r/science
{{short description|Science subreddit}}
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{{Infobox website
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| caption = Logo of the Subreddit
| founder = u/spez{{cite web|title=/r/science|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/science/|website=Reddit|access-date=November 19, 2024|language=en}}
| url = {{URL|https://www.reddit.com/r/science}}
| type = Subreddit
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| language = English
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| launched = {{start date and age|2006|10|18}}
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r/science is an Internet forum on Reddit where the community of participants discuss science topics.{{cite journal|last1=Owens|first1=Simon|title=The World's Largest 2-Way Dialogue between Scientists and the Public|journal=Scientific American|date=7 October 2014|url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-world-s-largest-2-way-dialogue-between-scientists-and-the-public/|access-date=6 May 2016|archive-date=20 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820052824/http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-world-s-largest-2-way-dialogue-between-scientists-and-the-public/|url-status=live}} A popular feature of the forum is "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) public discussions. As of 2014, r/science attracted 30,000–100,000 visitors per day, making it the largest community-managed science forum and an attractive place to host discussions. It has over 33 million members as of 2024.
History
=Nathan Allen=
Nathan Allen is an American chemist. While working as a chemist at Dow Chemical Company, Allen began to imagine that scientists could use Reddit's "ask me anything" (AMA) interview format to create discussions between scientists and the public. Allen became a forum moderator there and has since been prominent in guiding the culture of the community there and as a spokesperson for the forum. Allen has advocated that chemists should be more active in communicating with the public in online forums such as reddit.{{cite journal |last1=Widener |first1=Andrea |title=Head moderator of Reddit's science community says chemists need to be more active online |journal=Chemical & Engineering News |date=20 November 2017 |volume=95 |issue=46 |pages=22–23 |url=https://cen.acs.org/content/cen/articles/95/i46/Head-moderator-Reddit-science-community-says-chemists-need-to-be-more-active-online.html |access-date=18 January 2023 |archive-date=18 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118165532/https://cen.acs.org/content/cen/articles/95/i46/Head-moderator-Reddit-science-community-says-chemists-need-to-be-more-active-online.html |url-status=live }}
=AMA series=
As of 2014, r/science attracted 30,000–100,000 visitors per day, making it the largest community-managed science forum and an attractive place to host discussions. In January 2014 Allen began the r/science AMA series with the goal of raising the visibility of scientists who are producing groundbreaking work in their fields but who are not well known outside of their fields.{{cite web|last1=Allen|first1=Nathan|title=Announcing the r/science AMA Series|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/1vqimu/announcing_the_rscience_ama_series/|website=Reddit.com|access-date=6 May 2016|date=21 January 2014|archive-date=25 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325230509/https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/1vqimu/announcing_the_rscience_ama_series/|url-status=live}} Outgoing links posted in the forum must go to peer-reviewed science articles published within the last six months.{{cite web|last1=Owens|first1=Simons|title=Should Reddit's powerful mods be reined in?|url=http://www.dailydot.com/technology/reddit-moderator-crisis/|website=The Daily Dot|access-date=9 May 2016|date=14 April 2015|archive-date=20 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420094428/http://www.dailydot.com/technology/reddit-moderator-crisis/|url-status=live}}
The discussion series was instantly a success, and established the world's largest two-way discussion between scientists and the public. Allen does most of the organization for the talks, including soliciting scientists to participate and training them to communicate in reddit's discussion format.
In May 2018, the series ended due to a change in Reddit's ranking algorithm making AMA talks less visible and less engaging.{{cite web |last1=Tracy |first1=Philip |title=How Reddit killed one of its most popular AMAs |url=https://www.dailydot.com/debug/reddit-r-science-ama/ |website=The Daily Dot |language=en |date=23 May 2018 |access-date=18 January 2023 |archive-date=25 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925152752/https://www.dailydot.com/debug/reddit-r-science-ama/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |author1=nallen |title=r/science will no longer be hosting AMAs |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/8khscc/rscience_will_no_longer_be_hosting_amas/ |website=reddit |language=en |date=18 May 2018 |access-date=18 January 2023 |archive-date=5 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205151942/https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/8khscc/rscience_will_no_longer_be_hosting_amas/ |url-status=live }}
Featured content
r/science has an ongoing content partnership with PLOS.{{cite web|last1=Costello|first1=Victoria|title=Ask our authors anything: new PLOS 'AMA' series debuts on redditscience|url=http://blogs.plos.org/plos/2015/04/plos/|website=PLOS|access-date=11 May 2016|date=15 April 2015|archive-date=13 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513135942/http://blogs.plos.org/plos/2015/04/plos/|url-status=live}} As an academic journal, PLOS invites authors who are publishing scientific papers to publicly present their work in r/science and to participate in community "ask me anything" discussions in the forum at scheduled times.
Editorial decisions
Editorial decisions in r/science are made by the moderators who themselves follow rules that they present for the forum. If new rules are introduced then those are discussed with the community of readers. Rules for r/science include guidance that contributors keep discussion on-topic and thoughtful.
Allen led the decision to ban discussion in r/science which gives credibility to climate change denial.{{cite web|last1=Allen|first1=Nathan|title=Reddit's science forum banned climate deniers. Why don't all newspapers do the same?|url=http://grist.org/climate-energy/reddits-science-forum-banned-climate-deniers-why-dont-all-newspapers-do-the-same/|website=Grist|access-date=6 May 2016|date=16 December 2013|archive-date=29 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429174935/http://grist.org/climate-energy/reddits-science-forum-banned-climate-deniers-why-dont-all-newspapers-do-the-same/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|last1=Lee|first1=Jane J.|title=Reddit Science's Ban on Climate Change Denial Posts Rears Its Head Again|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/reddit-science-s-ban-on-climate-change-denial-posts-rears-its-head-again/|website=National Geographic|access-date=9 May 2016|date=20 December 2013|archive-date=4 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604210354/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/reddit-science-s-ban-on-climate-change-denial-posts-rears-its-head-again/|url-status=dead}}
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- Quartz [https://qz.com/re/reddit-science-ama/ published a series] of journalism articles describing the outcomes of r/science AMAs
- {{cite web |last1=Hasenkopf |first1=Chris |title=Why every scientist should hold an AMA on Reddit and how to do it, step-by-step |url=https://medium.com/@ChrisHasenkopf/why-every-scientist-should-hold-an-ama-on-reddit-and-how-to-do-it-step-by-step-421e92d163a0 |website=Medium |date=15 January 2017}}
External links
{{Portal|Science}}
- {{Official website}}
{{Reddit}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:r/science}}