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Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

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Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#101

Post by na85 »

s9w wrote: post #68
tasty_freeze wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The man is married to a black woman and has a biracial child with her who will be seen as black by and large. It is a personal issue to him. But even if it wasn't a personal issue to him, I'm more disturbed by the number of people who 100% fail to engage with an issue and dismiss it as virtue signalling, as if a person couldn't authentically care about the issue. Yes, Ohanian is a rich guy, but by stepping away from…

Why does he have to say that he's married to a black woman. That he has a black child. That he is quitting. That he's hiring a BLACKKK person etc. Just do it man, don't make a wave. Give money and do all those things. How about hiring the best person for the job and not one that brings you the most goodie points right now. And again Reddit is about the least controversial thing on the net. It's ridiculous to paint it…

>Why does he have to say that he's married to a black woman. That he has a black child. That he is quitting. That he's hiring a BLACKKK person etc. Just do it man, don't make a wave.

Because he's trying to make a statement that racism is wrong, and because he wants the reasons for his resignation to be publically known, of course.

Isn't that obvious?

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#102

Post by Sharlin »

chomp wrote: post #65
jimbob45 wrote: post #23

Reddit mods wantonly abuse their power and I'm not even talking about politics. Ever been to r/science? 8/10 comments are deleted and those posts can't be read ever again (I'm understating that number, if anything). Honestly, half the reason I come here is because you can still view dead comments - censorship is a surefire way to get me to leave your community.

>Ever been to r/science? Bad example - people frequently go to r/science posts when they hit the front page and toss in non-scientific anecdotal evidence, or they will argue with the post using bad science, or they will offer their non-scientific 2 cents on the politics of a study. The reason why content-heavy subs r/science and r/AskHistorians haven't devolved into the cesspool that is the rest of Reddit is specific…

Indeed. Hitting the front page is really a punishment to any subreddit that desires to maintain high-quality discussion.

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#103

Post by eganist »

s9w wrote: post #88
eganist wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've got a pretty straightforward stance, really. We don't tolerate intolerance, and mindful consent is a pre-requisite for all things. That's it. Amazing how much that weeds out. :)

You are well known to ban very good advice on a very specific topic - but we both know that even mentioning that would get me into trouble.

> Well you are well known to ban very good advice on a very specific topic - but we both know that even mentioning that would get me into trouble.

The only advice we ban for are:

1. advice advocating for intolerance against a protected class (e.g. lgbtq+, race, etc.)

2. anything involving violence or suicide, regardless of jokes.

And beyond that, we're obligated to remove submissions involving CSA per Reddit (or Reddit Anti-Evil Operations does it for us), and in such an event we provide resources the submitter can use to seek help or an escape.

It's pretty cut and dry.

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#104

Post by staycoolboy »

ceejayoz wrote: post #31
whymauri wrote: post #2

> I’m saying this as a father who needs to be able to answer his black daughter when she asks: “What did you do?” Wow. I think this deserves highlighting. It's powerful and beautiful.

It's also indicative of one aspect the problem, where we largely don't care until we have a personal stake in things. For another example: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-21804506 > Influential US Republican Senator Rob Portman has renounced his opposition to gay marriage. The Ohio senator said he began to change his mind in 2011 after his son, Will, revealed he was gay. It's great that people change. It's n…

> It's not great that it frequently takes a direct familial relationship to cause it.

I believe it is called the Empathy Gap:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy_gap

Remember how the conservative establish was anti-marijuana, and before that anti-gay (well, still some are), and before that anti-mixed-race-marriage, and before that anti-long hair?

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#105

Post by boardwaalk »

say_it_as_it_is wrote: post #42
purephase wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, TD alone was huge in 2016-2017 and was a huge contributor to the dynamic we have in the world today. Ellen is 100% right here and Alex did absolutely nothing to address it. Good on her for publicly calling it out.

You're giving a message forum way too much credit for Trumpism in the United States. Do you actually think that social media is representative of a majority?

They didn’t say it was? Ideas don’t reach a single person — someone that follows these forums — and then stop. They continue spreading and they might moderate when they do but they still have some center.

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#106

Post by Sharlin »

jimbob45 wrote: post #99
Sharlin wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best subreddits are those that are either a) very tightly moderated or b) obscure enough for the Eternal September not (yet) having happened to them. Most of the rest of the content is extremely low quality.

4chan only removes illegal content and I enjoy it just fine. Reddit’s voting system pushes down low-quality content well enough on its own.

Well, good for you! Myself, I enjoy places like r/AskHistorians or r/sex which absolutely would not exist in their present high-quality form without very active moderation.

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#107

Post by kbenson »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #36

I am going to try to say something neutral, not related to current politics. Frankly, I'm doing so because I'm curious if such a comment is even possible. - I applaud anybody who takes a moral stand, especially if it might cost them something they hold dear. - Whenever people complain about social media, the usual response is "But these are private properties. People can do what they like with them." I agree that thi…

> I applaud anybody who takes a moral stand, especially if it might cost them something they hold dear.

I also applaud anyone who takes a moral stand about what they are willing to do, especially if it might cost them something they hold dear.

If that moral stand involves enforcing a standard of conduct on others, then it's anywhere from slightly to extremely more complicated. Enforcing behavior on others for the perceived benefit of all has been responsible for some major problems in the past (for example, not allowing people to express their sexuality), so let's be careful how much we throw in with those pushing to instill a level of behavior on those who want a place of their own to speak freely (to take as an example another part of the comments here, where Ellen Pao calls out Ohanian re: the_donald).

Many of us may support it in this case because it aligns with our values of inclusion and tolerance towards others (even if it's sort of a catch-22), but it's not like leaders of moral charges haven't been known to go too far before, nor like movements haven't been co-opted by other interests before.

Edit: Clarified where the example I was referring to came from, since that might have been confusing in isolation.

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#108

Post by kube-system »

say_it_as_it_is wrote: post #42
purephase wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, TD alone was huge in 2016-2017 and was a huge contributor to the dynamic we have in the world today. Ellen is 100% right here and Alex did absolutely nothing to address it. Good on her for publicly calling it out.

You're giving a message forum way too much credit for Trumpism in the United States. Do you actually think that social media is representative of a majority?

Social media is wildly influential. At this point, it is likely more influential than any other form of media. Reddit is the #2 social media platform by traffic in the US, after Facebook.

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#109

Post by nromiun »

beamatronic wrote: post #94
nromiun wrote: post #86

Reddit and 4Chan are the two sides of the same coin for me. Just their ideologies are different. At least the people on 4Chan are self aware about how toxic they are. But the mods (at least on the popular subreddits) on reddit love to ban anything that isn't far left. I don't mind echo chambers but the lack of self awareness always rubs me the wrong way.

What do you mean by "far left"? Can you give an example?

Just take any (communism, revolution etc) agenda from the far left and try to post against that in some popular subreddit. I guarantee that you will get banned immediately. At this point they should just post a "Only Leftists allowed" banner. That would be so much easier.

Re: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns from the Board of Reddit

#110

Post by tootie »

minimaxir wrote: post #3

Relevant context: recently, former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao called out Reddit for their policies after Reddit did a statement on Black Lives Matter: > I am obligated to call you out: You should have shut down the_donald instead of amplifying it and its hate, racism, and violence. So much of what is happening now lies at your feet. You don't get to say BLM when reddit nurtures and monetizes white supremacy and hate all da…

I don't know if it's specifically because of Ellen Pao's note, but I'm sure he is feeling the exact same thing. And I'm sure his wife is in his ear about it too. I am slightly surprised that he's washing his hands of it instead of leveraging his position to do something about it. Maybe he tried and failed behind the scenes.
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