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4chan users manipulate AI tools to unleash torrent of racist images

arstechnica.com

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Re: 4chan users manipulate AI tools to unleash torrent of racist images

#71

Post by skulk »

rewmie wrote: post #65
skulk wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know it brings you comfort to think they're just doing it for the lolz but unfortunately the reality is that a good chunk of them actually believe those things.

> (...) but unfortunately the reality is that a good chunk of them actually believe those things. I'm sure that a good chunk of people who hang out on Facebook and Reddit also believe in those things, but that somehow never leads to blanket accusations targeting everyone with a Facebook of Reddit account.

FB and Reddit are tightly bound by mainstream advertising money so they have to keep the racists quiet. I'm not sure how that's relevant here. If you're offended by my accusation because you're one of the 4chan users who posts racist things but isn't really racist, then you have my sincerest apologies, and you get a gold star sticker too.

Re: 4chan users manipulate AI tools to unleash torrent of racist images

#72

Post by skulk »

fent_p1 wrote: post #58
chmod775 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No one spams racist garbage despite not being racists because they want to create chaos and are fishing for a reaction. That's a bold statement and clearly untrue. A boatload of people gets their kicks out of pretending to hold any number of offensive views just to get a rise out of people online. When I was a dumb 16 year old that was one of my favorite past times. Only works on people who don't believe anyone wou…

It’s a generational thing. Thanks to social media, zoomers and boomers see the internet as an extension of real life. That plus years of extremely heavy-handed moderation being the norm, and they literally don’t comprehend that somebody might deliberately misrepresent themselves online.

This is an old-school view of the internet. The reality now is that the Internet is a pressure valve for various groups of people expressing perceived grievances they feel are being inflicted upon them by a nameless entity. Of course people say things in jest, but the neoreactionary movement isn't just a huge ironic troll and it has roots on certain image boards.

The "head in the sand" approach doesn't work here.

Re: 4chan users manipulate AI tools to unleash torrent of racist images

#73

Post by lamontcg »

richbell wrote: post #57
lamontcg wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Go reply to the parent comment with that.

Re: 4chan users manipulate AI tools to unleash torrent of racist images

#74

Post by Yugomorph »

skulk wrote: post #71
rewmie wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (...) but unfortunately the reality is that a good chunk of them actually believe those things. I'm sure that a good chunk of people who hang out on Facebook and Reddit also believe in those things, but that somehow never leads to blanket accusations targeting everyone with a Facebook of Reddit account.

FB and Reddit are tightly bound by mainstream advertising money so they have to keep the racists quiet. I'm not sure how that's relevant here. If you're offended by my accusation because you're one of the 4chan users who posts racist things but isn't really racist, then you have my sincerest apologies, and you get a gold star sticker too.

He's (rightfully) calling you dishonest because, if a guy who posts on Facebook or Reddit did this, you wouldn't be saying "Facebook this X" or "Reddit did X", you would say "This guy did X". Yet, for some reason, when a person on 4chan does something, it's not "This guy did X", but rather "4chan did X".

Re: 4chan users manipulate AI tools to unleash torrent of racist images

#75

Post by Yugomorph »

krapp wrote: post #26
chmod775 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or that's what they want you to believe - because obviously that's more lolz. Though maybe there's some that actually are, because of: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1012082 Ask yourself why an actual racist without any intention to cause chaos would engage in this behavior though. It's clearly intended to offend and get a reaction - that's the main goal. Whether it's done by actual racists is secondary.

Also known as Popehat's Law of Goats: He who fucks goats, either as part of a performance or to troll those he deems has overly delicate sensibilities is simply, a goatfucker. If your goal is to be seen as a racist, and to provoke a response from people who are offended by racists, and you do all of the things that racists do to that end, spending time on racist forums spreading racist memes and hate speech, then the…

The difference is, if you stopped giving them attention, one of those two would also stop being a goatfucker, but people obviously want more things to be outraged about, not less.

Re: 4chan users manipulate AI tools to unleash torrent of racist images

#76

Post by jmye »

Yugomorph wrote: post #75
krapp wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also known as Popehat's Law of Goats: He who fucks goats, either as part of a performance or to troll those he deems has overly delicate sensibilities is simply, a goatfucker. If your goal is to be seen as a racist, and to provoke a response from people who are offended by racists, and you do all of the things that racists do to that end, spending time on racist forums spreading racist memes and hate speech, then the…

The difference is, if you stopped giving them attention, one of those two would also stop being a goatfucker, but people obviously want more things to be outraged about, not less.

These people would clearly still be virulent racists getting excuses made for them by people who desperately don’t want to believe that posting racist memes and hanging out on Stormfront make you a bad person.

Re: 4chan users manipulate AI tools to unleash torrent of racist images

#77

Post by jmye »

fent_p1 wrote: post #58
chmod775 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No one spams racist garbage despite not being racists because they want to create chaos and are fishing for a reaction. That's a bold statement and clearly untrue. A boatload of people gets their kicks out of pretending to hold any number of offensive views just to get a rise out of people online. When I was a dumb 16 year old that was one of my favorite past times. Only works on people who don't believe anyone wou…

It’s a generational thing. Thanks to social media, zoomers and boomers see the internet as an extension of real life. That plus years of extremely heavy-handed moderation being the norm, and they literally don’t comprehend that somebody might deliberately misrepresent themselves online.

That’s a load of nonsense that smacks of “I’m really smart and enlightened and everyone else is dumb and incapable of rational thought.”

The idea that all of these people are “just harmless trolls” is unsupportable nonsense. It’s wild how many people want to jump to the defense of these morally repugnant people, though.

Re: 4chan users manipulate AI tools to unleash torrent of racist images

#78

Post by Yugomorph »

jmye wrote: post #76
Yugomorph wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is, if you stopped giving them attention, one of those two would also stop being a goatfucker, but people obviously want more things to be outraged about, not less.

These people would clearly still be virulent racists getting excuses made for them by people who desperately don’t want to believe that posting racist memes and hanging out on Stormfront make you a bad person.

Yes, but they wouldn't be getting a free marketing campaign that draws more people to their communities and their ideology if it weren't for all these professional victims being outraged by them.

Re: 4chan users manipulate AI tools to unleash torrent of racist images

#79

Post by notacoward »

bobsmooth wrote: post #68
chmod775 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No one spams racist garbage despite not being racists because they want to create chaos and are fishing for a reaction. That's a bold statement and clearly untrue. A boatload of people gets their kicks out of pretending to hold any number of offensive views just to get a rise out of people online. When I was a dumb 16 year old that was one of my favorite past times. Only works on people who don't believe anyone wou…

People have forgotten the age-old 4chan wisdom "Don't feed the trolls"

That didn't start with 4chan, it ... wait a minute. ;) Well played, sir.

Re: 4chan users manipulate AI tools to unleash torrent of racist images

#80

Post by dang »

chmod775 wrote: post #45
lamontcg wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Of course. Such cheap attacks don't have to be tolerated and it's perfectly fair to point them out for what they are. I didn't seek out a random comment to take a potshot at - you directly replied to me with a comment that contains nothing but a mean-spirited dig.

You broke the site guidelines repeatedly in this thread. Please don't do that, and please avoid tit-for-tat spats, regardless of how wrong or provocative someone else is being or you feel they are.

If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.

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