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Ask HN: Discord banned me with no recourse

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Re: Ask HN: Discord banned me with no recourse

#231

Post by GoblinSlayer »

scrollaway wrote: post #39
JonathanBeuys wrote: post #30

I don't get it. We keep seeing these dystopian stories again and again and again. Does anybody really believe it will ever stop? Or will we all live in fear of losing a lot of work and valuable connections by being banned from one of our social accounts? I already lost one Instagram account that I put a lot of work into. One day, Insta suddenly asked for my birthday. After me putting it in, all I saw is "Sorry, this…

Technical solutions are not usually the answer to legal problems. These theoretical cyberpunk-like crypto-networks only work in practice if you're uploaded to the matrix. Otherwise they fail the XKCD/538 Wrench Test.

Discord fails the wrench test too. The difference is that it also fails without wrench, but cyberpunk doesn't.

Re: Ask HN: Discord banned me with no recourse

#232

Post by vel0city »

falcolas wrote: post #229
vel0city wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I don't use an @gmail.com address for important communications. If Google banned me I would still be able to communicate with the government on the internet. It turns out there's more email providers than just gmail.

I feel like the goalposts of this thread have moved. We've gone from "no, you don't need the internet in your life" to "just don't use certain private entities on the internet". Which I am going to interpret as "yes, you do need the internet to live your life, and you also have to be either savvy or unremarkable to keep from getting stomped on by private entities."

> Many government functions (unemployment, DMV appointment scheduling, etc) can not be accessed from any place but the internet.

I agree with this. There are many government functions which need the internet to be able to use. But getting banned from Discord does not prevent me from accessing a government website. Getting banned from Gmail does not prevent me from sending or receiving an email from the government. Getting banned from WhatsApp does not prevent me from calling 911.

You practically do need an ISP to use the internet, often (in the US) your choice of ISP is very limited, and I do support common carrier regulations on ISPs. Maybe this will change with more wireless connectivity options becoming available to the broader public, but as it stands you normally don't have much of a choice which ISP will service your home.

But Gmail isn't an ISP. Facebook is not an ISP. You can still use the internet without having to log into Facebook. You didn't need an Instagram account to write this comment. Tiktok could ban me and I'd still be able to send emails to the government. I'd still be able to schedule a DMV appointment even if Spotify cancels my account.

If McDonald's banned me from their establishments I would not go hungry. You're essentially arguing I'd starve if they did. McDonald's makes up 24% of all fast food establishments, they're the largest player in the space. Clearly I would have a hard time ever eating without it. There's other providers out there! There are other places to get food other than McDonald's! You don't need a Gmail account to receive email!

And yes, you literally did just suggest that I needed a Gmail account to receive emails from the government. I regularly receive emails from the government to an address unrelated to Gmail.

Re: Ask HN: Discord banned me with no recourse

#233

Post by iLoveOncall »

cloudwalk9 wrote: post #28

Discord Trust and Safety in particular is downright useless. I feel I should share my story. It's a personal hell I've been stuck in for a while. I'm disabled from severe depression resistant to first line treatments, bedridden a lot of the time, and I rely on the platform for most of my social interaction and resources for my hobbies, as far as I can pursue them of course. Discord is invaluable and is basically a mo…

> "Your account posted content that sexualized individuals under the age of 18, or was involved in servers dedicated to such unacceptable content". I've never done this.

You shared furry porn picturing subjects of a questionable age, didn't you?

Re: Ask HN: Discord banned me with no recourse

#234

Post by ncmncm »

nonameiguess wrote: post #213
ncmncm wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people you need to communicate with are not on Matrix or Mastodon. "Private" clubs and golf courses banning only Jewish and black people are not allowed anymore, for reasons.

Private clubs still exist, though, and they can still ban you even if all your friends are there. I'm also reasonably sure Discord can't ban you for being black or Jewish. They can, of course, ban you without giving a reason at all, but so can physical private clubs.

Discord can automate it; and their membership is worldwide, encompassing a radically wider network effect.

Ejection from Willowdale Odd Fellows does not keep you out of Springfield Odd Fellows.

Re: Ask HN: Discord banned me with no recourse

#235

Post by qzx_pierri »

TakeBlaster16 wrote: post #110
qzx_pierri wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The internet is not real life. It seems a lot of people who hold your opinion are in the 18-24 age range. Those people who grew up thinking the internet is the only way to communicate or “make things happen”. But I assure you these private companies do NOT have to let you use their services, and common excuses such as “Online communication is like a public square!” is not rooted in the desire for free speech, but is…

https://web.stanford.edu/~mrosenfe/Rosenfeld_et_al_Disinterm... Most couples now meet online. Good luck convincing them all the internet is not real life. And those stats are from 2017. Given a few years of lockdown the trend has surely accelerated. Discord is how a lot of young people talk these days. If you're banned from Discord, it's not very comforting to hear "you don't need Discord son, in my day we didn't hav…

> it's not very comforting to hear "you don't need Discord son, in my day we didn't have Discord and we wrote to our pen pals. I'm sure you'll make some new friends."

>it's not very comforting

That's the problem. Your comfort doesn't matter. If you want comfort, go buy a hammock. If you want to boss companies around with overreaching regulations, then get into politics.

The fact is, companies can do what they want (within existing regulations). "They should" or "They shouldn't" arguments are outside of both of our control.

Re: Ask HN: Discord banned me with no recourse

#236

Post by vel0city »

ncmncm wrote: post #234
nonameiguess wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Private clubs still exist, though, and they can still ban you even if all your friends are there. I'm also reasonably sure Discord can't ban you for being black or Jewish. They can, of course, ban you without giving a reason at all, but so can physical private clubs.

Discord can automate it; and their membership is worldwide, encompassing a radically wider network effect. Ejection from Willowdale Odd Fellows does not keep you out of Springfield Odd Fellows.

But you're essentially arguing that Willowdale Odd Fellows shouldn't be able to choose their membership, that everyone has a right to join the meetings.

Re: Ask HN: Discord banned me with no recourse

#237

Post by faangiq »

JonathanBeuys wrote: post #30

I don't get it. We keep seeing these dystopian stories again and again and again. Does anybody really believe it will ever stop? Or will we all live in fear of losing a lot of work and valuable connections by being banned from one of our social accounts? I already lost one Instagram account that I put a lot of work into. One day, Insta suddenly asked for my birthday. After me putting it in, all I saw is "Sorry, this…

It’s not going to stop. It’s going to get much worse. And you will be happy.

Re: Ask HN: Discord banned me with no recourse

#238

Post by pleas4nt0ne »

JonathanBeuys wrote: post #30

I don't get it. We keep seeing these dystopian stories again and again and again. Does anybody really believe it will ever stop? Or will we all live in fear of losing a lot of work and valuable connections by being banned from one of our social accounts? I already lost one Instagram account that I put a lot of work into. One day, Insta suddenly asked for my birthday. After me putting it in, all I saw is "Sorry, this…

No post body was provided.

Re: Ask HN: Discord banned me with no recourse

#239

Post by gaws »

> I would really like to keep my primary Discord account, is there anything I can do about it?

Why? Discord has no obligation to its users, and it's a volatile platform to conduct any mission-critical or business-related communications. The best thing to do is to stop using it.

Re: Ask HN: Discord banned me with no recourse

#240

Post by macspoofing »

anoonmoose wrote: post #109
macspoofing wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>That should absolutely not apply to Discord, Google Mail, or Amazon AWS, because those are all private companies restricting the use of their private property. We don't live in a libertarian utopia where private property is not regulated. If you're a store-owner, for example, there are some things you simply cannot do or must allow. In California, for example, a private space, like a mall, has to allow constitutiona…

When quoting from the Pruneyard Wikipedia article, I would suggest you include "In refusing to follow Pruneyard, the state supreme courts of New York and Wisconsin both attacked it as an unprincipled and whimsical decision", and not just the parts you like.

>and not just the parts you like.

I made no judgment on the decision. The decision itself is periphery to my argument, namely that governments are perfectly capable regulating speech on platforms ... because they already are in many many other domains.

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