Reddit vs The Fora

[downer]

I occasionally browse through https://www.reddit.com/r/Professors/
Some of it is more reminiscent of the old fora on The Chronicle. It has a lot more participants than TheFora.org
Some people are active on both places, others have transitioned from here to there.
Sometimes people post exactly the same questions in both places. I wonder if they also post those questions in other places.

Personally, I am not a fan of Reddit, though the Professors "sub" is better than other academic parts. I guess I am gradually becoming more interested in the discussions there.

What's distinctive about TheFora that makes people stay here rather than move to Reddit? Is it more than nostalgia for the old Chronicle forums? One difference is that the Reddit sub is by professors for professors, while TheFora is more inclusive. The Reddit sub does have crossposting from other subs. It also has upvoting and downvoting of posts, and allows images.

[Katrina Gulliver]

I am a Reddit user but I don't use the r/professors section.
I have no idea whether the people posting on Reddit are profs (though some have flair giving their type of institution and role, I don't believe any of that is verified). The fora always had a very different vibe for me, partly that I was sure people were academics (nobody could stumble onto this from another discussion, as is the case on Reddit), and I had a strong idea of who at least some forumites were in real life. Reddit I have no clue, and I'm a bit more wary.

[Parasaurolophus]

The Reddit interface is shit. Forum architecture makes it much easier to have and track a conversation. Reddit just looks like the '90s.

[downer]

There's a Reddit app. No idea if that is any improvement on the web interface. I agree the web version is ugly and takes a lot of practice to navigate.

[marshwiggle]

The Reddit interface is shit. Forum architecture makes it much easier to have and track a conversation. Reddit just looks like the '90s.

I was just going to say that I think a lot of what makes people prefer one platform for another is the interface. All kinds of social media platforms allow some variation of the same functions, but people will use the one(s) that they find convenient to do the things they want to do. (And even a lot of that is just based on their own personal history. No-one wants to learn how to use a new tool to do something they can already do with a familiar tool, even if the newer one is, in principle, easier to use for that specific task.)

[Wahoo Redux]

I'm a member of the r/Professors Reddit and, obviously, the Fora here.

The personalities of the two are quite a bit different.  I don't see a lot of the character of the old CHE fora on Reddit except that Reddit still has a pretty ribald sense of humor and a broad cast of characters like the old CHE had.

Posters on r/Professors are much more likely to be irrational, easily angered, and trollish, which is in character for most online chat rooms.

Posters on The Fora tend to be more thoughtful and measured, even more mature, than Reddit.  By and large, The Fora has much more intelligent commentary, IMHO.

r/Professors, however, is much more willing to take on controversial topics dealing with race and gender.  The Fora tends to ignore more difficult topics.

r/Professors has a great many younger academics who ask newbie questions about the job market or tenure and that sort of thing.

The population of the Fora seems to be getting smaller and more conservative.

[marshwiggle]

I'm a member of the r/Professors Reddit and, obviously, the Fora here.

The personalities of the two are quite a bit different.  I don't see a lot of the character of the old CHE fora on Reddit except that Reddit still has a pretty ribald sense of humor and a broad cast of characters like the old CHE had.

Posters on r/Professors are much more likely to be irrational, easily angered, and trollish, which is in character for most online chat rooms.

Posters on The Fora tend to be more thoughtful and measured, even more mature, than Reddit.  By and large, The Fora has much more intelligent commentary, IMHO.

r/Professors, however, is much more willing to take on controversial topics dealing with race and gender.  The Fora tends to ignore more difficult topics.

r/Professors has a great many younger academics who ask newbie questions about the job market or tenure and that sort of thing.

The population of the Fora seems to be getting smaller and more conservative.

Interesting. I'm trying to figure out how all of this goes together. For instance, do you perceive the drift to more conservative voices as a cause of the tendency to avoid more difficult topics, as a result of it, or purely coincidental?

Also, is the more thoughtful commentary a cause of certain topics being avoided, a result, or purely coincidental?

[mamselle]

Part of it's the fact that this conversation (especially if taken as conterminous, to some extent or other, with the Old Forum) has already matured past that of a "newbies club," and to my mind is all the more valuable for that.

We've weathered serious situations with each other, and we've gotten better at identifying the fools that one really can't suffer gladly, for sanity's sake, while developing the kind of insights needed to help those seeming fools who aren't truly fools--who are sincerely trying to wrestle with deep-end issues they couldn't have anticipated with integrity and a good will.

M.

[lightning]

I finally checked out Reddit. For me, it's mostly sad, boring, and useless. I would have to sift through the sad, boring, & useless stuff in order to get to the good stuff. The problem is that I would get dumber (and probably more agitated), just sifting through the boring & useless stuff. I think the comments sections on the old CHE articles were better that Reddit.

Who knows? Maybe I'll go over to Reddit someday. 

[Wahoo Redux]

I'm a member of the r/Professors Reddit and, obviously, the Fora here.

The personalities of the two are quite a bit different.  I don't see a lot of the character of the old CHE fora on Reddit except that Reddit still has a pretty ribald sense of humor and a broad cast of characters like the old CHE had.

Posters on r/Professors are much more likely to be irrational, easily angered, and trollish, which is in character for most online chat rooms.

Posters on The Fora tend to be more thoughtful and measured, even more mature, than Reddit.  By and large, The Fora has much more intelligent commentary, IMHO.

r/Professors, however, is much more willing to take on controversial topics dealing with race and gender.  The Fora tends to ignore more difficult topics.

r/Professors has a great many younger academics who ask newbie questions about the job market or tenure and that sort of thing.

The population of the Fora seems to be getting smaller and more conservative.

Interesting. I'm trying to figure out how all of this goes together. For instance, do you perceive the drift to more conservative voices as a cause of the tendency to avoid more difficult topics, as a result of it, or purely coincidental?

Also, is the more thoughtful commentary a cause of certain topics being avoided, a result, or purely coincidental?

Dunno.

Reddit is a gigantic community overall, so you are going to have a great many more people commenting on any particular subject, and this tends to attract the loons and irritate the actual thinkers.  And I have talked to some loonies over there. 

On the other hand, not that many people know of or use The Fora, so it is probably one of those self-selecting things.

[downer]

I finally checked out Reddit. For me, it's mostly sad, boring, and useless.

And that's different from The Fora? Maybe it is easier to just focus on the threads you are interested in here.

r/Professors, however, is much more willing to take on controversial topics dealing with race and gender.  The Fora tends to ignore more difficult topics.

r/Professors has a great many younger academics who ask newbie questions about the job market or tenure and that sort of thing.

The population of the Fora seems to be getting smaller and more conservative.

I haven't noticed many progressive voices on r/Professors.
I'm not sure if the Fora is shrinking or whether that's just a summer thing. There do seem to less politics here now. The people who used to raise the political issues also tended to be a little trollish in how they did so. Sometimes a lot trollish. Now they are mostly gone.

[Puget]

I have never used reddit, but I use twitter for interactions with people in my own field about actual research stuff etc. To me the fora serves a different function than that-- I come here for some low stakes anonymous community, and to learn about other fields and perspectives. I also learn useful things about teaching etc. sometimes.  I feel like I've gotten to "know" other regular posters, and we have an established culture here with games etc. that keep the tone lighter.

I'm not sure if the Fora is shrinking or whether that's just a summer thing.

Every summer people ask where everyone has gone and whether the fora is shrinking. Every fall, people come back. So it ever has been and ever will be.

The people who used to raise the political issues also tended to be a little trollish in how they did so. Sometimes a lot trollish. Now they are mostly gone.

Overall I think interactions here are mostly now pretty friendly and supportive. Removing that one problematic person did a LOT of good.

[kaysixteen]

Well there is no question that the old fora had many more regulars than we have now, some of whom never made the transition here three years back.   That is sad, because there really were some superstars amongst 'em.   Unfortunately, furthermore, the anonymous nature of these fora precludes most of us from actually knowing who these folks are, in order perhaps to write them and invite them back here.

[jerseyjay]

I looked at Reddit and, while some of the topics looked interesting, the layout was very frustrating and I can't see myself going back.

I began on the Chronicle's forums when I was finishing up my PhD and I was looking at the CHE website regularly for job adverts. This must have been almost 20 years ago. The Chronicle's forums were very useful navigating the particular career stage I was at--finishing my doctorate, getting my first publications (because people tended to publish later then), working as an adjunct, and trying to find a tenure-track job. It was also useful for the period after this, as I worked as a VAP, etc. I stopped frequenting the Chronicle forums when I left academia for a while, and came back as I got a tenure-track job.

To be honest, I transitioned to the Fora because I was active on the CHE forums, and it seemed logical. I still enjoy some of the discussions. I do not find it as useful, however, in a practical manner. It is sort of like hanging out at a local bar. I find it it enjoyable, but I wouldn't necessarily tell people to come from across town to try it.