3 ms·

The Moderators

32 points by jgrahamc 10y ago

exolymph 10y ago
Adrien Chen's previous work on this topic has been excellent: https://www.wired.com/2014/10/content-moderation/ https://www.wired.com/2014/10/content-moderation/ http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-human-toll-of-protecting-the-internet-from-the-worst-of-humanity http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-human-toll-of-pro...
- HappyTypist 10y ago
  For photos, I feel like the resolution should be reduced (1/4th size pixelation?), and colours could be desaturated. For videos, the frame rate could be reduced to something like 4FPS. You can make something less vivid without reducing the ability for human screening. Give me 128 by 128 pixels and I will almost always be able to tell you if it's porn.
jo909 10y ago
While this is an interesting topic I feel this documentation did not explore it in a very meaningful way, and it was not worth watching. My main takeaways: they process 2000 pictures per hour per moderator, which translates to 1.8 seconds per picture. They show (parts of) the training process for new moderators in south Asia (India i think), and for all of them this is their first job at all, and I assume they are largely motivated to just get any experience and something on their resume. Because of their religious and cultural background the content they need to filter out has a greater taboo and possible psychological damage than I'd attribute to the average user of those platforms. Because they don't show it, I'm left to believe they will not be trained how to deal with the psychological effects of their job. I only know how damaging this job can be for the moderators from other articles I read previously. Only that knowledge puts this in any meaningful perspective, by putting real faces to this ungrateful job.
Maskawanian 10y ago
I think 4chan got it right calling this job "Janitor". I used to be (technically still am although I no longer go to the site) a moderator of a mid sized subreddit. It is a thankless job where you are shit on constantly for trying to keep the content at a decent quality level. I wouldn't wish the job on anyone.
- angry-hacker 10y ago
  A lot of the mods themselves work for companies that can use the subreddit to push their things. I know people just like that.

32 points by jgrahamc 10y ago

Adrien Chen's previous work on this topic has been excellent: https://www.wired.com/2014/10/content-moderation/ https://www.wired.com/2014/10/content-moderation/ http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-human-toll-of-protecting-the-internet-from-the-worst-of-humanity http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-human-toll-of-pro...

HappyTypist 10y ago
For photos, I feel like the resolution should be reduced (1/4th size pixelation?), and colours could be desaturated. For videos, the frame rate could be reduced to something like 4FPS. You can make something less vivid without reducing the ability for human screening. Give me 128 by 128 pixels and I will almost always be able to tell you if it's porn.

jo909 10y ago

While this is an interesting topic I feel this documentation did not explore it in a very meaningful way, and it was not worth watching. My main takeaways: they process 2000 pictures per hour per moderator, which translates to 1.8 seconds per picture. They show (parts of) the training process for new moderators in south Asia (India i think), and for all of them this is their first job at all, and I assume they are largely motivated to just get any experience and something on their resume. Because of their religious and cultural background the content they need to filter out has a greater taboo and possible psychological damage than I'd attribute to the average user of those platforms. Because they don't show it, I'm left to believe they will not be trained how to deal with the psychological effects of their job. I only know how damaging this job can be for the moderators from other articles I read previously. Only that knowledge puts this in any meaningful perspective, by putting real faces to this ungrateful job.

Maskawanian 10y ago

I think 4chan got it right calling this job "Janitor". I used to be (technically still am although I no longer go to the site) a moderator of a mid sized subreddit. It is a thankless job where you are shit on constantly for trying to keep the content at a decent quality level. I wouldn't wish the job on anyone.

angry-hacker 10y ago
A lot of the mods themselves work for companies that can use the subreddit to push their things. I know people just like that.