One of the rather ambivalent achievements of modern corporate culture is the annual elf at the workplace. What was conceived as a team-building measure creates additional stress in the run-up to Christmas. What could the stressed people in IT please, what the ambitious project managers? And mercy to those colleagues who will be assigned the boss this year.
People who are already struggling with it will probably already be at the idea of Reddit Gifts cold horror haunt. As the name suggests, completely strangers give each other gifts here, mediated via the Internet platform Reddit. In total, more than 200,000 people from over 140 countries take part. Why are you doing this? Well, to bring joy to others.
It is recommended that gifts not exceed $ 20 in value, but there are outliers. For example, when Bill Gates – or at least his PR people – once felt the desire to take part. The recipient could look forward to an 80 pound package. Many users wrote in moving words, especially during the Corona era, that the exchange of gifts has positive effects on their psychological well-being. And for quite a few, the gifts usually sent anonymously from the Internet were the only ones they received at Christmas anyway. Of course, some people develop their own ambition – and dig deep into the recipient’s posting history in order to make a present as personal as possible.
Reddit Gifts was always a foreign object on the web. A pale promise of what the internet could have been
Aside from the emotional anecdotes, Reddit Gifts is still a specialty. Given that the tone on the Internet is not necessarily the friendliest and you usually get poison and bile from complete strangers instead of gifts. In the economy of the platforms, all personal forms of interaction are usually very transactional: What are the advantages of helping others for your own channel? The value of communication is measured solely in engagement. It takes a close look at who is retweeting, liking or blocking whom. If every user is also an entrepreneur and public relations worker on his own behalf, altruism is obsolete. Reddit Gifts has always been a foreign body in this sphere. A pale promise of what the internet could have been.
Well, some time ago Reddit announced that this year’s Secret Santa will be the last of its kind. “We have made the difficult decision to switch off Reddit Gifts,” said the corresponding communiqué, while at the same time they wanted to “focus more on improving the user experience on Reddit.” It remained open what exactly that means or what one has to do with the other. After all, Reddit Gifts was kept running mainly by volunteers, and even made a small surplus through the sale of virtual badges. The Wichtel community was deeply affected, and there was talk of a “war against Christmas”. Instead of wishes, there were curses.
Instead of gift exchanges, the platform drew attention to itself last year with hyper-capitalist stock market bets. That made a few enormously rich, the vast majority losing their savings. In this respect, leaving the platform for compassion already has a certain stringency. Selfish decisions in selfish times.