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The Human Toll of Protecting the Internet from the Worst of Humanity

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Re: The Human Toll of Protecting the Internet from the Worst of Humanity

#21

Post by smhost »

chordatum wrote: post #19
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly why I wish we'd just hire more police so the existing ones can spend a shift a week doing positive community work. Helping folks, getting to know the 'normal' folks. This is when I get to the problem: I don't know what exactly I'd ask them to do, but it would be things like: Free (or very low cost) 2-hour windows of child care on the weekends to give parents a stress break, delivering hot food to elde…

I don't feel that the second paragraph is realistic. But where to start in explaining why? Cop life is so complex that a weekly home economics shift isn't going to repair relationships, normalize psyches or adjust attitudes. There's a depth of behavioral psychology to this problem that extends well beyond imagining a one-size-fits all therapy plan. This can't be approached from the perspective of an outsider's view o…

It's complex enough that the etiology might well be rooted in our entire culture. There are movements of people trying to approach the problem at that level. Their goal is to destigmatize pain, attack anti-pessimism, etc.

Re: The Human Toll of Protecting the Internet from the Worst of Humanity

#23

Post by otakucode »

KON_Air wrote: post #7
kartan wrote: post #4

> constant exposure to the worst of humanity on a daily basis takes an undeniable toll. This is one of the troubles police officers find in their daily work. When they are not part of the society where they work it is hard for them to empathize, as they just see the worst parts of that society. In the police case also to have members of the police that are part of the communities they serve. But counseling also is ne…

I would dare say nothing of worth being done stop child abuse anywhere in world would compounds the effect of being exposed.

Child advocacy groups are exasperated. The tactics that have been shown to actually help kids aren't sexy enough for law enforcement or politicians. Busting actual abusers is one bust, and its almost always of a parent or other close relative of the victim. Whereas they can get dozens of people trading pictures online in one fell swoop, and the public tends to treat that as just as useful, but research shows it just isn't. Those people aren't the ones abusing kids in the vast majority of cases.

To stop child abuse, the most effective tactics are education and empowerment. Educating kids about the realistic dangers is uncomfortable and decidedly not something people are comfortable with. And empowerment - telling them that their body is their own property and no one, not even their parents, has the right to make them do anything they don't want to - goes against the narrative people want to believe about children being incapable of making those decisions (as if they're difficult).

To stop abuse, you have to realize what abuse is happening. And its abuse by parents first and foremost. A close second is close family members and family friends. Strangers simply aren't the problem. They're a statistical anomaly that is certainly a problem, but one that education does away with quickly and easily. That leaves kids who are afraid of seeing their family destroyed and potentially being tossed into the foster care system. Kids need to know that they will be taken care of, and to be made confident and competent enough to stand up and call out abuse when it happens. It's depressing, slow, intensive work. And law enforcement and politicians are instead too easily convinced to abandon it entirely and just go for the quick busts of extremely dubious benefit to kids.

Re: The Human Toll of Protecting the Internet from the Worst of Humanity

#24

Post by bitlax »

_callcc wrote: post #20

I think we'll see more stratification on the internet in the coming years with subscriptions, etc. There's probably even a market right now for a paid version of reddit or HN. The sad fact is that the internet has gradually become a shithole as the entirety of humanity has joined in. Twitter, for example, is being dragged down by low quality user accounts that add nothing but noise. It's actively hurting the stock pr…

> The sad fact is that the internet has gradually become a shithole as the entirety of humanity has joined in.

In what year do you feel the Internet was better than it is now?

Re: The Human Toll of Protecting the Internet from the Worst of Humanity

#26

Post by anonnyj »

_callcc wrote: post #20

I think we'll see more stratification on the internet in the coming years with subscriptions, etc. There's probably even a market right now for a paid version of reddit or HN. The sad fact is that the internet has gradually become a shithole as the entirety of humanity has joined in. Twitter, for example, is being dragged down by low quality user accounts that add nothing but noise. It's actively hurting the stock pr…

Perhaps it doesn't fit being like HN/Reddit, but Something Awful has been around for a good while, and requires $10 to get access.

At least personally, I feel it worked pretty well... but there was a drop in quality when they introduced probations (a temp ban), meaning breaking the rules stopped hurting your wallet (you could get back in as long as you paid, and didn't do something so bad you got a permaban)

Re: The Human Toll of Protecting the Internet from the Worst of Humanity

#27

Post by 77pt77 »

apatters wrote: post #13

Instead of inflicting PTSD on content moderators, why not give the job to someone who actually wants to see this type of content? They must exist, otherwise the content wouldn't spread in the first place. And/or crowdsource it so that more people are spending less time doing it? Viewing a little bit of this content is probably less traumatic than viewing it for 40 hours a week. Of course I realize it'd probably be a…

>For instance, why not offer convicted pedophiles jobs which involve screening out child porn? That would save an innocent person from the trauma involved and it might even allow the pedophile to feel like he was redeeming himself to some degree by saving others from viewing that material.

Or just allow the pedophile to indulge in his paraphilia. I'm really not comfortable with this...

Re: The Human Toll of Protecting the Internet from the Worst of Humanity

#29

Post by drdaeman »

bitlax wrote: post #24
_callcc wrote: post #20

I think we'll see more stratification on the internet in the coming years with subscriptions, etc. There's probably even a market right now for a paid version of reddit or HN. The sad fact is that the internet has gradually become a shithole as the entirety of humanity has joined in. Twitter, for example, is being dragged down by low quality user accounts that add nothing but noise. It's actively hurting the stock pr…

> The sad fact is that the internet has gradually become a shithole as the entirety of humanity has joined in. In what year do you feel the Internet was better than it is now?

1974 or few years after, maybe?

After that a law of large numbers must've kicked in (and I don't think human nature had changed any much in last 3-4 decades).

Re: The Human Toll of Protecting the Internet from the Worst of Humanity

#30

Post by Brakenshire »

_callcc wrote: post #20

I think we'll see more stratification on the internet in the coming years with subscriptions, etc. There's probably even a market right now for a paid version of reddit or HN. The sad fact is that the internet has gradually become a shithole as the entirety of humanity has joined in. Twitter, for example, is being dragged down by low quality user accounts that add nothing but noise. It's actively hurting the stock pr…

The fundamental issue up to now is that sites need to make it as easy as possible to join, in order to attract a growing audience, but that invariably means almost complete anonymity, which makes it ruinously expensive or effectively impossible to moderate.
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