Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Reddit takes a new direction

b-list.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 263 posts

Re: Reddit takes a new direction

#31

Post by Anderkent »

blhack wrote: post #23
alecco wrote: post #12

Reddit is changing. It's currently in a renewed and stronger Eternal September. Bastion subreddits like /r/AskScience and /r/Truereddit are reduced to junk and fads. The hope for the group of moderated subreddits (Republic of Reddit) didn't really take off, it's just a handful of submitters. The top voted comments on threads about censorship are mostly 1 to 3 months old users. And now reddit (had to) surrender to a d…

Oh for crying out loud... The stuff that was allowed on reddit would get you an instant, permanent ban on pretty much every website on the internet. Do you even know what SOPA, PIPA or ACTA do? Reddit has voluntarily taken the stance they won't allow the trade and index of child pornography on their website. That has got nothing to do with DNS takedowns for linking to copyrighted material. It was a private decision m…

He mentioned SOPA PIPA and ACTA because somethingawfuls stance of these reflects its general trustworthiness.

No one argues that illegal content should not be removed, and uploaders banned. Which was already being done. Child pornography was never allowed on reddit, and was removed as it was reported.

This is not preventing 'exploitation of children', it's just a majority censoring topics it finds inconvenient/disturbing.

Re: Reddit takes a new direction

#32

Post by zotz »

I've been banned from posting articles on some larger subreddits some time ago. My political, economic and historical opinions aren't welcome for some reason.

My point? Reddit began banning political opinion long before it banned kiddie porn. Reddit's admins don't give a damn about freedom of speech and opinion.

Re: Reddit takes a new direction

#33

Post by nbm »

raganwald wrote: post #10
starfox wrote: post #5

Doesn't every website that gets used by the unwashed masses eventually have to deal with this problem? How does facebook or youtube deal with it? How did AOL deal with it? Is the issue just that Reddit is run by a smaller team than these larger companies?

Facebook is obviously thriving as a business but arousing indignation and ire over their policies, which ban breastfeeding photos but allow hate speech. So I woud say they have decided to live woth a certain ongoing level of shitstorming as a cost of doing buiness.

Facebook does not ban breastfeeding photos in general - https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=340974655932193#Does-Face...?

Re: Reddit takes a new direction

#34

Post by blhack »

Anderkent wrote: post #31
blhack wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh for crying out loud... The stuff that was allowed on reddit would get you an instant, permanent ban on pretty much every website on the internet. Do you even know what SOPA, PIPA or ACTA do? Reddit has voluntarily taken the stance they won't allow the trade and index of child pornography on their website. That has got nothing to do with DNS takedowns for linking to copyrighted material. It was a private decision m…

He mentioned SOPA PIPA and ACTA because somethingawfuls stance of these reflects its general trustworthiness. No one argues that illegal content should not be removed, and uploaders banned. Which was already being done. Child pornography was never allowed on reddit, and was removed as it was reported. This is not preventing 'exploitation of children', it's just a majority censoring topics it finds inconvenient/distur…

>This is not preventing 'exploitation of children'

It's preventing the trade of child pornography. How on earth do you not see this as exploitative?

>It's weird how reddit was a bastion for resisting SOPA/ACTA but fear mongering in US can take over a site.

That has nothing to do with SA.

Re: Reddit takes a new direction

#35

Post by blantonl »

zotz wrote: post #32

I've been banned from posting articles on some larger subreddits some time ago. My political, economic and historical opinions aren't welcome for some reason. My point? Reddit began banning political opinion long before it banned kiddie porn. Reddit's admins don't give a damn about freedom of speech and opinion.

subreddits are moderated by folks who are like-minded individuals that participate in the subreddit. It seems more likely that you were moderated by those subreddit admins, not the Reddit administration.

Furthermore, Reddit is a private organization, and they don't have to give a damn about freedom of speech.

Re: Reddit takes a new direction

#36

Post by FJim »

showerst wrote: post #21
alecco wrote: post #12

Reddit is changing. It's currently in a renewed and stronger Eternal September. Bastion subreddits like /r/AskScience and /r/Truereddit are reduced to junk and fads. The hope for the group of moderated subreddits (Republic of Reddit) didn't really take off, it's just a handful of submitters. The top voted comments on threads about censorship are mostly 1 to 3 months old users. And now reddit (had to) surrender to a d…

Remember, slippery slope is a fallacy. I think the admins are sending the right message - This subject is blanket banned because it's too hard to sort out the shades of gray, and it brings a unique risk to the community that other things (drugs, racism, etc) just don't. I agree that they'll be playing 'ban the sub' whack a mole, but that will happen to any UGC site of scale, the important thing is (ironically) not to…

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon

Re: Reddit takes a new direction

#37

Post by Fukkireta »

alecco wrote: post #12

Reddit is changing. It's currently in a renewed and stronger Eternal September. Bastion subreddits like /r/AskScience and /r/Truereddit are reduced to junk and fads. The hope for the group of moderated subreddits (Republic of Reddit) didn't really take off, it's just a handful of submitters. The top voted comments on threads about censorship are mostly 1 to 3 months old users. And now reddit (had to) surrender to a d…

You can't use a slippery slope argument that begins with child pornography in this situation without supporting child pornography. I'm not saying this to try and discredit your argument by association, it's simply a consequence of trying to hold freedom of speech so utterly sacrosanct that you can't breach it under any circumstances.

Yes, it would be easier to not take a stance on things like this, because then we could argue from the superior position of "I've never censored anything (well except posting personal information...)," but that would make us complicit in the trading of child pornography.

So, instead, I say we accept that we now have the harder job of drawing lines and judging what is and not allowable. Accept that the harder thing is to go "I am against SOPA/ACTA in all its forms, but am against being complicit against the trade of child pornography and will ~censor~ it if necessary" because life isn't about black and whites, and sometimes we have to make compromises for the greater good. (EDIT: spelling, grammar)

Re: Reddit takes a new direction

#38

Post by jballanc »

There is a problem with online communities. Let's call it the problem of "false association". Humans have been forming communities for millennia. Inevitably, in these communities, there are bad apples. However, if there is a child molester that lives in my town, that fact does not (on its own) reflect poorly on me. Even if that molester was my next door neighbor, there may be a bit more suspicion ("how could you not know that was going on next door?"), but I am confident that 9 times out of 10 I would come away with my reputation unblemished.

Of course, before the internet, communities were a more-or-less involuntary phenomenon. They were defined by geography, history, a common resource, or a common industry. Contrast that to online communities that are largely viewed as self-directed, voluntary organizations. This is the view, I think, that will eventually have to change.

This view is poisonous for two reasons. First, as we see here, if anyone, anywhere in an online community (no matter how large) does something offensive, objectionable, or illegal, the knee-jerk reaction of society today is to allow that bad apple to spoil the bunch. Second, this makes it very difficult to form heterogeneous communities online. If I associate with people randomly online, I am a Google search away from being associated with a potential thief/pervert/whatever. The end result is that online communities become insular, or they can only function well under a banner of anonymity, but anonymity has its own problems.

Reddit, it seems to me, struck a useful middle ground: partial anonymity with history (I can create an identity that does not lead back to my real life identity, but can still build up a reputation). Unfortunately, Reddit is still a business. It seems to me that something like Reddit, but based on a distributed model, is what we need.

Let's call it...usenet

Re: Reddit takes a new direction

#39

Post by zotz »

pilif wrote: post #25

While I agree that the world is better off without forums where people can post their child porn or similar ilk, this policy change in reddit shows that there's in inherent issue with centralized platforms. Back when there was usenet, everybody could post what ever they wanted (some news servers might not have carried the group, but there was no policing the source). Same with blogs: You wanted to post content the ma…

> Back when there was usenet

NNTP is still alive. : )

Re: Reddit takes a new direction

#40

Post by buro9 »

zotz wrote: post #32

I've been banned from posting articles on some larger subreddits some time ago. My political, economic and historical opinions aren't welcome for some reason. My point? Reddit began banning political opinion long before it banned kiddie porn. Reddit's admins don't give a damn about freedom of speech and opinion.

You've touched upon an incredibly grey area. Most forums will ban trolls, but therein lies the problem: define "troll".

I don't know what you said, where, and in what context... but I don't give benefit of doubt on this. Nor do I think you're guilty either... all I do know is that running a community is hard, and one of the things that the people of the community look to moderators to do is to keep the peace.

A difference of opinion can be minor, or major. And depending on the topic it can be quite offensive to some.

Have you considered that within a particular subreddit that the moderators were just trying to keep the peace? Has anything stopped you from starting your own subreddit to voice your opinion?

Post reply on HN