Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief • Hacker News Board

Re: Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief

#871

Post by sroerick » Tue, Jul 14, 2015, 6:43 PM UTC

morbius wrote: post #456

sroerick wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're referring to SRS, they're annoying and take themselves far too seriously, but as far as I know they don't try to silence anyone. I'm a feminist,and can't stand a lot of the stuff that goes on on reddit. That said, censorship on that website is rampant. Reddit is trying to monetize, and that means stifling speech, especially that speech critical of corporate governance. The issue isn't as black and white a…

But Reddit wasn't attacking corporatocracy or actual censorship. They were just trying to defend their right to be dicks to other people through abusive and hateful subs. The right to free speech is not the right to speech without consequence. And what obligation does reddit have to preserve "free speech" in the first place? They run the website and it is fully up to them what gets filtered through and what sticks. I…

> But Reddit wasn't attacking corporatocracy or actual censorship.

Are you sure? I frankly saw much more of this than the other. I, of course, have a bias, but I think people were focused on censorship.

And you're right. Reddit doesn't owe anyone free speech. But with all due respect, that's the product that they developed. Crowdsourced content aggregation is a useful service, but it's one that is entirely dependent on having "free speech".

If corporations or government can shape the dialogue on a website like reddit, it fundamentally undermines the purpose of having a service that aggregates upvotes.

Reddit can control and censor all they want. But it will take them from having a unique product and niche to being another viral editorial board in a sea of crappy viral editorial boards.

People have the right to free speech. People have the right to be offended by things. And people have a right to leave a service when it stops existing as it once did.

Re: Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief

#872

Post by ryanlol » Wed, Jul 15, 2015, 8:45 PM UTC

thelamest wrote: post #730

ryanlol wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should the reddit administration interfere with communities ran by third parties? IRC networks are still running just fine with minimal intervention.

On IRC plenty of people who cry about getting a ban or K-line are ridiculed and told to go elsewhere. There is drama there as well, but it's a smaller and less exposed thing.

IRC is mostly drama, but for whatever reason nobody thinks it's a big deal. (Compared to reddit.)

Re: Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief

#873

Post by camelite » Wed, Jul 15, 2015, 9:35 PM UTC

arrrg wrote: post #804

camelite wrote: post #789

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sometime you just don’t know. Sometimes you just have to live with that. I live with it and I like it. Honestly, this comes across as "He loved Big Brother"-level creepy.

Big brother? Do you have some sort of trust issues? I mean, sometimes I’m willing to trust other people, that’s all. I don’t have to believe that everyone is evil and out to get me. So when I read a newspaper I like I have a general trust that the editors (censors) have done their job … because what else can I do? What else can you do? I don’t have the time to sit around 24 hours by the newswire … and even then, the…

Basically, there are better sources to place your trust in than journalists. Journalists, in general, really suck.

Re: Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief

#874

Post by killface » Thu, Jul 16, 2015, 9:50 PM UTC

LGBT_2000 wrote: post #837

killface wrote: post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. They seem to forget that she's part of a ponzi scheme, slept with married men to get ahead, etc. Even if it was a bunch of racist/misogynist people, you have to consider that despite the messenger, the message might be valid. That's what being open-minded means.

>Exactly. They seem to forget that she's part of a ponzi scheme, slept with married men to get ahead, etc. For god's sakes, stop it. This blatant sexism and double standards is disgusting. If Ellen were a man, never in a million years would they be expected to bear responsibility for their spouses' misdeeds or attacked for who they slept with (indeed, they'd be getting high-fived for being a "womanizer" or "stud").

There's a difference between a double standard and no standard whatsoever.

Re: Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief

#875

Post by CamperBob2 » Fri, Jul 17, 2015, 9:08 PM UTC

mcphage wrote: post #832

foiboitoi wrote: post #599

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny how you're getting downvoted for stating the obvious.

They're getting downvoted for stating that it would be better if r/fatpeoplehate was still active on Reddit.

You do have an active imagination, I'll give you that much credit.

Re: Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief

#876

Post by Veedrac » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 10:21 PM UTC

rndn wrote: post #855

Veedrac wrote: post #854

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I didn't say at all people should be open to my particular arguments, but to arguments in general. If it's arguments in general, * you can't hang up on salesmen, * you can't kick 911 conspirators off your unrelated forum, * you can't remove most trolls, * you can't ban homeopathy threads from /r/science, * etc. In general, you lose the ability to moderate conversations in spaces you own, or decide what you spend yo…

You are confusing an implication for an equivalence. I've said that those who are not open to arguments should not have a voice. From that it doesn't follow that those who argue should always be listened to. I imagine a concrete implementation of this idea as a meme that people themselves would recognize this as a good rule and that they would consider it as a decision aid whether or not to participate in a certain g…

You're effectively just juggling the same argument. If I'm to hang up on salesmen, then I'm not open to arguments. Thus you claim I should not have a voice.

Re: Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit’s Chief

#877

Post by rndn » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 6:04 PM UTC

Veedrac wrote: post #876

rndn wrote: post #855

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are confusing an implication for an equivalence. I've said that those who are not open to arguments should not have a voice. From that it doesn't follow that those who argue should always be listened to. I imagine a concrete implementation of this idea as a meme that people themselves would recognize this as a good rule and that they would consider it as a decision aid whether or not to participate in a certain g…

You're effectively just juggling the same argument. If I'm to hang up on salesmen, then I'm not open to arguments. Thus you claim I should not have a voice.

Oh, you mean it that way. Anyway, I’ve already said that it should rather applied to large movements instead of interactions of individuals. The current ideal of free speech can’t possibly realized to its fullest extent either/anyway.