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The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

nytimes.com

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Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#81

Post by rxhernandez »

neolefty wrote: post #10

The article makes the case (to me) that local + anonymous was a failed experiment. In real-life communities, local means not anonymous, and bad behavior -- which is rare whether anonymous or not -- can be tied to an individual right away. The problem is that nasty, anonymous, and local is a terrible combination: > That hyper-localization is also what made the cases of harassment particularly galling. Ms. Musick, one…

> “With Yik Yak, in the back of your mind, you know they’re not from around the world or other parts of the state, they’re right there in your classroom, in your dining hall. On a campus with 4,500 students, that’s a pretty small group of people. This isn’t some creepy guy in his mom’s basement in Indiana.”

I mean is this really true? I was interacting with UCI students when I spent nights working in the Google complex. That's at least a couple mile radius.

Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#82

Post by mirimir »

DanBC wrote: post #70
mirimir wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're threatening to harass someone, to make a point? And you're doing it, apparently using your real name? That strikes me as crazy. Just sayin'.

qmarchi says it's not harassment and that it's trivial to ignore. Here's a chance for them to test their methods and to prove those methods work. Or, if releasing their name and address for a 3 day experiment is too scary maybe they can accept that they've got it wrong, and that harassment is real and causes harm.

I agree that online harassment can be a serious problem. I mean, consider Ross Ulbricht ;)

But seriously, it's best to stay anonymous in contentious environments. You have a professional online presence, for sure. But you keep that clean. Everything else using your real name ought to remain private. That's how I play, anyway.

Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#83

Post by golemotron »

gotothedoctor wrote: post #68
pitaa wrote: post #59

>two feminist groups and several former students filed a federal complaint accusing the University of Mary Washington...of failing to protect the female plaintiffs from cyber harassment... I am confused as to why anyone thinks its the University's duty to protect their students from "cyber harassment." I mean, I am aware of Title IX and all, I am just shocked at the amount of control, influence, and involvement into…

Are you really confused? Leaving the law & federal funding requirements aside, Universities seek to have successful graduates & thus it is in their best interest to provide an environment that equips their students to learn. Being harassed undermines these goals, so regardless of the law, it is in their best interest to prevent such disruptions. I'm not sure I understand the bird analogy. Is the point that Universiti…

If street corner pay phones and phone books were introduced today someone would sue because of the anonymous harassment they enable. It's hard to see where we are now as societal progress.

Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#84

Post by DonHopkins »

tyingq wrote: post #2

Surprised it hasn't been replaced by someone outside the US who wouldn't be pressured to make it a safe space. Not discounting the potential issues...just surprised it hasn't happened.

You're right, there has been a disturbing trend in the US of creating safe spaces for racists [1], like in the White House [2] [3], college campuses [4], fraternities [5], Trump rallies [6], and even Broadway [7], to enumerate a few examples.

But don't be surprised, because it's already happened: Germany's Jodel network is much more successful than Yik Yak, with its strict guidelines [8] against racism, discrimination and hate speech, so it isn't a safe space for racists, like Yik Yak was and the White House still is [9].

[1] Trump’s election has created “safe spaces” for racists: Southern Poverty Law Center’s Heidi Beirich on the wave of hate crimes: http://www.salon.com/2017/03/08/trumps-election-has-created-...

[2] Sean Spicer turns the White House into a safe space for conservative media: https://newrepublic.com/minutes/140896/sean-spicer-turns-whi...

[3] I'm tweeting from under my desk because President Obama wiretapped me: http://www.rollcall.com/news/opinion/capitol-ink-white-house...

[4] On Campus, Trump Fans Say They Need ‘Safe Spaces’: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/us/politics/political-div...

[5] The Trump Bros Have Found Their Safe Space: https://www.buzzfeed.com/annehelenpetersen/the-trump-bros-ha...

[6] Republicans who once mocked ‘safe spaces’ are feeling sensitive over protests : https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/after-a-campaign-sea...

[7] Trump demands safe space for Mike Pence after he was booed at Hamilton: http://www.avclub.com/article/trump-demands-safe-space-mike-...

[8] Jodel Community Guidelines: https://jodel-app.com/guidelines.html

[9] Mr. President, come out of your safe space: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/page/ct-trump-med...

Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#85

Post by paulcole »

pitaa wrote: post #59

>two feminist groups and several former students filed a federal complaint accusing the University of Mary Washington...of failing to protect the female plaintiffs from cyber harassment... I am confused as to why anyone thinks its the University's duty to protect their students from "cyber harassment." I mean, I am aware of Title IX and all, I am just shocked at the amount of control, influence, and involvement into…

>I am confused as to why anyone thinks its the University's duty to protect their students from "cyber harassment."

Yeah it does seem odd that a university wouldn't want its students to be harassed on campus.

Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#86

Post by paulcole »

csydas wrote: post #38
neolefty wrote: post #10

The article makes the case (to me) that local + anonymous was a failed experiment. In real-life communities, local means not anonymous, and bad behavior -- which is rare whether anonymous or not -- can be tied to an individual right away. The problem is that nasty, anonymous, and local is a terrible combination: > That hyper-localization is also what made the cases of harassment particularly galling. Ms. Musick, one…

I'm not sure this is entirely fair. YikYak's undoing was doing away with the features that brought people to it; it was a very popular application, and continued to be right up until the de-anonymizing aspects were brought into play. It's function a digital bathroom wall was pretty well executed and in most cases, seemingly a success for interaction. It wasn't really good for anything else besides shitposting, but it…

>It's function a digital bathroom wall was pretty well executed

But is that an idea worth executing?

$73 million dollars down the tubes on a "digital bathroom wall." I would say I'm amazed that anyone thought this was an idea worth investing in, but sadly, I'm really not amazed at all.

Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#87

Post by paulcole »

Svekax wrote: post #76
jjar wrote: post #40

This article seems to miss the point of why Yik Yak really failed. It didn't fail because of bullying, or bad publicity - That doesn't discourage users from using the app unless they're the ones targeted. The app failed because of the ham fisted attempts to control the userbase and remove a problem that did not affect the vast, vast majority of the userbase by introducing the "Handles" feature, and then later making…

I agree. Their app became popular as a place for uncensored, anonymous speech. When they started censoring and requiring usernames their customers spitefully deleted the app. There are so few places left in the US where someone can engage in free speech. Free speech is nearly nonexistent on college campuses. Yik Yak was offering a product users couldn't find anywhere else. But they threw it all away.

>There are so few places left in the US where someone can engage in free speech.

What?

Do you mean free speech or free speech free of repercussions?

Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#88

Post by WikipediasBad »

SimbaOnSteroids wrote: post #57
MichaelGG wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should have a way to set your location by physically being there X hours a week. Then you could take part in a community even if you sleep somewhere else, but you'd still need to show up to be "in".

Or have a total population metric, some communities are more spread out. So the heard would be people within x radius or increase radius x until population is met.

At some point that's just going to become a subreddit with a very, very loose sense of geography built into it that's more of a hindrance than an asset. For this type of thing, you either go all in like yik yak did with the geo or you go all in with the idea of the community and non-geo (reddit).

Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#89

Post by WikipediasBad »

quotemstr wrote: post #44

I'm a big believer in fully anonymous communication. Unfortunately, we live in a censorious age. Those who enable anonymous communication frequently become the targets of legal and social pressure exerted by angry mobs, mobs mostly composed of people who aren't even trying to communicate anonymously. Yik Yak fell in part because, instead of listening to their users, they listened to people who weren't their users. Th…

Yik Yak on ethereum?

Re: The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak

#90

Post by mythrwy »

gotothedoctor wrote: post #68
pitaa wrote: post #59

>two feminist groups and several former students filed a federal complaint accusing the University of Mary Washington...of failing to protect the female plaintiffs from cyber harassment... I am confused as to why anyone thinks its the University's duty to protect their students from "cyber harassment." I mean, I am aware of Title IX and all, I am just shocked at the amount of control, influence, and involvement into…

Are you really confused? Leaving the law & federal funding requirements aside, Universities seek to have successful graduates & thus it is in their best interest to provide an environment that equips their students to learn. Being harassed undermines these goals, so regardless of the law, it is in their best interest to prevent such disruptions. I'm not sure I understand the bird analogy. Is the point that Universiti…

You bring up "interest" but original post is about "duty".

They aren't the same thing. Universities might have an "interest" in protecting students from online harassment. That doesn't mean a lawsuit alleging the university has a "duty" to protect students from online harassment has merit.

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