3 ms·

So what are reasonable Reddit alternatives that don't act as outlets of banned subreddits? Once you start banning stuff left and right, it's a slippery slope, m

by bitL 9y ago

So what are reasonable Reddit alternatives that don't act as outlets of banned subreddits? Once you start banning stuff left and right, it's a slippery slope, making large groups of population feel weird/forcing them to learned hopelessness. It would be better instead to train some ML for content classification, then set user preferences about what triggers them, and then warn users that some submission might disturb them, requiring additional click to see the content in question. There ML would be just a helper, not sole arbiter-of-truth, and even an imprecise one won't have a stifling effect on free speech. Of course, if Reddit owners/investors feel they need to fully submit to requirements of their advertisers, there is little they can do, and should just max profit and see if they can survive with a lot less "love" from their users.

YCode 9y ago
I wonder if they couldn't institute some scheme where they flag subs as "dirty" or some more politically correct term when those subs contain offensive but legal content. This would allow showing advertisers a checkbox when they post an ad that asks whether they are okay with showing their ad on a dirty sub. Pitch it to advertisers as you'll reach more people for the same cost, but your content may be shown by user posts that some may consider offensive.
- ufo 9y ago
  They have a "quarantine" system they use for highly offensive subreddits (like gore and violent content). These don't appear on the /r/all aggregate listing and can only be viewed if you associate an email with your account. But for subreddits that break sitewide rules (doxxing, inciting violence, etc) they just ban the subreddit outright instead of quarantining it. https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3fx2au/content_policy_update/ https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3fx2au/conte...
cannonedhamster 9y ago
How exactly does one put a warning on "Posting here may cause you to get death threats, brigaded, doxxed, etc..."? I think Reddit's problems are that their most fervent users are their biggest problems. They actively encourage trolls. Whatever was good about Reddit needs a better site to go to.
- bitL 9y ago
  You can simply blur the post like Quora does and by clicking on it it would reveal. There is already one mechanism in place by voting threshold, but very popular posts in certain subreddits might not be ad-friendly. I am looking at social media as a form of reinforcement learning, especially the exploration phase; by censoring it the exploration phase is significantly weakened, leading to worse results in the end. So maybe evolutionary argument would be to allow all kinds of crazy ideas (with some requiring a bit more work to read), and let people themselves to decide which ones would be used in exploitation phase? In the past when a single stupid idea was forced upon everyone by authority (e.g. nazis), people didn't have any means to counter it. With open discussion spaces some people might find excellent counterexamples immediately, clearing the issue for millions right away why a certain idea is a really bad one.
  - cannonedhamster 9y ago
    Reddit's problems go far deeper than just the type of content they have though. Specifically, the fact that it creates a space for polarizing opinions and encourages groupthink through the upvote system would seem to be anathema to what most advertisers are looking for. Perhaps they can start running the same advertisers as Alex Jones and Breitbart who don't seem to be as shy of divisive content.
lordCarbonFiber 9y ago
>once you start banning hate speech it's a slippery slope Or maybe the slope ends with nazis. Just a thought. 4chan will always exist as the bastion for your juvenile ideas of "free speech" (and all of the baggage that comes with it).
- bitL 9y ago
  Read what I wrote above about reinforcement learning (exploration phase) and then get back to me with "my juvenile" ideas.

by bitL 9y ago

YCode 9y ago

I wonder if they couldn't institute some scheme where they flag subs as "dirty" or some more politically correct term when those subs contain offensive but legal content. This would allow showing advertisers a checkbox when they post an ad that asks whether they are okay with showing their ad on a dirty sub. Pitch it to advertisers as you'll reach more people for the same cost, but your content may be shown by user posts that some may consider offensive.

ufo 9y ago
They have a "quarantine" system they use for highly offensive subreddits (like gore and violent content). These don't appear on the /r/all aggregate listing and can only be viewed if you associate an email with your account. But for subreddits that break sitewide rules (doxxing, inciting violence, etc) they just ban the subreddit outright instead of quarantining it. https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3fx2au/content_policy_update/ https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3fx2au/conte...

cannonedhamster 9y ago

How exactly does one put a warning on "Posting here may cause you to get death threats, brigaded, doxxed, etc..."? I think Reddit's problems are that their most fervent users are their biggest problems. They actively encourage trolls. Whatever was good about Reddit needs a better site to go to.

bitL 9y ago
You can simply blur the post like Quora does and by clicking on it it would reveal. There is already one mechanism in place by voting threshold, but very popular posts in certain subreddits might not be ad-friendly. I am looking at social media as a form of reinforcement learning, especially the exploration phase; by censoring it the exploration phase is significantly weakened, leading to worse results in the end. So maybe evolutionary argument would be to allow all kinds of crazy ideas (with some requiring a bit more work to read), and let people themselves to decide which ones would be used in exploitation phase? In the past when a single stupid idea was forced upon everyone by authority (e.g. nazis), people didn't have any means to counter it. With open discussion spaces some people might find excellent counterexamples immediately, clearing the issue for millions right away why a certain idea is a really bad one.
- cannonedhamster 9y ago
  Reddit's problems go far deeper than just the type of content they have though. Specifically, the fact that it creates a space for polarizing opinions and encourages groupthink through the upvote system would seem to be anathema to what most advertisers are looking for. Perhaps they can start running the same advertisers as Alex Jones and Breitbart who don't seem to be as shy of divisive content.

lordCarbonFiber 9y ago

>once you start banning hate speech it's a slippery slope Or maybe the slope ends with nazis. Just a thought. 4chan will always exist as the bastion for your juvenile ideas of "free speech" (and all of the baggage that comes with it).

bitL 9y ago
Read what I wrote above about reinforcement learning (exploration phase) and then get back to me with "my juvenile" ideas.