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Reddit Bans Nazi Groups and Others in Crackdown on Violent Content

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Re: Reddit Bans Nazi Groups and Others in Crackdown on Violent Content

#31

Post by KGIII »

michaelchisari wrote: post #21
KGIII wrote: post #6

It's really, really not easy to stand up for the rights of Nazis. If you're a Nazi, you can use voat.co as they are very free speech oriented. You don't have to be a Nazi to participate, but it's a good idea to have a thick skin if you do go there. I go there and talk to the White Nationalists. They are pretty much Nazis. They know I'm not white and that I don't agree with them. They don't scare me. They are scared a…

there's a better way to deal with the mentally ill and disenfranchised Enabling them is not a good way to deal with them. Allowing easily discoverable safe spaces with which to reinforce their neuroses and paranoia only adds to the problem as new users can more easily be recruited, preyed upon, etc. This goes for much more than just violent white supremacists, it also applies to things like pro-ana, which creates an…

I'd argue they have no moral obligation to do any such thing. However, they should probably make a pretty clear warning sign.

I fear we will digress too far. In short, I'm very pro freedom of expression. I'm glad voat exists, for example. The people there are often horrible, that is true. But, they still deserve to express themselves freely.

Re: Reddit Bans Nazi Groups and Others in Crackdown on Violent Content

#32

Post by pknopf »

arkona wrote: post #25
pknopf wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That place promotes violence and hate on a daily basis.

Care to give some evidence for your claims?

Go to the sub and click the first post you see.

Evidence provided.

edit: Here is the first non-stickied post I found.

https://g.redditmedia.com/lWzOghJ9C76p2rMmU3CDWhHTtojbXJ9vlu...

> Here is Hillary Clinton shitting herself on 9/11

> Did PETA publicly complain about the handling of that cattle?

> THE SIDE OF BEEF MARRIED A RAPIST!!!

> Hope she had her shitting pants on

Re: Reddit Bans Nazi Groups and Others in Crackdown on Violent Content

#33

Post by hfourm »

blfr wrote: post #13

Why has free speech fallen out of favour with SV? Ironically, it happened rather silently. It's not just an Eternal September-like phenomenon. The very same people who used to support it not only don't any more but pretend they never did in the first place. Speaking of the founding fathers, I ask him what he thinks they would have thought of Reddit. "A bastion of free speech on the World Wide Web? I bet they would li…

Same reason I would ban someone from my personal forum for spamming racial slurs, violent threats, and all around stupid commentary.

Re: Reddit Bans Nazi Groups and Others in Crackdown on Violent Content

#34

Post by mozumder »

KGIII wrote: post #6

It's really, really not easy to stand up for the rights of Nazis. If you're a Nazi, you can use voat.co as they are very free speech oriented. You don't have to be a Nazi to participate, but it's a good idea to have a thick skin if you do go there. I go there and talk to the White Nationalists. They are pretty much Nazis. They know I'm not white and that I don't agree with them. They don't scare me. They are scared a…

Technically, you're supposed to actually kill Nazis, since the US government (and many others) literally declared war against them.

Anything short of that is just a gratuity towards them.

Honestly, Americans aren't horrified enough by the mere existence of these people, treating them as an academic concept. If you actually know Nazis, you already know they're an extremely violent group.

It took only a few days of me being around Nazis before they literally tried to blow me up.

They're not academic professors. They're violent and organized militants. Treat them as you would Al Queda or ISIS.

Re: Reddit Bans Nazi Groups and Others in Crackdown on Violent Content

#35

Post by blfr »

lobf wrote: post #23
blfr wrote: post #13

Why has free speech fallen out of favour with SV? Ironically, it happened rather silently. It's not just an Eternal September-like phenomenon. The very same people who used to support it not only don't any more but pretend they never did in the first place. Speaking of the founding fathers, I ask him what he thinks they would have thought of Reddit. "A bastion of free speech on the World Wide Web? I bet they would li…

There's no shade of gray here? Either you host nazi propaganda, or you're "anti-free speech?"

Reddit, Twitter and others have banned a much wider selection of posters and communities than nazis. Of course they lead with NAZIS! but then it's anything from r/coontown to voting in the wrong thread.

To answer your question, you're not running a bastion of free speech if you ban people for their political opinions.

Re: Reddit Bans Nazi Groups and Others in Crackdown on Violent Content

#36

Post by _euac »

tripplethrendo wrote: post #10
pknopf wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That place promotes violence and hate on a daily basis.

If by hate you mean people with dissenting opinions.

This has some examples: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/53d5xb/what-is-rt...

Every time I've been to that subreddit, it only takes perusing the comments for 5 minutes to find way worse stuff. From people being openly racist, to people calling for Hillary Clinton to be raped, etc. Bunch of great people, really :\

Re: Reddit Bans Nazi Groups and Others in Crackdown on Violent Content

#37

Post by cmac2992 »

KGIII wrote: post #6

It's really, really not easy to stand up for the rights of Nazis. If you're a Nazi, you can use voat.co as they are very free speech oriented. You don't have to be a Nazi to participate, but it's a good idea to have a thick skin if you do go there. I go there and talk to the White Nationalists. They are pretty much Nazis. They know I'm not white and that I don't agree with them. They don't scare me. They are scared a…

Everybody is running into the same issue. Even voat is is banning "subreddits". Turns out managing UGC is a really hard problem.

https://voat.co/v/announcements/163288

Re: Reddit Bans Nazi Groups and Others in Crackdown on Violent Content

#38

Post by santoshalper »

blfr wrote: post #13

Why has free speech fallen out of favour with SV? Ironically, it happened rather silently. It's not just an Eternal September-like phenomenon. The very same people who used to support it not only don't any more but pretend they never did in the first place. Speaking of the founding fathers, I ask him what he thinks they would have thought of Reddit. "A bastion of free speech on the World Wide Web? I bet they would li…

I've never believed that free speech meant anyone with a platform or medium was obliged to provide an outlet for any ideology. We are also guaranteed freedom of association, if the owners of reddit find Nazi propaganda repellent, they are free to disassociate themselves from it.

I do understand the growing concern that the internet has reduced the total number of important communication platforms, instead of hundreds of newspapers, radio stations, and TV channels, many people now get their news from a small number of medium - Facebook, Google, Twitter, which increases the risk that alternative points of view will be suffocated.

That's an important problem to solve, but not one so important that I am willing to force them to carry any content, no matter how deplorable, against their will.

Re: Reddit Bans Nazi Groups and Others in Crackdown on Violent Content

#39

Post by glenstein »

What tends to happen when toxic subreddits get banned is people who liked them and supported them start whatabouting about edge cases and claim the ban wasn't done "consistently," eagerly pointing out instances of mistaken bans.

It reminds me of the fable, though I forget exactly what it was (edit: Loki's Wager), where someone sought to avoid being beheaded not by claiming innocence but by endlessly disputing where their neck ended and head began.

Re: Reddit Bans Nazi Groups and Others in Crackdown on Violent Content

#40

Post by KGIII »

untog wrote: post #14
KGIII wrote: post #6

It's really, really not easy to stand up for the rights of Nazis. If you're a Nazi, you can use voat.co as they are very free speech oriented. You don't have to be a Nazi to participate, but it's a good idea to have a thick skin if you do go there. I go there and talk to the White Nationalists. They are pretty much Nazis. They know I'm not white and that I don't agree with them. They don't scare me. They are scared a…

According to a study about Reddit itself, banning can do some good: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/business/reddit-limits-no... The general principle is sound - people get sucked into extremism when they stumble upon it on a large site like Reddit. Voat, on the other hand, you're not going to find unless you're looking for it.

I mean overall. It helps Reddit maintain their goals. I meant more specifically the problem with, you know, the fact that we still have Nazis.
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