311–320 of 757 posts
This problem is easy to solve: give users the tools to do their own filtering. But services like to pretend that it's a hard problem because they don't want to actually cede that control to their users. The whole point of controlling the communication networks is to control what and how people say and hear.
With the benefit of hindsight, I think “free-form platforms” like reddit or youtube may be the road to mediocrity. Youtube is still the major player even though twitter, Facebook & netflix grew around them. It is less opinionated on how video should be consumed. Less opinionated on what should be consumed. Anyone can post. Anyone can see it. Problem is, youtube doesn’t really have a purpose that it is trying to serve…
I agree that a lot of the bigger channels get worse as they make videos primarily to get views. Although I think this is true of most content producers: You only have so much good material, but it's hard to quit when there's still money to be made at the margins.
I detest this smug mentality, that so called trolling is trivial to identify and differentiate from legitimate, but unpopular opinion. I feel strongly about it because it creates opportunity for censors, both in the form of moderators and communities themselves, to stifle debate under the guise of "detoxification." This kind of communal policing is ground zero for the echo chamber phenomenon. We live in a reality whe…
And I detest this smug mentality that this subject is concerning things that are mere differences of opinion, like we're discussing tax policy. That's not the case in the least.
In fact, I'm not even sure as to what you're getting at. Are you seriously suggesting that what is toxic is somehow universal?
It does not bother you that dozens of serious contemporary, controversial topics, with severe consequences for our society, are regularly censored on websites like reddit under the guise of so called toxicity?
You aren't bothered by such vague conceptions of offensiveness being used by corporate giants to push their narrative at the expense of others? Of the danger of self-censoring group think on community moderated boards?
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We've already got people with the correct worldview in charge of curriculum and personnel. The problem is that there are still dumb-dumbs that sometimes think there are valid alternatives to our worldview. That's why we need better education.
"correct worldview". People like you scare me.
Off the internet, most people interact with those who are more or less like themselves, so there's less chance of disagreement. For anyone who differs significantly from you, you hold back your real thoughts and/or stew silently. We just have to accept that echo chambers are an inevitability on the internet with censorship and moderation, and discontent is an inevitability otherwise.
If people knew how to talk diplomatically or to get along, this wouldn't be a problem in the first place. Maybe that's something that can be taught, but it's not a problem that gets fixed on the internet, or is a problem caused by the internet- fix it at home; this may also take care of the trolling problem.
We tend to think we’re more in control of our behavior than we actually are. That is, our brains are operating from habit a large amount of the time, and the idea of the CEO brain consciously deciding our every action is largely an illusion. This is why emergency exit doors must open outwards. People have died in fires in theaters trying to push on doors that said “Pull”. The crash bar on an emergency exit door is wh…
To stretch it a bit, I'd say there's an important difference between a fire door and reddit. The fire door knows its job is to prevent people burning to death. Reddit... does it know it's job is to prevent outraged reaction?
I think this is one of the things that made facebook so problematic on politics, it can't tell the the good likes, comments and shares from the bad ones. I'm not sure they really had a concept of better and worse. Some stuff isn't allowed, but otherwise?
Imagine one post, where Mrs X invites neighbors to meet a local candidate at her house for revolutionary thoughts and biscuits. Another post, where Ms Y rants about Macron voters, Trump, taxes and kids these days. Both are political. One is actually democratic and participatory. The other is cheap, nasty, unproductive and divisive. Does Facebook, in any meaningful sense, value one over the other? Does reddit?
Reddit has its non-censorship values. I respect that. It's important that someone does. I also think they want to house the weird, and I respect that too. But, I think unrestricted speech may be an insufficient value, like nondiscrimination or atheism. It's not enough to build on. You need positive values too.
Free speech is also problematic, when taken as 'all speech is equal.'
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I don't understand the reference. Why are manhole covers round? I always thought it was to prevent the cover from falling into the hole. Is that not the case?
That is the argument but actually any lipped shape can give this guarantee. Even historically manhole and utility covers had to be somewhat flush to the ground and so they've always had to be lipped for this. You can see lots of utility covers that are hinged, square, or other options, but all are lipped for safety. While a circular profile makes the lipping easier, it doesn't seem to influence many utility covers.
We tend to think we’re more in control of our behavior than we actually are. That is, our brains are operating from habit a large amount of the time, and the idea of the CEO brain consciously deciding our every action is largely an illusion. This is why emergency exit doors must open outwards. People have died in fires in theaters trying to push on doors that said “Pull”. The crash bar on an emergency exit door is wh…
Asking people to build user-interfaces that promote self-control seems a bit naive though. There's a reason self-control is identified as one of the primary "fruits" of a Christian life (Galatians 5:22-23), since it's exactly the opposite of default human behavior.
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It's the same sort of myth as "why are manhole covers round?" and there are lots of attributions for why that ignore history for a just-so story.
I don't understand the reference. Why are manhole covers round? I always thought it was to prevent the cover from falling into the hole. Is that not the case?