shame on Google
Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube
501–510 of 1001 posts
Re: Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube
#502Earlier quoted context omitted.
> a single private company having a near-monopoly on various public communication channels Does Google rise to this level? Facebook, Twitter, cable TV and every newspaper and blog would seem to present a decent front of competition.
Before 1988 in the U.S. we had "equal time" laws that required that broadcast media present both sides of political debates with "equal time" for each side. That's because for decades there were three sources of content: ABC, CBS, and NBC. Then cable and alternative radio ended that oligopoly for a while and those laws were removed. Now we have just a few mass media content producers and a few mass social media outle…
Every individual is a "side," so the equal-time concept in broadcasting doesn't scale.
It never really did, and this would only be more apparent if we tried to re-institute such a doctrine today.
Re: Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube
#503Earlier quoted context omitted.
my bad for assuming that it goes without saying i guess? or that most people except us here can't tell the difference?
It is your bad for assuming. Telecoms will fight to the death to prevent Internet service from becoming a utility and you're acting like it's all but guaranteed. We're not even close to this reality.
never said anything to the contrary, actually agree with everything here.
Re: Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube
#504Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m always really worried about the unintended consequences of having the government regulate what Google can and cannot moderate on their platform. That strikes me as a larger free speech issue than our current system. I’d recommend just breaking Google’s monopoly; which is an idea that has more benefits and less downside risk.
> I’d recommend just breaking Google’s monopoly Would an independent YouTube be less susceptible to these requests?
> Would an independent YouTube be less susceptible to these requests?
You would almost certainly need something like the Paramount Consent Decrees to structure the marketplace correctly and to foster the kind of competition that would prevent a single player from being in such a vulnerable position.
Re: Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube
#505SHAME on Google
Re: Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube
#506Earlier quoted context omitted.
Might it be because threads like these often cause toxic, rude, unproductive, and generally tribal discourse in the comments? Looking around the comment threads, I certainly don't see a lot of intellectual curiosity being stimulated or minds being expanded. I see a lot of dogmatic accusations, hyperbolic bemoaning-the-downfall-of-civilization, and general "how could you possibly believe that?!"-toned rudeness. Not ou…
Yeah pretty much all of HN's lines about how it's much better than other communities go out the window. Perhaps such conversations can be had productively, but I've yet to see it.
I challenge you to find an on-line community whose average is better than HN's worst.
I really do. I might start visiting it; we lack civilized places on the Internet.
Re: Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube
#507I think a more fundamental problem is a single private company having a near-monopoly on various public communication channels, and having financial interests in various global dictatorships. The Founding Fathers could not have predicted this. Google's "We're a private company" get-out-jail-free card cannot continue to apply.
Google can do whatever they like. They're a company, not the government. And as such, they will always bend to the mercurial whims of both rich investors and the government (who is also owned by the rich).
The only way to fix that is a nearly-uncensored#, non-profit& communications and streaming platform that is globally-distributed and doesn't have a SPoF. Trying to get a content creators' union is all-well-and-good, but it doesn't solve the fundamental problem of reliance on corporate greed that will never assure access to speech.
# There are only a few topics that shouldn't be enabled like child porn and actually planning mass murder.
& Nonprofit itself while it supports monetization for creators with only minimal fees to cover costs.
Re: Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube
#508Google & YouTube employees on HN: how do you justify still working at this company? Enough of the cognitive dissonance. Face your choices and tell me how you square yourself with them. For shame.
Drew, ever since sourcehut got a little positive attention you seem to have adopted this mindset of "I started my own company and don't have to work for the man anymore, why doesn't everyone else just do the same?" You need to realize that this is an extremely narrow minded view to have. Not everyone can start their own business. What would you have done if sourcehut hadn't gained enough popularity to be successful? You would probably be working for [CORP ABC] who surely would be doing something you disliked, too. That would not make you a "bootlicker".
In fact, I'd like to ask this question of you: your website is undoubtedly being used by people to build software that you disagree with, perhaps even censorship. How do you justify still hosting your site instead of shutting it down? Enough of the cognitive dissonance. Face your choices and tell me how you square yourself with them.
Is it because you need the money from your site? So do Google employees (probably).
Is it because you still enjoy the work of building your site? So do Google employees (probably)?
Is it because on the aggregate you think that your site still provides benefit to society, despite it possibly being used for things you disagree with? So do Google employees (probably).
There are plenty of reasons why people still work for Google, and you probably would relate to them too if you stopped being so combative towards anyone who works for [big corp].
Re: Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube
#509Earlier quoted context omitted.
I also experienced this on numerous Chinese government-related posts in the past, where front page articles were not flagged, but quickly disappeared. Don't really have an explanation. Would be great if @dang can look into this.
I seriously doubt that there’s anything to “look into” from @dang’s perspective. A huge share of his moderation lately is focused on “nationalistic flamewar”, and from his perspective, it’s probably easier for any thread that might tend towards that to just quietly sink off the front page.
While not all comment-wars are flame-wars I know what you mean. I've been involved in a few. Trouble is, if the chinese trolls cause enough trouble that the mods are happy to let the thread vanish[1], the trolls have won. Scratch that, china has won, because there's a strong reek of high-level organisation behind it.
[1] Assuming that's what is occurring; I don't know.
Re: Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube
#510Personally I’m not really offended by rare appearance of “共匪”. Politically this word implies the failure to recognize the legal government of mainland China, which goes against international consensus. I’m not surprised this word is blocked at scale