Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment • Hacker News Board

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#121

Post by eganist » Thu, May 21, 2020, 3:19 PM UTC

ramphastidae wrote: post #51

eganist wrote: post #4

Relationship Advice lead-ish mod here. We were one of the subs "called out" as being controlled by Gallowboob with the original post and subsequent reposts. We (buu700 and I) added Gallowboob some years back largely to have insight into how other teams modded their subs at a time when we were growing quickly and needed to know what to do to keep up. While useful in meeting that goal, we quickly realized it was pretty…

Why do you free work for a for-profit social network, especially if you say yourself that the work negatively impacts your mental health and that the community you are moderating is toxic? What are you getting out of this?

> What are you getting out of this?

For a nontrivial number of people, this community is the only place to turn. If we step away, do people incur harm as a result?

Most likely.

(in other words, it's almost a psychological obligation of sorts at this point)

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#122

Post by nsilvestri » Thu, May 21, 2020, 3:19 PM UTC

elliekelly wrote: post #69

nsilvestri wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a little over half a million karma, about 200k from posting links. I think it's incorrect to suggest that the "vast majority" of content is manipulated. You see the same names because they understand the game of karmawhoring. If you have one link which can fit in multiple subreddits and your goal is to get as many points as possible, you post it to all the relevant subreddits, repeat for every other link you h…

> I think it's incorrect to suggest that the "vast majority" of content is manipulated. You see the same names because they understand the game of karmawhoring. What is the distinction between content manipulation and the game of karmawhoring? They seem more or less the same to me. I think I would consider SEO a form of content manipulation, for example.

I'm distinguishing it between the "intended" way of using the site by making posts and then the community organically votes on it, and some unintended "manipulated" way where content is artificially voted upon or otherwise given an advantage over other posts.

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#123

Post by Supermancho » Thu, May 21, 2020, 3:20 PM UTC

ideals wrote: post #7

The user in question is GallowBoob.

He earned so many imaginary points on a platform, that other people target his status and content. It's not like he couldn't make new accounts. But hey, it's the platform's responsibility to support him for the content he posts and the moderation he performs? I cannot have sympathy for his own reindeer games.

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#124

Post by yissp » Thu, May 21, 2020, 3:20 PM UTC

dvtrn wrote: post #78

Spivak wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the continued existence and quality of the subreddit brings value to them. It’s no different than volunteering. The fact that Reddit is for-profit doesn’t really enter into the equation. I don’t get it for relationship subreddits because it’s so mentally exhausting but for fandoms and niche communities the experience is super cool.

It’s no different than volunteering. It's certainly volunteering in the synonymous sense of 'doing something for nothing because you can' but I feel this statement-left in the vacuous state of its own brevity-comes loaded with an unsaid implication that "volunteering" on Reddit is no different than "volunteering" in one's local community and I'm not sure it's that simple.

That community does genuinely help real people struggling with their relationships, regardless of whatever value it's existence also provides to reddit. I don't think the motivation is all that different from volunteering in one's community, both come from a place of wanting to help others.

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#125

Post by bredren » Thu, May 21, 2020, 3:21 PM UTC

buboard wrote: post #111

bredren wrote: post #15

I am a freshman moderator of /r/portland. I had thought working as a moderator would be a great way to help grow the subreddit's base. Offer more useful real world interaction points and basically have a big impact on Portland. Instead what I've found is that 99% of the time the moderators are dealing with bad actors and that has to be the primary focus to keep the sub from falling apart. It isn't just dealing with t…

Why do you keep the post?

I've only just begun and I don't walk away from challenging circumstances quickly.

The senior moderators are faster and better than me, so my actual workload is relatively light.

I believe Reddit will grow in its influence and that tools can and will be developed to improve the situation for community moderators.

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#126

Post by sova » Thu, May 21, 2020, 3:21 PM UTC

bredren wrote: post #15

I am a freshman moderator of /r/portland. I had thought working as a moderator would be a great way to help grow the subreddit's base. Offer more useful real world interaction points and basically have a big impact on Portland. Instead what I've found is that 99% of the time the moderators are dealing with bad actors and that has to be the primary focus to keep the sub from falling apart. It isn't just dealing with t…

There is no way to get unbanned on Reddit, even if your first post is innocuously misplaced, there is simply no mechanism to get unbanned. So what do you suggest people do?

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#127

Post by Shorel » Thu, May 21, 2020, 3:21 PM UTC

polytely wrote: post #84

hi41 wrote: post #9

Can someone please explain how doxing works at a technical level? Suppose I post something on Twitter or Youtube that someone does not like how would they dox me? For example, CNN outed a guy who did a video where Trump bashes a guy superimposed with CNN in a boxing ring. Wouldn't such attempts at doxing people also put pressure on their freedom of speech and expression?

There are tons of examples of how 4chan routinely traced down individuals based on little evidence. For more recent examples see bellingcat.com it's amazing how far you can go with just open sources and a lot of determination. It also helps to have multiple people do the searching, if like a 100 people would trawl through your posting history here they could probably create a pretty detailed profile of you. For examp…

I wish TV show writers knew these things.

It would be educative and more entertaining than the hacking stuff they write.

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#128

Post by BeetleB » Thu, May 21, 2020, 3:21 PM UTC

twic wrote: post #70

eganist wrote: post #4

Relationship Advice lead-ish mod here. We were one of the subs "called out" as being controlled by Gallowboob with the original post and subsequent reposts. We (buu700 and I) added Gallowboob some years back largely to have insight into how other teams modded their subs at a time when we were growing quickly and needed to know what to do to keep up. While useful in meeting that goal, we quickly realized it was pretty…

If Gallowboob and friends are just helpful innocent people, why were were the calling-out comments, dozens upon dozens of them, deleted, and the people posting them banned? If you're helpfully, innocently, looking after dozens of top subs, and people mention that and wonder what's going on, you don't censor them, you have flipping AMA about it!

I looked at some of the deleted comments, and if I were a mod, I would delete them as well.

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#129

Post by stryan » Thu, May 21, 2020, 3:22 PM UTC

Goronmon wrote: post #52

haunter wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>how meaninglessly violent people become when their posts are modded Maybe if mods were more transparent across all the subs. Most people get angry when someone removes their post and yet they see it reposted and approved hours or even minutes later (Gallowboob is infamous for that but regular users do it too)

Maybe if mods were more transparent across all the subs. This is a common refrain I've heard going back well before Reddit ever existed. I helped moderate the Vault Network boards for a while back when they were a thing. Its hard to overstate how amazingly...disturbed and vitriolic some of the individuals of a community can be. And dishonest. And spiteful. No amount of transparency helps when all it takes to refute a…

That sounds like a job for public automated mod logs.

Naturally people will still complain since it's impossible to fix people, but I'd imagine having a "authoritative" list of every moderator action and the accompanying explanation would help stave off the corruption/lies accusations. That combined with a reputation of transparency.

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#130

Post by em-bee » Thu, May 21, 2020, 3:23 PM UTC

dvtrn wrote: post #78

Spivak wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the continued existence and quality of the subreddit brings value to them. It’s no different than volunteering. The fact that Reddit is for-profit doesn’t really enter into the equation. I don’t get it for relationship subreddits because it’s so mentally exhausting but for fandoms and niche communities the experience is super cool.

It’s no different than volunteering. It's certainly volunteering in the synonymous sense of 'doing something for nothing because you can' but I feel this statement-left in the vacuous state of its own brevity-comes loaded with an unsaid implication that "volunteering" on Reddit is no different than "volunteering" in one's local community and I'm not sure it's that simple.

i disagree. it is that simple. the community consists of the people that contribute to the discussion. the fact that this community is using reddit as their tool to communicate is secondary. if they as a group were unhappy with how things are done they could move. stackexchange, discord, whatever.

moderators should be volunteers from that community either way, not paid outsiders.