Codesmith and other affected should probably sue Michael for defamation, harassment and other charges, and try to get like $500 million in reparations.
A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator
641–650 of 996 posts
Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator
#642This whole thing feels like a neat encapsulated example of how horrible the "Internet" has become. A bad actor with vested interest taking over a part of a website (Reddit) that is then used as a source of record (Google, LLMs), and bam, completely fabricated overviews of a brand/company are now all you see when you use the predominant search engine, because there are no alternatives. All of this for what? Shareholde…
What is the suggestion for filtering out the grifters from these places on the internet that have become super valuable?
Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator
#643Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s not a bad thing. People on there, if you piss them off in a discussion, will go find your old posts and downvote them and in some rare cases harass you by replying or worse put two and two together to doxx you.
Not sure what you mean. They can still do all that even if the profile is set to private. It doesn't hide your posts and comments from Google. They are hoovered up just the same.
It’s slightly harder is what I mean. Takes more effort than clicking on profile and going thru comments
Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator
#644Earlier quoted context omitted.
Reddit has a moderation problem, and it's a big one. They've now been asked to appear in front of Congress to address concerns about politically motivated violence being incited through their platform: https://oversight.house.gov/release/chairman-comer-invites-c... Personally I believe I've seen more people in the past few years wish a politically motivated death on somebody else via Reddit, than I have anywhere else…
Moderation on Reddit has been questionable for a long time and its killing the site. To give some examples: - /r/energy used to ban everyone in favour of nuclear energy - If you post on /r/conservative you can expect to receive a bunch of bans from unrelated (popular) subs. Doesn't matter what you posted, being associated with that subs "taints" your account enough for some moderators. - /r/UnitedKingdom banned me fo…
> - If you post on /r/conservative you can expect to receive a bunch of bans from unrelated (popular) subs. Doesn't matter what you posted, being associated with that subs "taints" your account enough for some moderators.
You left out the fact that you can’t post to /r/conservative until the moderators there audit your post history and perform an interview with you to confirm your ideology matches theirs.
If someone does pass the test they’re allowed to comment. If they make a comment that disagrees with the message the moderators want to push, their commenting privilege is revoked.
It’s not a real subreddit. It’s a moderator-curated echo chamber. They run it like a propaganda outlet, only allow approved thought from approved commenters, and ban anyone who steps out of line with the mods.
That’s why every thread you view there will have “load more comments” buttons that never load anything: They remove more comments than you’re allowed to see.
Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator
#645I don't know about this particular case, but, generally... bad actor subreddit moderators have been an occasional thing for well over a decade. And it's also been widely known for that long that Reddit is an influential venue in which to take over a corner -- for marketing or propaganda. What's an equal concern to me is how insufficiently resilient Reddit collectively appears to be, in face of this. A bad actor mod o…
Social media should operate under open protocols, including moderation. Choosing moderation should be client-controlled. These companies burn through VC money to build systems with network effects then turn around and effectively extract rent. Rent extraction is economically parasitic and anti-productive. This is exactly the sort of thing the government should address by mandating open protocols.
Reddit has an easy way to choose moderation, just stop going to the reddits that are poorly moderated.
Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator
#646Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not interested in doing this at all, but how does a person take over a subreddit? That sounds like a very difficult thing to do.
Mods aren't set in stone, they tend to be active for a few years and then give up. Once that happens and you notice the current mods not posting anything for a period of time, you can simply file a request to side-wide admins to take over that sub, as giving it to anyone else is better than leaving it completely unmoderated.
it's surprising that this feature remains relatively unknown. the article doesn't seem to be directly aware of it. I recently requested a fairly important subreddit which had been taken over by mods of a competing to sub and locked down to prevent competition, and they gave it to me immediately
Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator
#647Earlier quoted context omitted.
I did explain my reasoning. You coincidentally not mentioning /r/conservatives censorship practices, simply doesn't appear plausible, given the context of your comment and demonstrated knowledge of reddit moderating practices.
I disagree with your assessment, if I remember correctly I posted three times on that sub. The HN guidelines are there to improve the quality of the conversation, there's not much to further discuss so I'm going to leave it at this.
> I disagree with your assessment, if I remember correctly I posted three times on that sub.
The sub currently requires moderator approval (specific flair) to comment on most threads.
The parent commenter is correct: It is widely known as one of the most censored subs on Reddit because the mods remove comments from unapproved accounts (those without flair).
Their rules claim that some threads are open for everyone to participate in, which may have been the case in the past when you commented.
However it’s not true for any of the popular threads. They will remove comments from unflaired accounts
This is all state in their rules. It’s not speculation. The parent comment is correct.
Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator
#648Earlier quoted context omitted.
So, how is it working out for you so far? I find it hard to believe that otherwise intelligent beings can both make claims like this and at the same time observe reality. The USA has in all of its history since the civil war not been this divided. And it is falling off a cliff as we speak.
[flagged]
Ah yes, the famous violent left bullies who tried to raid the Capitol
Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator
#649> Any time you attempt to defend yourself in the main subreddit, posts get deleted. Or you’re accused of running a Reddit bot army.
Not sure what's the story from the other side, but...
One strategy to counter this could be buying ads on Reddit to expose this, with evidence to show of course. And if possible, place the ad right on the offending subreddit.
And don't forget, if you have enough evidence to show, you can always sue. So, do both at the same time and keep them busy.
Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator
#650Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're listing several examples, including /r/conservative, yet even though this subreddit is widely known (on Reddit) to be a censored echo-chamber, you do not mention this aspect. I find it hard to believe, that this would be a coincidence.
That's a very weak argument in my opinion. How does the moderation in /r/conservatives, a subreddit for conservatives to discuss "from a distinctly conservative point of view", concern a liberal like yourself in any way? This isn't a subreddit you need to participate in. I think it's more relevant how default subreddits or country subreddits are moderated in a similar way.
The /r/conservative mods are pushing far-right and conspiracy theory positions, not textbook conservative ideology.
Even actual conservatives don’t like it. It’s like a propaganda operation where only approved think is allowed.