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Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

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

#401

Post by tnecniv »

commandlinefan wrote: post #215
alecb wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What "political agenda"? If anything, the original core of the site was very left-leaning or heterodox technophiles that didn't have a home on Slashdot. The political parts of the site are now very much deadlocked in the center-right frame of the Democratic party, pretty far away from what the site once was.

> the original core of the site was very left-leaning I don't remember it that way. I remember it being very libertarian (Ron Paul was the Bernie Sanders of 2000's reddit) for a very long time. I believed that the shift to a left-wing orientation was organic and representative of the general population UNTIL the whole T_D thing came along... T_D was doing the same thing, pulling the site to the right, until Reddit's…

I'm not sure why you're being downvoted, perhaps over how people are defining core.

In terms of the user base, I definitely remember early Reddit having a strong libertarian bent, or at least significant conflict between libertarians and more mainstream leftists. Things seemed to shift left roughly when the Digg influx happened.

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

#402

Post by a_t48 »

jimbob45 wrote: post #99
Sharlin wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best subreddits are those that are either a) very tightly moderated or b) obscure enough for the Eternal September not (yet) having happened to them. Most of the rest of the content is extremely low quality.

4chan only removes illegal content and I enjoy it just fine. Reddit’s voting system pushes down low-quality content well enough on its own.

4chan /b/ only removes illegal content. The rest of the sections are filtered and restricted by topic.

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

#403

Post by ilikehurdles »

luckylion wrote: post #361
ilikehurdles wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The radical right capitalized on the whole gamergate scandal to push their agendas, and their fathers and grandfathers wouldn't have generally identified as gamers.

Well, yes, in that way nothing that happens today can be in any way, shape or form similar to something that happened 50 years ago. After all, they didn't have cell phones and Twitch back then.

Was I making a comparison? Was I shutting the door to one? Did I make a statement that in any way, shape, or form suggests that nothing today is similar to something that happened 50 years ago?

I was stating what I still believe is a factual observation. I didn't claim or imply that other generations could not or were not radicalized throughout history. I wasn't suggesting that only young males can be radicalized, that reddit is the only place it can happen, that only right-wing entities have ever radicalized people, or that their opinions are somehow novel.

Would you would like to argue that the groups associated with "gamergate" weren't on reddit, weren't radicalized, weren't radicalized by right-wing entities, weren't young, and/or weren't generally male?

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

#405

Post by ilikehurdles »

buttersbrian wrote: post #385
ilikehurdles wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit, among other social media websites, has been used as an avenue for the radicalization of, particularly, young males.

What hasn't been used as an avenue? The point being, how much is "reddit" proper actually responsible? How much of that burden do they actually carry in policing isolated (by nature) and self-managed communities? I just don't know where that line is, and whether it's fair of Ellen to characterize it this way. And to do it as a response to what he's saying -- that comes off as somewhat tactless to me.

I don't believe that anyone is absolved of responsibility for their platform simply because the platform is "performing as designed", which is to say, with minimal moderation and policing of "self-managed" communities. It's hypocritical to hide behind the algorithm, the product, or the source code that allows extremist groups recruit when you're the one that built the product, and you're the one actively choosing to pursue market power at the expense of social good.

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

#406

Post by dredmorbius »

gigatexal wrote: post #276

The more and more I hear people debating what to do with the overt hate speak on the internet the more I think that having it out in the open (and the harm that follows for the groups that the hate is directed towards) allows the rest of us in the system to offer correction and rebuttal that if censored or deplatformed one is unable to do. I can't say it as clearly as Ben Thompson did on his take on what Facebook did…

https://stratechery.com/2020/unmasking-twitter/ ???

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

#407

Post by dredmorbius »

op03 wrote: post #92

Social media will get much better when the reward/punishment mechanisms change and evolves. It's happening too slowly and at high cost to everyone.

How, specifically?

Information- and systems-dynamics suggest to me strongly otherwise. Mencken and Barnum seem validated.

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

#408

Post by belorn »

sailingparrot wrote: post #349
cwhiz wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>freedom of speech is still important > just not have it in a place where it might get surfaced and advertised to people that weren't looking for it. You're going to have to pick one of these two statements. If freedom of speech is important then let the audience determine what makes it to the front page. If freedom of speech isn't important than hide content you don't like and continue building your own bubble.

> You're going to have to pick one of these two statements. Absolutly not. Repeating myself from a bit further down: It's basically the same issue with all social platform, yes everyone should have the right to express their views, but mass amplification via the platform's algorithm shouldn't be a right. Also, > let the audience determine what makes it to the front page /r/t_d was gaming the upvote system to have way…

The issue is indeed the same with all social platforms but also media and broadcast. The singular question is this: What entity can really artfully determine who ought to speak to the masses in the interest of society? Is there someone with superiority of wisdom that can determine who should speak to many, and if so, is the answer the same ones that hold that power today. In the not-so-long ago it was the priest who spoke to the many and the king with the divine wisdom. Today we know better and thus we have given that power to... the ones we elect? No. It is the one whose platform has the highest stickyness.

Mass amplification via a platform's algorithm is not a big step above the old ways, and the platform owner does not seem to have much better divine wisdom than past kings.

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

#409

Post by fullshark »

koheripbal wrote: post #392
tmpz22 wrote: post #43

“After making a shit ton of money, raising way more money then we needed to, and ultimately handing the future of the platform to soulless investors, I’ve decided to leave to better support people oppressed by police brutality” seems like a more honest statement to me but I guess it doesn’t read as well. Edit: Snark aside, his actions and financial commitments to various organizations (as well as some of his future e…

I think the bottom line is that he could never really make Reddit work as a site for useful conversations, NOR as successful social media company. I think this November is going to illustrate just how much of an echo chamber it is, and it will go the way of so many other failed sites before it.

It really does seem like the run up to this November is going to do lasting damage to a lot of social media platforms. Friends are gonna turn on friends on some platforms, and on others people are going to lather themselves into blind uncontrollable rage. Beyond not being healthy I don't see users being happy with spending their time doing this. The addictive rush of having your biases confirmed can only provide so much joy.

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

#410

Post by fernandotakai »

orthecreedence wrote: post #399
Avicebron wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also been thoroughly confused by a weird form of "liberal" that has infested social media. It's not necessarily left-leaning as in "help the poor workers, unionize, strong manufacturing domestically, etc". It's "offshore everything, maximize profit" damn the workers. It's very much not a left position in the traditional sense.

Yeah it's bizarre. (Us) Americans sure love to chop up our words, and it seems even more we love to create binary classifications for three different axes of beliefs (social, political, economic). Like, ok, if I'm a communist but believe the government should be as small as possible to serve only its core set of functions, which box do I fit into? If I think women should have the right to choose what's best for their…

>Like, ok, if I'm a communist but believe the government should be as small as possible to serve only its core set of functions, which box do I fit into? If I think women should have the right to choose what's best for their bodies, but I support free speech and the right to bear arms, what am I?

that's how i feel -- i want a small government and i want people to do whatever they want with their own bodies while being able to own guns.

people say i'm libertarian, but i don't agree with a lot of libertarian points of view (i still think government has a place in society and i think we do need some social safety net, like public health care and even negative income taxes.).

there's not a box that i feel inside other than "classical liberal" (in the milton friedman sense of the term) but whenever i say that, i' met with either laughter or hate.

honestly, it's quite hard to discuss political issues nowadays on the internet, where everyone is super extreme and if you don't fit any boxes, you get silenced (including here, btw).

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