Front Page Subreddits Go Private in Response to Firing of Reddit Admin • Hacker News Board

Re: Front Page Subreddits Go Private in Response to Firing of Reddit Admin

#371

Post by dwmtm » Fri, Jul 03, 2015, 6:23 AM UTC

jsmthrowaway wrote: post #350

geofft wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The comment I replied to was trying to say that this isn't about the firing, and is about the process of limiting free speech and restricting subs in a non-transparent manner. I see none of that in the /r/askscience post. It seems to me that there are two major, unrelated tensions in Reddit at the moment: 1. Certain people want Reddit to be a haven for free speech, including speech that coordinates abusive actions. T…

> 1. Certain people want Reddit to be a haven for free speech, including speech that coordinates abusive actions. The Reddit admins (current and past) don't think that's what Reddit should be. That's one way to spin "pick a view on free speech and stick to it," I suppose. The problem with Reddit's relationship with free speech is that it's so haphazard, reactionary, and unpredictable. There's an entire section of the…

Section (9) of http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/165havel.html seems relevant: {9}The post-totalitarian system touches people at every step, but it does so with its ideological gloves on. This is why life in the system is so thoroughly permeated with hypocrisy and lies: government by bureaucracy is called popular government; the working class is enslaved in the name of the working class; the complete degradation of the individual is presented as his ultimate liberation; depriving people of information is called making it available; the use of power to manipulate is called the public control of power, and the arbitrary abuse of power is called observing the legal code; the repression of culture is called its development; the expansion of imperial influence is presented as support for the oppressed; the lack of free expression becomes the highest form of freedom; farcical elections become the highest form of democracy; banning independent thought becomes the most scientific of world views; military occupation becomes fraternal assistance. Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics. It pretends not to possess an omnipotent and unprincipled police apparatus. It pretends to respect human rights. It pretends to persecute no one. It pretends to fear nothing. It pretends to pretend nothing.

Re: Front Page Subreddits Go Private in Response to Firing of Reddit Admin

#372

Post by DanBC » Fri, Jul 03, 2015, 6:24 AM UTC

jsmthrowaway wrote: post #350

geofft wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The comment I replied to was trying to say that this isn't about the firing, and is about the process of limiting free speech and restricting subs in a non-transparent manner. I see none of that in the /r/askscience post. It seems to me that there are two major, unrelated tensions in Reddit at the moment: 1. Certain people want Reddit to be a haven for free speech, including speech that coordinates abusive actions. T…

> 1. Certain people want Reddit to be a haven for free speech, including speech that coordinates abusive actions. The Reddit admins (current and past) don't think that's what Reddit should be. That's one way to spin "pick a view on free speech and stick to it," I suppose. The problem with Reddit's relationship with free speech is that it's so haphazard, reactionary, and unpredictable. There's an entire section of the…

People keep saying that FPH was not engaged in harassment and abuse that spread outside that group, and outside reddit.

But it clearly was. Reddit should just release some of the brigading details - and that has always been something that can cause your sub to be closed and your account to be shaddow-banned.

I do not understand how you can use the existance of vile groups as evidence of Reddit squashing free speech - doesn't the fact that those vile groups didn't get closed (unless they brigaded) evidence that Reddit allows free speech as far as possible.

Re: Front Page Subreddits Go Private in Response to Firing of Reddit Admin

#373

Post by zzleeper » Fri, Jul 03, 2015, 6:25 AM UTC

pdkl95 wrote: post #227

"You'll get over it" Many HN readers should recognize that as the words a certain admin of fark.com. For those that don't recognize it, the short version of the story was the admins had developed a new front-end to Fark, but they didn't make a general announcement an update was going to happen. The just deployed it one morning... and left for a convention. When the change was discovered a little while later... well..…

Amazing story! Also thanks for the video, I can't believe it has only 1000 views..

Re: Front Page Subreddits Go Private in Response to Firing of Reddit Admin

#374

Post by jammi » Fri, Jul 03, 2015, 6:32 AM UTC

geofft wrote: post #246

chernevik wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shouldn't. But see this exchange in the archive ( https://archive.is/jouWQ#selection-17025.0-17025.134 ) 'Have you felt regretful for rushing to judgement after condemning the "perpetrators" of the Duke lacrosse rape scandal during 2006-07?' 'No, the pattern is consistent. And we never want injustice to occur. But the pattern is fairly obvious, and a very obvious pattern that must be ended.' The Reverend isn't intere…

Maybe this is a stupid question, but I'm not sure I see how that relates to the departure of a Reddit employee facilitating that AMA. He answered the question, right? Whether the answer is terrible maybe impacts what you think of him , but not what you think of the person making the AMA happen (either as a person or as an employee), right? Or did he not actually answer the question, and did someone else answer in his…

He probably refretted the answer, because it's like he didn't even read the question before answering with some boilerplate answer, which is probably why the question got rated so high after the answer.

I do. But I was jailed in 1960. For trying to use a public library. And that caused more good than harm. I marched to end segregation. The day Dr. King spoke on Washington, in 1963, I was there for that speech. That day, from Texas to Florida, you couldn't use a single public toilet. We could not buy ice cream at Howard Johnson's, or stay in Holiday Inns. We fought to bring those barriers down. And because those walls are down, all the new interstate construction across the South - the new bridges and ports, and seaports - that's progress. You couldn't have teams behind the Cotton Curtain. You couldn't have had Olympics in Atlanta behind the Cotton Curtain. You couldn't have Toyota, and Michelin, behind the Cotton Curtain, so we pulled those walls down. So our work has been beneficial. And it seems to me that people who benefit from that work ascribe it to the wrong reasons. When the laws change to make the South more civil, that brought in more investment. So we've made America better. All these changes have come from our work. Our work has bene good for the South, and good for America. My goal is to expand our consciousness, to create as big a tent as possible, as we fight for justice and world peace. I was able to bring Americans home from jail, from prison, and gaining those freedom of those Americans was the highest and best use of my talents and time.

Re: Front Page Subreddits Go Private in Response to Firing of Reddit Admin

#375

Post by jsmthrowaway » Fri, Jul 03, 2015, 6:33 AM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #372

jsmthrowaway wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1. Certain people want Reddit to be a haven for free speech, including speech that coordinates abusive actions. The Reddit admins (current and past) don't think that's what Reddit should be. That's one way to spin "pick a view on free speech and stick to it," I suppose. The problem with Reddit's relationship with free speech is that it's so haphazard, reactionary, and unpredictable. There's an entire section of the…

People keep saying that FPH was not engaged in harassment and abuse that spread outside that group, and outside reddit. But it clearly was. Reddit should just release some of the brigading details - and that has always been something that can cause your sub to be closed and your account to be shaddow-banned. I do not understand how you can use the existance of vile groups as evidence of Reddit squashing free speech -…

> But it clearly was.

That's the problem. It's not clear. There's a lot of unanswered questions there: how does off-site activity on Tumblr and other sites get linked back to specific people and the overall thrust of a subreddit? How do you even solve that problem in general?

I have personally observed chan (not 4chan) threads involving skimming certain subreddits and finding targets to harass without even having Reddit accounts. We've long observed 4chan/goon "Redditors" in YouTube comment threads. I'm with you on releasing how they got there, and I think it would provide a lot of clarity.

One last thing, I have to correct you: I never said Reddit was squashing free speech. I wish they'd pick a consistent value on it, that's all, and I pointed out specific things said in the press about free speech. I'm less concerned about FPH than I am about something like /r/jailbait, which got removed because it became the squeaky wheel due to CNN attention. There are worse subreddits regarding sexualization of children, and Reddit fails to uphold its own standard there, which negates the standard itself. That's my problem.

Re: Front Page Subreddits Go Private in Response to Firing of Reddit Admin

#376

Post by lawnchair_larry » Fri, Jul 03, 2015, 6:34 AM UTC

geofft wrote: post #219

lingben wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a 2 way street. The community can be nasty but they do not treat every admin this way. Consider Victoria who was just fired. The whole shenanigan today isn't really about her but about the way the mods are being treated. But my point is that the community really appreciated her work and her approach. When you come in and right off the bat are condescending, haughty, and tone-deaf, as well as non-transparent, th…

That's 'cause Victoria had a different job . People loved Raymond Chen back when Steve Ballmer was CEO of Microsoft. In particular, Victoria had the job of making AMAs happen smoothly, and /r/IAmA is this very weird subreddit, operationally speaking (how many other subreddits have their own mobile app?), that clearly needs a paid staff member. Ellen has the job of being the final say on anything that happens, controv…

The AMA app really has nothing to do with the subreddit. Reddit inc made it to try and capitalize on /r/Iama.

Re: Front Page Subreddits Go Private in Response to Firing of Reddit Admin

#377

Post by andrewflnr » Fri, Jul 03, 2015, 6:36 AM UTC

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #288

One thing I find amusing about the whole history of social networks is that by far, 4chan has been the longest running consistent platform and with the least governance. There is something to be learned there, not sure what it is though. edit: Actually metafilter is older, but way less popular/influential.

metafilter is less popular by design, as a survival strategy. They throttle new account creation when it heats up. That's probably going to become more common.

Re: Front Page Subreddits Go Private in Response to Firing of Reddit Admin

#378

Post by nickonline » Fri, Jul 03, 2015, 6:38 AM UTC

btown wrote: post #41

The admin in question, Victoria (/u/chooter), is still posting, and gives every indication that it was not an expected nor voluntary departure: https://www.reddit.com/user/chooter /u/karmanaut, one of the most prolific moderators, gave some insight into why this is such a big deal: https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/3bw39q/why_ha... > We had a number of AMAs scheduled for today that Victoria was supposed…

Interesting. . .

If you click on https://www.reddit.com/user/chooter now the most recent post is from 2 days ago.

However I visited this thread 2-3 hours ago and there were many comments from her from as little as 1-2 hours before that.

Re: Front Page Subreddits Go Private in Response to Firing of Reddit Admin

#379

Post by yoklov » Fri, Jul 03, 2015, 6:39 AM UTC

unfunco wrote: post #360

I'm really not trying to troll here. Reddit started going badly downhill (where it was a visible and public departure from what it was previously) from around the time that Sam Altman personally invested in the company nine months ago, an announcement that almost ruptured my cringe-pipes. I laughed internally at the notion that he thinks he's altruistic by giving 10% back to the users, whilst in the same announcement…

Well, if they fired her at this point, I doubt anybody would believe that was the reason.

Not that I have an opinion on the subject of what reddit should do.

Re: Front Page Subreddits Go Private in Response to Firing of Reddit Admin

#380

Post by astrowilliam » Fri, Jul 03, 2015, 6:40 AM UTC

ljk wrote: post #321

astrowilliam wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the feedback. We are playing around with different layouts to see what people like more, so far the big picture layout isn't exactly what we are looking for but we are still working on it. I'm wondering if you actually read the article titles or if you just closed it down before noticing any of them?

hopefully your site takes off! i felt like he was a little too harsh, the site does look a little too simple maybe that could put some people off

Thanks, man. I want to keep it super simple, no distractions. I'm sure it's not for everyone, but I have a vision and I'm working towards it. Glad you stopped by.