One day we'll all be good at the Internet

It would appear the bar for celebrity drops yet lower every day. At one distant point in time, you had to demonstrate some actual skill -- whether to a casting agent or a webcam. Then you only had to be funny in six-second or 140-character increments. These days, stardom is as simple as working at Target and having high cheekbones. But fret not, cynical olds! This type of thing only happens because teenage girls are good at the Internet. (One day we'll all be good at the Internet, and more age-appropriate Target cashiers will trend.) On that note, the links:

1. Pondering the metaphysics of Yelp. Yelp, everyone's favorite reviews site, bases its entire business on the idea that its reviews are "real" -- that they come from actual customers, expressing their actual opinions. But anyone who has spent any time with the site realizes its politics are actually wayyyy more complicated. Yelp doesn't just passively show reality; it's quite aggressive in shaping it.

2. There will be more Gamergates -- just not about games. Ack, I know: Every time I decide that Links will carry not another syllable of Gamergate material, something pops up that's too good not to share. Such is the case of Ezra Klein's belated, but belatedly great, essay on Gamergate, which ties the movement to deep political divides across the culture. (Just kidding, it's really about ethics in journalism! I know.)

3. The greatest story Reddit ever told. Dante Orpilla lost his son, bought 7 kilos of cocaine from an undercover agent, and ended up serving a long jail term he didn't necessarily deserve. Then he happened upon Reddit: a website where (at the time, at least) people did nice things, for free.

Unironically excited for Grumpy Cat Christmas, tbh.

Pocketable: A history of MetaFilter, one of the web's most "humane" communities. (6,114 words/25 minutes)

Postscripts: Number stations. Vintage arcade games. Why all hipsters look the same. How to not do work at work and how Uber changed the nightlife scene. What, exactly, "mpreg" means. In memory of Delia's. In earnest praise of kindness. Today, in creative crowdsourcing: paying for your Uber tab and guessing who's ... your baby's dad.

Until tomorrow!
@caitlindewey

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