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Show HN: Don't Name the Shooter
- sleepstosanta 11y agoAny plans to open-source this on github?
- cat-dev-null 11y agoProbably store the shooter list in a cacheable json-p url, say hosted in a github gist, so that changing shooters doesn't require publishing a new extension. [0] Right now, it's embedded in a .js file as a variable here (OS X + Chrome): ~'/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Extensions/ldipcbiihbfjonainibmoiggbolhgodo/0.4_0/content.js' 0: example json-p https://gist.githubusercontent.com/csanz/2862350/raw/hey.js https://gist.githubusercontent.com/csanz/2862350/raw/hey.js
- ajiang 11y agoReplaces known mass shooting gunmen names with '[Name Redacted]'. EDIT: Updating to replace gunmen names with something more neutral / accessible. Japhyr and others make great points on the issue. EDIT 2: Updated.
- chrischen 11y agoCan you port to Safari?
- japhyr 11y agoYou might try a more neutral term like "violent person". This was an interesting incident to introduce this around, because this is a rare female shooter. You probably picked that term without thinking about gender. But now you've got a derogatory name that refers to female anatomy, being applied to a female shooter in the screenshot I saw.
- ajiang 11y agoYou make a great point. I'll make an update to change the term to something more neutral.
- pstuart 11y agoNot too neutral. Insulting to the Giant Douche but avoiding NSFW.
- dec0dedab0de 11y agoUgh, at first I thought you were suggesting he change gunmen to something gender neutral, and I was right there with you, but please leave douche alone. It's a good word, it's not hurting anyone.
- striking 11y agoThe cool thing about Chrome extensions is that they're trivial to modify and implement. Feel free to make changes. The word "douche" comes off as non sequitur. I don't think it's appropriate to use it when talking about murder right after it's happened. Sure, at some point that's fine, but this is really a "too soon" moment in my opinion. Just my opinion, though. And the great part is, we can have it both ways. (It would be even easier if it were possible to customize the name from the extension settings. Then we wouldn't be bikeshedding right now, right? :)
- dec0dedab0de 11y ago(It would be even easier if it were possible to customize the name from the extension settings. Then we wouldn't be bikeshedding right now, right? :) agreed.
- ledude 11y agohttp://theiowarepublican.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/head-buried-in-sand.jpg http://theiowarepublican.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/head... grow up.
- cooper12 11y agoPersonally attacking the OP is rudely dismissive and doesn't contribute anything positive. Instead you could try giving constructive feedback. > Instead of "you're doing it wrong", suggest alternatives. When someone is learning, help them learn more. (https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html)
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- cooper12 11y agoWell it could have been conveyed better by talking about how ignoring the names doesn't accomplish something or is an immature approach. A discussion could have been had. A brash response, along with an image of a man with his head in the sand, is disrespectful to the OP who put themselves out there to show HN their project.
- bm1362 11y agoI don't really agree with the value gained from not naming alleged criminals, it seems like a trivialization of a complex issue.
- ajiang 11y agoCompletely agree that it's a complex issue. After the last few news cycles around mass shootings, I started wondering what someone in tech could do to help, even just a little, as most of the solutions being suggested were on the policy side. It's tough to feel helpless. Many organizations (including the National Issues Forums [1]) mentioned reducing the mention of shootings in the media to lower the notoriety of gunmen. Figured this could be a fairly simple way to help that cause. [1] https://www.nifi.org/sites/default/files/product-downloads/mass_shootings_community.pdf https://www.nifi.org/sites/default/files/product-downloads/m...
- caffeinewriter 11y agoWhile I understand and partly agree, some (many?) spree shooters are looking to live on in infamy, and this is some small form of taking that from them.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- jamesrcole 11y ago...and removing an incentive for prospective shooters.
- bm1362 11y agoThis is obviously something you care about; probably more so than my dissent. I think that prescribing generalized explanations to human behavior (see Economics) is a dangerous gamble. I also believe that the media has the onus to report things correctly, in full. As a national or international spectator, it may not be important whom commits these crimes. I was recently living in Seattle when a shooting happened at Seattle Pacific University. My girlfriend at the time was on campus when the shooting started and the media frenzy was actually beneficial for the community.
- srameshc 11y agoMakes a statement at least.
- bichiliad 11y agoI like that you're trying to do some social good with your coding skills, and I respect that. I do have to agree that it seems a little immature. Maybe think about other ways you could use this same idea. For example, redacting the names, rather than replacing them, could show how much attention the media gives to these people.
- joelrunyon 11y agoAgreed. Like the idea, but the execution seems poor. Redacting the names seems like a simple, comparable and better option.
- peteretep 11y agoRelated: http://pixelambacht.nl/2015/sans-bullshit-sans/ http://pixelambacht.nl/2015/sans-bullshit-sans/
- shitgoose 11y agoSafe place?
- williamle8300 11y agoI get the "sexinesss" of denying the person the attention they wanted, but it doesn't help society. We need to delve into the "whys" and "hows" of the shooter whenever stuff like this happens. If we don't know the person's name, or the context of the person it makes us objectify the person, and as much as we would like to do so... it actually doesn't help us strengthen the collective wisdom of society to prevent this from happening again. Say the person's name. Get to know his family. Get to know the years before they became radicalized. Understand why they believed this was right as perverse as their rationale is. This is the only potent defense we have against terrorists and their ilk: Grow your mindfulness about the human condition.
- x1798DE 11y agoWhy would you need any of this? These kinds of events are sad for the people involved, but probably not worth spending time trying to figure out, as they are exceedingly rare and not particularly dangerous compared to other more mundane ways to die and become injured.
- ledude 11y agoto understand why it happened. why it wasn't prevented. and maybe.. one day.. to prevent it from happening again. should we also whitewash all of history's tragedies?
- Aeolun 11y agoJust as the fact that we die from cancer is something we don't accept and try to solve. So should we try to solve death by bullet.
- jmknoll 11y ago"These kinds of events are sad for the people involved, but probably not worth spending time trying to figure out, as they are exceedingly rare." These events aren't exceedingly rare. Quite the opposite. In fact, the San Bernadino shooting wasn't even the only mass shooting in the US on December 3rd. IIRC, there has been one mass shooting, on average, every day since the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012. More info: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/03/458321777/a-tally-of-mass-shootings-in-the-u-s http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/03/458321777/...
- TerryADavis 11y agoWhatever you do don't say "Jehovah!" I'm glad Google has reverence for God.
- MikeNomad 11y agoHow does name-calling violent, usually mentally ill people improve things?
- andyl 11y agoThe shooters in the San Bernadino massacre were Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik. IMHO it's important to understand their background and motivations. Know your enemy.
- rs999gti 11y agoI don't understand why it's so bad to name the shooter or their background?
- iLoch 11y agoInteresting to see the amount of disagreement with ajiang's post here on HN. "Giant douche"? Probably unneeded, it could just be blacked out with the option to reveal. With that said, I too believe there's a certain level of infamy that comes with having your name spread across the nation. I'm sure there's a certain level of motivation that this gives to potential shooters, and if we can prevent that then I believe it's the right thing to do. Is it effective to block yourself? Probably not, but just the same I'd like to be able to say that I'm doing my part, however small it may be.
- guelo 11y agoThe reason streaking at sports spectacles is not a thing anymore is because sports broadcasters refuse to show the streakers on TV or even talk about it when it happens. It's a form of censorship but it has worked, streaking is very rare at sports events nowadays. I think the same effect could work for mass shootings, If all the media organizations refused to broadcast any info about mass shootings it would probably reduce the number of incidents. Unfortunately it seems unlikely that the news industry as a whole would collaborate and agree to censor themselves in this way, especially since there is a legitimate public danger while the incident is ongoing. Government is prohibited by the constitution from getting involved in media censorship so it would have to be done by the media companies themselves. And of course nowadays we have social media so it's even harder to enforce any kind of censorship.
- dragonwriter 11y agoStreaking in general has become less popular than at its height, even when not done in contexts that would involve medias attention. I suspect that the drop in popularity in all contexts is because it was a passing cultural fad that burned itself out, and that the degree of media attention specifically in public events with a media presence (which also tends to have large audiences that aren't viewing through a media filter) had minimal, of any, impact.
- awakeasleep 11y agoIt didn't help streaking to take it from a harmless prank to something that can easily put you on the sex offender list and ruin your whole life.
- threatofrain 11y agoUnfortunately I don't believe that the costs are worth it. I'm afraid we're very myopic about these things, and that we don't think about the processes or structures in place that censor things. The fact that processes are sticky and stay past their original purpose. And like the fact that we want to only discuss, in a vacuum, whether revealing the names of murderers might cause more murder, and if the answer is yes, then that's good enough for us. How much more murder are we talking about for the price of censoring all media? Should anonymous volunteers go on Wikipedia to erase names of murderers?