This example represents the contradictory nature of reddit’s self-imposed rules and expectations. Karmawhoring and shaming presumptive karmawhores is a prime example of how reddit communities are intensely concerned with authenticity and keeping content “fresh,” despite the pseudoanonymity of usernames disconnected from a “real” identity and the potential for “gaming” the karma system as a delightful type of play in and of itself. Karmawhoring is not exactly an effective rhetorical practice karmawhores often meet with hostility and accusations of “not being a true ‘member’ of the community,” Massanari explains (118). For a variety of reasons, karmawhores attempt to get these benefits without doing the work of creating original or otherwise deserving content. Based on reddit’s algorithm for sorting content, upvoted posts rise to the top of threads and potentially earn a spot on reddit’s front page. Community members award karma to posts by “upvoting” to acknowledge the post as being clever or useful in some way. For example, “karmawhoring” is the practice of posting content only to get karma, or “invisible internet points” (115). However, some rituals of play are unique to reddit. However, the fifth and sixth chapters take somewhat of a different tack.Ĭhapter five discusses reddit in terms of “play,” a catchall word that Massanari uses to encompass practices and phenomena common across the web, such as memes, bots, reaction GIFs, puns, and shitposting. The first four chapters of the book provide a kind of “reddit 101,” or a tour of reddit as both a community and a platform (describing its interface appearance, homegrown terminology such as “karma” and “reddiquette,” commenting guidelines, and more). By any measure, the book succeeds in its purpose, although some readers may perceive a disconnect between the documentary or definitional work of the first chapters and the more analytical and original thinking laid out in the later chapters. The author writes in her conclusion that she hoped to create a “rich, multifaceted portrait of culture on reddit-and the ways in which this culture is contested by its members as well as shaped by the politics of its platform” (169). The result is a thorough study of reddit, written in language accessible to anyone with little or no prior knowledge of the site. By her own admission, the author became immersed in the community and participated in dual roles of community member and researcher. Through years of fieldwork, from 2011 to 2014, Massanari explored and engaged reddit, from its “front page” to its far-flung corners. Massanari’s argument, beyond asserting the importance of reddit as a cornerstone of internet culture and an ongoing project of creative production, is that we must look at both people and platform to understand reddit in all its glory and gag-worthiness. The author sets out not only to define what reddit is and explain how it functions in comprehensive detail, but also to document and interrogate “reddit culture.” According to Massanari, aspects of this culture include playfulness, performance, geek masculinity, cynicism, altruism, pseudoanonymity, and-perhaps true of reddit more than any other participatory platform-a fascination with meta-commentary about the history and nature of reddit. The interplay and tension between concepts of “community” and “platform,” or between intricate social norms and the complex technical logics of the site, is an important focus of this book. While journalists sometimes label reddit as a link-aggregation and news-sharing site, Massanari describes it as a “community platform” (28). Peter Lang, 2015.Īdrienne Massanari’s Participatory Culture, Community, and Play: Learning from Reddit is a self-described “digital ethnography” of.

Participatory Culture, Community, and Play: Learning from Reddit.

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