If your website's full of assholes, it's your fault (2011) • Hacker News Board

Re: If your website's full of assholes, it's your fault (2011)

#51

Post by bsder » Sun, Jun 26, 2022, 9:59 PM UTC

Akronymus wrote: post #48

bsder wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> welcoming. This includes people I disagree with politically. I disagree on this one vehemently . This is spoken like someone from a privileged position of the majority or in a relatively cosmopolitan area. Be an atheist or agnostic in the Bible belt. You will find yourself either in conflict or holding your tongue A LOT . Be a nurse in the Bible belt. You will get attacked by your family for promoting "vax conspira…

The sam,e thing goes the other way as well, though. Like being pro gun in most democrat strongholds.

> Like being pro gun in most democrat strongholds.

A very poor choice of example demonstrating a lack of actual experience with those people and groups.

A LOT of hunters are from Democratic strongholds--Pennsylvania and New York, for example. So many people hunt in Pennsylvania (including Pittsburgh and Philadelphia) that the first day of hunting season is a state holiday.

And the "gun control" rhetoric in California originated with "Saint Reagan" (Republican, please note) when minorities started to arm themselves.

Re: If your website's full of assholes, it's your fault (2011)

#52

Post by warpspin » Mon, Jun 27, 2022, 2:18 PM UTC

This is easier said than done. The one thing all online communities suffer from is you cannot truly perma-ban people on the internet, making moderation a bottomless pit. Only chance you have is basically charging people to sign up, but then you will also drive away 99,99% of your target audience.

Re: If your website's full of assholes, it's your fault (2011)

#53

Post by caracustard » Mon, Jun 27, 2022, 8:01 PM UTC

rhn_mk1 wrote: post #32

caracustard wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By that logic lets stop paying street sweepers and sanitation workers. See, their incenitives are mutually aligned with the interests of those who walk the streets, so there is no reason to "extract money". Sure thing, but the article in question EXPLICITLY mentions "You should make a budget that supports having a good community, or you should find another line of work.", which means that one way or another funding i…

I'm sure if you stopped paying the street sweepers, you'd find out that a lot of them don't care about sanitation, and the rest can't pick up the burden. That's why they get paid. Even then, I'd rather have one of those motivated by cleanliness service my area. Just the same way, I'll choose a forum that's not monetized. I don't see how that sentence means that funding is needed. Plenty of forums exist with community…

Exactly. And what do people do when there are tasks that: a) most people don't care about and b) are fundamental to the well being of the community? They offer a reward for accomplishing those tasks.

Why would they service your area at all? Are you sure that your area has people that would go around keeping the streets clean 8 hours a day for nothing in return? Not choosing a forum just because it's monetized is an odd choice to be fair, considering that this conversation takes place on a website that's, well... monetized.

Read the article again and see the context that the sentence was used in. Yes, plenty of forums exist with community moderation, but if the goal is to make a forum a place that is not going to become a disaster, a motivated and well compensated employee is the only solution. Otherwise you're relying on someones occasional contribution to the well being of the community rather than have things go smoothly at all times.

Re: If your website's full of assholes, it's your fault (2011)

#54

Post by jstarfish » Mon, Jun 27, 2022, 11:53 PM UTC

mountainb wrote: post #30

Bluecobra wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always thought that Something Awful’s $10 paywall was pretty effective. If you’re an asshole and break the the rules, you’re out $10 and have to pay again. If you’re a big enough asshole, then you get permabanned. You’ll hear a lot of people complain about it and never register over the $10. I paid my $10 once almost 20 years ago and never got banned. That was the best $10 I have ever spent.

You're deeply confused if you think SA is/was not essentially defined by some of the most capriciously cruel people online. The founder just shot himself after leaving behind a wrecked family with multiple ex-wives, abandoned children, and DV convictions. FYAD, Helldump, etc. really define the spirit of SA, and it's also a precise counterexample to your argument about paywalls being a good thing.

Metafilter (used to?) charge $5 in the same vein.

That Lowtax was a piece of shit says nothing about his effectiveness in separating assholes from their money. The system works.