Reddit is a gigantic public online forum. Its tagline is "The Front Page of the Internet." Every user has a voice, but most everyone is anonymous. As a result, bad behavior and boorish self-importance abounds. It’s cut-throat.
Reddit divides itself into categories of interest called subreddits. Each subreddit has a moderator who makes up his or her own rules. Kind of like the Wild West with a different sheriff in every town. Redditors must abide by the Sheriff's law. There is no due process in Reddit. If you don’t like it, "you kin just git out.”
Recently, I found a subreddit called "Shut Up and Take My Money." Sellers can post a product for sale and garner honest reviews from users. I posted the collection, "No Smoking" (photo above) with a short description.
And here is screenshot of my Google Analytics. You can see the bump I got from all the Redditors who came to Finder Not Keeper for a look-see.
Then I received a notification that I had been banned from "shutupandtakemymoney". Banned? Here is the conversation that took place with the moderator. My comments are in green.
Since the conversation above, I have not been reinstated. I'll fight traffic tickets till the day I die but I'm giving up on this case. Whateveh. The dude who banned me and who speculated that I am a twenty-something living in my mother's basement, is probably a thirty-something living in his mother's basement. He should be commended for his dedication to a conservative reading of the rules. In fact, his textualist approach reminds me of a certain Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. He should also be commended for using the phrases '99-year-old' and 'smoking crack' in the same sentence.
You, dear friend, have already figured out that my audience is not on Reddit, haven't you. I've learned that too. Which is why this week I'm soliciting One King's Lane instead. My guess is that even if they dismiss me, they won't be mentioning cancer.
Photo of No Smoker by Renn Kuhnen.
Thank you for reading! If you are interested in the missteps of a fiftyish woman who runs her own shop, please sign up below for the Friday morning email. There's always something!