If Trump creates a Parler account...they're going to have more than 2M users in a single day. I'm staying far away from that powder keg...
Parler 'free speech' app tops charts in wake of Trump defeat
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Re: Parler 'free speech' app tops charts in wake of Trump defeat
#102I just read about this "alternative" here, so whats the benefit of joining this instead of a mastodon instance which has probably better moderation and community support other than the cool factor ?
Re: Parler 'free speech' app tops charts in wake of Trump defeat
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
(footnote missing?) I'm not entirely convinced by this, since there are a lot of local laws and I don't believe 4chan keeps a big database of which posts are visible in which jurisdictions? Do they have an equivalent of Twitter's is_nazi flag? ( https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/tweet-withhel... / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strafgesetzbuch_section_86a )
4chan's only infrastructure is in California, so they really only have to abide by California and US laws. Only way for other countries to make them abide is via blocking them, which may not really be worth the effort if there are only a smattering of users in your jurisdiction using it
Strange that they would choose a jurisdiction that’s so famously hostile to free speech /s
Re: Parler 'free speech' app tops charts in wake of Trump defeat
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
My point is that I think those people will end up realising that they need some form of moderation that will likely conflict with the core premise of the platform.
Moderation is not binary... There's a hell of a difference between banning misgendering and banning someone who spends all day sending unsolicited replies or shock images.
I'm not going to comment on this example, as we may disagree, but I think that there's more than unsolicited replies and shock images that will happen here, there will be significant rallying against certain groups, and members of those groups will feel unsafe around that.
The problem for Parler is that many of their target market (the right) are in fact in one of these groups. Women, ethnic minorities, the rich, the poor, veterans, the less abled, conservative voters, libertarian voters, the list goes on and more examples will arrive.
Building a platform on being a safe space for division and exclusion can't succeed because that same force will make it an unsafe space for all but the small niche that win the territory.
We've already seen hints of women on the conservative right having a problem with misogyny from others in the community...
Re: Parler 'free speech' app tops charts in wake of Trump defeat
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
> their terms of service prohibit inciting terrorism or acts of violence – issues that 4chan/etc deal with by allowing it 4chan and similar communities typically comply with local laws[1], which means no incitation to violence/terrorism (and if you spent some time there vs. only reading articles about it, you'd see this is enforced).
(footnote missing?) I'm not entirely convinced by this, since there are a lot of local laws and I don't believe 4chan keeps a big database of which posts are visible in which jurisdictions? Do they have an equivalent of Twitter's is_nazi flag? ( https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/tweet-withhel... / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strafgesetzbuch_section_86a )
My bad: [1] https://www.4channel.org/rules
> 1. You will not upload, post, discuss, request, or link to anything that violates local or United States law.
By local laws, I meant US laws for 4chan, and wherever other location the alternative boards may be hosted.
Re: Parler 'free speech' app tops charts in wake of Trump defeat
#106My main issue with all these platforms supposedly being born to defend "free speech" is that they're a reactionist measure from certain ideas being deemed inappropriate by the common populace, so it's less about all kinds of free speech and more about protecting their speech.
I'm convinced that no centralized platform is able to provide true free speech and even if it does, people should not be denied of the benefits of moderation/curation so I do think distributed/federated platforms are the way to go, even if they have issues scaling up. True, in the end, they may just end up being bubbles and echo chambers, but you ultimately get to choose which ones to engage in, instead of leaving that choice to someone else and their fickle mood to appease shareholders.
Re: Parler 'free speech' app tops charts in wake of Trump defeat
#107I think that all these platforms: Parler, Gab, etc, will end up with one of two fates. They'll either fail to make it big and remain a niche thing for those trolls who enjoy the edginess, like 4chan and its newer alternatives, or... They'll grow big and end up having to deal with "trust and safety" issues when the majority of users on the mainstream end of the spectrum demand protection from those users who would oth…
I agree that these mechanics will always play out at scale, unless users are in charge of moderation/curation/governance.
Successful cases in point:
Discord: Closed bubbles, users in absolute control of entry and moderation. Still going strong.
8chan: Open bubbles, users in absolute control of moderation. You also had conservative alt-right and LGBTQ communities, cleanly separated, mostly just ignoring each other. Only got killed by "black-swan" events and the subsequent pressure from press attention.
Tumblr: Organic user-powered curation via likes and reposts (vs Twitter/FB style "AI" algorithms having their way), you had LGBTQ, neo nazi, porn/conservative communities existing in parallel with effective but organic and moving boundaries. Only got killed by external pressure from advertisers.
Re: Parler 'free speech' app tops charts in wake of Trump defeat
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
The stars option will switch back automatically though after some period of time, which is why I switched to https://tweetdeck.twitter.com for my interface.
If you switch back enough times it will stop trying. Same with other things like suggested tweets in your notifications or likes from others, if you see those just click on the top right arrow on the option that says I'm not interested and after a few days it will stop showing them.
> just click on the top right arrow on the option that says I'm not interested
Haha - I just use the block button like it’s going out of fashion. Cleans things up nicely.
Re: Parler 'free speech' app tops charts in wake of Trump defeat
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
> fail to make it big and remain a niche thing for those trolls who enjoy the edginess, It would fail on those terms as well due to irrelevance: When your political agenda consists of annoying and offending "the other", they need to be present to take offence. If they're not listening, where's the fun? The "echo chamber" aspect takes all the fun out of the performative cruelty.
You are making an assumption that it's primarily about performative cruelty. But I would guess a non-trivial amount of them are just looking for a place where they feel safe talking about what they believe. Every slice of the political/cultural spectrum has it's trolls but they trolls are not representative of the general population. I may think much of what the other side says is reprehensible but I can generally te…
I like both points here. Twitter gets traction because professional trolls / grifters use it to build their personal brand.
They are frequently newspaper columnists, authors, and TV pundits who benefit directly or indirectly from have a large number of followers (whether they following in agreement or follow out of outrage, it matters not).
Sadly this is true of the left as well as the right; they are all selling something.
These Professionals need large mainstream audiences, which is why they love twitter and twitter loves them, but they are a different animal to the tribalists who want to satisfy their need to mix with like minded people.
Until the fringe sites enable the former as well as the latter it's not immediately obvious how they remain viable.
Re: Parler 'free speech' app tops charts in wake of Trump defeat
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not exactly the same but this article talks about a gay guy being banned for (supposedly) pointing out that there are very non-binary people in the world, and objecting to the idea that language should be changed to accomodate them: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/megan-fox/2019/10/19/t... The article quotes some of his tweets on the topic.
Are we absolutely sure that's what he was banned for? Twitter makes it very unclear, there isn't a "[user was banned for posting this tweet]" report. Given their failure to ban glinner for far worse stuff I suspect there's something else going on.
Now that is something I wish all the social media platforms would enforce on their moderator staff.
Every ban should be accompanied with at least one sentence of explanation, a quote from the relevant law or ToS, and the text or image (with a nice red circle if required) in question. If the content was illegal then a summary instead.
It should be a choice to view it, as public as the posting itself, and subject to comments also.
As best I can tell, Facebook bans are done by monkeys hitting buttons randomly to get through their queue as quickly as possible. I don't think Twitter is much better.