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Life after an internet mob attack

pasquale.cool

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Re: Life after an internet mob attack

#111

Post by fairity »

dvt wrote: post #3

The best solution here is to completely disconnect from social media or (at most) have an incredibly sanitized presence. Unless your job or livelihood revolves around needing to engage with a random internet audience (i.e. you're an influencer, entertainer, etc.) stay away from having a public persona on Twitter/Facebook/etc. The only community I interact with candidly tends to be this one. I don't post on Twitter, F…

You're assuming that internet mobs only attack based on misconstrued online content, but that's far from true.

I think the best solution here is to speak up on behalf of those who are unfairly attacked, in spite of the negative fallout from getting involved. The worst thing that can happen in cases like this is when nobody supports the victim. That can be profoundly traumatizing.

For a more in-depth look at the impacts of internet mob attacks, I'd recommend this TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/jon_ronson_when_online_shaming_goe...

Re: Life after an internet mob attack

#112

Post by [deleted] »

lloydjones wrote: post #68
cousin_it wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My view is more like "a true friend would help you hide a body", or the short story "Friends in San Rosario" by O.Henry. If I abandoned a friend to the mob due to "screenshots of lewd DMs", I'd have a hard time living with myself afterward.

That doesn’t feel like a worldview that would result in a fairer society or better personal conduct. If defending a person, in the face of prima facie evidence, has the result of preserving their reputation and status (and keeping the reputation and status of the accuser in their original state) then it doesn’t feel useful or good.

[deleted]

Re: Life after an internet mob attack

#113

Post by snowwrestler »

FreakyT wrote: post #81
alephnan wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> vast majority of mainstream social media users (a) don't tend to have good-faith debates This. Thank you. I have unconsciously wondered into such debates on social media cesspools, and approaching it like I do with HN, which is atleast more logical

I think a key reason is HN has (IMO) a well-designed vote-based moderation system. Flamebait tends to get downvoted/flagged pretty quickly, burying it where it belongs. Contrast that to pure engagement-focused social networks like Facebook or Twitter, which do the opposite: prioritize showing flamebait, because people are engaging with it and therefore it must necessarily be quality content !

HN does not have out-of-control mobs and flamewars because HN has dedicated human moderators who monitor hot conversations and use a variety of tools to de-escalate them.

Voting manages the day-to-day and gives them signal to work with, but ultimately open communities (i.e. that anyone can join) need active moderation to remain stable over the long term.

Re: Life after an internet mob attack

#114

Post by dhosek »

camillomiller wrote: post #102

Had me for a while, then unfortunately lost me at the quote of Scott Adams. Adams is EXACTLY who I think anyone should avoid quoting at all costs, when you’re rightfully criticizing the Internet Morality Hordes. If you wanna know why, just scroll his Twitter timeline.

I was thinking the same thing.

Re: Life after an internet mob attack

#115

Post by philwelch »

BitwiseFool wrote: post #25

The most disturbing and insidious sentiment of online mobs is claiming that the targets are "just being held accountable". Or that such people are just experiencing "consequences". I really can't express just how cold and bloodthirsty such statements seem to be. It's the perfect combination of justifying vicious behavior while also absolving themselves of responsibility.

Whenever the talk of “consequences” starts, I’m reminded of a quote:

“There is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech.” —Idi Amin

Re: Life after an internet mob attack

#116

Post by jazzyjackson »

polote wrote: post #24

There are a lot of talks on HN about the toxicity of social media. And people are pretty angry against Google and Facebook. But to me the worse is by far Twitter. There are plenty of random people who have a disproportionate number of followers compared to the quality of their posts. And as a result can do these kind of mods. Which are amplified by retweets, something that barely exists in other social media. Random…

Facebook does have a 5000 person limit on how many people can follow your personal account, after that you need to start a fan page.

Re: Life after an internet mob attack

#117

Post by sneak »

craigds wrote: post #50
dvt wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oops, mea culpa . I mistook another screenshot in his post to be his own account. Yeah, 16k isn't that much; pretty sad.

> isn't that much 16 thousand people follow him. That's way more than enough to be considered a 'public person'

Not at all. I had more than that before I quit twitter and I am about as minor a figure in a sub-sub-sub-industry as one can be; actually-famous people have millions. Not-quite-famous people have hundreds of thousands.

Re: Life after an internet mob attack

#118

Post by rapht »

Cancel the mob: make platforms liable for publishing (or linking to) any accusations not established by a court relating to an individual's morals or ethics, except when those accusations are made by an accredited press organization.

OK to call someone an incompetent, not OK to call someone a child abuser, or even just a sexist or a liar, except if you're making a stand as a media organization (which the accused individual may then sue under libel laws)

Penalty for platforms: $10k per offense -- 100 bad tweets published: $1m risk.

Re: Life after an internet mob attack

#119

Post by betwixthewires »

1) be pseudonymous. People in my real life don't need to know what I do on the internet. Not like I'm doing anything untoward, but I am candidly discussing things with random strangers, including things some might view as beyond discussion, and you don't want some crusade against you for that. Your real life and your internet life don't need to overlap, and 99% of people get no benefit from them overlapping.

2) never capitulate, never apologize unless you genuinely did something wrong. This can be hard, but there's no other option. Also, never explain yourself. I've done nothing for which I owe anyone an explanation, least of all random people on the internet.

3) don't use main line social media. Nothing good comes from having an account on twitter or Facebook.

4) anyone who says they care about you that decides they don't even know who you are because some random stranger on the internet accuses you of something doesn't care about you really. At the very least they'd ask you if it is true before passing judgment. I know it can be hard even knowing this, the people you can trust are never exactly who you expect or want them to be.

5) the mob is only as powerful as you let them be.

6) sue. If someone slanders or libels you, sue them into poverty. The only thing keeping people from transgressing you is fear of reprisal. Make an example out of them. If it actually negatively affected your life and you have evidence that what they said isn't true, you may be entitled to compensation.

In the age of the internet, you have to have a thick skin. It is required. I understand that some people take it hard and some even hurt themselves from the pressure, and I feel bad for those people, but the failure is that they let noise from the ether affect their emotional well being. You cannot do that. The internet is a resource of information and a communications channel. Nothing more.

Re: Life after an internet mob attack

#120

Post by tediousdemise »

Twitter is a toxic wasteland of shit eaters.

I avoid Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, pretty much anything considered social media. In fact, the only websites I use are email, banking, and HN.

I don’t need social media. Social media doesn’t deserve my bandwidth, advertisers don’t deserve my attention, and my mind doesn’t deserve to be manipulated.

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