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Facebook shuts popular stock trading group amid GameStop frenzy

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Re: Facebook shuts popular stock trading group amid GameStop frenzy

#511

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a paying customer, you can negotiate whatever terms you want. They will want the ability to discontinue your service and you will conversely want that ability as well. However you can negotiate the exact terms as well as any notice periods, etc. You have no consideration relationship with Facebook. You haven't entered into a contract. You are just filling out forms on a website.

> As a paying customer, you can negotiate whatever terms you want. They will want the ability to discontinue your service and you will conversely want that ability as well. However you can negotiate the exact terms as well as any notice periods, etc. Theoretically, yes. In reality, I’m too small an account to warrant anything besides boilerplate. The big boys may be able to negotiate. I cannot.

I've negotiated contracts for a single server at a data center. You don't have to be huge to have some negotiating power.

Now it's possible you are so extremely deplorable that nobody is willing to take your money but I think that is society functioning as it should. People are still willing to put up with a lot when money is involved.

Re: Facebook shuts popular stock trading group amid GameStop frenzy

#512

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes people ask, why do rich people keep striving for more money? What is the point of having $1B instead of $100M, or $10B instead of $1B, or $100B instead of $10B? Sometimes the answer is given, that it's the same impulse as playing a computer game and money is the score. But the last few days, something else occurred to me, watching the kind of disarray of various billionaire hedge fund types. A big attractio…

Money is the score

When playing a computer game, of course, after you get a high score, you start over at zero, and there's a good chance you switch to a different game.

Re: Facebook shuts popular stock trading group amid GameStop frenzy

#513

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Phone lines are privately owned, not publicly. Yes the locality may own the poles, but it may not either. They are leased or granted access to the right of way. Facebook also owns at least some of its own interconnects. It is fine with me if you disagree on principle, but to act like anybody can just create the network effect of Facebook and compete is frankly ridiculous.

You're splitting hairs about phone lines -- you know what I'm talking about. You talk like Facebook was the first ever social network and didn't start out of dorm room. You talk like there aren't any other social networks right now. Or that there aren't other media companies. What's the end game here? What exactly do you want? The inability to moderate? Nationalized? Broken up? I guarantee you can't come up with a si…

The end game for Facebook definitely should include breaking them up. Nationalized, probably not, but they need to be small enough that the federal government can regulate them like every other industry.

Facebook’s scale and power are bad for capitalism and democracy. You may find it ridiculous to break them up, but plenty of serious people in this world don’t.

Re: Facebook shuts popular stock trading group amid GameStop frenzy

#514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m far more concerned with deleting an entire group than a single account.

How about deleting an entire platform? Were you concerned about that?

I don’t use Parler, but I don’t think it should be constructively banned from the internet in the US, if that’s what your referring to.

Insofar as people are committing crimes on Parler, I hope that they will be investigated.

Re: Facebook shuts popular stock trading group amid GameStop frenzy

#515

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're splitting hairs about phone lines -- you know what I'm talking about. You talk like Facebook was the first ever social network and didn't start out of dorm room. You talk like there aren't any other social networks right now. Or that there aren't other media companies. What's the end game here? What exactly do you want? The inability to moderate? Nationalized? Broken up? I guarantee you can't come up with a si…

The end game for Facebook definitely should include breaking them up. Nationalized, probably not, but they need to be small enough that the federal government can regulate them like every other industry. Facebook’s scale and power are bad for capitalism and democracy. You may find it ridiculous to break them up, but plenty of serious people in this world don’t.

I'd argue Fox News is worse for capitalism and democracy -- why single out Facebook? Also why do they have to be broken up to be regulated by the government? Laws shouldn't apply to extremely specific situations or single entities. If you are really worried about scale and power, you actually have a long list of companies to go through before you even get to Facebook.

So break it up, how? In what way? And if you've broken Facebook up, how have you ensured that you've actually solved the problem you intend to solve.

Re: Facebook shuts popular stock trading group amid GameStop frenzy

#516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As a paying customer, you can negotiate whatever terms you want. They will want the ability to discontinue your service and you will conversely want that ability as well. However you can negotiate the exact terms as well as any notice periods, etc. Theoretically, yes. In reality, I’m too small an account to warrant anything besides boilerplate. The big boys may be able to negotiate. I cannot.

I've negotiated contracts for a single server at a data center. You don't have to be huge to have some negotiating power. Now it's possible you are so extremely deplorable that nobody is willing to take your money but I think that is society functioning as it should. People are still willing to put up with a lot when money is involved.

If I was so extremely deplorable, more people would give me their money enabling me to increase my bargaining position. Alas, I’m just a regular boring schmuck.

Re: Facebook shuts popular stock trading group amid GameStop frenzy

#517
post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "But they're really really actually super-duper truly totally bad!" isn't a valid argument, since many, many people can use it and they will. It is absurdity to make the claim that, since anyone can say anything, no meaningful concept of objectivity can exist. Interesting how often it recurs in "free speech at any cost" argumentation.

Objectivity applies to positive statements, not normative ones.

Normative statements are based on one's observations and interpretations of facts, and that basis can be meaningfully scrutinized.

Re: Facebook shuts popular stock trading group amid GameStop frenzy

#518

Facebook has done it. Reddit is probably very close. In the future, we might rely on other channels of communication. At which point if a situation like this happens again, the ISPs will intervene instead. Disgusting on so many levels (Robinhood, Platforms (Facebook, Google, Discord)).

(Akamai, Google, Google) if you consider in terms of CDN providers of those platforms.

Re: Facebook shuts popular stock trading group amid GameStop frenzy

#519

Just move to Matrix already... https://matrix.org/clients/

Does it have a web front end where I can see public discussions without registration? If not, I'm not interested.

It has this: https://app.element.com

Re: Facebook shuts popular stock trading group amid GameStop frenzy

#520

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you believe Facebook has no legal or moral requirement to host content from people regardless of their race? I don't quite know the law in America, but I'm more interested in the moral question. Is racial discrimination by a company like Facebook morally acceptable to you regardless of whether it's legal or not?

Facebook is no different than any other business in this case. If you walk into a restaurant and you are rude to the waiters or you cause a commotion that restaurant can refuse your service and kick you out. Or heck, maybe they just want to close early. Legal and moral. If you are Black and walk into a restaurant and you are refused service that is both illegal (in the US) and immoral.

I see.

What if you walk in and are somebody named wvenable so they kick you out? As you've said, you believe they have that right.

What if you walk in and are ginger so they kick you out?

Have poor eyesight?

Are dressed in the costume of a religion they don't like?

Are dressed in the costume of a political ideology they don't like?

I'm trying to work out a set of fundamental principals are would distinguish good discrimination from bad. I often see people, such as yourself, adamantly insisting that some kinds are good or some are bad but the distinction seems arbitrary.

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