Worse when you find out there’s a couple dozen of the same moderators running nearly all the top 500 subreddits.

So they own the media...

That makes some sense. Are they paid for this?

By reddit? No. By the users? No.

But they are paid.

You’d like to substantiate that? I’d love to have someone pull the curtain back and learn by whom, if that’s the case.

Many of them are using their subreddits for submarine promotion. Here's a public example: https://www.reddit.com/r/SeattleWA/comments/547wxd/comment/d...

There's much worse that's "pure speculation", because a few thousand unemployed losers that nonetheless have six figure incomes aren't suspicious at all. See the kerfuffle when the mod of r/antiwork went on Fox News, where several of the other power mods alluded to their true incomes and professions (they know what they are - PR people) when trying to boast about how they'd have done better.

Found on the front page today, an article about exactly this kind of "marketing" https://larslofgren.com/codesmith-reddit-reputation-attack/

I don't know about money, but they definitely get ego strokes.

"i quit reddit but I'm 100% bullish in llms that just distil reddit posts to me"

oh you

Everyone should learn the concept of a Skinner Box. [1]

Reddit is a Skinner Box. HN is too, though to a much lesser extent [2]. Every Skinner Box has one dominant opinion on every matter, which means, by simply using the product, your beliefs on any matter will shift towards the dominant opinion of the platform.

I was a chronically online Reddit user once. I can spot any chronically online Reddit user in just a few minutes in any social event by their mannerisms and the way they talk. I’ll ask and without fail indeed they are a daily Reddit user. It’s even more obvious in writing where you can spot them in just a few always-grammatically-correct text messages flavored with reddit-funny remarks and snarks and jokes.

Same goes for chronic X users. Their signature behavior is talking about social/political issues unprompted. It’s even easier to spot them.

I think the main reason behind platforms shaping user behavior is this: The most upvoted content will always surface to the top, where it will be seen by most users, meaning, its belief-shaping impact is exponential instead of linear. In the same manner unpopular opinions will be pushed to the bottom, and will have exponentially small impact. Some opinions will even be banned or shadowbanned, which means they are beyond the Overton Window of the specific platform.

This way, the platform both nudges you towards the dominant opinion and limits the range of possible opinions you will be exposed to. Over time, this affects your personality and character.

1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning_chamber

2: The HN moderators and the algorithm both actively resist the effect and try to increase diversification.