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The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

nytimes.com

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Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#101

Post by s73ver »

ams6110 wrote: post #69
criley2 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm missing something. Let me know. I love being wrong, it lets me learn new things" So, I think the concept of society especially for teenagers in their school-controlled world is very interesting. You're ostensibly right, "just turn it off", but I think it's more complicated. So why would someone go to a place voluntarily where they are being attacked? Maybe, it's an important part of th…

School (I'm speaking of high school and younger) isn't the real world. Many things that are perfectly legal for adults are prohibited in school because they disrupt the mission that the school is trying to accomplish. There's certainly a grey area but things like dress and speech codes are well established and for good reasons. A service like yik-yak has no real benefit in an environment like that. In fact I don't ev…

That's very much not true. College students can be just as petty and cliquish and bullying as high school students.

And saying "Don't go there" isn't really a solution either. While the victim might not be there seeing it, everyone else is. They're still having their reputation damaged by the harassment brought upon them.

Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#102

Post by killin_dan »

pitaa wrote: post #59

>two feminist groups and several former students filed a federal complaint accusing the University of Mary Washington...of failing to protect the female plaintiffs from cyber harassment... I am confused as to why anyone thinks its the University's duty to protect their students from "cyber harassment." I mean, I am aware of Title IX and all, I am just shocked at the amount of control, influence, and involvement into…

Rouge avians -> rogue avians

Rouge avians would just be red birds. Not sure which is funnier in this example.

My school had geese, which were definitely rogue-ass birds.

Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#103

Post by s73ver »

Svekax wrote: post #76
jjar wrote: post #40

This article seems to miss the point of why Yik Yak really failed. It didn't fail because of bullying, or bad publicity - That doesn't discourage users from using the app unless they're the ones targeted. The app failed because of the ham fisted attempts to control the userbase and remove a problem that did not affect the vast, vast majority of the userbase by introducing the "Handles" feature, and then later making…

I agree. Their app became popular as a place for uncensored, anonymous speech. When they started censoring and requiring usernames their customers spitefully deleted the app. There are so few places left in the US where someone can engage in free speech. Free speech is nearly nonexistent on college campuses. Yik Yak was offering a product users couldn't find anywhere else. But they threw it all away.

You can engage in free speech wherever you want. But others are also allowed to engage in their free speech as well, which they can use to choose to rebuke you, and choose not to associate with you.

And free speech is not dead on college campuses. Speech without consequences is dead, and that's probably a good thing.

Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#104

Post by s73ver »

quotemstr wrote: post #44

I'm a big believer in fully anonymous communication. Unfortunately, we live in a censorious age. Those who enable anonymous communication frequently become the targets of legal and social pressure exerted by angry mobs, mobs mostly composed of people who aren't even trying to communicate anonymously. Yik Yak fell in part because, instead of listening to their users, they listened to people who weren't their users. Th…

Doing so, you're completely ignoring the problem of harassment. Not only ignoring, but basically putting up a huge neon sign saying, "Harassers come here and spew your harassment!" And I would have to consider working on such a project to be completely unethical.

Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#105

Post by dhimes »

lr4444lr wrote: post #74
pitaa wrote: post #59

>two feminist groups and several former students filed a federal complaint accusing the University of Mary Washington...of failing to protect the female plaintiffs from cyber harassment... I am confused as to why anyone thinks its the University's duty to protect their students from "cyber harassment." I mean, I am aware of Title IX and all, I am just shocked at the amount of control, influence, and involvement into…

When you want the best possible outcome in a lawsuit, you go after the parties with deeper pockets, and the greater incentive to settle.

Sadly, you are right-the-fuck on with this comment.

Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#106

Post by nyolfen »

gotothedoctor wrote: post #65
iClaudiusX wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why bend over backwards and cut yourself off from your college community just to cater to jerks? Do you think the mods of HN are "hyper-sensitive pricks" for trying to preserve the quality of discourse here? People seem to live under this illusion that the internet is somehow completely removed from real life, that the bigotry and hate doesn't count if it's over a computer. "Just close your eyes and pretend it isn't…

Thanks for saying this. Threads like this baffle me, make me sad and wonder if its time to just stop visiting this site. If you don’t mind being bullied, harassed, or threatened, that’s great, but it harms people. Whether you think it should or shouldn’t is irrelevant. Personally I don’t know anyone who has experienced it that wasn’t harmed. YikYak specifically was also horrific for Professors. (& of course, it also…

>Please don’t @ me about free speech or censorship; not only is it irrelevant to startups because they are businesses & not the government, but moderation & boundaries are what make communities endure.

"don't @ me" about completely relevant challenges to your opinion that are based on axiomatic political principles is cowardly and foolish. free speech and avoiding censorship are not just legal rights, they are principles that ought to be defended. those who would argue for a world where the de facto standard is censorship because they are capable of a narrow legalistic interpretation of freedoms are hideously short-sighted. if you endorse the erosion of these principles in the venues where you are strong, your enemies will use your exact arguments to erode them where you are weak.

>(& of course, it also had disparate impact on women and people of color)

is there a term for this akin to 'draping oneself in the flag'?

Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#107

Post by gotothedoctor »

pitaa wrote: post #97
gotothedoctor wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Successful graduates become alumni who make donations. To be clear, no one is suggesting that Universities should be "policing every dispute." I am stating that Universities can and do seek to create the most effective learning environment for their students--and that harassment undermines this goal. This is why Universities, as indicated in the article, blocked (aka geofenced) YikYak (& though it is not mentioned, o…

At this point I could take this to mean that you're arguing for safe spaces. While creating an "effective learning environment" sounds noble, some students seem to be interpreting this to mean they shouldn't have to hear viewpoints they disagree with [1]. Coddled students don't make successful graduates, as evidenced by the interns that were fired last year after writing a petition about the office dress code that th…

No, I'm not arguing for "safe spaces" here at all. Nor am I suggesting students shouldn't "have to hear viewpoints they disagree with."

I am arguing that, along with legal duties, Universities have an interest and an incentive to prevent their students from being harassed. To be clear, being harassed is not being disagreed with.

I don't see the relevance of this anecdata & punditry to the issue, nor do I know what "coddled" really means or why such a generalization would apply to every University. Regardless, pattern recognition over decades of experience tells me that people who are new to the workforce inevitably behave as if they are new to the workforce. And also, that with each new generation, pundits offer some variation of "kids these days." On the plus side, if we've moved on to "coddled", maybe people will stop complaining about those damned millennials!

Anyway, even if we disagree, I am glad that you do think that sometimes the University should get involved & that mental health services are useful.

Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#109

Post by chrshawkes »

pitaa wrote: post #59

>two feminist groups and several former students filed a federal complaint accusing the University of Mary Washington...of failing to protect the female plaintiffs from cyber harassment... I am confused as to why anyone thinks its the University's duty to protect their students from "cyber harassment." I mean, I am aware of Title IX and all, I am just shocked at the amount of control, influence, and involvement into…

I live in the city of Fredericksburg, Virginia. There was a savage murder a few years ago where the girl who got murdered was being harassed on YikYak. I wouldn't go as far as to blame this app for her death but she did receive threats through it, which later turned out to be her roommate who murdered her.

Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#110

Post by oliv__ »

killin_dan wrote: post #102
pitaa wrote: post #59

>two feminist groups and several former students filed a federal complaint accusing the University of Mary Washington...of failing to protect the female plaintiffs from cyber harassment... I am confused as to why anyone thinks its the University's duty to protect their students from "cyber harassment." I mean, I am aware of Title IX and all, I am just shocked at the amount of control, influence, and involvement into…

Rouge avians -> rogue avians Rouge avians would just be red birds. Not sure which is funnier in this example. My school had geese, which were definitely rogue-ass birds.

Seriously. Geese are evil.
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