Tag: Reddit

Why NBA and NFL Reddit pages banned Twitter, Facebook and Instagram links, explained

Subreddits are banning Twitter, but not for the reason you think.

Welcome to FTW Explains: A guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. You may have heard about Reddit banning links from other social media sites and wondering what is going on. That’s OK because we’re here to help.

If you haven’t been on Reddit in a few days and popped over to your favorite sub to see what’s going on, you may have noticed a post at the top of the page declaring a ban on links from Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram and Threads. Many other subreddits are currently voting on the issue.

There are a couple reasons why this is happening and we’re going to try and unpack it all.

Wait, so you can no longer post a link to any of those social media sites to Reddit?

No, Reddit itself is not banning links from Twitter or Meta products.

Individual communities hosted on Reddit — called subreddits — are either collectively deciding to ban the links, or are asking each subreddit’s moderators to declare a ban.

Which subreddits have banned Twitter and Meta products already?

In the sports world, the two big ones are r/NBA and r/NFL. Each community boasts at least 10 million subscribers (though many more sports fans can lurk without subscribing). Both r/NBA and r/NFL are ranked among the top one percent of subreddits based on size.

It’s also important to note these pages are not run by the leagues themselves. They are independent forums where fans can gather to discuss their favorite teams and sports. The NFL and NBA have no say here.

Ok, so why is this happening? Is it because of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg? Is this a politics thing?

That would seem like the obvious answer, right? Well, it is and it isn’t.

Yes, backlash to Elon Musk has played a role in these bans after he made a controversial gesture resembling a Nazi salute at Donald Trump’s inauguration. But there is a technical issue at the root of why so many subs are banning Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

Simply put: Twitter and Meta product links make for a horrible user experience on Reddit because they force you to log in to view and browse content. That pretty much goes against everything Reddit communities stand for when it comes to openly sharing content from around the web.

While some communities were already discussing a ban because of the technical problems, the movement was joined by those who want to decrease traffic to Twitter following Musk’s recent behavior. The coalition proved more than enough to push the ban through on r/NBA and r/NFL.

Moderators for the NBA subreddit, in particular, were incredibly thorough in explaining their decision to ban those links:

Effective immediately, r/nba will be banning links to Twitter/X, as well as other social media platforms that require logins for their content to be browsed, including Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

…

In the end, there were three key elements in making this decision:

  • An increase in hate speech and discriminatory language, both on Twitter overall and coming directly from the owner of the platform.
  • A litany of functionality, usability and content quality issues that have existed for a while.
  • Considering the sentiment of our users.

Moderators at r/NFL echoed those sentiments:

Links to X/Twitter will not be allowed on r/NFL with immediate effect. This also includes screenshots.

There has been much discussion in recent days about the platform and actions of its owner. But it has been a point of contention on this subreddit for a long time and for other reasons.

These include the “karma race” to post news first, the inability to edit tweets meaning updates or tangential news must become its own thread, information not being preserved when content is deleted, users not being able to view content without an account and a variety of others.

For most of this subreddit’s history, these downsides have been understood by the userbase as being inconvenient but necessary. However, in light of recent events and the continuing path that platform is taking to make the user experience for Redditors less than ideal, combined with news sources also moving to other sites, X/Twitter links are no longer allowed on r/NFL.

As we do with all policies we will evaluate in the future.

This sounds a lot like censorship. What happened to free speech?

For starters, that’s not at all what free speech means.

To the larger point, these subreddits are not banning information or ideas shared on Twitter or Meta products. They are simply banning links to them.

Again, from r/NBA:

Ensuring that we were not limiting or censoring content was one of the primary points of discussion for us. We do not believe that this handicaps or censors content because we are not putting a restriction on specific content or subject matter. We believe that any notable story that takes place in the NBA environment will still find its way to our subreddit through other avenues that are still permitted.

Which other subreddits could ban Twitter, Instagram and Facebook next?

The list is extremely long. It seems like just about every major subreddit has a discussion thread debating whether or not to ban links from those sites.

In the sports world, some of the larger communities still deciding what to do include r/hockey, r/baseball, r/formula1 and r/collegebasketball. But individual team subreddits are also weighing bans.

So if you can’t post links from those sites, what are users going to do?

There is not a clear consensus yet. Some communities are still allowing posts of screenshots from banned sites, some aren’t. Some are encouraging users to flock to BlueSky, others aren’t so sure yet.

This thing is all pretty piecemeal because of the decentralized nature of subreddits.

Has there been a response from Meta or Twitter?

Nothing yet, but stay tuned. We’ll update this post as more information becomes available.

Reddit map: USC, Boston College fans consider Notre Dame biggest rival

How do you feel about this?

College football fans are an interesting breed. While some adhere to traditional rivalries involving their teams, there are other teams they just hate more when their team plays them. If only there was a way to track how fans feel about certain rivalries. It turns out there is.

A website called Know Rivalry tracks how fans feel about playing certain teams and what they feel their biggest rivalries are. A college football fan on Reddit decided to place all Football Bowl Subdivision teams on a blank screen geographically and then draw arrows from the teams pointing to what fans believe to be their biggest rival.

Notre Dame fans and USC fans both consider the other team their team’s biggest rival, which isn’t a surprise. But perhaps of the heavy Irish and Catholic connection to their location or university, Boston College fans also consider the Irish to be their top rival:

While the Irish and Trojans play each other every year, the Eagles pop up on the Irish’s schedule only five times between now and 2037. Also, the Irish have won nine straight in the series with the Eagles last emerging victorious in 2008. The teams last met in 2022.

If that’s how Eagles fans feel, fine. Let’s just hope they don’t get as upset if they lose to Syracuse.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

Texans owner Cal McNair answers it all on Reddit AMA session

Cal McNair was back on Reddit, answering questions for Houston Texans fans everywhere.

Death, taxes and a fun afternoon with Cal McNair on Reddit should be expected at this point.

The Houston Texans’ owner and CEO returned to the keyboards for a third straight year with another light-hearted event for fans during what appears to be an annual AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on Monday.

McNair embraced being everyone’s favorite owner, handing out prizes, promoting future events and sharing details of the regular season ahead. Those prizes included a DeMeco Ryans autographed jersey,  a replica gold chain worn from one of the events and even the ball he signed to promote the AMA.

McNair also announced the annual “Cal’s Cookout” would take place on Thursday after a joint practice with the Los Angeles Rams, so be ready to enjoy burgers and hot dogs on hot Houston afternoon.

As for reveals, the Texans plan on wearing four uniform combinations throughout the regular season, including their new H-Town Blue uniforms, a nod to the fans and city. The NFL allows alternate uniforms to be worn three times in a 17-game period.  

Houston will debut the H-Town Blue on Oct. 6 against the Buffalo Bills. The new Battle Red combo will be worn on Nov. 10 against the Detroit Lions. As for the third time? 

“I would circle the Christmas Day game, too!” McNair wrote, meaning the Texans will likely wear the H-Town Blue or Battle Red. 

Countless questions were asked, including Cal’s order at Whataburger and his go-to restaurant in the city. He said a No. 2 with cheese and wouldn’t reveal the location of his favorite hot spot since “everyone would go and I wouldn’t be able to get in.” 

But the best question asked? A Reddit user pondered one that pinned Cal and his wife, Hannah, against the rest of the NFL. 

“If you had to fight any of the other 31 majority owners in a bare knuckle boxing match, who would you choose? Why would it be Jim Irsay?” 

Would Irsay be the correct answer? Hannah reignited the rivalry with AFC South foe Tennessee regarding the use of Oiler Blue as hommage to the Houston Oilers in the new uniforms, which was denied by Titans ownership, so maybe they become the betting favorites. 

The McNairs ended the session before an answer could be revealed, so maybe check back in on that one come next offseason when the fingers are flying on the keyboards with more fun-filled takes.

Alien: Romulus director Fede Alvarez was hilariously banned from the Alien subreddit for ‘impersonating’ himself

A pretty solid impersonation, really.

Director Fede Alvarez should be feeling on top of the world. His Alien: Romulus hit theaters last week to solid reviews and hauled in a wildly impressive $108 million worldwide. This surpasses the film’s budget of $80 million, and the continued word-of-mouth praise and excitement over the movie’s terrifying use of practical effects should have it continue to climb.

MORE: Alien: Romulus review: It’s utterly terrifying and worthy of its place in the Xenomorph universe

Well, Alvarez hit a snag on Tuesday as the Don’t Breathe director found himself banned on Reddit from posting to r/LV426, the Alien subreddit, for attempting to impersonate… Fede Alvarez?

“Got banned from the ALIEN subreddit for apparently trying to impersonate, myself,” Alvarez tweeted with a crying laughing emoji and a screenshot of the banning notification.

Thankfully, things were quickly remedied when the moderators realized their error, but it was hilarious either way. At least they take impersonations very seriously.

via Reddit

An NFL Redditor combined the names of every player in history and came up with 1 moniker

Say hello to … Jarne Bareen.

The name Jarne Bareen might not mean anything to you.

But that’s what you get when you merge together some 27,000 names of current and former NFL players.

And why would someone do that? I’d say welcome to the NFL offseason, friends. We’re all done with the NFL combine and now we’re waiting for free agency and draft madness.

Anyway, Redditor DiggingNoMore crunched all the names together with a really funky way to combine them all using the most popular letters for each position of first and last names, and the eventual Frankenstein monster of a moniker is: Jarne Bareen.

Here’s more:

I continued finding the most popular letter in each position of first names and last names. Now, clearly there are some names that are really long. But I went until the position was more than 50% blank. That is to say, the first name I have come up with – Jarne – is five letters long. That’s because ~55% of NFL players’ first names have a fifth letter. Still a majority. But only ~30% have a sixth letter. So that’s how I ended up cutting off the merged first name after five letters and the merged last name after six letters. Turns out last names are generally longer than first names. I was also surprised to see how many first names were exactly four letters (over a quarter of NFL players).

Fans of perpetually bad college teams explained to Reddit why they keep watching

Hope springs eternal, even when it maybe shouldn’t.

Every year, some 80-plus college football teams become bowl eligible and extend their season by a few weeks. An even luckier few will make it to the College Football Playoffs for a chance to play two more games and win a national title.

And then there’s the rest of the programs across the sport.

The ones who didn’t accomplish much. The ones who almost never accomplish much. For every Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State out there, there’s a Temple, Boston College and Cal.

Yet every year, fans of those schools keep tuning in and filling the stands. An earnest Reddit thread on r/CFB wanted to know why. It turned into a lovely (and hilarious) meditation on the pull of college athletics and collective suffering across sports.

Here are some of the best response to a simple question: Fans of teams that are perpetually bad, what keeps you engaged?

Did an anonymous Reddit account scoop the Saints-Jimmy Graham story?

Did an anonymous Reddit account scoop the Saints-Jimmy Graham story? Either they had an inside track, or they just made a lucky guess:

Credit where it’s due: at least one anonymous social media account called it a week ago, with Reddit user TA4offmychest2022 scooping the story of Jimmy Graham’s return to the New Orleans Saints. Either they had an inside track, or they just made a lucky guess. There were no preceding reports from local or national outlets suggesting the Saints were even talking with Graham’s agent, much less that he was flying himself into New Orleans for a tryout.

“I actually have an inside scoop on something for once in my life,” they wrote on the Saints subreddit community Monday, July 17. “He’s working on getting his medical check and should be joining the team for training camp in the next couple weeks.”

The Saints themselves announced Graham’s arrival on Tuesday, July 25, the day before their first training camp practice. The anonymous post was initially met with derision and skepticism, which isn’t unwarranted — this kind of thing happens all the time. Anyone can create an account on their social media platform of choice and spin the rumor-mill. But every once in a while someone gets it right, and that was the case here.

As for this user: this appears to be a one-off thing. Their account was created one year ago but their post history is scarce, suggesting it’s just a burner or throwaway rather than a personal registry. So don’t expect many more scoops in the future on anonymous message boards, at least not this one.

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Reddit creator Alexis Ohanian, tennis stars Serena, Venus Williams lead ownership group for first TGL team based in Los Angeles

The team will be named Los Angeles Golf Club.

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The first of six team ownership groups for TGL has officially been announced.

Los Angeles Golf Club (LAGC) will be the inaugural team of TGL, a “new tech-infused league” developed by Tiger Woods and Rory’s McIlroy’s TMRW Sports, which was announced last August. LAGC will be owned by Seven Seven Six (776) founder Alexis Ohanian, and joined by tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams.

Ohanian, the creator of Reddit and Serena’s husband, is also the principal owner Los Angeles’ National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team, Angel City FC.

“Los Angeles is the perfect home for our TGL team. This city embodies the intersection of sports, technology, and entertainment, making it an ideal backdrop for the innovation and excitement we aim to bring to the world of golf and its fans,” said Ohanian.

If you’re unfamiliar with the plans for TGL, here’s the format:

Six teams of three PGA Tour players will compete in 15 regular-season Monday night matches, followed by semifinals and finals matches, starting January 2024. The matches will be played at a tech-infused, short-game complex, and fans will be able to see every shot live over a two-hour broadcast on primetime television.

Woods and McIlroy helped break ground on the TGL venue at Palm Beach State College back in February, and currently 12 players have committed to TGL, including Woods, McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas and more.

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An asparagus saga on Reddit is teaching people strange gardening facts

A curious gardening rabbit hole.

People who don’t garden probably also don’t think about asparagus much outside of the kitchen. But for gardeners, this unique plant can generate a surprising amount of intrigue. Recently, Reddit posts detailing one home gardener’s experience with an asparagus plant have gained thousands of views and hundreds of comments. Here are the details of this botanical curiosity, plus some strange gardening facts for home gardeners.

On April 14, Reddit user Luvnmylife presented this post to the r/gardening community. The post shows a picture of what appears to be a large asparagus plant growing out of the ground next to a tree stump. The Reddit user claims they discovered the puzzling plant after cutting down a tree and brush in their yard. In just under a week, this post gained over 700 comments, many of which agreed that the plant seemed to be asparagus. An update post on April 20 shows the plant sprouting new stalks. Now dubbed “Gus,” the plant has grown to 42 inches tall, according to the original poster.

I just found this in my yard after cutting down a tree and brush. Is this Asparagus? I’ve lived here 10 years and never seen it before.
by u/Luvnmylife in gardening

Why has this post set Reddit’s gardening community ablaze? Well, as several commenters pointed out, the plant is significantly larger than run-of-the-mill grocery store asparagus. The giant green stalk’s curious way of growing likely also captured people’s attention. As Twitter user @radtoria once put it in a 2019 tweet, “Asparagus grows like it’s trying to prank some idiot into thinking this is how asparagus grows.”

Strange asparagus plant facts

If you’re inspired to add asparagus to your home vegetable garden, you should know that these plants can get big. The star of the Reddit post isn’t an anomaly. An asparagus fact sheet from the University of New Hampshire explains that the plant’s “crown and root system can grow to an enormous size: 5 to 6 feet in diameter and 10 to 15 feet deep.”

Gardeners will also need to wait three years before they can harvest asparagus. While it grows, gardeners should keep an eye out for asparagus beetles. These pests like to nibble on the plant, which can cause scars and browning.

AI generator renders a future Saints quarterback almost as frightening as reality

An online AI generator produced a rendering of what the future Saints quarterback may look like, and the results are almost as frightening as their current reality:

Yikes. The New Orleans Saints quarterback situation isn’t much to write home about, but things could be worse. Neither Andy Dalton nor Jameis Winston have inspired confidence in the fanbase this season, but whoever is under center this time next year might not even look human.

An enterprising Saints fan on Reddit known as u/FauxJello took advantage of the artificial intelligence trend to create a rendering of what the next Saints quarterback may look like. Described as a “deep learning, text-to-image model” made public earlier this year, Stable Diffusion spat out an image after being fed a written description and some reference photos, and the results are unsettling at best. See for yourself:

Stable Diffusion
Stable Diffusion

It appears that the Stable Diffusion AI made a composite of various Saints quarterbacks to predict what the next one may look like, which checks out as something a machine would do in this kind of situation. We can see Drew Brees’ old No. 9 jersey, of course (and the prospect of New Orleans letting another quarterback wear it someday is concerning on its own), but there’s also Winston’s long undershirt sleeves and Taysom Hill’s Olympic javelin-style windup to throw in there. If you turn your head and squint, you can see some Chase Daniel in the posture, bizarrely. Just try not to focus on the fingers welded together, the reversed elbow, whatever’s going on with the team logo, and the enigmatic cloud over its face from the helmet.

Anyway: all jokes aside, it’s totally unclear who will be quarterback the Saints in 2023. It almost certainly won’t be Dalton or Winston, though the latter is under contract next season, and it’s been made clear that Hill’s days as a full-time quarterback are behind him. Whether the Saints pursue a veteran free agent or trade acquisition, or roll the dice on a rookie in the 2023 NFL draft, the quarterback room should look much different this time next year. Hopefully it’ll be an upgrade.

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