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Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

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Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#361

Post by pdonis »

staycoolboy wrote: post #217
lidHanteyk wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another "bad actor" here. I think that it's a combination of two phenomena: * I have accounts not just here, but also at places like Lobsters and Something Awful. In those places, because accounts are rare and can be banned so easily, discourse is constantly trying to stay much more civil than here or Reddit. * As a former community moderator, I don't respect moderation actions on sites where anonymous signup is allo…

> I have had to tolerate obviously toxic but helpful people before I understand where you are coming from here. I struggle with this. I think there is a legit theory for it, usually given in the context of how to reconcile shitty behavior of geniuses (Picasso comes to mind: legendary artist, shitty human.) Even if toxic people have something good to say once in a while, do the ends justify the means if they stomp all…

> I want to participate, but I lack impulse control, so I'm excluded. That's not fair.

Yes, it is, because the problem is not the garden, it's you. You want to participate, but you don't have a basic skill (impulse control) that is required for participation. It's like saying you want to be a concert pianist, but you don't know how to play the piano, so you're excluded and that's not fair.

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#362

Post by sova »

tptacek wrote: post #308
sova wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How will this result in an unban? Nobody ever gets unbanned. What you said is emblematic of the problem.

If you believe stalking and harassing moderators is a valid response to anything moderators do, you shouldn't be unbanned.

Not at all what I said, I asked how will passively sitting by result in an unban? You are simply confirming the fact that there is no way to get unbanned, even if the moderators made a mistake, or if the person wants to actively participate. Reddit basically says if you get banned you must make a new account if you want to participate in that board still. So it's natural people make lots of accounts. Is there a mechanism to get unbanned? I'll ask you again.

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#363

Post by downerending »

rootusrootus wrote: post #351
downerending wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When a police officer gets it wrong, you're dead. Or, as often happens, they're dead. I don't envy members of a profession that have to get every life-and-death decision right in real time on a daily basis.

That's a fair point, although statistically the job of police officer doesn't crack the top 10 in most dangerous careers.

Similarly, a vanishingly small proportion of citizens (as opposed to bad guys) have a life-altering bad experience with the police.

It'd be interesting to see real numbers, but I suspect officers on the beat get the short end of that stick.

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#364

Post by swyx »

gwern wrote: post #106

This article doesn't actually address any of the questions (eg how does he have all this time?). Note that it's on the public record that Gallowboob has worked for social media marketing companies, eg https://www.forbes.com/sites/fernandoalfonso/2016/06/01/cash... > The Upvoted story never materialized; Reddit administrators were still digging out from under a deluge of drama including revelations about online harass…

im not sure "how does he have all this time" is relevant? this is a harrassment story, Gallowboob gave in under enormous pressure. It is a sad day for Reddit and I am bearish on them while I don't see any strong ideas for how they fix it.

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#365

Post by koheripbal »

jldugger wrote: post #224
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…

> performing anti-ban-evasion Honestly, this is something Metafilter did pretty well: the five dollar account fee makes a ton of abuse tactics more costly to deploy, while simultaneously funding efforts to combat it. It would go a long ways I think to at least allow mods to restrict subreddits to read-only for unpaid accounts.

100% agree. Metafilter has other major flaws that prevent if from having a meaningful community size, but the barrier to entry is a crucial mechanic that keeps out bad actors and mentally juvenile people.

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#366

Post by SlowRobotAhead »

mundo wrote: post #301
SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is almost off topic... but can you explain criddler? I think I’ve spent enough time around people on meth and bicycles to probably understand it - but I just don’t get it yet.

It's an insulting term for scruffy looking people who are presumed to be homeless or drug-using. The reason it's contentious is that one person uses it, someone else objects to it, people take sides along left-vs-right lines, and the thread devolves in to a shouting match.

I guess I meant the etymology of the word.

It seems it’s pretty well established though, from 2010:

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=criddler

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#367

Post by Quekid5 »

nsilvestri wrote: post #353
elliekelly wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And when someone posts OC, a photo, for example, to a small subreddit or at a low-trafficked time of day and a "karmawhore" screenshots the photo and posts it to several highly trafficked subreddits would you consider those upvotes organic or manipulated? It's my understanding that this is a common tactic used by people who are "karma farming" on an account. I can certainly understand how the karmawhore feels the upv…

The _votes_ aren't manipulated though. The content is exactly the same even if the person "stole" it. It's immoral and scummy, certainly, but I wouldn't consider it vote manipulation by my definition.

Depending on specifics it could also be outright copyright infringement. (Just reusing a link wouldn't be, but e.g. reuploading a video would be.)

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#368

Post by notadev »

javert wrote: post #306
notadev wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AOL would use volunteers, called Community Leaders, to moderate chats/BBSes, etc. They even got perks, like free Internet. I volunteered as a Host Guide when I was 16. CLs eventually filed a complaint with the DoL claiming AOL violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by using non-employees to do unpaid work that could have been done by paid employees. In fact, it's still illegal even if the volunteer doesn't mind or doe…

In your favored outcome, the government intervenes in a way that a) prevents people who want to be mods, from being mods b) breaks the way the site works What gives you the right to do that? Seriously, if you want to live in a nanny state, please, not in my back yard. I do not want you to be my nanny. Reddit's moderation problems are not so big that you are justified in putting a gun to other peoples' faces to force…

>What gives you the right to do that?

The Fair Labor Standards Act: https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/whd/flsa/docs/volunteers.asp

Reddit's preference of exploiting unpaid labor, and it's failure to plan for the inevitable event where that exploited labor decides they want to be compensated for their work is entirely on Reddit Inc. A company valued at $3 billion should have understood the potential risk.

All Reddit mods who feel burned out or are otherwise struggling because of the work they've done as mods should file a complaint with the Dept. of Labor and request financial compensation for the work performed, and coverage of any medical treatment stemming from the results of moderating toxic communities.

https://dol.gov/agencies/whd/contact/complaints

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#369

Post by Anon4Now »

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…

> freshman moderator of /r/portland

You poor soul. I stopped visiting that sub a few years ago. There was a pervasive negativity about it that was just depressing. I hope it's gotten better.

> [...] the Portland Police Department

BTW, it's Portland Police Bureau (PPB). Calling it PPD will get you labeled a transplant. ;-)

Re: Reddit's top user leaves platform after harassment

#370

Post by dkn775 »

sacks2k wrote: post #117

Many people see this as moderators controlling too much, but it's what happens in a mostly free system. Some people will over-achieve and 99% will underachieve or achieve just enough to get by. This has been seen time and time again in any system involving humans. A big issue with Reddit is that it has subs dedicated to encouraging mentally ill and anti-social behavior. These things tend to eventually escalate into t…

Can you provide some examples of subreddits that encourage such anti-social/mentally ill behavior?
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