Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit • Hacker News Board

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#61

Post by rabidrat » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

hart_russell wrote: post #24

minimaxir wrote: post #3

Relevant context: recently, former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao called out Reddit for their policies after Reddit did a statement on Black Lives Matter: > I am obligated to call you out: You should have shut down the_donald instead of amplifying it and its hate, racism, and violence. So much of what is happening now lies at your feet. You don't get to say BLM when reddit nurtures and monetizes white supremacy and hate all da…

But that's why she was ousted: https://www.wired.com/2015/07/reddit-ceo-ellen-pao-steps-dow... Turns out only allowing speech that you deem acceptable makes for a pretty boring internet forum.

It's getting pretty exciting now! I can't wait to see what happens next.

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#62

Post by mcintyre1994 » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

jimbob45 wrote: post #23

Reddit mods wantonly abuse their power and I'm not even talking about politics. Ever been to r/science? 8/10 comments are deleted and those posts can't be read ever again (I'm understating that number, if anything). Honestly, half the reason I come here is because you can still view dead comments - censorship is a surefire way to get me to leave your community.

There used to be a bunch of sites that could display deleted comments but they all seemed to stop working at some point.

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#63

Post by attilakun » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

jimbob45 wrote: post #23

Reddit mods wantonly abuse their power and I'm not even talking about politics. Ever been to r/science? 8/10 comments are deleted and those posts can't be read ever again (I'm understating that number, if anything). Honestly, half the reason I come here is because you can still view dead comments - censorship is a surefire way to get me to leave your community.

While I'm sure accidents happen, many of those comments are deleted because they are joke comments/shitposts not pertaining to science. In my experience, that kind of content is not tolerated on HN either, probably for the better.

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#64

Post by buttersbrian » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

minimaxir wrote: post #3

Relevant context: recently, former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao called out Reddit for their policies after Reddit did a statement on Black Lives Matter: > I am obligated to call you out: You should have shut down the_donald instead of amplifying it and its hate, racism, and violence. So much of what is happening now lies at your feet. You don't get to say BLM when reddit nurtures and monetizes white supremacy and hate all da…

> So much of what is happening now lies at your feet.

I just don't know how much of a responsibility reddit has in strong-arming sub-reddits that are communities, whether we like them or not. So I struggle with Ellen's indictment.

It makes it seem like Reddit is a root level cause for where we are at today -- It's not, and is only a symptom. I believe it is unfair to say reddit, and their (somewhat) hands off approach to moderation inside a "community" is somehow the cornerstone to these ills, or that it did something to 'amplify' them

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#65

Post by chomp » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

jimbob45 wrote: post #23

Reddit mods wantonly abuse their power and I'm not even talking about politics. Ever been to r/science? 8/10 comments are deleted and those posts can't be read ever again (I'm understating that number, if anything). Honestly, half the reason I come here is because you can still view dead comments - censorship is a surefire way to get me to leave your community.

>Ever been to r/science?

Bad example - people frequently go to r/science posts when they hit the front page and toss in non-scientific anecdotal evidence, or they will argue with the post using bad science, or they will offer their non-scientific 2 cents on the politics of a study.

The reason why content-heavy subs r/science and r/AskHistorians haven't devolved into the cesspool that is the rest of Reddit is specifically because they keep everyone on topic. You know, actually moderating the discussion.

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#66

Post by MuffinFlavored » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

purephase wrote: post #12

minimaxir wrote: post #3

Relevant context: recently, former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao called out Reddit for their policies after Reddit did a statement on Black Lives Matter: > I am obligated to call you out: You should have shut down the_donald instead of amplifying it and its hate, racism, and violence. So much of what is happening now lies at your feet. You don't get to say BLM when reddit nurtures and monetizes white supremacy and hate all da…

Yeah, TD alone was huge in 2016-2017 and was a huge contributor to the dynamic we have in the world today. Ellen is 100% right here and Alex did absolutely nothing to address it. Good on her for publicly calling it out.

> Yeah, TD alone was huge in 2016-2017 and was a huge contributor to the dynamic we have in the world today

Can you elaborate as to why? I'm not really sure how a subreddit is responsible for hate + violence + racism. How does freedom of speech/thought only work one way?

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#67

Post by psychometry » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 5:17 PM UTC

throwaway45783 wrote: post #26

psychometry wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must be kidding. Please tell me you're kidding. Ever been to /r/the_donald? /r/conspiracy? /r/protectandserve?

What's wrong with /r/conspiracy?

The same thing that's wrong with conspiracy theories (e.g. Q). Lunatics flock to platforms that let them disseminate their lies.

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#68

Post by s9w » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 5:17 PM UTC

tasty_freeze wrote: post #51

s9w wrote: post #4

I really don't know what they want anymore. How much cleaner than Reddit does it get? There is nothing left that is even remotely controversial. I'm so confused. The way he said BLACK candidate also feels really weird. We get it - you want to virtue signal. Make it a little less obvious.

The man is married to a black woman and has a biracial child with her who will be seen as black by and large. It is a personal issue to him. But even if it wasn't a personal issue to him, I'm more disturbed by the number of people who 100% fail to engage with an issue and dismiss it as virtue signalling, as if a person couldn't authentically care about the issue. Yes, Ohanian is a rich guy, but by stepping away from…

Why does he have to say that he's married to a black woman. That he has a black child. That he is quitting. That he's hiring a BLACKKK person etc. Just do it man, don't make a wave. Give money and do all those things. How about hiring the best person for the job and not one that brings you the most goodie points right now. And again Reddit is about the least controversial thing on the net. It's ridiculous to paint it as a "hateful" website (whatever that is).

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#69

Post by sevenf0ur » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 5:17 PM UTC

lksaar wrote: post #49

psychometry wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must be kidding. Please tell me you're kidding. Ever been to /r/the_donald? /r/conspiracy? /r/protectandserve?

r/mgtow, r/metacanada, r/KotakuInAction, r/TumblrinAction, r/unpopularopinion, r/politicalcompassmemes are candidates. The subreddit about the upcoming AAA game "The Last of Us 2" is pretty vile aswell.

Sounds like you aren't fan of those subreddits but should they be shut down if they are not violating the site rules? The fact is that those subs are heavily moderated. If they weren't they'd be the first to go.

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#70

Post by alecb » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 5:17 PM UTC

MarcellusDrum wrote: post #32

Reddit got too mainstream for its own good. The company desperately wants to become the new social media (think Facebook or Twitter), but many users are standing in the way, making the change from a discussion website to a social media website slow. What made me and many others use Reddit in the first place is that it didn't really matter who you are and what's your political and religious background, the only thing…

The site became mainstream while still being extremely vulnerable to manipulation by a very small pool of individuals. They've done next to nothing to address how effective and rampant brigading is (among other tactics).