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> can be an effective way to silence their inhabitants Although that is true, the authors note that they merely shifted to alternative platforms. It's not real
by hood_syntax 9y ago
> can be an effective way to silence their inhabitants
Although that is true, the authors note that they merely shifted to alternative platforms. It's not really getting rid of the problem, just moving it somewhere else.
- chasing 9y agoPeople don't seem to understand that a lot of negative behavior exists in a context, and if you remove the context, the negative behavior can largely disappear. It doesn't necessarily just go elsewhere.
- bandrami 9y agoThis gets to a Harvard study I now can't find that suggested that anonymity online is a red herring. Anonymous and whatever the opposite is (named? nonymous?) people are equally likely to follow community norms -- anonymous people are actually slightly more likely to. The problem is not the anonymity, the problem is the community norms, which in the banned subs were horrible.
- glaslong 9y agoDo you know the title, author or journal by any chance? This sounds interesting, but it seems my google skills are lacking.
- bandrami 9y agoSorry for the delay; it was (ironically) deep in my HN comment history: https://blog.coralproject.net/the-real-name-fallacy/ https://blog.coralproject.net/the-real-name-fallacy/
- DaiPlusPlus 9y ago> they merely shifted to alternative platforms That's not the paper's findings: > Though many subreddits saw an influx of r/fatpeoplehate and r/CoonTown “migrants,” those subreddits saw no significant changes in hate speech usage. In other words, other subreddits did not inherit the problem
- hood_syntax 9y agoThey shifted to Voat, not other places on reddit. Although that does solve the problem for reddit, the communities didn't disappear.
- tptacek 9y agoRight, but why does Reddit care? Their moderation approach effectively addressed the business problem they faced. Maybe in the long term Voat will grow to become an existential threat to Reddit, and Gab to Twitter. But it sure doesn't look that way right now. A reasonable business manager at a firm like Reddit might look at a new company like Voat as a gift. It doesn't seem like a reasonable organizational goal for any firm anywhere to eliminate white supremacy from the entire Internet. It's hard to imagine how that might be accomplished. Certainly, Reddit was never in a position to do it. Why would they look to solve any more than the part of the problem they were directly engaged with?
- emodendroket 9y agoIndeed I'd think that being primarily associated with the communities Reddit found too loathsome to keep around would not encourage a wider user base.
- technofiend 9y agoWhich considering the relative sizes of each community is a very effective way to marginalize them.
- seanalltogether 9y agoThey might not disappear, but it may be harder for them to continue growing. Hate speech subreddits had the chance to bubble up into the larger community when a funny or popular post gained traction, and maybe help to normalize their behavior for a new audience. Voat on the other hand has transformed into a hard pill to swallow for new users. The front page is daily filled with hate speech targeting black/jewish/fat people along with women and immigrants.
- 9y ago