by MO and I think we do yeoman's work keeping the neighborhood clean of fermenting cat feces. (Don't make me point to the "Rothschild" thread and say "Neener neener!") We've actually carved out quite a nice little corner in a big bad world of big bad baddies and have some very good free-ranging discussions devoid of the shills and dicks that made intelligent conversation all but impossible at TOP.

In fact we try to cross promote c99 often as another positive forum for like minded to discuss, as well as TPW. So don't be stereotyping all of Reddit because one of them drank your milk shake, much less anything maligning our patron saint mahakali overdrive, who's offline touring Europe at the moment and can't come here to lay a smack-down on anyone throwing shade. Smile

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"Polls don't tell us how well a candidate is doing; Polls tell us how well the media is doing." ~ Me

trust me, disruptors are quietly being shown the door. asking for civility and being ignored has its limits.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

mjsmeme's picture

Community, united by a common goal. Both C99 & K4S share a common purpose, to unite folks who express a strong interest in making this a better world for the 99%ers.

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Ruscle's picture

Supersymmetry is the idea the Hillary Clinton's qualifications and experience EXACTLY match what the country needs in a president.

I, for one, will be thrilled to see her single handedly take down ISIS with a strategically placed secret e-mail server.

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Another Refugee from the Great Orange Purity Troll

Or any science topic, for that matter. I hold it too dear to see it sullied by the pettiness that exists online.

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hecate's picture

is so ugly it beggars description. Nothing worthwhile can be accomplished in a place so aesthetically grotesque.

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Thumb's picture

Compared to DU it's a Picasso.

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"Polls don't tell us how well a candidate is doing; Polls tell us how well the media is doing." ~ Me

mjsmeme's picture

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It is different from here. Lots of links, it has. Less pontification IMHO.
Some people are there and not here that I like. Vice versa, too.
There are comments here I would gladly down vote; They are few, but they definitely are. There have been three this weekend - the antiSemitic Rothchilds, the firearm fondlers, and the EW delete, are you slow, all caps bold, rant. Each was angry and insulting and rude IMHO.

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mjsmeme's picture

all things Bernie and related.

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Thumb's picture

It is different from here. Lots of links, it has. Less pontification IMHO.

We're the ADHD little brother.

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"Polls don't tell us how well a candidate is doing; Polls tell us how well the media is doing." ~ Me

I have loads of ADHD little brothers and sisters.
I don't find K4S that way. I find it to be more like headline news that I can go read and process. And full of very clever succinct zings and last words.
I like that.
Here, from essays to comments, it is speechifying and soap boxing, even if short winded.
I like that.
Different strokes, and some of us like variety.

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Thumb's picture

Sorry if I co-opted a label inappropriately as a shorthand for what you correctly observed.

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"Polls don't tell us how well a candidate is doing; Polls tell us how well the media is doing." ~ Me

and whats all this stuff I hear about the Higgs-Bosum thingamajig?

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Beware the bullshit factories.

alcohol its kick and bosons are the barnacle scrapers of the Navy.

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There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.

PriceRip's picture

          Dogs run in packs like Bosons, Cats scatter like Fermions.

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detroitmechworks's picture

It's that Cats don't like to be kept in boxes.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Lisa Lockwood's picture

but they say lots of hilarious shit while they're waiting around to be actualized Smile

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"When the powerless are shut out of the media, we will make the media irrelevant" ~Anonymous~

thanatokephaloides's picture

Cats don't like to be kept in boxes.

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Thaumlord-Exelbirth's picture

I can see why it got downvoted. Your explanation needs another layer of explanation to understand it. People in general don't know what bosons or fermions are, self included (though I've at least heard the term "boson" before, which is probably more than most).

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Rip gave one. The next layer would require 500 words or more to confuse the people only enough that the next layer would only require 2000 words. And when all is said and done the person still wouldn't have a good handle on it.

(Personally, I feel good knowing leptons are light [except when they're not] and baryons are very heavy)

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There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.

Thaumlord-Exelbirth's picture

With a goal to explain to someone as if they were 5, the more dumbed down the better, even if there's a bit of length to the explanation.

That said, let's see what I come up with: "Supersymmetry is the theory that particles, which are the building blocks of the universe, have matching partner particles, like two puzzle pieces, or two Legos."

How does that dumbed down explanation come across?

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if you want a working knowledge, I can't recommend I.Asimov's The Atom enough! It's a bit dated, him dying like 25 years ago, but it takes you step by step, intermingles the history, and I recall the hardest math is the set theory you learn in first grade. I think it's written at the high school level.

For more fun (and math and abstract), The Dancing Wu Li Masters is a good read. It melds Eastern Philosophy with modern physics.

Back to the original question at hand...short answer is there is no short answer.

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There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.

PriceRip's picture

          I have real issues with the melding of Eastern Philosophy with my science. A bit too oil and water for my taste.

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you should avoid 90% of the Interwebz.

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PriceRip's picture

          When this was a small place I was involved with as much of it as I am now. So, as the "matrix" has grown the part I do not avoid is fall less than 10% of what is there.
          In other words, I actually avoid far more than 90% of this medium.

          TLDR: I use (Sturgeon's law)2

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The guy used a ton of whitespace and a bunch of links. And I guarantee that even a 5th grader, much less a five year old would understand it.

Okay, maybe a five year old Sheldon Cooper...

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There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.

PriceRip's picture

          I find that on the best of days I get to learn as much as, if not more than, the students.
          For several years I was the only faculty member in our department that took students from crazy pseudoscience to full-on hard science. I liken the (learning) process to consuming fine wine, (on in my case Guinness Extra Stout) it is to be savored. I have seen too many abused by teachers intent on delivering their knowledge as from a fire hose and faulting students for "not getting it", and writing them off with a, "there is no hope for this one."
          I view the trend toward on-line education with skepticism and an abundance of trepidation.

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Good for you! As is it should be.

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But you didn't explain it like the asker was five years old Sad you explained it like the asker was a scientist who knew the terms you were using, so yes, it absolutely WOULD get downvoted into oblivion, on that subreddit.

Taking a different angle, try to explain it to my mom .. who is smart, and gets metaphors, but hasn't got your physics background. She'd need to you unpack your context-specific jargon terms, like boson, fermion, and especially supersymmetry. How is it not just "symmetry"? Can bosons & fermions have both symmetry and "super"symmetry? What's the overlap, what's the difference? in what context is supersymmetry important?

You interpreted it from your context, but ELI5 is specifically about providing enough context for non-experts to at least have a sense of what you're talking about. It's anticipating a smart 5 year old asking "but why?" to a bunch of questions until you've covered a decent amount of related context.

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PriceRip's picture

          I suppose I should have asked this 5 year old, "What do you know of symmetry that leads to your insight to ask about SuperSymmetry?" Problem is, when I do that, I get shot down. So, I choose to delete and move on as it isn't worth the trouble.
          See, in real life, when a student stops by my office and asked "off the wall" questions, we have a dialogue. And, I walk them back from the brink of Woo-Woo and none of my colleagues shout stupid shit as they walk by the door. In fact, sometimes, my colleagues join in on the fun.
          On line discussions do not react with those same dynamics. Shouting shit as you walk by the door is much more the norm.

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The idea is to obfuscate the truth not seek it.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

stevej's picture

and my academic background is a science one.

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“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire