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Ellen Pao: The Trolls Are Winning the Battle for the Internet

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Re: Ellen Pao: The Trolls Are Winning the Battle for the Internet

#51

Post by josefresco »

DanBC wrote: post #24
itg wrote: post #13

From what i've seen on reddit, twitter, and sometimes even on hn, some are quick to label people whose opinion differs from theirs as trolls. It doesn't matter if it is a polite or well-though out comment, they are quick to shout the word harassment or whatever -ist allows them to hold some moral high ground.

Pao had thousands of people calling her a ching-chong cunt. Why do you think your comment is relevant to this thread?

"Pao had thousands of people calling her a ching-chong cunt."

Is this a known/established fact? I see in the article a paragraph about how she received thousands of positive notes/emails but nothing about the # or volume of hate. It may not be documented here, but I'm curious if it was actually as widespread as implied.

Re: Ellen Pao: The Trolls Are Winning the Battle for the Internet

#52

Post by [deleted] »

pc86 wrote: post #4
wxs wrote: post #2

I just posted this in the earlier submission[1], but I'll put it here too: I really worry that if we don't find a way to fix the abuse problem, pseudonymity online will be looked back on by future generations as our time's Klan hood. Abuse stories like these make me embarrassed to support any form of privacy online. Platforms need to take a stand and find a way reduce hate and abuse, or public opinion (and my own) wi…

> pseudonymity online will be looked back on by future generations as our time's Klan hood This may be one of the most hyperbolic things I've read on HN in a very long time.

[deleted]

Re: Ellen Pao: The Trolls Are Winning the Battle for the Internet

#54

Post by mahouse »

wxs wrote: post #35
itg wrote: post #13

From what i've seen on reddit, twitter, and sometimes even on hn, some are quick to label people whose opinion differs from theirs as trolls. It doesn't matter if it is a polite or well-though out comment, they are quick to shout the word harassment or whatever -ist allows them to hold some moral high ground.

Did you see the front page of Reddit when they were blowing up at Pao over the fat people abuse subreddit? I think it's disingenuous to claim that this is just polite disagreement: http://cdn0.dailydot.com/uploaded/images/original/2015/6/10/...

They were hit back by karma. Reddit has never hesitated to take advantage of the word "democracy" to refer to how their site works. It's a word that sounds very well. So there they have it: that screenshot is what democracy looks like.

Re: Ellen Pao: The Trolls Are Winning the Battle for the Internet

#55

Post by lcswi »

lhnz wrote: post #31

Does anybody remember when trolling was a term used to describe an activity in which users wielding enough understanding of other's perspectives would attempt to give other's cognitive dissonance? It seems that one of the most powerful online political classes have lumped hatred and abuse in with disagreement, mockery and satire. I don't think it's good for the conversation between the group of user's that dislike wh…

It is really easy to define the meaning of terms if you are the easy-to-agree-with side of a conflict. And now you cannot even mention the elephant in the room anymore without being immediately flagged, banned or at least called a women hating privileged white boy.

Re: Ellen Pao: The Trolls Are Winning the Battle for the Internet

#56

Post by dimino »

Trolls used to mean (and I think still does mean) a person who attempts to voice an opinion they don't hold with the intent of invoking a negative reaction out of someone else. Most of the folks spewing bile at Ellen Pao probably don't actually hate her, but can't help seeing their actions have an effect.

Trolls don't win if you ignore them -- the shitshow that's been Reddit this past month is almost entirely because Ellen and co. can't/won't stop reacting to short-sighted outcries from Reddit's userbase.

Yishan, Ellen, Alexis, Steve, even Sam, and everyone else involved needs to shut the fuck up (publicly) about Reddit for a few weeks. This whole "airing of grievances" is actually what's killing Reddit, not the trolls.

What I want to see is legal action taken against Yishan for fueling this well beyond its natural life. He had to violate an NDA of some kind with all the extra fuel he's been throwing onto this...

Re: Ellen Pao: The Trolls Are Winning the Battle for the Internet

#57

Post by ewzimm »

lcswi wrote: post #43
DanBC wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pao had thousands of people calling her a ching-chong cunt. Why do you think your comment is relevant to this thread?

Thousands of people? Where did you get that number from? Also, there were (misguided) reasons for people to be upset, which does not justify the racism, but hey, extreme insults are normal if you are very angry (no, not just on the Internet but also outside tech filter bubbles).

Nobody is debating that extreme insults are normal when people get angry. What people are saying is that it needs to stop being normal.

Re: Ellen Pao: The Trolls Are Winning the Battle for the Internet

#58

Post by msandford »

The trolls won the war for usenet too. It didn't destroy the internet. Just because trolls are making reddit unpleasant doesn't mean that they will destroy the internet. reddit isn't the whole internet, not even close!

Furthermore, supposing that reddit users revolting against the clamping-down of reddit management constitutes the "biggest trolling attacks in history" is a little disingenuous. What about all the people who got internet famous for dumb stuff like the mustard guy or folks that got pranked by Sacha Baron Cohen or the jackass guys? Those were arguably trolling, and they got made into major motion pictures that got commercials and put into theaters!

Reddit trolls just post nasty comments on reddit, a place that probably half of America barely knows about and definitely doesn't care about.

I'm not saying that the nasty stuff that happened to her didn't happen, or that it's somehow not a big deal. It obviously is a big deal to her, and a great many other people as well.

But that doesn't make it the "largest trolling attack in history"

Re: Ellen Pao: The Trolls Are Winning the Battle for the Internet

#59

Post by dragonwriter »

ForHackernews wrote: post #44

She's still a millionaire executive. Obviously nobody deserves the kind of abuse she's gotten, but I think I could put up with a whole lot of nobodies saying mean things about me on the internet in return for being in her position.

> She's still a millionaire executive.

I would presume she's still a millionaire, though I don't have access to her current finances. Of what is she still an executive?

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