Ex-Reddit CEO on Twitter moderation

Post by ilyt » Fri, Nov 04, 2022, 4:13 AM UTC

mbesto wrote: post #265

ilyt wrote: post #154

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He kinda did in roundabout way; the "perfect" moderation, even if possible, will turn it into nice and cultured place to have discussion and that doesn't bring controversy and sell ads . You would have way less media "journalists" making a fuss about what someone said on that social network and would have problems just getting it to be popular, let alone displace any of the big ones. It would maybe be possible with e…

> the "perfect" moderation, even if possible, will turn it into nice and cultured place to have discussion and that doesn't bring controversy and sell ads. That's not a solution though since every for profit business is generally seeking to maximize profit, and furthermore we already knew this to be the case - nothing he is saying is novel. I guess that's where I'm confused.

Post by kmeisthax » Fri, Nov 04, 2022, 4:38 AM UTC

nullc wrote: post #594

kmeisthax wrote: post #506

This is a very good way to pitch your afforestation startup accelerator in the guise of a talk on platform moderation. /s I'm pretty sure I've got some bones to pick with yishan from his tenure on Reddit, but everything he's said here is pretty understandable. Actually, I would like to develop his point about "censoring spam" a bit further. It's often said that the Internet "detects censorship as damage and routes ar…

I've often pointed out that the concept of censorship as being only or primarily through removal of speech is an antiquated concept from a time before pervasive communications networks had almost effortlessly connected most of the world. Censorship in the traditional sense is close to impossible online today. Today censorship is often and most effectively about suppressing your ability to be heard, often by flooding…

Post by prawn » Fri, Nov 04, 2022, 5:04 AM UTC

dang wrote: post #603

user3939382 wrote: post #493

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Sufficiently controversial opinions are flagged, downvoted til dead/hidden, or associated users shadow banned. HN's policies and voting system, both de facto and de jure, discourage controversial opinions and reward popular, conformist opinions. That's not to pick on HN, since this is a common problem. Neither do I have a silver bullet solution, but the issue remains, and it's a huge issue. Evolution of norms, for be…

That's true to an extent (and so is what ativzzz says, so you're both right). But the reasons for what you're talking about are much misunderstood. Yishan does a good job of going into some of them in the OP, by the way. People always reach immediately for the conclusion that their controversial comments are getting moderated because people dislike their opinion —either because of groupthink in the community or becau…

Post by dang » Fri, Nov 04, 2022, 5:20 AM UTC

prawn wrote: post #815

dang wrote: post #603

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That's true to an extent (and so is what ativzzz says, so you're both right). But the reasons for what you're talking about are much misunderstood. Yishan does a good job of going into some of them in the OP, by the way. People always reach immediately for the conclusion that their controversial comments are getting moderated because people dislike their opinion —either because of groupthink in the community or becau…

Just wanted to say that it's great to have you posting your thoughts/experience on this topic. I've run a forum for almost 19 years as a near-lone moderator and so have a lot of thoughts, experience and interest in the topic. It's been frustrating when Yishan's posted (IMO, solid) thoughts on social networks and moderation and the bulk of HN's discussion can be too simple to be useful ("Reddit is trash", etc). I part…

Post by concinds » Fri, Nov 04, 2022, 5:34 AM UTC

etchalon wrote: post #229

ajmurmann wrote: post #223

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It sounds like a insurmountable problem. What makes this even more interesting to me is that HN seems to have this working pretty well. I wonder how much of it has to do with clear guidelines of what should be valued and what shouldn't and having a community that buys in to that. For example one learns quickly that Reddit-style humor comments are frowned upon because the community enforces it with downvotes and frequ…

I suspect HN succeeds due to heavy moderation, explicit community guidelines and a narrow topic set.