The trauma of Facebook’s content moderators • Hacker News Board

Re: The trauma of Facebook’s content moderators

#261

Post by mirimir » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 9:44 PM UTC

vanusa wrote: post #258

mirimir wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ... make content moderation more humane. Modest proposal: Find people who enjoy horrific content, and have them rate it. Then black-hole whatever they rate as most extreme. I was is a dark place after 9/11, both from the trauma of that, and some personal issues. So I spent considerable time on Rotten, Something Awful, and worse. Based on that experience, many would likely do content moderation for free.

Find people who enjoy horrific content, Yup - these are exactly the kind of people you want to rub shoulders, and stock your company's ranks with.

Yes, I get it. Those are not nice people. Few of us would want to be friends with them. Or even work in the same building. So have them work from home, or for a standalone subcontractor.

I also get the downside of employing them. But people need to look at that stuff, even if software does most of the work. So it might as well be people who can tolerate it, and perhaps even enjoy it.

Re: The trauma of Facebook’s content moderators

#262

Post by three_seagrass » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 10:08 PM UTC

philwelch wrote: post #177

three_seagrass wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is still linked to the brand - "Facebook pays $10 M to company that runs ads on gore and rape sites" Look at how much trouble they got in when it was revealed they were using Onavo (even before acquisition).

Meh, if that’s the worst PR they can get they’d be massively ahead of where they are now. Especially considering how massively the press narrative has turned against them overall.

But that's my point - Facebook has a massive brand problem right now, and this would just be throwing more gas into the fire.

Re: The trauma of Facebook’s content moderators

#263

Post by tomcam » Fri, Jul 24, 2020, 2:10 AM UTC

int_19h wrote: post #250

ogurechny wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that you are wrong in general, but that parallel is right on point. The root of the problem, which is rarely mentioned in these discussions, is that many people enjoying comfortable living conditions believe themselves to be “pure-blooded” and unable to deal with “unclean” things because of the possible “traumas”. (What is an ideal person free of “traumas”, anyway? A vegetable stoned on drugs?) You can easily…

The case of law enforcement in US is unusual in that claims to being "special" come largely from the officers themselves - that's the whole point of the sheep/wolf/sheepdog theory that much law enforcement training is centered around these days.

Citation please? This seems like mind reading.

Re: The trauma of Facebook’s content moderators

#264

Post by int_19h » Fri, Jul 24, 2020, 5:50 AM UTC

tomcam wrote: post #263

int_19h wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The case of law enforcement in US is unusual in that claims to being "special" come largely from the officers themselves - that's the whole point of the sheep/wolf/sheepdog theory that much law enforcement training is centered around these days.

Citation please? This seems like mind reading.

If you search online for "I am the sheepdog", you'll find plenty: https://www.google.com/search?q=i+am+the+sheepdog&tbm=isch

(Note how much the "thin blue line" imagery is used in conjunction with this - that's how you know who's the target audience.)

It all ultimately comes from Dave Grossman, who's one of the most worshipped figures in modern American policing: https://www.policeone.com/police-products/training-products/...

This guy now runs the "Grossman Academy", which offers police training. It's popular enough that they have train-your-entire-PD discounts.

Re: The trauma of Facebook’s content moderators

#265

Post by philwelch » Fri, Jul 24, 2020, 6:21 PM UTC

three_seagrass wrote: post #262

philwelch wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meh, if that’s the worst PR they can get they’d be massively ahead of where they are now. Especially considering how massively the press narrative has turned against them overall.

But that's my point - Facebook has a massive brand problem right now, and this would just be throwing more gas into the fire.

At some point that stops being a factor. If the haters are going to hate no matter what, you actually get impunity because your actual actions stop making a difference either way.

Re: The trauma of Facebook’s content moderators

#266

Post by tomcam » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 10:04 PM UTC

int_19h wrote: post #264

tomcam wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation please? This seems like mind reading.

If you search online for "I am the sheepdog", you'll find plenty: https://www.google.com/search?q=i+am+the+sheepdog&tbm=isch (Note how much the "thin blue line" imagery is used in conjunction with this - that's how you know who's the target audience.) It all ultimately comes from Dave Grossman, who's one of the most worshipped figures in modern American policing: https://www.policeone.com/police-products/training-pro…

Whoa, thank you

Re: The trauma of Facebook’s content moderators

#267

Post by unicodepepper » Thu, Jul 30, 2020, 3:58 AM UTC

Spooky23 wrote: post #144

agentdrtran wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ER staff are paid a lot more, are sometimes even in a union, and also get the benefit of helping people and seeing the effect of their help.

Ever hang out with an ER staffer? Most of their workload is bullshit. People with colds and sore throats, depressing people using ER as primary care, assholes using 911 to score Medicaid cab vouchers. And at any time, any number of people can show up with any kind of personal tragedies from stokes to various traumas. My sister quit after a 13 year old bled out from a gsw, and she walked out of the room and got kicked…

I would imagine that cases should follow a bell curve - sure, the exceptionally good cases where you feel you saved someone's life are rare, but so are the terrible cases that haunt you at night; and most would fall somewhere in the middle.

That said, I would also wager that the curve can be skewed towards one side or the other depending on the location, timing of your shift, or any other factors.

Re: The trauma of Facebook’s content moderators

#268

Post by shadowprofile77 » Thu, Jul 30, 2020, 11:37 AM UTC

teddyh wrote: post #211

justanotheranon wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/07/11/the-revelations-of-wik... Thanks to Wikileaks publishing the Dutroux Dossier in 2008, we know hundreds of snuff films were recovered from the notorious pedo-rapist Marc Dutroux. Just because the police keep those films as sealed evidence that are never published does NOT mean snuff films are an Urban Legend. I can see why the police always keep snuff films secret. Imagine what wo…

Snuff films are, fortunately, still only a subject of urban legends, since those films you mention do not meet the definition. Were those films made in order to entertain other people than the person who made them? Were the films ever distributed to any of those people? Was anyone ever actually killed in any of these movies? If the answer to any one of those three questions is “no”, then the movies, horrible as they…

I think that some of you should take a look at news websites about the drug and kidnapping cartels down in Latin America... They regularly post their own snuff films online and I can guarantee you that they're not only very real but also extraordinarily brutal. No urban legend about it.