Go to https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/. Links to an external site. Create or login to a Reddit account. Find two posts that have at least 50 comments, each discussing a topic about which you have relatively little knowledge and no strong opinions. Provide links to the discussions of each of the topics, then describe the overall tone, presence and depth of supporting information, the balance of mutual engagement (i.e., is one side writing longer or more developed replies than the other), and the level of civility. This analysis should be divided into two paragraphs (one for each of the posts).
Then, go to a social media platform (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) and search for people discussing each of your two topics. Find two discussions that have substantial engagement and discourse (civil or uncivil) in the comments. Provide links to the discussions of each of the topics, then describe the overall tone, quality of supporting information (if present), the balance of mutual engagement (i.e., is one side writing longer or more developed replies than the other), and level of civility. This analysis should be divided into two paragraphs (one for each of the posts).
In a final analysis, discuss the similarities and differences between the discussions across the two spaces (Reddit and the social media platform). How does stricter content moderation (as seen in r/changemyview) or more implicit, lax content moderation (as present on social media) impact the quality of online deliberation? In your opinion, what is the ideal level of content moderation to achieve valuable online discussions?
