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Every single website that publishes user-generated content offers a method to report content. I really have no idea how this merits to be top of the front page

Every single website that publishes user-generated content offers a method to report content. I really have no idea how this merits to be top of the front page, except that github somehow ended up on everyone's naughty list because an intern once deleted content they misunderstood, and the company once mentioned their efforts to attract a more diverse workforce. The tech community will always forgive and forget a company not noticing that none of their three backup systems are actually working, and then accidentally deleting user data. But any small effort, ever, to join the society-wide effort to right historical wrongs will forever taint even the most benign actions with the collective accusation of politically-motivated censorship. The universal truth that everyone, in every industry, is also a citizen who doesn't check their humanity at the company gates is now scandalized. And the common fiction that companies only serve the bottom line is not rejected as (a) wrong and (b) ahistorical ignorance, but glorified as the mantra of some sort of libertarian fantasy.

danso 9y ago
I don't think we have to be that cynical about it. This is an interesting feature because Github chose to feature it on their blog today, which suggests that the previous system for reporting was not well-known or well-understood.
jdoliner 9y ago
> But any small effort, ever, to join the society-wide effort to right historical wrongs will forever taint even the most benign actions with the collective accusation of politically-motivated censorship. Efforts to change society, particularly "righting" perceived historical wrongs is politics. That's not a value judgement as "politics" normally is, that's just what the word means. If you're removing or editing content based on this then it's politically motivated censorship, again that's not a value judgement, although censorship certainly has a negative connotation, it's just what these words mean in common parlance. It's fine to feel that people should be politically censored, hopefully we can at least agree on the meanings of these words though.

danso 9y ago

I don't think we have to be that cynical about it. This is an interesting feature because Github chose to feature it on their blog today, which suggests that the previous system for reporting was not well-known or well-understood.

jdoliner 9y ago

> But any small effort, ever, to join the society-wide effort to right historical wrongs will forever taint even the most benign actions with the collective accusation of politically-motivated censorship. Efforts to change society, particularly "righting" perceived historical wrongs is politics. That's not a value judgement as "politics" normally is, that's just what the word means. If you're removing or editing content based on this then it's politically motivated censorship, again that's not a value judgement, although censorship certainly has a negative connotation, it's just what these words mean in common parlance. It's fine to feel that people should be politically censored, hopefully we can at least agree on the meanings of these words though.