Live data from Hacker News

Where do we go from here and who is going to step up to help us?

old.reddit.com

111–120 of 200 posts

Re: Where do we go from here and who is going to step up to help us?

#111
post #97
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People of various backgrounds often refer to themselves or close friends of theirs by what would otherwise be offensive slurs. That goes for black people, LGBT people, women, Asians, Jews, heck even white people often refer to themselves or another white person they are close with using a slur. There is actually evidence that people who refer to one another using slurs that would otherwise be offensive do so to stren…

I don't think people are talking about using slurs to describe themselves , but slurs to describe others. The WSB folks are in a weird position where they're using slurs to describe themselves that don't actually apply to them (well, not as a whole; I imagine there are some autistic WSB members, just like there are in most populations). I'm bewildered as to why they think that's funny (or whatever justification they…

Why does it matter what you find offensive though? What you're saying sounds like an excellent reason for you personally not to visit wallstreetbets, it doesn't sound like any kind of reason at all for the community to be curtailed, censored, or banned.

As an example, I grew up in a very religious home. My family would find things like cursing, taking the Lord's name in vain, or advocating for atheism to be very offensive. And yet, I hope it is very easy for you to understand that it would be wrong to take what my religious family finds offensive and apply those ethical rules to other people. Jehovah's Witnesses think birthdays and holidays are offensive, Muslims think graven images are offensive, etc etc. All sorts of people believe all sorts of things. Every group of people is not obliged to not be offensive to every other group of people.

You may be inclined to say that people can choose not to be religious but have no say over things like mental type or race. I don't think that's true because the majority of religious people are in the same religion as their parents, implying there isn't much free choice involved. Even if that were true, why is something you believe less respected than something that you are?

Re: Where do we go from here and who is going to step up to help us?

#112
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what your point is. There are appropriate and inappropriate ways to use words. Making fun of the neuro-atypicals is inappropriate, joking with likeminded folks in a community built around such is likely appropriate. You've just that word you are complaining about, should you be banned?

> You've just that word you are complaining about, should you be banned? The commenting guidelines state: Be kind. Don't be snarky. [...] Don't sneer . Regardless, I will indulge your curiosity. 1) There are certainly other terms in use on WSB that one could take offense to. I personally find this one to be particularly problematic. (The fact that I am myself autistic probably plays a big role in this ;)) 2) I have p…

I don't mean that comment to be snarky or sneering and I apologize if it came off as unkind. What I mean to convey with that comment is that clearly you believe there are acceptable uses of the word. In other words, you don't think that every use of the word should be prohibited.

Once we've reached that point it seems like a negotiation. Why would it be wrong to say sometimes and not wrong other times? My intuition here is that this is tied to whether the word is used with intent to offend or harass someone. In your case, you weren't using the word that way, and I would argue that the same applies largely to uses of the term on wallstreetbets.

Re: Where do we go from here and who is going to step up to help us?

#113
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and I see no problems with being offensive in a joking or ironic manner (as seems to be the case on WSB). However, when you decide to use a slur to do so, you are deciding to insult an entire subgroup of the population as collateral damage.

isn't the above poster's example explicitly insulting to everyone who's mother was drunk repeatedly/for long periods of time while pregnant? and everyone with foetal alcohol syndrome?

No? The insult is to the person you say "was your mother frequently drunk while pregnant with you", not everyone else who might fit that particular profile.

If what you're saying would be true, then calling someone an idiot would be an insult to all the idiots out there. They are clearly not the target of the insult, the person you say it to is the insulted.

Re: Where do we go from here and who is going to step up to help us?

#114
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what your point is. There are appropriate and inappropriate ways to use words. Making fun of the neuro-atypicals is inappropriate, joking with likeminded folks in a community built around such is likely appropriate. You've just that word you are complaining about, should you be banned?

> joking with likeminded folks in a community built around such is likely appropriate. Would you say it is okay for white people to use the n word if there are no Black people around?

I think it depends. Certainly it could be used in a way that conveys racist positions and it could be used in a way that doesn't. Is someone singing along to a rap song a racist? Kids being edgy?

I am not saying though that I think use of the term is okay, only that I don't think it should be prohibited either by law or by the pressure of big companies punishing people who say what is forbidden for them to say. I'm perfectly happy with people who make the judgement that they may never say certain words. I'm not happy with people telling others what they can or cannot say.

Re: Where do we go from here and who is going to step up to help us?

#115
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you don't get to hang out with your friends anymore Yeah you do, just not in someone else's space. Like if you want to bellow out some Klingon opera, you can, but they're gonna throw you out of Tesco. Is "my house, my rules" really so hard to understand?

Surely you can't be serious after what happened to Parler. You just can't period, short of building your own infrastructure.

Parler didn't go down because it's impossible to host platforms without getting taken down. Parler got taken down because they went with hosting providers who have proven time and time again they are not independent platform providers who just follow the law, they are platform providers with opinions that will act on their opinions if they feel like it in the morning.

If Parler wanted, they could have gone a different route and survived without any issues.

Re: Where do we go from here and who is going to step up to help us?

#116
post #3

"We're suffering from success and our Discord was the first casualty. You know as well as I do that if you gather 250k people in one spot someone is going to say something that makes you look bad. That room was golden and the people that run it are awesome. We blocked all bad words with a bot, which should be enough, but apparently if someone can say a bad word with weird unicode icelandic characters and someone can…

>> Of course every platform has the right to dictate users of their platform yada yada...

People who claim that should logically be wanting Rosa Parks to have started her own bus company.

Re: Where do we go from here and who is going to step up to help us?

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not trying to disagree at all. But you are describing the French Revolution, and there are lots of people who think great of it (not me)...

I was under the impression that the historical consensus is that it was an important stepping stone to building modern civilization and granting people the rights they enjoy today, but it was an absolute disaster for everyone who participated in the revolution itself.

Well, both things are compatible.

Re: Where do we go from here and who is going to step up to help us?

#119

Why should I care about them? They are perpetrating a financial bubble that will harm its participants, the economy (possibly to a significant degree), and that is specifically designed to hurt certain people. They are encouraging a mechanism that could do far more damage in the future. It's an angry, violent mob, and what I see looks very much like other violent, angry mobs I've seen recently, including the portraya…

You make a compelling point why I shouldn’t care about Wall Street hedge funds, you are right they form financial bubbles, you’re right it harms participants, the economy, and are specifically designed to bankrupt companies.

Unfortunately even if I don’t participate in these games, my tax money is used to bail them out when they lose.

Re: Where do we go from here and who is going to step up to help us?

#120
post #110

The time is ripe for Decentralized Social Media Networks and Decentralized Finance. Exciting times!

Except that they are also saying they weren't given the mod tools they needed. And I'm not sure how you moderate decentralised social media. I say this as the founder of Retalk.com, which we built exactly for this type of situation. I sincerely hope WSB decide to move platform and join us. We can give them the exact mod tools they need.

You might not want to publicly state you don't know how to deal with moderation (centralized or decentralized) when you're running a public forum, there are tons of solutions out there in the public. Also, why would WSB decide to join you when you're stating you don't really know what you're doing?
Post reply on HN