r/ShitRedditSays • u/[deleted] • Jan 03 '12
[META] SRS FAQ
This is a FAQ for the uninitiated. Direct anyone with questions here, and feel free to add any thoughts you may have.
Q: What is SRS?
A: In short, a circlejerk. A lot of people get really, really sick of the bigoted shit upvoted on this site and our community functions as a break room for them to laugh, vent and commiserate without being dismissed, silenced through downvotes or needing to explain why the comments suck over and over. This is why the mods are quick to ban and why the rules to keep it a circlejerk are so stringent. It may come off as asshole-ish, but part of the appeal of the sub is that for once we're the majority. It's our space and we don't have to make room for people who don't "get it".
More to the point, SRS is a place for those who already know why certian kinds of comments are considered harmful; not for those who wish to find out why.
Q: Why mock people?
A: Take a second to think about how unwelcoming this site is for some groups. SRS lets those groups know that there is a faction of vocal dissenters and they aren't alone. Most of the commenters who post disparaging remarks about a race/gender/sexual orientation take for granted they'll rarely, if ever, have to face similar remarks about their own race/gender/orientation; all the while refusing to empathize with the subject of their scorn. These people are usually the ones that get up in arms when the tables are turned and they are suddenly faced with the uncomfortable reality of having become an object of scorn and ridicule themselves. It's hilarious. It can also, on occasion, cause people to question their own behavior.
Q: How is cutting off rational discourse going to make a difference? If you want to change reddit, shouldn't you explain why something is wrong?
A: We are not here to "change reddit." We don't expect reddit to change. We know most redditors don't really give a shit. They aren't interested in listening and most don't want to sacrifice the upvotes they'll get for a rape joke, even at the expense of triggering a rape victim. Having said that, a large portion of our users have absolutely taken shitposters to task through sincere debate in the past, and many still do. But realize that it is a tiresome, fruitless experience 98% of the time and we have found fighting fire with fire to be substantially more gratifying.
Users who still have the patience to engage with nuggets straddling the line between decent human and steaming pile are directed to /r/SRSQuestions or /r/SocialJustice101. However, SRS prime is a circlejerk and nothing more.
Q: Okay, but you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. More people would be on your side if you weren't so aggressive.
A: This is called a tone argument and has been used to silence and dismiss marginalized groups for a long time. At the end of the day, these groups are allowed to express their feelings in what ever ways they see fit (so long as they don't break any laws). Telling a minority to "be less angry" about their status and treatment in order to make the majority more comfortable is, frankly, bullshit. Especially when those making the tone argument are the ones least affected.
Q: Aren't you a downvote brigade?
A: No. The accusation itself makes it easy for our detractors to garner support, though, so don't expect to stop hearing it anytime soon.
We do our best to make it clear that SRS's goal is to highlight terrible upvoted posts; not to downvote them as some sort of punishment. Being a downvote brigade would ruin the fun and ultimately lead to the demise of the subreddit. In every conceivable way, it's in our best interest to leave posts upvoted. Linking to a post with little or negative karma would be a pretty terrible way of showcasing the shit reddit says.
Q: What's up with those reply bots I see that respond to comments featured on SRS?
A: Those bots do not belong to SRS. They were created by angry redditors in what we can only guess is an attempt at revenge for being featured. They bring a noteworthy portion of new subscribers to SRS, though, so we love them and their creators. Thanks, friends! ♥
Q: It seems like posts are cherry picked and then held up to be representative of reddit as a whole. Isn't that unfair?
A: If reddit can boast that certain acts of philanthropy are representative of all reddit (when obviously not all redditors were involved in donation drives, for example), there is no reason reddit should not also be held accountable for fostering an environment that encourages bigoted comments. Redditors may not like being called out on it, but those views are equally representative of the user-base. They can't have it both ways.
Q: Doesn't all the hate towards white, straight men make SRS just as bigoted?
A: No. We punch up, not down.
9 times out of 10 when someone calls out a shitposter for their sexist/racist/phobic joke or comment, they are drowned out and downvoted by the hivemind. But SRS is like a bizarro reddit where the tables are turned and your typical redditor is in the minority. If someone comes in to shame one of us for cracking jokes at the expense of young, white, middle class, cis, able-bodied, straight men that comprise most of reddit's user-base, they can expect the same behavior from us.
Turning the tables like this and watching reddit's reaction to us has been telling. It's important to understand that what we do here is satirical. We ridicule thoughtless, abusive and dehumanizing mindsets by reversing the position of privilege and parroting the standard defenses contrived to excuse them. Shitlords who have never dealt with prejudice -- and willfully ignore the views of those who have -- use justifications (Free speech impediment!/Just a joke!/White male discrimination!) that de-center and dismiss a complaint without ever having to acknowledge it.
When you get down to it, what some of these people really don't like about SRS is that it holds a mirror up to the inherent advantages that come with being in any majority. As a community, we're able to point out the hypocrisy of reddit's majority by assuming the role of a majority ourselves. The difference is that our "hypocrisy" is intentional. The people we're mocking are supposed to feel uncomfortable. It's our way of letting them know how we experience reddit on a daily basis.
Incidentally, you might also be interested to know that our subscribers are primarily young, white men themselves.
Q: Do you seriously think that white men enjoy special privilege on reddit?
A: Yes
Q: Ok I think I get it, and I agree with almost everything SRS says, but when I asked why a post was considered offensive I was berated and banned. Why?
A: Once more for those in back: SRS is not for questions or discussion. In order to keep the sub from being overrun by concern trolls and shitposters, we have to be quick on the ban trigger. We've seen what happens to other psuedo-safe spaces that lacked vigilant moderation, so we have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to rule breaking. If you felt you were banned unfairly, message the mods. We cant guarantee you'll be unbanned, but we're usually willing to look into it.
To avoid being banned, don't step out of circlejerk formation. If you don't understand why a comment was submitted, don't defend the comment, just move on. Misguided attempts at "satire" that reproduce bigotry, attempting to derail threads, and posting personal information, are all easy ways to incur the wrath of the Archangelles.
Be good, stroke in time and you'll do well.
CLITIONARY:
Concern Troll - one who disrupts or derails the circlejerk with feigned or misguided concerns about the action of the circlejerk
Cisgender, Cis - individuals who have a match between the gender they were assigned at birth and their sexual identity, complementing "transgender"
Mansplaining - condescending, inaccurate explanations on women's issues from the perspective of a man; delivered with misplaced confidence because he, as the man (member of the privileged group), knows best (See also, whitesplaining, cissplaining etc)
Neckbeard - eh, it's complicated
PUA Lingo - Check littletiger's handy PUA-to-English Acronym Translation for the PUA community's cheat codes
SAWCSM - Straight, Able-bodied, White, Cis, Male
Shitposter - person with privilege who dismisses those without privilege, synonymous with "redditor" and "jorticulturalist"
Spermjacking - the oft occurring act of women impregnating themselves with sperm stolen from a man's used condom; this always results in 18 years of child support
Trigger - A trauma trigger is an experience that triggers a traumatic memory in someone who has experienced trauma, though the trigger itself need not be frightening or traumatic.
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Jan 03 '12
(oh my god the survey and the 101 post got linked)
(i am rolling around in glee here)
More seriously, I think the FAQ will be a really useful thing to point confused people to. Kudos for putting this together, and personally I think all the mods deserve a (serious) round of applause for everything they've done. Even if they have been replaced with angels.
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u/antpocas Jan 03 '12
how does SRS relate to LF
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u/mknelson Jun 27 '12
Stupid question here - but am I supposed to vote up or down? Didn't see it in the faq.... not poop good? Poop bad? Seeing a minus sign next to something makes my brain hurt.
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Jun 27 '12
Welcome! Everything is reversed, so the up arrow (poop) will decrease a person's comment karma and the down arrow (not poop) will increase the comment karma.
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u/_Kita_ Jan 03 '12
R/SHITREDDITSAYS IS THE WORST THING THAT'S EVER HAPPENED TO REDDIT, LHITLERALLY. It should be banned, immediately!
You obviously hate free speech if you think the white, cis man is privileged and shouldn't be free to mansplain everything so you silly bitches get it!
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Jan 03 '12
bitches!!!24
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Jan 03 '12
R/SHITREDDITSAYS IS THE WORST THING THAT'S EVER HAPPENED TO REDDIT
I've actually seen redditor-for-5-years say this unironically and it got upvoted too.
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Jan 05 '12
I do not know if this is the right place to ask this but I will give it a shot, how might one be able to get the plus and minus votes next to the comments. I have look through the preferences with no avail. Might one direct me to the appropriate place to find that so that I might be able to add to the circle jerk?. Thank you everyone
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u/ArchangelleDonatello Jan 05 '12
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u/roesmoker Jun 14 '12
Why are we faux-downvoting our own posts/comments in SRS? Downvote and upvote meanings seem to be reversed from what they mean on the rest of reddit (+=liked/-=disliked) and instead are (+=disliked/-=liked) (+=poop/-=not poop). I read the FAQ and do not see that explained anywhere.
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Jun 14 '12
we're in bizarro reddit 2) it occasionally confuses/protects against downvoting brigading shitlords 3) it reminds srsters to think before touching the poop
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u/empty_fishtank Jan 03 '12
Thank you so much for this. I've been trying to 'splain over in the Theory of Reddit thread, and it just gets so exhausting. I mean, as exhausting as sitting around arguing on the Internet gets....
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Jan 03 '12
I believe I will be linking to this regularly. The amount of facepalming I've done when I see people try and explain "what srs actually is" has left a permanent mark.
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Jan 03 '12
Obviously our goal is the death of humour ;-P
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Jan 03 '12
Really? Shit. I thought it was to dance on the graves of white men's Darwin-given right to use the words "n---er" and "faggot" unironically.
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u/empty_fishtank Jan 03 '12
Yeah, I always worry that I'm going to be unclear when I explain it myself and just make things more confusing.
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Jan 03 '12
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Jan 03 '12
Ovumlords or GTFO.
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u/PatriarchonaVespa Jan 03 '12
A large number of our regulars, and every one of the mods, have absolutely taken shitposters to task through days-long, sincere debate in the past. Many still do. But realize that it is a tiresome, fruitless experience 98% of the time and we have found that fighting fire with fire is substantially more gratifying.
Pretty much. I can't even find it in my heart anymore to engage in debate on reddit. They've...killed a part of me that won't be coming back again.
P.S. SIQ FAQ
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u/scooooot Jan 03 '12
I can't even find it in my heart anymore to engage in debate on reddit.
Yeah, I feel the same way. I'm getting too old for this shit. I'd rather just make fun of their stupidity. Besides, I've found that in the long run, being mocked can cause you to examine your behavior much closer than just being told you're wrong.
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u/boronhydra Jan 03 '12
This approach also works great when you fat shame! No wait, it doesn't.
This sort of shitty rationalization just allows you to justify why you're an asshole.
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u/scooooot Jan 03 '12
Oh please. Are you really trying to compare fat-shaming to telling people that they're being dicks?
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Jan 05 '12
One of the
problemsglorious gifts of our Lady Gaga in this being a circlejerk is the blurry line between SRS and r/SRSDiscussion, where people will realize you're interrupting the citclejerk and downvote/direct you to there... as long as your opinion is out of line with the majority. It's a necessary evil, but I still cringe a bit when I see someone who, if not excercising the best judgment, is at least acting in good faith is just told to go and jump in a lake.All Praise be to Tia.
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u/NoahTheDuke Jan 03 '12
I've learned that I don't have the energy to sincerely argue on reddit anymore, but all the arguing I have done here has given me an edge in all of the meatspace conversations I've had since, which has been a boon.
It's like practice, except now all of my best clothes are covered in poop.
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Jan 03 '12
As a former banee, I'd like to mention that the mods are extremely understanding if you make a mistake. SRS will take you back when you recognize your fault.
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u/InvaderDJ Jan 03 '12
here are people who still have the patience to engage in debate and we've started [1] r/SRSDiscussion as a means to that end. However, our official stance is that SRS itself is a circlejerk and nothing more.
This is the most important part. SRSDiscussion exists, there is now absolutely no reason to ask "why is this offensive" here. Absolutely none, and this is coming from a guy was was flaired for similar stuff.
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Jan 04 '12
Right. I didn't realise what SRS was for until I started posting. Unlike you, however, I have a red tag. Hah!
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u/InvaderDJ Jan 04 '12
Meh, flair doesn't matter much. I had it for the longest time, learned (or accepted I guess) what it meant andit was eventually removed (or some SRS stafu got it removed unintentionally).
I think people get a little overconcerned about it.
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Jan 04 '12
I'm not even remotely concerned about it. It's growing on me actually. Only wish had gotten one of the wittier ones like "shitlord". ;)
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u/atomicthumbs Jan 03 '12
Those people are usually the ones that get up in arms when the tables are turned and they are suddenly faced with the uncomfortable reality of having become an object of scorn and ridicule themselves. It's hilarious.
Ohhhhhh! I finally get it.
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Jan 03 '12
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Jan 04 '12
Some people mad that we be stylin'. Real mad.
But yep, accusing us of being a downvote brigade is a way of deflecting... especially when people from certain other subreddits have far more people to draw from for a downvote brigade.
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u/VelvetElvis Jan 03 '12
You might want to go into a bit more detail about about what a "shitposter" is and other jargon. "cis" would be foreign to the intended audience for this, for example.
You might want to consider linking to SRSDiscussion and SRSBuisness as places where people can ask actual questions.
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Jan 03 '12
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u/VelvetElvis Jan 03 '12
Yeah, I'd heard the term but I don't expect many people who don't run in far left circles to have heard of it. The bottom line is that it's jargon which is something that needs to be avoided when writing for a wide audience.
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u/tejoka Jan 03 '12
One of the reasons I think r/LadyBashing failed (whole sub downvote brigaded by MRAs of course) was it violated the "we're not here to change reddit" rule.
If you care whether or not reddit is a shithole worse that 4chan ever was, infested with vast hordes of really awful people, then instead of being fun, it's just really depressing. It's hard to build a community around being really miserable all the time.
But if you don't care, don't downvote, don't try to change reddit, do embrace the circlejerk, and do ban anyone who tries to start "concerned discussions" that would bring the misery to this subreddit, then it's actually quite fun!
This, more than anything, is why SRS isn't an angry downvote brigade. If it was, the community would die fast, because being an angry downvote brigade against the vast, endless horde of shit is just plain not fun.
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Jan 03 '12
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u/RattaTatTat Jan 04 '12
No kidding :(
The entire comments section of every submission is filled with MRA crusaders.
Title of the submission: "All girls are crazy. All of them. Every single one of them..."
A particular comment:
There is some girl that is not insane, but she will soon marry some other man that has a better career than yours, and he will keep it away from the world in a safe house because she is a rare precious pearl.
WTF. Here's another:
Crazy probably wasn't the best choice of words, but that was not a sexiest comment at all. The complete opposite in fact - he's acknowledging the fact that every woman has flaws. All of the(m). Every single one of them.
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u/office_fisting_party Jan 03 '12 edited Jan 03 '12
Y'all might should put this on the sidebar, too.
late edit: wow I guess I get very southern when I type early in the morning.
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Jan 03 '12
SRS gets compared to circlejerk a lot, but there's a key difference. Circlejerk is like Billy Crystal hosting the Oscars, and SRS is like Ricky Gervais hosting the Golden Globes. Billy Crystal made fun of how pretty and talented everyone was, and so they all laughed and clapped at his jokes that made everyone feel good. That's circlejerk, making fun of the shape of the up arrow and so forth. Ricky Gervais talked about the things Hollywood agreed to never talk about. Things like how movies are ultimately useless in achieving social goals, and how most actors actually have very little technical talent. That's SRS, talking about the rampant racism and misogyny, which everyone had tacitly agreed to label "jokes" and therefore impervious to criticism.
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u/gervater Jan 03 '12
Gervais is a terrible poster boy for SRS, or even an example used in a simile. If the man himself's posts to public websites like Twitter were examined like those on Reddit are by SRS, I doubt we'd find too much to admire (though r/atheism would love him) - http://tinyurl.com/hatefulgervais
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u/ff303016b Jan 04 '12
While we're in meta-mode, I just want to say that I think you're all doing a fantastic job with this subreddit. I've only been reading it for a little over a month, but it's really opened my eyes to the bigotry that goes on here. Especially the more subtle stuff.
More importantly on a personal level, reading SRS has had the side effect of making me re-evaluate my own set of thoughts and opinions for previously unnoticed prejudice and intolerance.
It's been quite the epiphany, and I must thank you all for that!
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u/IntrepidVector Jan 03 '12
Question: Is there a joke I'm not getting in the name 'Archangelles' instead of 'Archangels'?