Suspect in YouTube Shooting Posted Rants About the Company Online • Hacker News Board

Re: Suspect in YouTube Shooting Posted Rants About the Company Online

#381

Post by gameswithgo » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 3:42 PM UTC

justicezyx wrote: post #353

ssaew333 wrote: post #338

If you search her name on twitter, around 40% of what you see is right wing conspiracy theorists who assert, without evidence, that she was a member of ISIS. I also noticed a smaller percentage of people asserting, again without evidence, that she was an NRA member. And neither appear to be true. How do these get spread on Twitter? Are partisans mindlessly voting them up? Are bots behind this? Man, do I feel stupid f…

> 40% of what you see is right wing conspiracy theorists Right in a post complaining labelling, a labeling slapping to my face. I am a bit depressed by our species ability to do rational thinking.

>I am a bit depressed by our species ability to do rational thinking.

you can do your part by quit being a right wing conspiracy theorist?

Re: Suspect in YouTube Shooting Posted Rants About the Company Online

#382

Post by nvahalik » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 3:44 PM UTC

ssaew333 wrote: post #338

If you search her name on twitter, around 40% of what you see is right wing conspiracy theorists who assert, without evidence, that she was a member of ISIS. I also noticed a smaller percentage of people asserting, again without evidence, that she was an NRA member. And neither appear to be true. How do these get spread on Twitter? Are partisans mindlessly voting them up? Are bots behind this? Man, do I feel stupid f…

> Man, do I feel stupid for thinking the internet would be a force for good. That it would promote democracy, free speech, and critical thinking.

The internet is a tool and like any tool, it can be used for both good and evil. It depends on the people using it. In fact, the internet is arguably a victim of it's own success. It has democratized thought so well such that people whose ideas are morally depraved have the same ability to reach an audience that those whose ideas are praiseworthy are. That's why we are having this specific conversation, is it not?

> I look at Facebook and Twitter, and the bad greatly outweighs the good. I chose a career in web dev, thinking I would be doing something beneficial, but everything we've done amounts to nothing.

Don't judge your work by what others are doing. It's not right. You can choose to use your skills for good by doing things that are beneficial. You can work for a non-profit, a church, a community to connect, build-up, and support people. Technology for technology sake will not bring you peace or joy—technology for the sake of others just might.

Re: Suspect in YouTube Shooting Posted Rants About the Company Online

#383

Post by interfixus » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 3:44 PM UTC

interfixus wrote: post #57

dang wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the narrative around here In my experience, people tend to perceive that to be whatever they don't like, and it varies greatly with the perceiver. I don't see why this story would get flagged. (Edit: some users are pointing out the don't-give-airtime argument. That's a fair point.)

Nevertheless, 16 minutes old, it seems flagged and dead to me.

For my edification, would someone care to explain the torrent of downvotes? I simply reported a factual, indisputable observation: That the grandparent, with a timestamp saying 16 minutes old, was displayed to me as 'flagged' and 'dead'.

Re: Suspect in YouTube Shooting Posted Rants About the Company Online

#384

Post by CydeWeys » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 3:44 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #243

orf wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it possible that her content just wasn't that good? I mean her website is a pretty typical looking 'illuminati controls everything' crazy conspiracy site, if her content is similarly poorly produced getting down ranked seems natural.

> Isn't it possible that her content just wasn't that good? Even so, she still had 366,591 views, which should all that matters re revenue.

Are you sure? There are certain coveted demographics that advertisers are willing to pay a lot more money for than others. I don't think it's true that all views are counted the same for monetization purposes.

And then there's views that are desired so little (e.g. those on whacko conspiracy theorist channels) that advertisers aren't willing to pay to put ads on them at all, and you end up with "demonetization".

Re: Suspect in YouTube Shooting Posted Rants About the Company Online

#385

Post by ryandrake » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 3:45 PM UTC

jd20 wrote: post #220

michaelt wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never seen a tech workplace where you couldn't tailgate through the access control. Not saying that's what happened in this case, but anyone who thinks tech workplaces are locked down has very different experiences to me.

The times I've visited Apple or Facebook, there's always one if not several security guards watching each person badge in, to ensure you don't tailgate. Facebook's main building even has those optical turnstiles, to make it harder (as if the guards weren't imposing enough). Probably the smaller buildings are much easier to tailgate? Or maybe Facebook and Apple just don't represent the norm in the valley.

Apple (maybe FB too, I have no direct knowledge) is an extreme case where they take physical security extremely seriously. From day one employees are instructed that everyone badges in, even if it’s a whole group of employees entering who all know each other. You badge even while someone is holding the door for you. If you see someone behind you who forgot to badge you stop them: even if they’re the Senior VP, doesn’t matter.

Re: Suspect in YouTube Shooting Posted Rants About the Company Online

#386

Post by adsgjlnionio » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 3:45 PM UTC

danso wrote: post #39

mankash666 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a pity that Google terminated those accounts - I don't know what scrutiny scares them. As for the lady, she seems to genuinely believe in veganism and fitness. Whatever weird things she did to propagate that seemed to be working (330K views?!!). Why she resorted to gun violence is much awaited.

> It's a pity that Google terminated those accounts - I don't know what scrutiny scares them. Because they don't want to encourage people to gawk at the death spectacle? This includes all the times a suicidal killer leaves behind a manifesto that could serve to inspire copycat killers.

Google can censor someone as effectively as any government. This is, in effect, the same as the government banning a book. It's not something I'm ever comfortable with, and I'm especially uncomfortable with it when it's an unaccountable company in charge.

Re: Suspect in YouTube Shooting Posted Rants About the Company Online

#387

Post by ssaew333 » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 3:46 PM UTC

justicezyx wrote: post #353

ssaew333 wrote: post #338

If you search her name on twitter, around 40% of what you see is right wing conspiracy theorists who assert, without evidence, that she was a member of ISIS. I also noticed a smaller percentage of people asserting, again without evidence, that she was an NRA member. And neither appear to be true. How do these get spread on Twitter? Are partisans mindlessly voting them up? Are bots behind this? Man, do I feel stupid f…

> 40% of what you see is right wing conspiracy theorists Right in a post complaining labelling, a labeling slapping to my face. I am a bit depressed by our species ability to do rational thinking.

I wasn't complaining about labeling. I was complaining because assertions that she was an NRA or ISIS supporter were false.

I believe my assertions were true. Here are the first two people I saw on my twitter search:

Jack Posobiec Wikipedia: "John Michael "Jack" Posobiec III (/pəˈsoʊbɪk/ pə-SOW-bik; born 1985) is an American alt-right[1][2][3] internet troll, conspiracy theorist,[4][5] and self-described journalist, known primarily for his controversial and pro-Donald Trump comments on Twitter."

He was claiming that google removed her videos from youtube as part of a coverup because she didn't fit the narrative of conservative white males causing mass shootings

Laura Loomer Wikipedia: "Laura Elizabeth Loomer is an alt-right[1] American political activist and Internet personality. She was a reporter for Canada's The Rebel Media during the summer of 2017, resigning that September.[2][3][4][5][6] Prior to June 2017, she worked for Project Veritas with James O'Keefe.[3]"

Her tweets are calling the youtube shooting "an act of jihad". Also made a tweet that seemed to imply, because the shooter has an androgynous name and muscular build, that she could be trans. As if that has anything to do with it.

Re: Suspect in YouTube Shooting Posted Rants About the Company Online

#388

Post by maldusiecle » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 3:47 PM UTC

Karunamon wrote: post #350

Wingwing wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where has it been described that the woman was suffering from mental illness? That seems like a retroactive label.

I think mental illness is automatically implied when you go on a shooting spree for a video sharing site's monetization policies.

People doing things that you consider irrational is not automatically "mental illness." To conflate the two is both to absolve criminals and terrorists of moral responsibility and to stigmatize the mentally ill, most of whom are not homicidal.

Unless you have specific evidence of a particular mental illness, this kind of statement is irresponsible.

Re: Suspect in YouTube Shooting Posted Rants About the Company Online

#389

Post by ssaew333 » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 3:48 PM UTC

ng-user wrote: post #371

justicezyx wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 40% of what you see is right wing conspiracy theorists Right in a post complaining labelling, a labeling slapping to my face. I am a bit depressed by our species ability to do rational thinking.

A little contradictory, I concur. Does claiming someone is a member of ISIS automatically make you a right-wing conspiracy theorist or is it different under these circumstances? How is the number 40% actually determined, surely it must be an assumption from scrolling through the feed for a little while? To my knowledge it's difficult (near impossible without 3rd party tools) to determine in real-time the number of tw…

I thought it was clear from my post i was guesstimating. I don't typically do rigorous analysis of what I see in twitter results, so I'll just say, it seemed like a lot of right wing accounts implying that media was covering up the shooting, or that the shooter was actually motivated by radical islam.

Re: Suspect in YouTube Shooting Posted Rants About the Company Online

#390

Post by ghostbrainalpha » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 3:48 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #243

orf wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it possible that her content just wasn't that good? I mean her website is a pretty typical looking 'illuminati controls everything' crazy conspiracy site, if her content is similarly poorly produced getting down ranked seems natural.

> Isn't it possible that her content just wasn't that good? Even so, she still had 366,591 views, which should all that matters re revenue.

That isn't remotely true. I spend a big part of my day making sure my company's ad budget isn't wasted on websites/videos etc that we don't want to associate with.

If we could get 1 million views for a penny, we wouldn't want it if it was on a video showing a cat being brutally murdered.

Also look at the videos that are still up on her website... There is a video about the "Anal Sex Safety and Health Concerns". How much do you think views on that video are worth?

Do you want to associate your brand with hatred of homosexuals? This lady was a really weird mix of values. Vegan + Anti Gay. No matter what side of the political spectrum you are on she was probably offensive.