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Former Reddit CEO says the site's about to be purged

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Re: Former Reddit CEO says the site's about to be purged

#41

Post by chc »

differentView wrote: post #33
pavanky wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not think people would be pissed about reddit enforcing the bans if they did not market themselves as a bastion of free speech on the internet. It was not just Yishan who did it. Redditors even created a new sub[1] showing all instances where someone belonging to reddit has said or implied that they are for free speech on the internet. People who are pissed are angry because it looks and sounds like bait and swi…

They should ask for a refund.

Unfortunately, no one can refund time.

Re: Former Reddit CEO says the site's about to be purged

#43

Post by dragonwriter »

baddox wrote: post #34
sharkweek wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair - let's make it a little room in the back where someone might accidentally stumble. Especially when Gawker posts a story talking specifically about it sending people to that dark corner making them think THAT is what Costco is all about. Terrible impression to make on new customers, thus Costco decides, eh, fuck it, let's just get rid of the little room entirely to avoid this repetitious problem.

How would you accidentally stumble onto it? You might make a typo, which is a fair point, but that is probably exceedingly rare. Or you might be linked, but you can already be linked anywhere from anywhere else on the web, so that's hardly a meaningful argument.

> Or you might be linked, but you can already be linked anywhere from anywhere else on the web, so that's hardly a meaningful argument.

Its a meaningful argument from the POV of Reddit management, and their effort to build a profitable business, given that what people can be linked to that is tied to Reddit -- unlike what people can be linked to that is not tied to Reddit -- impacts the perception of Reddit and both the audience it attracts and its attractiveness to advertisers.

Re: Former Reddit CEO says the site's about to be purged

#45

Post by blfr »

In the announcement thread[1] commentators are pointing out all the places where Reddit appeals to free speech, like their rules[2] or Alexis Ohanian literally calling it "a bastion of free speech on the World Wide Web"[3] in direct contradiction to spez's "Neither Alexis nor I created reddit to be a bastion of free speech."

If you're a public figure (with archive.org if you publish anything on the web), you need to say you changed your mind when you change your mind. This "we were always..." thing politicians do just looks silly.

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3dautm/conte...

[2] https://www.reddit.com/rules/

[3] https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3dautm/conte...

Re: Former Reddit CEO says the site's about to be purged

#46

Post by chc »

CameronBanga wrote: post #39

Did this just get pulled from the HN front page? I'm not a huge fan of Reddit, but it seems like news on this whole debacle has been pulled/silenced from HN. I know Reddit is a one of Y-Combinator's biggest success stories, so curious if this is really happening or if I'm just imagining it.

It's called flagging. Users don't feel this article is intellectually gratifying.

Re: Former Reddit CEO says the site's about to be purged

#47

Post by johrn »

sharkweek wrote: post #26
baddox wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The yelling analogy doesn't really work, because the vast majority of the controversial content is content you have to go looking for to find. Obviously there can be some leakages, but most people learn about this stuff because tech blogs or media companies deliberately go looking for it to "expose" how bad reddit is.

Fair - let's make it a little room in the back where someone might accidentally stumble. Especially when Gawker posts a story talking specifically about it sending people to that dark corner making them think THAT is what Costco is all about. Terrible impression to make on new customers, thus Costco decides, eh, fuck it, let's just get rid of the little room entirely to avoid this repetitious problem.

Except that's not a fair analogy to what happens on reddit. Sure, the shouty horrible people have a corner that they hang out in, with couches and televisions and snacks.

But they're also free to wander around the rest of the store shouting whatever they want. They hang out by the front door with the greeters even! Up until now, Costco hasn't cared that they're providing a comfy space for these loudmouthed assholes to congregate.

You can't just not go to the corner if you want to avoid them, you have to avoid all the parts of the store that they are shouting in.

Re: Former Reddit CEO says the site's about to be purged

#48

Post by Lawtonfogle »

austenallred wrote: post #32
pavanky wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not think people would be pissed about reddit enforcing the bans if they did not market themselves as a bastion of free speech on the internet. It was not just Yishan who did it. Redditors even created a new sub[1] showing all instances where someone belonging to reddit has said or implied that they are for free speech on the internet. People who are pissed are angry because it looks and sounds like bait and swi…

Absolutely. Very few are sad to see that /r/coontown is going to be banned; they're frustrated because the goalposts are moving and they don't know where they will end up. Usually the slippery slope argument is a fallacy, but if a company says "our standard is and always will be 1" and then comes out later and says "our standard is 2," it's hard to believe.

Well the real problem is that they are at 4 or 5 now. Slippery slope may be a fallacy, but when you look up and see that you've been going down a slide, the intelligent thing to do is to assume you are, in fact, on a slide.

Re: Former Reddit CEO says the site's about to be purged

#49

Post by SwellJoe »

baddox wrote: post #19
sharkweek wrote: post #8

Eh... it's their playground. While I don't like the idea of what's offensive being so subjective, there is A LOT of shit on Reddit that I would be happy to see gone. If Costco had a corner in every store where people were allowed to stand around yelling racist commentary all the time, and Costco laid out a policy to remove this from their stores, I think the majority of people would applaud this move, thus improving…

The yelling analogy doesn't really work, because the vast majority of the controversial content is content you have to go looking for to find. Obviously there can be some leakages, but most people learn about this stuff because tech blogs or media companies deliberately go looking for it to "expose" how bad reddit is.

It is literally impossible to visit reddit regularly without seeing casual racism, sexism, able-ism, etc. "Some leakage" is actually a steady stream of hate into every subreddit at one time or another. Some subs are better than others, but mostly the good ones (science, AMA, for example) are already heavily moderated...they won't change because the racist trolls are already being silenced in those subs. If you don't find reddit obnoxiously bigoted as it currently is, it is because you are predominantly visiting subs that already have stricter content policies than any reddit is likely to impose site-wide.

And, I will note that we're all talking on HN which has always had relatively strict guidelines and heavy-ish moderation (compared to most of reddit). If anyone hates moderation and a strict set of content guidelines, you're in the wrong place, because HN is stricter and has more active/aggressive moderation than reddit will ever have site-wide.

Re: Former Reddit CEO says the site's about to be purged

#50

Post by maaku »

differentView wrote: post #33
pavanky wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not think people would be pissed about reddit enforcing the bans if they did not market themselves as a bastion of free speech on the internet. It was not just Yishan who did it. Redditors even created a new sub[1] showing all instances where someone belonging to reddit has said or implied that they are for free speech on the internet. People who are pissed are angry because it looks and sounds like bait and swi…

They should ask for a refund.

Har har har. But in all seriousness Reddit become the phenomenon it is because of its users, and the many hours, days, weeks, and months they each individually put in to build communities. To create something with value, larger than themselves. Who's going to rufund that time investment?
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