Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc

[Ekcrbe]

I agree with Joe, and would add that, as much as FIRST strives for outreach, a community like CD gains some benefits from being a little secluded. On here, it's FIRST and more FIRST (and yes, there can be some other small things, but you know what I mean). It maintains a unique and special level of FIRST GP and congeniality that, while not perfect, is better than many other places out on the high seas of the internet. And, if you look at Reddit, you'll quickly notice that it is a bit cold to the idea of users' identities. Comments come with a little username at the top, and that's it. It clashes with CD's style of presenting a much more communal feel. Each post is topped with an optional avatar, WAI picture, name, AKA, team, team role, and all that. These are people who know each other offline, and I think they all like being reminded of that a little bit.

Why do people still go to their local pub for years on end instead of the new chain restaurants? It's the same reason: the atmosphere.

[Anupam Goli]

CD is much easier to keep track of. Especially with the portal, I can be subscribed to the subforums I care about and actively browse. You can't really do that without making multiple subreddits.

Plus there's less anonymity here, and I like it that way.

[Munchskull]

Originally Posted by Abhishek R

Well... has anyone been to frccirclejerk.com ?

This.

Also on a more relevant note, chif delphi has to many good things about it tthat reddit would not have. Mostly the comfort of seeing frequent posters that are here on chief delphi.

[artdutra04]

Reddit is a terrible place for substantial conversations/debates and answering technical questions.

The problem is that people use upvote and downvote as a proxy for "I agree" or "I disagree" with the content of posts. People like magical internet upvote points, so they tend to shy away from substantial boring conversation and go for the low-hanging fruit of upvotes, the posts that enough people will like to upvote and few will find faults with.

This results in the highest rated comments almost always being puns, memes, and reaction GIFs, even in specific sub-reddits.

Chief Delphi is better for a community like FRC for a few reasons:

1. Unlike Reddit, most people with accounts on CD have met other people from CD in real life at events/competitions/etc. As such, most people here tie their accounts to their real name/photo and/or team number. True anonymity is rare and discouraged by the site rules.
2. Forums like vBulletin (which is what Chief Delphi uses) are much better suited for long-term organization of topics based upon sub topics, like programming, motors, CAD, competitions, etc.
3. The "voting" on posts here is limited in daily quantity, limited to how often you can give it to one person, is entirely private in how they are doled out, but public in their rolling total. By "voting", I'm talking about reputation points. As such, it tends to be used more sparingly, and generally isn't used much in a negative way unless there is egregious behavior (trolling, baseless accusations behind veil of anonymity, etc).
4. Because of the above, trolling isn't very common here, and conversations are almost always civil and respectful.
5. Chief Delphi has been around for a long time (longer than some current freshman have been alive!), and has a very large and active community of students, mentors, alumni, and sponsors. There is a huge amount of knowledge here via threads, photos, whitepapers and more, and lots more available by just asking a question.

[fb39ca4]

I think both communities have a place, for silly stuff on Reddit and serious discussion on CD.

[Libby K]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

Reddit is a terrible place for substantial conversations/debates and answering technical questions.

The problem is that people use upvote and downvote as a proxy for "I agree" or "I disagree" with the content of posts. People like magical internet upvote points, so they tend to shy away from substantial boring conversation and go for the low-hanging fruit of upvotes, the posts that enough people will like to upvote and few will find faults with.

This results in the highest rated comments almost always being puns, memes, and reaction GIFs, even in specific sub-reddits.

Chief Delphi is better for a community like FRC for a few reasons:

1. Unlike Reddit, most people with accounts on CD have met other people from CD in real life at events/competitions/etc. As such, most people here tie their accounts to their real name/photo and/or team number. True anonymity is rare and discouraged by the site rules.
2. Forums like vBulletin (which is what Chief Delphi uses) are much better suited for long-term organization of topics based upon sub topics, like programming, motors, CAD, competitions, etc.
3. The "voting" on posts here is limited in daily quantity, limited to how often you can give it to one person, is entirely private in how they are doled out, but public in their rolling total. By "voting", I'm talking about reputation points. As such, it tends to be used more sparingly, and generally isn't used much in a negative way unless there is egregious behavior (trolling, baseless accusations behind veil of anonymity, etc).
4. Because of the above, trolling isn't very common here, and conversations are almost always civil and respectful.
5. Chief Delphi has been around for a long time (longer than some current freshman have been alive!), and has a very large and active community of students, mentors, alumni, and sponsors. There is a huge amount of knowledge here via threads, photos, whitepapers and more, and lots more available by just asking a question.

This is an excellent summary for why /r/FRC isn't a great community forum.

I know it was joked about earlier, but there truly is a hivemind on reddit, and that's not really welcoming to someone new. Chief has been the longstanding giant for the FRC community, and it's got a good system going. It's down to each individual user, but most of the time on here, when a new person posts (and is a little out of line) we gently remind them of the forum rules instead of red-dotting them into oblivion. Exceptions, of course, are made for straight-out rude or offensive posts.

As a contrast, I posted the same sort of reminder you'd find here on Chief (a game hint isn't a game hint unless FRC explicitly calls it out as one) and I got downvoted for ruining the fun. "You must be fun at parties", etc. Classy.

One of the things I really enjoy here is that even when you get 'dots', you're allowed to leave a response or comment - and even reply to it! You can't get that with downvotes. It's another tiny facet where CD allows for constructive discussion, rather than just 'I disagree with this, downvote'. On here, it's more of a quick way to leave direct, personal feedback and take it to PM's rather than calling each other out in the thread and detracting from the discussion.

Reddit is, as others have said - good for memes, and sharing 'look at this thing my team did', but Chief is the winner when it comes to long-term constructive discussions in this community. I don't see that changing anytime soon.

[GKrotkov]

This is definitely a less broad point than those above, and certainly one that effects less people, but Reddit is blocked on our school computers for good reason. It makes sense for it to be blocked on other school's computers, as well. Chief Delphi, on the other hand, is totally fine. If Reddit were the hotbed of FIRST conversation, accessing Chief Delphi during meetings would be harder/more annoying for at least 1712.

[Tungrus]

CD is: of the people, by the people and for the people.

Anyways about the game hint and flood of ideas, there is nothing wrong with it, its just a place where young adults with hyper active ideas come and showcase them. Some ideas are plausible and others are outrageous funny. I don't believe anyone reads the thread to find anything close to real game.

[Munchskull]

Originally Posted by Tungrus

CD is: of the people, by the people and for the people.

Anyways about the game hint and flood of ideas, there is nothing wrong with it, its just a place where young adults with hyper active ideas come and showcase them. Some ideas are plausible and others are outrageous funny. I don't believe anyone reads the thread to find anything close to real game.

Every now and then I think that chief delphi has been taken over by mentors. CD being purely techincal will never happen. It is just not the FIRST culture. If we start using Reddit I fear that the FRC community will become less fun, the personality of the community would change.

[Aroki]

Many of the previous post have noted the lack of anonymity and the close community on here as positives, but I feel that these are a double edged sword.

It can be extremely intimidating for a student, especially a new member, to post on the technical side of this forum, and the fact that many of the older members know each other gives off a cliquey vibe. The single biggest benefit of /r/frc, in my opinion, is the fact that new users can join very easily and slip into the conversations due to the anonymous nature of reddit.

Even as a four year senior on my team I am still hesitant to answer technical questions on this site, to avoid being torn apart by some 10+ year FRC mentor with 10 green dots and 1,000+ comments. Unfortunately, I have learned that some mentors on this site have no qualms about being the fourth person to pile on to a new member's "dumb" question with a page long response about how it was a stupid post.

The onymous nature of CD can make it very unwelcoming to new members for the very same reason that it makes it fun for veteran users.

[JesseK]

This one's easy.

Reddit doesn't have an images and whitepapers section. It also doesn't have "comment-based reputation" which is really a feedback mechanism for the community to curb unwanted behavior.

Reddit is a bit too ADD for me, personally.

[TimTheGreat]

My opinion has definitely been swayed away from reddit, but I must ask the question "Is it possible that CD will improve its discussion format, at least in terms of replying to user posts?" Having a reddit-like reply where it becomes a discussion within the original comment

Comment A

Reply B

Reply C

would be improvement enough IMO.

[z_beeblebrox]

Originally Posted by TimTheGreat

My opinion has definitely been swayed away from reddit, but I must ask the question "Is it possible that CD will improve its discussion format, at least in terms of replying to user posts?" Having a reddit-like reply where it becomes a discussion within the original comment

Comment A

Reply B

Reply C

would be improvement enough IMO.

You can do that!

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/fa...b_threadedmode

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/pr...do=editoptions

[IronicDeadBird]

HERE WE GO!

Originally Posted by TimTheGreat

You don't downvote because you disagree, you downvote "bad" posts. Like if someone posted a photo of a cat, you'd downvote that, not because you don't like the photo, but because it serves no purpose to FRC.

What I find insanely helpful about Chief Delphi is how easy it is for you to look at the quality of the poster. In this manner if I see a certain name next to a post I don't need to do a lot of digging and question or call out for citation to know its fairly trust worthy. You don't get mad green bars by posting cats on here its from HELPFUL INFORMATION or FANTASTIC MEASURES OF CHARACTER in this manner it is fairly accurate cause the standard for receiving this praise is high and the way it scales is done in a very smart manner.

Originally Posted by TimTheGreat

My opinion has definitely been swayed away from reddit, but I must ask the question "Is it possible that CD will improve its discussion format, at least in terms of replying to user posts?" Having a reddit-like reply where it becomes a discussion within the original comment

Comment A

Reply B

Reply C

would be improvement enough IMO.

That format of commenting has this insane ability to make it easy to take a broad topic and filter out information. Comment A would be something worth noting and reply b and c are added onto it and it helps "control" the de-railing of a Thread. This being said I find it a very simple and intuitive way to streamline the process of finding relevant information.
But that is never what I want from this site. When I come on chief delphi I come in to start a fire (well not like a complete forest fire) but I want to fuel some thought and get some nice conversation going. A lot of emphasis on chief delphi goes into people not digressing which may for all I know just be coincidental. From my experience once you have the start of something in Reddits format it quickly breaks down to these side conversations based on random trains of thought but when I go on chief delphi when I say "I think there should be a mobile safety zone in this years game because of x, y, or z, then I know that due to the format of chief delphi what I will get is a discussion not side chatter about different points. Hope that makes sense!

[fb39ca4]

Originally Posted by Libby K

As a contrast, I posted the same sort of reminder you'd find here on Chief (a game hint isn't a game hint unless FRC explicitly calls it out as one) and I got downvoted for ruining the fun. "You must be fun at parties", etc. Classy.

I was the person who said "You must be fun at parties" on /r/FRC. Sorry about that, I guess it left you with a bad taste of Reddit. You have my apologies.

I think that incident is a good example of how people behave differently on different communities - I know I do.

On Reddit, people are more abrasive and quicker to call each other out. "You must be fun at parties" is a phrase that has been said countless times on Reddit in response to someone taking a joke/satire too seriously. People who get downvoted for making the wrong comment are expected to tough it out and not take it personally - it happens to everyone at times.

Meanwhile, on Chief Delphi and other similar forums, making a similar reply would obviously not be acceptable, because of the prevailing mindset that we are polite to each other so as not to drive each other away from discussion.

The two communities have different rules and social norms, and people observe and imitate them, perpetuating them. It's what makes Chief Delphi a better place for serious discussion.