4 ms·

That's the thing though. The comments at the bottom aren't only racists pedos and trolls, there are also valid opinions that the hive mind has rejected.

krapp 8y ago
There's no hivemind. Calling an opposing view part of a hivemind implies that people who disagree with you are either following a script or are incapable of agency, self-awareness or independent thought, when they simply hold opinions and values different from your own. I use HN with showdead on by default, and I sometimes post a userscript for people to uncensor comments and I've complained about the greying out of downvoted comments often ... I understand wanting to read everything and make your own decisions about what's worth reading rather than have others make them for you. However, most of what winds up flagged deserves to be. Look at the flagged comment at the bottom of this thread, for example. It's just a rant against the "global socialist LEFT." There's nothing there that no one has read before. Even if you agree with the "validity" of the opinion, it's just stereotypical anti-leftist edgelord nonsense. And now and then, albeit rarely, perfectly legitimate and inoffensive comments do get flagged. I try to vouch them when I can. But even then, I have yet to see anything I'd consider a true jewel in the rough. There seems to be a trend among people to consider content that goes against the establishment to be inherently more valuable than that which goes with it, as if offensiveness maps to truth. Seek the bottom of the barrel out if you want, but I think it's a mistake to expect enlightenment from it.
- drankula3 8y ago
  On sites like Reddit and HN, hiveminds absolutely occur from the voting algorithm. Content that caters to the lowest common denominator of the site or subreddit is what ends up at the top, and people with differing views stop expressing their views due to social pressure. Plus the owners of all social media sites have a financial incentive to influence the trends of the site and its users. I'm not saying alternative viewpoints and free speech sites are all sugar and flowers, because they often are filled with deplorable content. I do feel, however, that they serve a purpose in providing alternatives to the corporate.

krapp 8y ago

There's no hivemind. Calling an opposing view part of a hivemind implies that people who disagree with you are either following a script or are incapable of agency, self-awareness or independent thought, when they simply hold opinions and values different from your own. I use HN with showdead on by default, and I sometimes post a userscript for people to uncensor comments and I've complained about the greying out of downvoted comments often ... I understand wanting to read everything and make your own decisions about what's worth reading rather than have others make them for you. However, most of what winds up flagged deserves to be. Look at the flagged comment at the bottom of this thread, for example. It's just a rant against the "global socialist LEFT." There's nothing there that no one has read before. Even if you agree with the "validity" of the opinion, it's just stereotypical anti-leftist edgelord nonsense. And now and then, albeit rarely, perfectly legitimate and inoffensive comments do get flagged. I try to vouch them when I can. But even then, I have yet to see anything I'd consider a true jewel in the rough. There seems to be a trend among people to consider content that goes against the establishment to be inherently more valuable than that which goes with it, as if offensiveness maps to truth. Seek the bottom of the barrel out if you want, but I think it's a mistake to expect enlightenment from it.

drankula3 8y ago
On sites like Reddit and HN, hiveminds absolutely occur from the voting algorithm. Content that caters to the lowest common denominator of the site or subreddit is what ends up at the top, and people with differing views stop expressing their views due to social pressure. Plus the owners of all social media sites have a financial incentive to influence the trends of the site and its users. I'm not saying alternative viewpoints and free speech sites are all sugar and flowers, because they often are filled with deplorable content. I do feel, however, that they serve a purpose in providing alternatives to the corporate.