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Reddit alternative Ruqqus shutting down

ruqqus.com

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Re: Reddit alternative Ruqqus shutting down

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You called them conservatives, not me. I posted an excerpt from the linked post. That's what a Ruqqus admin said about the people on his site. I don't think they're conservatives at all, they're just very sad angry people.

I thought you were quoting because you agreed with it, you didn't explain why. It's an offensive statement, no matter who said it, it's a sweeping generalization. There are plenty of intelligent conservatives, and either way, they want a community.

Look inwards in your community then, and lay down some standards.

Re: Reddit alternative Ruqqus shutting down

#34

I'm not familiar with these alternatives, or if it's true they descend into abhorrent extremism. But the problem with mainstream social media platforms prohibiting content is that it fuels the extremism it's trying to combat. I understand it's their right as private companies yada yada yada. But there's an increasingly narrow space within which to have meaningful conversations. And things are getting bad. Moderates f…

> But the problem with mainstream social media platforms prohibiting content is that it fuels the extremism it's trying to combat.

I've held this belief before but now I'm not so sure. Is this actually quantifiable? For example, I'd be interested to know if there are people or groups that have grown in size/reach after (and more specifically, because of) being banned from major platforms.

In fact, you just said that you're not familiar with these alternatives -- doesn't that hint that the banned groups might be now reaching a smaller audience? If they weren't banned, you might have seen them on the more mainstream sites.

Re: Reddit alternative Ruqqus shutting down

#35
post #5

These free-speech reddit clones always seem to descend to far-right Nazism. Maybe you have to ban all political discussion to survive as a reddit clone on the modern internet.

That's the catch, though. For their extremely broken brains, everything is political discussion. Talking about finance? Well, who do you think controls the world's money? And on and on. Note to dang/admin: I'm sure it is clear that I am being illustrative of a hateful argument, but I am happy to redact.

>For their extremely broken brains, everything is political discussion.

If I had a nickle for every not dead comment on HN saying "everything is political" (though it seems to be in a lull these past couple months) I could get a pizza delivered a couple times a week.

Re: Reddit alternative Ruqqus shutting down

#36
post #29

Nice demonstration of the Paradox of Tolerance [1]: "Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." This is the naive weakness exploited by every strain of authoritarianism, the i…

How does that paradox square with the transition of intolerant societies into tolerant ones? Where intolerant attitudes were not only tolerated, but the norm?

If this was really a paradox, such a transition should be impossible. But since such transitions took place, the same forces that enabled them can also prevent a society from becoming intolerant.

Of course in practice this paradox is only ever invoked by those that get to define what counts as "intolerance", or those that agree with the current definition.

Re: Reddit alternative Ruqqus shutting down

#37
post #28

It’s too bad that nobody can find a middle ground between the increasing amount of heavy handed censorship on Reddit and literally all Nazis. I thought /r/gendercritical and /r/nonewnormal both fit into the bucket of “I can see why this is controversial, but it’s more dissent from mainstream opinion than clearly ban worthy.” Again I’m not espousing views in those subreddits I just didn’t view them as ban worthy. All…

I was a frequent lurker at /r/nonewnormal and I agree with your analysis - dissent from the mainstream opinion that lockdowns and mandates are good, but more of an opinionated criticism than anything banworthy. The moderators put a great deal of work to keep it civil and non-partisan, and their efforts were completely destroyed when they were kicked off Reddit.

Some /r/nonewnormal participants went to Ruqqus, some went to communities.win, but the racist and anti-semitic posters on those sites kept trying to subvert the existing positive culture and it wasn't fun browsing there.

Anyone who can solve the the "less echo chamber than Reddit but less racist than Ruqqus" hosting dilemma stands to gain a large audience.

Re: Reddit alternative Ruqqus shutting down

#38

I got a slight chuckle out of this because it reminded me of one of my favorite quotes from Slate Star Codex (in this case the blog post was talking about Voat): > The moral of the story is: if you’re against witch-hunts, and you promise to found your own little utopian community where witch-hunts will never happen, your new society will end up consisting of approximately three principled civil libertarians and seven…

> if you’re against witch-hunts, and you promise to found your own little utopian community where witch-hunts will never happen, your new society will end up consisting of approximately three principled civil libertarians and seven zillion witches.

And the other side is important to mention as well: you end up with mainstream communities that are echo-chambers where no-one has ever encountered anything remotely like a witch.

Re: Reddit alternative Ruqqus shutting down

#39
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue that the person who wrote that comment understood it better than anyone on this thread.

Then argue it. Why?

I don't believe for a second that you're arguing in good faith, given the parade of goalpost-moving with attendant downvotes you rained into the other post on this topic.

But he understood it, literally, because he ran a community that embodied it. To my knowledge, neither me nor you can say that, so again, literally speaking he has a lot more experience in understanding the dynamics of this culture.

You feel like he's painting conservatives with an unfair brush. OK. Take that up with him.

Re: Reddit alternative Ruqqus shutting down

#40
post #28

It’s too bad that nobody can find a middle ground between the increasing amount of heavy handed censorship on Reddit and literally all Nazis. I thought /r/gendercritical and /r/nonewnormal both fit into the bucket of “I can see why this is controversial, but it’s more dissent from mainstream opinion than clearly ban worthy.” Again I’m not espousing views in those subreddits I just didn’t view them as ban worthy. All…

I was a frequent lurker at /r/nonewnormal and I agree with your analysis - dissent from the mainstream opinion that lockdowns and mandates are good, but more of an opinionated criticism than anything banworthy. The moderators put a great deal of work to keep it civil and non-partisan, and their efforts were completely destroyed when they were kicked off Reddit. Some /r/nonewnormal participants went to Ruqqus, some we…

>Anyone who can solve the the "less echo chamber than Reddit but less racist than Ruqqus" hosting dilemma stands to gain a large audience.

Do you believe that is possible? Ruqqus would lead me to believe that it's not. The moderation needed to make it less racist is anathema and unpalatable to the audience that would need to support it in the first place. And that's not even mentioning the lack of a viable business model if it's not brand-safe.

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