3 ms·

Well thats just not true, the community managers and ellen pao understood the repercussions of it. It destroys the legitimacy of all parts of the site and enfl

Well thats just not true, the community managers and ellen pao understood the repercussions of it. It destroys the legitimacy of all parts of the site and enflames conspiracies even more. People are not stupid, my first thought was how many times did he do this without getting caught.

gdulli 10y ago
Reddit is a content management system for stupidity and spam. Let's not pretend it's some pristine, important institution. Trolling the_donald could only have been a step in the right direction.
- talmand 10y ago
  You're fine with it today because it's a group you don't like. What about tomorrow when the same thing will be applied to a group you do like?
  - criley2 10y ago
    >You're fine with it today because it's a group you don't like. What about tomorrow when the same thing will be applied to a group you do like? Then I'll leave. Simple as that. I don't want an anarchist site where malicious actors and nasty people are free to race to the bottom because we're afraid of polite society. The Founding Fathers of America differentiated between Liberty and Freedom. Freedom is anarchy, but Liberty is freedom with common sense restriction. Liberty is freedom from onerous interference. I don't want a Free Reddit, I want a Reddit that respects Liberty. Not a Reddit which lets maliciousness exist because it can, but one which has common sense restrictions to create a better community. It's no secret that far-more-strict control on Hacker News produces far-better outcomes for discussion than Reddit. The hands-off approach to Reddit creates a race to the bottom for trolling and nastiness.
    - TrevorJ 10y ago
      You raise a lot of good points here for sure. My main beef with reddit has been the lack of uniformity in application of the rules. It's better for everyone if there are clear rules, and the enforcement isn't capricious.
  - gdulli 10y ago
    http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/slippery-slope.html http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/slippery-slope.html
- MollyR 10y ago
  I'm not a fan of reddit, but occasionally they have some brilliance. - http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/296789-gop-chair-demands-interview-with-clinton-it-aides-after-reddit-posts http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/296789-gop-chair... - their AMA's with famous people are pretty amazing, steve wozniak's was great. - Can't forget their net neutrality protest either http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29127179 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29127179 - Alot of the programming related subreddits are pretty nice. It's how I got connected with Django Girls.
talmand 10y ago
I agree. I am absolutely shocked at how many simply do not get the ramifications of that simple action. In some countries you can go to jail for your post history.
- eli 10y ago
  I'm shocked at how many people are so upset. Maybe you should be PGP signing your posts if their integrity is your top concern.
  - xnull2guest 10y ago
    So you're a media dsitribution contractor in Washington, DC and you don't see how covert editing of social media posts is upsetting, overreach, abuse, or illegitimate? And you're making fun of expectations of the integrity of social media posts?
    - eli 10y ago
      I think editing critical Reddit comments as part of a prank or maybe as a jokey form of retribution is an extremely ill-advised and boneheaded move. I don't know if it was abusive and it was hardly covert, but it was definitely not cool. I doubt Spez will make that mistake again. But did it tell us anything new? Are we surprised that Reddit admins have the technical ability to edit records in their own database? (As do the admins of other social media sites...)
      - HCIdivision17 10y ago
        It seems Reddit admins don't have that ability, if I read the thread correctly. Rather, Spez helped build the system and just knew how to manage the prank. It wasn't even really a backdoor thing, he just had the know-how to do it (like being able to log into the database and update a row). That's the confusing bit about the outrage to me: I think people expected it to be secure and tight, and ... well... I'm not sure what led to that conclusion. I can easily imaging that until Spez pulled that stunt, they just figured it was too hard to screw with and that the databases were sufficiently secure. After all, the techs have full access to the machines*. It's like being surprised that your ActiveDirectory admin can change your password at will. But you can bet your booties they'll try to lock it down a bit better now. Wouldn't expect it to be the TarSnap of forums, though. Reddit's not exactly a bastion of authenticity :P EDIT: What I mean here is that someone has physical access to the machines, right? Or at least some amount of root? Or can log in? I guess to me it's like being outraged that the guy who targets the Hubble telescope abuses his position and points it at Earth or something as a joke; huge amount of time and money on the line and it would be a dumb thing, but it's also pretty harmless. Might still get fired for it, though.

gdulli 10y ago

Reddit is a content management system for stupidity and spam. Let's not pretend it's some pristine, important institution. Trolling the_donald could only have been a step in the right direction.

talmand 10y ago
You're fine with it today because it's a group you don't like. What about tomorrow when the same thing will be applied to a group you do like?
- criley2 10y ago
  >You're fine with it today because it's a group you don't like. What about tomorrow when the same thing will be applied to a group you do like? Then I'll leave. Simple as that. I don't want an anarchist site where malicious actors and nasty people are free to race to the bottom because we're afraid of polite society. The Founding Fathers of America differentiated between Liberty and Freedom. Freedom is anarchy, but Liberty is freedom with common sense restriction. Liberty is freedom from onerous interference. I don't want a Free Reddit, I want a Reddit that respects Liberty. Not a Reddit which lets maliciousness exist because it can, but one which has common sense restrictions to create a better community. It's no secret that far-more-strict control on Hacker News produces far-better outcomes for discussion than Reddit. The hands-off approach to Reddit creates a race to the bottom for trolling and nastiness.
  - TrevorJ 10y ago
    You raise a lot of good points here for sure. My main beef with reddit has been the lack of uniformity in application of the rules. It's better for everyone if there are clear rules, and the enforcement isn't capricious.
- gdulli 10y ago
  http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/slippery-slope.html http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/slippery-slope.html
MollyR 10y ago
I'm not a fan of reddit, but occasionally they have some brilliance. - http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/296789-gop-chair-demands-interview-with-clinton-it-aides-after-reddit-posts http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/296789-gop-chair... - their AMA's with famous people are pretty amazing, steve wozniak's was great. - Can't forget their net neutrality protest either http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29127179 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29127179 - Alot of the programming related subreddits are pretty nice. It's how I got connected with Django Girls.

talmand 10y ago

I agree. I am absolutely shocked at how many simply do not get the ramifications of that simple action. In some countries you can go to jail for your post history.

eli 10y ago
I'm shocked at how many people are so upset. Maybe you should be PGP signing your posts if their integrity is your top concern.
- xnull2guest 10y ago
  So you're a media dsitribution contractor in Washington, DC and you don't see how covert editing of social media posts is upsetting, overreach, abuse, or illegitimate? And you're making fun of expectations of the integrity of social media posts?
  - eli 10y ago
    I think editing critical Reddit comments as part of a prank or maybe as a jokey form of retribution is an extremely ill-advised and boneheaded move. I don't know if it was abusive and it was hardly covert, but it was definitely not cool. I doubt Spez will make that mistake again. But did it tell us anything new? Are we surprised that Reddit admins have the technical ability to edit records in their own database? (As do the admins of other social media sites...)
    - HCIdivision17 10y ago
      It seems Reddit admins don't have that ability, if I read the thread correctly. Rather, Spez helped build the system and just knew how to manage the prank. It wasn't even really a backdoor thing, he just had the know-how to do it (like being able to log into the database and update a row). That's the confusing bit about the outrage to me: I think people expected it to be secure and tight, and ... well... I'm not sure what led to that conclusion. I can easily imaging that until Spez pulled that stunt, they just figured it was too hard to screw with and that the databases were sufficiently secure. After all, the techs have full access to the machines*. It's like being surprised that your ActiveDirectory admin can change your password at will. But you can bet your booties they'll try to lock it down a bit better now. Wouldn't expect it to be the TarSnap of forums, though. Reddit's not exactly a bastion of authenticity :P EDIT: What I mean here is that someone has physical access to the machines, right? Or at least some amount of root? Or can log in? I guess to me it's like being outraged that the guy who targets the Hubble telescope abuses his position and points it at Earth or something as a joke; huge amount of time and money on the line and it would be a dumb thing, but it's also pretty harmless. Might still get fired for it, though.