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Honest question. Why do you care what people post online? The great thing about reddit is that you get to choose which communities you subscribe to. Your mental

Honest question. Why do you care what people post online? The great thing about reddit is that you get to choose which communities you subscribe to. Your mentality is the equivalent of "I can't go to bed. Someone on the internet is wrong". I think your basic premise is wrong - that "racism and xenophobia" are on the rise. You can't measure the number of people who aren't racist because you don't hear them. And before you argue that "not saying anything is being complicit" it's just not true. As a "minority" I just don't care what someone on the internet posts. It doesn't have power over me.

SippinLean 9y ago
Because the hate has spilled over into the good communities as well. Hatred and bigotry used to be contained in places like /the_donald and /WhiteRights but those users eventually browse /popular and leave their vitriol there as well. Having been on reddit for a decade it's sad to see it go from a tech/intellectual community to what it is now. I want real discussion, not arguing with racists. Seems reddit offers less and less of the former each day.
- smokeyj 9y ago
  > Because the hate has spilled over into the good communities as well. Is this really an issue? Are they going to /r/programming and dominating the conversation? Because I'm just not seeing it. I think that the quality of a community is inversely related to the size, which explains why reddit "used to be cool". But the reason I still use reddit is because you can subscribe to communities you want - and there are still many good ones. That said, there is room for improvement on the moderation side. I think a "peer-moderated" community would be awesome. Say for example, when a comment is flagged - a random but deterministic set of peers will make a judgement call. A "deterministic peer-jury" could be a useful mechanism for communities to grant voting/commenting/moderation rights. The bigger issue in my opinion is controlling the discussion via sock puppets and underhanded moderation.
  - SippinLean 9y ago
    Yes, it's a HUGE issue. Maybe not in /programming yet, but pretty much any thread dealing with a controversial topic (say, the killings of African-american citizens by police in the US) will be plastered with overt bigotry and hatred. It simply didn't used to be this way. The discussion used to be what I'd go to reddit for, now it's the part I avoid.
- jeshbreadnan 9y ago
  I would challenge you to go to /the_donald and find a single example of hatred or bigotry. I think you will be unsuccessful.
KGIII 9y ago
I agree, pretty much entirely. I am Micmac, Irish, and African American. I don't care if someone is racist. I don't care if they say racially charged things. I care only when it manifests physically. I don't believe I've the right to control the thoughts or speech of others. I don't let them control my emotions. I do not cede that power over me.
otalp 9y ago
>As a "minority" I just don't care what someone on the internet posts. It doesn't have power over me. Yeah but you have a President and his son, aides, etc. who use the subreddit and similar places on the internet to get their information from. The President himself has retweeted stuff a few hours after it became popular on 4chan, T_D, etc. and has posted completely fake stormfront/4chan/coontown infographics about black crime that he still essentially stands by. The information sources of many of the most powerful people in the world comes from these sites, so they certainly have an impact.

SippinLean 9y ago

Because the hate has spilled over into the good communities as well. Hatred and bigotry used to be contained in places like /the_donald and /WhiteRights but those users eventually browse /popular and leave their vitriol there as well. Having been on reddit for a decade it's sad to see it go from a tech/intellectual community to what it is now. I want real discussion, not arguing with racists. Seems reddit offers less and less of the former each day.

smokeyj 9y ago
> Because the hate has spilled over into the good communities as well. Is this really an issue? Are they going to /r/programming and dominating the conversation? Because I'm just not seeing it. I think that the quality of a community is inversely related to the size, which explains why reddit "used to be cool". But the reason I still use reddit is because you can subscribe to communities you want - and there are still many good ones. That said, there is room for improvement on the moderation side. I think a "peer-moderated" community would be awesome. Say for example, when a comment is flagged - a random but deterministic set of peers will make a judgement call. A "deterministic peer-jury" could be a useful mechanism for communities to grant voting/commenting/moderation rights. The bigger issue in my opinion is controlling the discussion via sock puppets and underhanded moderation.
- SippinLean 9y ago
  Yes, it's a HUGE issue. Maybe not in /programming yet, but pretty much any thread dealing with a controversial topic (say, the killings of African-american citizens by police in the US) will be plastered with overt bigotry and hatred. It simply didn't used to be this way. The discussion used to be what I'd go to reddit for, now it's the part I avoid.
jeshbreadnan 9y ago
I would challenge you to go to /the_donald and find a single example of hatred or bigotry. I think you will be unsuccessful.

KGIII 9y ago

I agree, pretty much entirely. I am Micmac, Irish, and African American. I don't care if someone is racist. I don't care if they say racially charged things. I care only when it manifests physically. I don't believe I've the right to control the thoughts or speech of others. I don't let them control my emotions. I do not cede that power over me.

otalp 9y ago

>As a "minority" I just don't care what someone on the internet posts. It doesn't have power over me. Yeah but you have a President and his son, aides, etc. who use the subreddit and similar places on the internet to get their information from. The President himself has retweeted stuff a few hours after it became popular on 4chan, T_D, etc. and has posted completely fake stormfront/4chan/coontown infographics about black crime that he still essentially stands by. The information sources of many of the most powerful people in the world comes from these sites, so they certainly have an impact.