Changes to our content policy, our board, and where we’re going from here • Hacker News Board

Re: Changes to our content policy, our board, and where we’re going from here

#21

Post by deadalus » Sat, Jun 06, 2020, 9:08 AM UTC

steveeq1 wrote: post #10

zo1 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are unable to apply reason and consistency to any of what's happening, including speech, hiring policies, policing, laws, moderation, etc. Same for "gangster" culture that is absolutely degenerate and probably a huge cause of all sorts of societal ills for many groups, and yet it's being given a free-pass due to "reasons". It's quite sad that we're so powerless collectively as a society to criticize things that ar…

If you say this on reddit, you'll likely either be banned or downvoted so it can't be read. It's not so much censoring as people not wanting to read it. Edit: wow! HN is doing this too! The parent just got flagged.

No wonder Gab, 8kun, 4chan and Voat are seeing a healthy level of activity and consistent growth.

Re: Changes to our content policy, our board, and where we’re going from here

#22

Post by Darmody » Sat, Jun 06, 2020, 9:08 AM UTC

uniqueid wrote: post #11

yqx wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume you mean hands off approach? Can you elaborate on the connection between this announcement and the platform's value as a platform that fosters discussion you perceive? Do you mean content moderation has turned the site into an echo chamber?

Reddit still feels like a biker bar to me. I don't know how many important conversations hinge on the ability to use racial slurs. My naive take would be: few, if any. The average age on Reddit is probably 12 anyways, and those tweens upvote factual errors, more readily than correct information. That's on any topic, political or not. The rate of important problem-solving on Reddit is a big fat goose-egg: Reddit is a…

I wish the average age on Reddit was 12. That would explain a lot of things but it's far from true.

The biggest group on Reddit are millennials, those between 25 and 35 years approx. And it's pretty sad because they don't want to have a civil conversation with anyone. They only want to hear what they already think/believe.

The real value Reddit has it's the small niche subreddits that fly under the radar. Small communities that are not dragged by the hive mentality.

Re: Changes to our content policy, our board, and where we’re going from here

#23

Post by xorcist » Sat, Jun 06, 2020, 9:09 AM UTC

steveeq1 wrote: post #3

And what defines "hate"? Are they going be as consistent with the content of gangsta rappers? I'd wager no. It really is sad to see how hiveminded reddit has become, particularly with the city subreddits. Any person with a dissenting viewpoint either gets banned or gets downvoted to oblivion. And not everyone shares the same viewpoint on who the "bad people" are out there. I, for one, feel that thug brutality is a bi…

> feel that thug brutality is a bigger problem than police brutality

That phrasing, as if we had to choose between two forms of brutality, is the problem itself. Police brutality doesn't decrease other forms of violence.

On the contrary, it legitimizes it and contextualizes it as a war. This has been exhaustively studied for the past half century. It is a sociological problem which has sociological solutions, which a functioning police force is a large part of. Perhaps it is easier to see this pattern if you look at other countries than your own.

If you find yourself accused of taking sides with hate speech, this framing in the form of a false choice might be a big part of why.

Re: Changes to our content policy, our board, and where we’re going from here

#24

Post by deadalus » Sat, Jun 06, 2020, 9:09 AM UTC

KKPMW wrote: post #13

This whole post is weird. Based on the tone they seem to think they are combating racism. But really the CEO of a company just announced that they are looking for a new candidate. Requirements? - No particular requirements, except having the right skin color.

This is the epitome of corporate virtue-signalling. The new candidate will surely end racism completely from Reddit.

Re: Changes to our content policy, our board, and where we’re going from here

#25

Post by eganist » Sat, Jun 06, 2020, 9:10 AM UTC

steveeq1 wrote: post #3

And what defines "hate"? Are they going be as consistent with the content of gangsta rappers? I'd wager no. It really is sad to see how hiveminded reddit has become, particularly with the city subreddits. Any person with a dissenting viewpoint either gets banned or gets downvoted to oblivion. And not everyone shares the same viewpoint on who the "bad people" are out there. I, for one, feel that thug brutality is a bi…

> And what defines "hate"? Are they going be as consistent with the content of gangsta rappers? I'd wager no.

Probably because the content from "gangsta rappers" doesn't instigate brutality that leverages a power imbalance the way cultural and systemic hatred drive police brutality.

> thug brutality is a bigger problem than police brutality

It's objectively not, and I won't hide the reasoning either: police brutality is the end result of power-induced amplification of (as noted earlier) cultural and systemic hatred against minority/protected classes. "Thug" brutality on the other hand... isn't even a thing.

p.s. Your implicit analogy between "gangsta rappers" and "thug" brutality suggests you see "thug" and "black" as analogous; not sure if that's what you were going for, but it certainly reads that way. And since you're asserting "thug brutality" as being worse than power-imbalanced crime - more specifically since you're stating your perception of black-on-black crime as worse than police-on-black crime - it's important for you to understand why the movement itself is so focused on police brutality and systemic bigotry. Circa 2016: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/07/27/wh...

Re: Changes to our content policy, our board, and where we’re going from here

#26

Post by namelosw » Sat, Jun 06, 2020, 9:10 AM UTC

I'm not sure if this is good or bad. Maybe time will tell.

One thing popped up in my mind was YouTube demonetized a lot of videos that are not 'family-friendly', and eventually destroyed a lot of great content creators.

Re: Changes to our content policy, our board, and where we’re going from here

#27

Post by uniqueid » Sat, Jun 06, 2020, 9:10 AM UTC

Darmody wrote: post #8

I blocked Reddit on my computer but I decided to unlock it temporarily to read this. "u/kn0thing has resigned from our board to fill his seat with a Black candidate" Now I regret it. I despise this kind of actions taken based on the colour of the skin/nationality/ethnicity/religion.

    > I despise this kind of actions taken 
    > based on the colour of the skin

Are you sure you aren't applying a rule, on this occasion, without thinking it through? Skin-colour is relevant to the job here: it's a guarantee that the board member will have first-hand experience dealing with the issues Alexis thinks Reddit has mishandled.

Re: Changes to our content policy, our board, and where we’re going from here

#28

Post by Udik » Sat, Jun 06, 2020, 9:14 AM UTC

kitsune_ wrote: post #19

KKPMW wrote: post #13

This whole post is weird. Based on the tone they seem to think they are combating racism. But really the CEO of a company just announced that they are looking for a new candidate. Requirements? - No particular requirements, except having the right skin color.

Your implied reverse-racism argument just doesn't hold. Are you telling me that there are no capable African-Americans who could fill that board position? If not, the what are you arguing? That increasing the representation of historically oppressed minority groups is bad?

Maybe that choosing people based on their ethnicity or skin color is wrong, whatever they might be?

Re: Changes to our content policy, our board, and where we’re going from here

#29

Post by high_derivative » Sat, Jun 06, 2020, 9:14 AM UTC

To me, it seems like a combination of childish-authoritarian beliefs that the world will change for the better once, and only once, you stop anyone from saying anything controversial at all. Once nobody is able to disagree, bad things won't exist any more.

Re: Changes to our content policy, our board, and where we’re going from here

#30

Post by john_alan » Sat, Jun 06, 2020, 9:16 AM UTC

kitsune_ wrote: post #19

KKPMW wrote: post #13

This whole post is weird. Based on the tone they seem to think they are combating racism. But really the CEO of a company just announced that they are looking for a new candidate. Requirements? - No particular requirements, except having the right skin color.

Your implied reverse-racism argument just doesn't hold. Are you telling me that there are no capable African-Americans who could fill that board position? If not, the what are you arguing? That increasing the representation of historically oppressed minority groups is bad?

> Are you telling me that there are no capable African-Americans who could fill that board position?

Of fucking course not.

> If not, the what are you arguing? That increasing the representation of historically oppressed minority groups is bad?

This might be difficult for you to understand but explicitly hiring someone with a particular skin colour is the fucking definition of racism.