Reddit CEO Cracks Down on Abusive Content to Protect Users, Attract Advertisers • Hacker News Board

Re: Reddit CEO Cracks Down on Abusive Content to Protect Users, Attract Advertisers

#121

Post by dijit » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 3:52 PM UTC

jackmott wrote: post #98

daxorid wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The larger point is that TPTB tend to ban groups that want communists thrown from helicopters, but are absolutely fine with groups that want fascists thrown from helicopters. There's a fundamental imbalance in how the standard is applied, and it's clearly ideological.

You are supposed to throw fascists from helicopters.

I disagree, I think you can tell them they're wrong and list the reasons why $proposed_ideology is better, but talking down to people and considering murder for believing something is absolutely abhorrent behaviour.

FWIW, I hate the left and the right movements in equal strides, the left want me to feel terrible for being born a straight white male in a western post-colonial society, the right want the poor and under-priviliged to suffer and horde things like medical care.

Understanding that there is a grey-scale and that ideologies are not absolute is the only way to proceed in my opinion. Being polarised only turns into fighting because nobodies view gets represented properly instead both sides put up strawmen.

Re: Reddit CEO Cracks Down on Abusive Content to Protect Users, Attract Advertisers

#122

Post by Cknight70 » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 3:52 PM UTC

empath75 wrote: post #79

Reddit is swarming with Russian bots and they still have a whole network of white supremecy and various hate subs, operating both out in the open and ‘quarantined’.

All these companies have been pushing this "Russia did it!" narrative with very little evidence or reason backing their claim. My theory why the whole Russian conspiracy is a thing is because its easier to dehumanize Russia as "the bad guys" rather than face the facts of how many people are opposed to you in your own country.

Edit: I'm not in denyal that Russia had nothing to do with the election but I think Russia's involvement is grossly over represented. Its so much easier to say "Russia did it" while ignoring why subreddits like /r/thedonald or the right propaganda caught on so much.

Re: Reddit CEO Cracks Down on Abusive Content to Protect Users, Attract Advertisers

#123

Post by lordCarbonFiber » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 3:52 PM UTC

Pigo wrote: post #78

lordCarbonFiber wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe he's an example of incompetence; creating national and international gaffs literally every day. Refusing to normalize his behavior isn't a devious agenda when it's that behavior that has paralyzed the government such that there isn't anything else to report on.

Well, that does make sense that it's a daily story to you if you think that way. I just wish the people who do think this could understand how tiresome it is to see every story infused with a Trump angle. Like this Al Franken story for example, there are no posts about the topic that don't focus on the Trump accusations foremost. Why can't it be examined by itself?

What would you have it focus on: Franken's need to apologize (he did that), status of the victim's case (she accepted the apology and dropped it), need for an ethics probe (Franken proposed one)? The only thing left of interest in this story (beyond the general theme of institutionalized sexism; which let's be fair isn't going to generate conductive discussion online) is the marked difference to how this was handled in comparison to how Trump, Moore, et al have chosen to conduct themselves.

Re: Reddit CEO Cracks Down on Abusive Content to Protect Users, Attract Advertisers

#124

Post by hiram112 » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 3:52 PM UTC

fhood wrote: post #111

grandalf wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excellent point. Sadly this will likely not happen. Google and Facebook are gradually imposing a highly censored world view. We can’t effectively reason about social media censorship by analogizing it to meatspace. Just as virality mechanisms amplify “good” content, they also change the equilibrium state of whose ideas can spread. Censorship programs work like a squirt of insecticide into a beehive, they kill off som…

First off, the first amendment is specifically with respect to congress, and I don't understand why I have to say this so often. Second, society has always been self censoring, but the internet has thrown a wrench into that by allowing people to escape into pockets of like minded individuals. And you might have noticed that hacker news is fairly heavily censored, and as a result has managed to avoid turning into a ce…

It's strange, but I've never considered Reddit a cesspoll. The fact of the matter - and this is why Reddit is successful - is that it has lots of unique subs and a pretty decent voting system which pushes trolls to the bottom, often collapsed.

But if I want to really see what these people are writing, I am free to browse any sub, sort by controversial, and expand the collapsed threads. Win - Win.

Hacker News, OTOH, just seems to 'disappear' wrong-think.

There's a big difference.

Re: Reddit CEO Cracks Down on Abusive Content to Protect Users, Attract Advertisers

#125

Post by briholt » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 3:53 PM UTC

jackmott wrote: post #98

daxorid wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The larger point is that TPTB tend to ban groups that want communists thrown from helicopters, but are absolutely fine with groups that want fascists thrown from helicopters. There's a fundamental imbalance in how the standard is applied, and it's clearly ideological.

You are supposed to throw fascists from helicopters.

Any HN mods want to jump in here and suggest maybe HN is a tech forum and not the appropriate place to promote political violence? Or perhaps this brand of hate and hysteria has completely infected this community as well.

Re: Reddit CEO Cracks Down on Abusive Content to Protect Users, Attract Advertisers

#126

Post by ghostbrainalpha » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 3:53 PM UTC

daxorid wrote: post #87

argv_empty wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The subs I've heard about banning were echo chambers dedicated to the idea that "this group of people I don't like ought to be [starved|exiled|thrown from helicopters|raped|enslaved]" and such things. If that makes you think the policy is "right leaning = bad, left leaning = good," that says some pretty nasty things about the modern right, doesn't it?

The larger point is that TPTB tend to ban groups that want communists thrown from helicopters, but are absolutely fine with groups that want fascists thrown from helicopters. There's a fundamental imbalance in how the standard is applied, and it's clearly ideological.

I understand your point. I lean conservative myself, but go with me on this.

If the people that liberals want thrown from helicopters ( fascists ), are only in that group because they want to throw people from helicopters....

Isn't that the same logic as "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun"? The liberal subs HATE, HATE groups. They aren't calling for random white people, religious people, or fiscally responsible people to be thrown from helicopters.

Re: Reddit CEO Cracks Down on Abusive Content to Protect Users, Attract Advertisers

#127

Post by Cuuugi » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 3:53 PM UTC

jackmott wrote: post #96

malvosenior wrote: post #8

I would love to see a statement from Reddit/Twitter... explicitly stating that they will remain politically neutral. There’s certainly content that should legally be taken down, there’s probably content that isn’t advertising friendly and could be taken down. It seems like these companies are being very slanted in their evaluation of the latter category. Basically right leaning = bad, left leaning = good. All I want…

Why should anyone remain politically neutral no matter what? What if the Nazi party came into power? Impartiality can impart political bias if the facts happen to lean one way or the other, as they will from time to time.

Nazi's came to power because a strong feeling of victimization of a group of Germans.

Most of the atrocities around the world are justified because of a feeling of victimization.

I think both sides of the political spectrum feel victimized by each other, and that scares me.

When GP asks for impartiality, think GP would settle for reasonableness, which i think both sides have lost track of years ago.

All i say, is think inwardly, question your beliefs, and most importantly don't question other peoples motives.

Re: Reddit CEO Cracks Down on Abusive Content to Protect Users, Attract Advertisers

#128

Post by creaghpatr » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 3:53 PM UTC

josefresco wrote: post #100

Helmet wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would r/The_Donald be neutral? It's literally called "The_Donald". It's like expecting r/hillaryclinton to be neutral. r/politics is for all political discussion, but it's just a left-wing echo chamber where ideological conformity and cognitive dissonance are at their peak. This is coming from a 2x Obama voter and lifelong liberal btw.

r/politics is just a name - like the thousands of others on Reddit. The sub reddit is made up of and only exists because of the subscribers / mods wants/wishes. Just because it has a "generic" name, does not mean it needs to be "fair and balanced" /s

However unlike the thousands of others, /r/politics is a default sub, giving it a certain nod of credibility from Reddit the company.

Re: Reddit CEO Cracks Down on Abusive Content to Protect Users, Attract Advertisers

#129

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 3:54 PM UTC

dijit wrote: post #121

jackmott wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are supposed to throw fascists from helicopters.

I disagree, I think you can tell them they're wrong and list the reasons why $proposed_ideology is better, but talking down to people and considering murder for believing something is absolutely abhorrent behaviour. FWIW, I hate the left and the right movements in equal strides, the left want me to feel terrible for being born a straight white male in a western post-colonial society, the right want the poor and under…

[deleted]

Re: Reddit CEO Cracks Down on Abusive Content to Protect Users, Attract Advertisers

#130

Post by sandworm101 » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 3:54 PM UTC

zimpenfish wrote: post #70

SolaceQuantum wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t this a slippery slope argument?

It's the only argument that reliably gets trotted out whenever someone mentions curbing hate speech.

This isn't about hate speech. Hate speech is illegal and should be removed. This is about material that advertisers don't like. Advertisers aren't cops. They don't necessarily care about illegality. Rather, they might tolerate some degree of hate so long as it gets eyeballs. This is about marketing.