matthewb.eth on Warpcast

matthewb.eth pfp

here's why I believe that reddit has become a counter-signal for product reccos, with the caveat that I am not the average consumer and I am often looking for a "buy it once" type purchase. * reddit and hall monitors subreddits can be good places to find niche info. I sometimes use reddit as a jumping off point to explore a particular vertical or sub-category of product. the issue is that reddit communities attract a certain type of person and this has led to the overbearing "hall monitor" mod culture over there. most of these users—though not all—are borderline obsessed with what they would call "value." if [product A] is $57 and [product B] is $62, that is an important factor for them. for some this comes down to budget which is totally legitimate, but I would argue that it's more philosophical.

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matthewb.eth pfp

* endless piles of stuff you don't need many things on a daily basis. full stop. I grew up with hoarders and over the years have seen the suburban houses of friends, extended family, and acquaintances. so many of these houses in the suburbs are packed to the brim with useless trinkets and unnecessary furniture. it's everywhere. take kitchen stuff as one example: you don't need more than 2 or 3 pots, that set of 7+ makes no sense. you don't need more than 1-3 knives, that knife block set makes no sense. you don't need more than one set of cutlery. etc. etc. etc. you need one (maybe 2-3) good quality things per category that will last. you will be far less cluttered and have the pleasure of interacting with a high-quality object on a daily basis. you won't need to waste time deciding on an upgrade down the road and you won't need to bother selling the old one on marketplace or simply letting it collect dust.

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matthewb.eth pfp

* reddit and "value" getting back to reddit, most users there exhibit a particular strain of logical fallacy that I would describe as choice-supportive bias with a sprinkle of second-option bias. basically this boils down to: "yeah, [product A] is expensive and it's good I guess, but I have [product B] for half the price and it's just as good." there are many problems with this: - they have never owned [product A], so how would they know whether it's comparable to [product B]? - they want to feel better about their decision to buy [product B], so they are biased towards praising it vs. a more consensus option like [product A] - they may not be able to afford [product A] and are biased towards describing it as overrated, overpriced, not worth it, etc.

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matthewb.eth pfp

it feels good to debunk a popular thing. you know better than everyone else and this feels powerful. for example, if you can't afford Lulu leggings it feels great to say "actually they're overpriced and this other one is just as good for a quarter the price. see, people who buy Lulus are suckers!" however, if you talk to people who wear leggings all day, they'll usually agree that Lulu makes superior leggings. sorry, it's just the truth.

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matthewb.eth pfp

* diminishing returns the other issue here is that there is nuance to value. for example, let's say [product A] is 100% on a 1-100 scale of quality/performance and [product B] is 75%. the price of [product B] is slightly more than half of [product A]. which product is better? well, it totally depends on the end user. I might value that last 25% of quality/performance more than the price delta, whereas another user might not care and 75% is good enough. but often times, reddit groupthink will present that scenario as product B = categorically better than [product A] even though this is a dubious conclusion. as a result, it's really difficult to use reddit to draw conclusions about hierarchies of products and their true levels of performance when the views expressed are often distorted beyond reality to prioritize value above all else.

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matthewb.eth pfp

* re-framing your relationship with the things you buy think about the things that you use every single day and write them down. it's really not that many. how would you go about optimizing those things such that your daily life improves as a result? reddit's answer to this question is often the equivalent to AI slop for writing. yes it does the job, but it doesn't feel good. at best it's often "okay" and deep down you know that it could be better. it's a know-it-all compromise from someone that doesn't know anything. for me, I don't want to buy anything that I'll need to replace anytime soon. if I need to wait to afford the real deal, I'll wait and buy nothing. I don't want to accumulate anything temporary or meh. give me quality or give me death. there is privilege in this approach, but it is more noble than buying slop if you don't have to.

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Chase Sommer pfp

@chasesommer.eth

Not sure if I’m adding anything to discussion but this is what I use Reddit for: 1) to be consumed and summarized in Braves search results 2) nothing else, just 1 Every time I’ve interacted on Reddit they’re always so angry. Just a bunch of angry nerds (coming from a nerd) being mean about things that you shouldn’t be so fired up about lol

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Dwayne 'The Jock' Ronson pfp

Dwayne 'The Jock' Ronson

maybe it would be valuable for you to start a channel (reddit alternative) based on this philosophy? i notice /buywisely as an existing option tho it's not active. i want like a fire go-to channel for all things buying products related fantastic points/breakdown btw! highly appreciated this! have some followup thoughts on this, will post later.

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tyler ↑ pfp

Agreed on all points. Reddit for me has become helpful for 1) gathering some options (brands, modes, phrases) to look into further, and 2) learning how people evaluate a category (what matters, why, lessons learned) so I can do so for myself.

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Gravyty pfp

Most of them are bots these days anyway, gotta check their post history every time or you'll be had.

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keccers pfp

Wow, real. I see obsession with value all over the sardines subreddit. Pathological opposition to spending money

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