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Reddit bans subreddit group “r/DonaldTrump”

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Re: Reddit bans subreddit group “r/DonaldTrump”

#81
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. I've long worried lurking there was going to cause more harm than it's worth (for example, by letting me inadvertently slip into extremism) but the ability to predict what happened this week so easily and warn people about it who considered going was well worth that risk. Also I read there they are losing their SSL cert or something, so that might be how centralized, non-legal authority manages to shut them dow…

As in let's encrypt is going to blacklist their domain? Sounds unlikely. It doesn't really matter. If this starts being a problem, we'll use a decentralized web of trust for SSL. It doesn't have to be centralized.

Yeah I'll admit I didn't follow it completely and didn't care enough to investigate. I'm sure it'll bubble up here if it does with more details just like when they got nuked from Reddit. Arguably sites like this one are a good way to gauge the true robustness of the Internet - given the situation this week they clearly now are in the realm of law enforcement, but up until these rather insane events to me their continued presence was an existence proof that speech on the web is still in a good place. Now if they get taken down I won't judge it too harshly against that thesis since they basically fomented a theoretical insurrection by the letter of the law, even though in practice the "coup" turns out was never a real threat given how ridiculous things went once the dog caught the car.

Re: Reddit bans subreddit group “r/DonaldTrump”

#82

For those who like to hear from both sides, without such biased moderation, https://ruqqus.com is an option.

After a cursory check of the "frontpage" there... yeah, it doesn't seem very balanced. More like "r/The_Donald"-lite, with even some anti-vaxx stuff thrown in.

Re: Reddit bans subreddit group “r/DonaldTrump”

#83
post #32
post #12

Irrelevant. Most of the original users of /r/theDonald migrated theDonald.win, which became one of the top websites in the US in terms of traffic. They're behind Cloudflare and constantly DDoSd these days it seems like it. Moreover, they've gotten threats from their ISP that they have to delete certain posts or be shut down. (which seems scary to me) Also, please don't judge me, I just have a morbid curiosity to see…

Same. I've long worried lurking there was going to cause more harm than it's worth (for example, by letting me inadvertently slip into extremism) but the ability to predict what happened this week so easily and warn people about it who considered going was well worth that risk. Also I read there they are losing their SSL cert or something, so that might be how centralized, non-legal authority manages to shut them dow…

>Which, it probably goes without saying, should scare the shit out of anyone who cares about the principles of the free Internet.

Service-providers giving the boot to « problematic » users is as far as I know as old as the Internet.

Re: Reddit bans subreddit group “r/DonaldTrump”

#84
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t it strange that you have to make a disclaimer like “please don’t judge me?”. Quite literally 1/2 of the USA voted for Trump, should you automatically be ashamed of that? (It’s easy for me to say ofc, I have no horse in this race)

Half of the US has been told to not follow the news. Hacker News is a news site so I imagine little to no one on the Trump train is here.

Not in the Trump train themselves, but there are definitely a lot of libertarians on here who believe in absolute free speech - a position that is seen as borderline ridiculous from an European (specifically: German) perspective.

Re: Reddit bans subreddit group “r/DonaldTrump”

#85
post #27
post #12

Irrelevant. Most of the original users of /r/theDonald migrated theDonald.win, which became one of the top websites in the US in terms of traffic. They're behind Cloudflare and constantly DDoSd these days it seems like it. Moreover, they've gotten threats from their ISP that they have to delete certain posts or be shut down. (which seems scary to me) Also, please don't judge me, I just have a morbid curiosity to see…

Isn’t it strange that you have to make a disclaimer like “please don’t judge me?”. Quite literally 1/2 of the USA voted for Trump, should you automatically be ashamed of that? (It’s easy for me to say ofc, I have no horse in this race)

Nitpick: 1/2 of the US did not vote for Trump. In 2016, of the eligible voting populous, only 54.8% voted in the election. Of them, the popular vote was lost by Donald Trump, who got around 63 million votes.

So even winning, it doesn’t really need to be that close to half of the U.S.

Not to say that isn’t a sizable chunk or anything.

Re: Reddit bans subreddit group “r/DonaldTrump”

#86
post #27
post #12

Irrelevant. Most of the original users of /r/theDonald migrated theDonald.win, which became one of the top websites in the US in terms of traffic. They're behind Cloudflare and constantly DDoSd these days it seems like it. Moreover, they've gotten threats from their ISP that they have to delete certain posts or be shut down. (which seems scary to me) Also, please don't judge me, I just have a morbid curiosity to see…

Isn’t it strange that you have to make a disclaimer like “please don’t judge me?”. Quite literally 1/2 of the USA voted for Trump, should you automatically be ashamed of that? (It’s easy for me to say ofc, I have no horse in this race)

Approximately 22% of the USA voted for Trump this election.

Re: Reddit bans subreddit group “r/DonaldTrump”

#87
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What part about "deleted" don't you understand?

Content moderation is a form of free speech. You don't get to tell others what to do just because of your wayward political views. They taught us this in elementary school.

I agree - but as I've said above at some point, at some certain size, moderation goes very quickly to censorship when you go deleting the largest platform by far for one side to discuss things, when they're NOT actually doing anything that thousands of other subreddits do that aren't banned.

Re: Reddit bans subreddit group “r/DonaldTrump”

#88
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t it strange that you have to make a disclaimer like “please don’t judge me?”. Quite literally 1/2 of the USA voted for Trump, should you automatically be ashamed of that? (It’s easy for me to say ofc, I have no horse in this race)

> Quite literally 1/2 of the USA voted for Trump No, they didn't.

Approximately 23% of the US population voted for him. Typically I don't like this arguement, the rest of the population would probably have voted along much the same proportions as those who did.

Re: Reddit bans subreddit group “r/DonaldTrump”

#89
post #51
post #13

The cynic in me can't help but notice that all these platforms are suddenly growing a backbone now that we know Democrats will control both the executive and legislative branches.

I think it's impossible to say. The fact that the capitol got stormed the same day as the democrats won control means it's impossible to disaggregate. It might be a cynical move by Facebook but is it also a cynical move by Betsy Devos? What difference did democrat control make to her?

> What difference did democrat control make to her?

Nothing imo. Before it was probable that there could be careers and jobs outside of the presidency. With these moves it seems like Trump decided to make his bed with the worst of his base and a lot of people have finally decided that it's a bridge too far. Last-minute attempts to distance themselves after playing along the entire time.

Re: Reddit bans subreddit group “r/DonaldTrump”

#90
post #51
post #13

The cynic in me can't help but notice that all these platforms are suddenly growing a backbone now that we know Democrats will control both the executive and legislative branches.

I think it's impossible to say. The fact that the capitol got stormed the same day as the democrats won control means it's impossible to disaggregate. It might be a cynical move by Facebook but is it also a cynical move by Betsy Devos? What difference did democrat control make to her?

My take is that resigning now prevents having to answer the question of supporting action under the 25th amendment.
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