Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went private for a while • Hacker News Board

Re: Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went private for a while

#261

Post by throwaway829 » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 1:09 AM UTC

johncessna wrote: post #127

>Discord says it did not ban the server for financial fraud — rather, it was banned because it continued to allow “hateful and discriminatory content after repeated warnings.” Funny how that works. If they're not careful, people might start to think 'Hate Speech' could be misused to pursue an agenda. 'It's not that I disagree with what they are doing, they should have just called each other assholes instead of the X…

As an ex-scientologist, I know how labeling websites "Hate Speech" can be abused. It's only when I ignored their "Hate Speech" warnings that I was able to figure out the fraud that is Scientology.

Re: Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went private for a while

#262

Post by thinkingemote » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 1:09 AM UTC

TechBro8615 wrote: post #228

Blikkentrekker wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently 4chan floods with increase in traffic after such waves. 8chan , which was far better, went under for it though.

The fact that 4Chan itself has not been the target of deplatforming efforts is confusing to me. If I were to put my tinfoil hat on for a bit, I might speculate that it’s a honeypot that shares data with the feds.

Oh it's not a secret, 4chan is and has been for decades actually proactive (or at least no supoena needed) with sharing data with LEO and has strong (albeit US free speech levels of) moderation across all of the site.

If a UK citizen were to post as offensively as a US citizen they would and have been arrested. The site doesn't give protection.

I steer clear of it, but wonder if with more EU like moderation a better site could be formed.

Re: Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went private for a while

#263

Post by cbozeman » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 1:10 AM UTC

mrtksn wrote: post #133

ve55 wrote: post #14

And they chose today as the best possible time to enact this ban? Really? I really think they should have put more thought into the timing of this decision; a lot of users are going to be upset and will suddenly start to realize that a single company has a monopoly on their online social life (this may seem like an exaggeration, but it feels quite true to me colloquially, especially if you're a younger US male and/or…

See, the problem is that people are doing all this because they believe that it doesn’t matter. These are not idealists or indoctrinated revolutionaries. No one is going to do anything if it’s not going to bring lulz or cash quickly because nothing matters anyway. All the anti establishment movement is nihilistic in its core. These are not Eastern European kids who dream to finish school and go to Western Europe and…

The worst, or maybe the best, part of your post is that you don't realize the American youth from the 60s literally created this generation with their greed and entitlement.

Re: Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went private for a while

#264

Post by baud147258 » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 1:11 AM UTC

Blikkentrekker wrote: post #258

TechBro8615 wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that 4Chan itself has not been the target of deplatforming efforts is confusing to me. If I were to put my tinfoil hat on for a bit, I might speculate that it’s a honeypot that shares data with the feds.

4chan hosts it's own server: — how could it? Cloudflare did drop 8chan for political pressure. Both also have a very undeserved reputation. I saw news reports on 8chan as if it were something similar to Stormfront . The front page was mostly video game and pornography and one had to search very deep into it's hidden circles to find racial supremacy content.

Even if 4chan host their servers, if they're not in someone's basement, they'd be in colocation, which can then be targeted, since I don't think 4chan own the full datacenter.

Re: Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went private for a while

#265

Post by username90 » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 1:11 AM UTC

madeofpalk wrote: post #158

scarmig wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think at this point every single unpopular or questionable action made by an institution is going to go with a "it's to prevent hate/discrimination" justification. It's an easy way to get a credulous mob on your side; you can always nutpick random examples; and if someone argues against it they just prove they're one of the racists/whatever.

I mean your comment is based on the assumption that hate speech doesn't happen online. in my experience, places like discord and a bunch of subreddits are sweltering with it. it is not surprising at all that something that blew up as fast as this had trouble moderating hate speech out and became a host for it.

Selective enforcement of laws is an old strategy to legally discriminate. It has been used many times to discriminate against blacks. What makes you think it can't be used to discriminate against other groups, like for example r/WallStreetBets?

Of course we can't say for sure. But at the same time we can't say for sure that specific policemen were actually racist when they attacked black people, or if they would do the same thing against white people in similar situation. You can find statistical patterns there, but similarly you can also find statistical patterns that certain groups on message boards gets banned for less than certain other groups.

Re: Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went private for a while

#266

Post by jfim » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 1:11 AM UTC

epistasis wrote: post #64

rory wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've officially ticked off rich and well-connected people, so regulators are coming to shake the tree branch (I have no idea whether what they're doing is illegal or not) and the platforms want to distance themselves from that ASAP.

I don't think anybody has ever suffered negative regulatory action for doing a short squeeze. Even Martin Shkreli didn't get in trouble for his.

It has happened in the past: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/squeeze-on-goldman-put-fal... and https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2012-2012-122htm

Re: Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went private for a while

#267

Post by cccc4all » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 1:12 AM UTC

This is Censorship with capital C.

Anyone that claims that Discord is private company and can do whatever they want, read the room.

Discord did this because they were likely afraid of negative government attention, SEC, IRS, FTC, FCC etc.

If a private company censors because it thinks that's what the government regulators want them to censor, is it really private company just doing "moderation"?

Re: Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went private for a while

#268

Post by notahacker » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 1:12 AM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #124

LMYahooTFY wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your assertion based on?

I'm guessing: probability estimates. Realistically speaking, they had every opportunity to enact this ban before, and freedom to do so after the #gamestonk bonanza dies down. So why act now?

Realistically speaking those particular forums weren't major news stories and flooded with new users (many of them not working for hedge funds!) who don't like what they see before.

From the point of view of someone with no stake in the outcome, the possibility some WSB regulars' strategy for cashing out their profits was based around these newbies being encouraged to buy as much GSE as possible probably isn't an argument in favour of delaying action

Re: Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went private for a while

#269

Post by undefined1 » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 1:12 AM UTC

justinzollars wrote: post #236

motohagiography wrote: post #206

Nice one Discord, you just radicalized 2 million WSB subscribers and everyone else who hears about it. Well done.

this is an interesting comment. radicalized into what or who?

Decentralization

Re: Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went private for a while

#270

Post by chrissnell » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 1:14 AM UTC

SirensOfTitan wrote: post #259

Remember: Parler tried “making their own X”. They were taken offline by a concerted effort at every level, despite the fact that a large portion of the capitol protests were organized on Facebook and YouTube. Anyone who’s ever been an activist for long enough knows that the censorship that silenced your enemies will eventually silence you. Corporate policing of speech needs to stop.

Social media is about to take the same trajectory that MP3s once did. Just as we saw the evolution of Napster and IRC trading, the RIAA takedowns, the rise of BitTorrent, and the eventual emergence of streaming services, I believe we will see a similar trajectory with social media and free speech:

1. Technology enables new social phenomena that subvert the status quo.

2. Corporations move to combat these phenomena 3. New technology to subvert these controls

4. Industry faces reckoning and embraces the new technology, losing some profit but avoiding a complete loss of control.