4 ms·

Isn't their policy basically "anything goes"? Locking things down seems counter to their goals. I know they have "some" moderation in "some" parts of their site

Isn't their policy basically "anything goes"? Locking things down seems counter to their goals. I know they have "some" moderation in "some" parts of their site, but moderating too much will just drive people away since many are there for "free speech" reasons. I think they'd be happier with the policy of, "if you don't like it, leave" than trying to appease others.

bduerst 8y ago
No, they specifically censor content like child pornography, torrent links (AFAIK), and some other material. There are situations where the expression of certain speech, like the generation and propagation of child pornography, harms others and should not be allowed. Even the original FS philosophers mostly agreed on this type of censorship.
- claudiawerner 8y ago
  They do not at all censor torrent links. In fact, the /t/ board is dedicated to sharing torrent and magnet links of all kinds of content, almost all of it to copyright-protected content. Child pornography is censored and will earn you an immediate perma-ban as soon as your post is found by a mod.
- mooseburger 8y ago
  Generation of CP harms others yes, but propagation does not. Always did regard the criminalization of possession and propagation of CP as a censorious overreach.
  - apta 8y ago
    The argument is that propagation (and consumption) encourages those who generate such things to keep on going since they see there is a market for them. I guess kind of similar to banning sales of ivory to kill the market, and in turn, reduce or wipeout the incentive for the hunters.
  - dragonsngoblins 8y ago
    I'd argue spreading it harms others as the people in it didn't consent to it being created or shared and is associated with trauma for them. Knowing that it was perfectly legal for people to share footage of them getting raped as children probably wouldn't be good for their mental health
- 101001001001 8y ago
  Child porn hurts people?
lumberjack 8y ago
m00t had taken action when it was necessary in the past. m00t had already banned the offending parties once. Then he reinstated them and gave them a containment board. In retrospect this did not work so well. The containment board became an ever radicalized echo chamber and worst, it did not contain anything. Since Hiro took over it seems like he has ignored the issue. This was pre-neonazi days. /news/ and /pol/ were not so bad back then. None of those users back then would have overtly supported nazism.
- Nadya 8y ago
  There was never a /news/ "back then", it was created in 2015 and is a text board. There was only /new/ and /new/ and /pol/ never co-existed. /pol/ was created after /new/ was removed because moot was sick of /new/ going constantly off-topic with racism and bigotry. The decision was made to more or less cease moderation of /new/, rename it to /pol/, and use it as a containment board. Also people need to realize chan culture. Each board may as well be its own website. 4chan hosts /pol/, it also hosts /lgbt/. 4chan's moderation (rather, lack of) is being seen as an issue because of how heavily moderated the internet has become in the past 20 years. Reddit, the "bastion of free speech", bans every subreddit that gets in the way of advertisement money, giving Voat more popularity. 4chan, "a bastion of free speech", banned #Gamergate discussion which gave 8chan its rise to popularity. I'd rather have extremists on Reddit and 4chan where they can be debated and talked down to by moderates than on Voat and 8chan where they can form echo chambers. Echo chambers are a lot better at recruitment. Pushing "bad people" away where they are out of sight and out of mind hasn't been solving the problem, it has only been making it worse year over year.
  - sexydefinesher 8y ago
    There is no debate on 4chan /pol/, its an echo chamber that keeps fueling the flames of hate (Remember Dylann Roof?). Why dont you try and make a thread there and argue that muslims shouldn't be shot and report back here with results?
- throwy22873 8y ago
  the worst of the worst are already banned and made 8chan (no doxing/raiding allowed on 4chan, etc ). the fundamental problem is pretending to be a white supremacist as a comedic device, and actually being one, are not easily distinguished on an anonymous message board. especially when the most popular form of humor on that board, is trying to be edgy and/or imitating someone you think is stupid. if you are old enough to remember /b/ raiding Hal Turner, i'm pretty sure that same thing would have happened to Alex Jones had raiding not been banned.

bduerst 8y ago

No, they specifically censor content like child pornography, torrent links (AFAIK), and some other material. There are situations where the expression of certain speech, like the generation and propagation of child pornography, harms others and should not be allowed. Even the original FS philosophers mostly agreed on this type of censorship.

claudiawerner 8y ago
They do not at all censor torrent links. In fact, the /t/ board is dedicated to sharing torrent and magnet links of all kinds of content, almost all of it to copyright-protected content. Child pornography is censored and will earn you an immediate perma-ban as soon as your post is found by a mod.
mooseburger 8y ago
Generation of CP harms others yes, but propagation does not. Always did regard the criminalization of possession and propagation of CP as a censorious overreach.
- apta 8y ago
  The argument is that propagation (and consumption) encourages those who generate such things to keep on going since they see there is a market for them. I guess kind of similar to banning sales of ivory to kill the market, and in turn, reduce or wipeout the incentive for the hunters.
- dragonsngoblins 8y ago
  I'd argue spreading it harms others as the people in it didn't consent to it being created or shared and is associated with trauma for them. Knowing that it was perfectly legal for people to share footage of them getting raped as children probably wouldn't be good for their mental health
101001001001 8y ago
Child porn hurts people?

lumberjack 8y ago

m00t had taken action when it was necessary in the past. m00t had already banned the offending parties once. Then he reinstated them and gave them a containment board. In retrospect this did not work so well. The containment board became an ever radicalized echo chamber and worst, it did not contain anything. Since Hiro took over it seems like he has ignored the issue. This was pre-neonazi days. /news/ and /pol/ were not so bad back then. None of those users back then would have overtly supported nazism.

Nadya 8y ago
There was never a /news/ "back then", it was created in 2015 and is a text board. There was only /new/ and /new/ and /pol/ never co-existed. /pol/ was created after /new/ was removed because moot was sick of /new/ going constantly off-topic with racism and bigotry. The decision was made to more or less cease moderation of /new/, rename it to /pol/, and use it as a containment board. Also people need to realize chan culture. Each board may as well be its own website. 4chan hosts /pol/, it also hosts /lgbt/. 4chan's moderation (rather, lack of) is being seen as an issue because of how heavily moderated the internet has become in the past 20 years. Reddit, the "bastion of free speech", bans every subreddit that gets in the way of advertisement money, giving Voat more popularity. 4chan, "a bastion of free speech", banned #Gamergate discussion which gave 8chan its rise to popularity. I'd rather have extremists on Reddit and 4chan where they can be debated and talked down to by moderates than on Voat and 8chan where they can form echo chambers. Echo chambers are a lot better at recruitment. Pushing "bad people" away where they are out of sight and out of mind hasn't been solving the problem, it has only been making it worse year over year.
- sexydefinesher 8y ago
  There is no debate on 4chan /pol/, its an echo chamber that keeps fueling the flames of hate (Remember Dylann Roof?). Why dont you try and make a thread there and argue that muslims shouldn't be shot and report back here with results?
throwy22873 8y ago
the worst of the worst are already banned and made 8chan (no doxing/raiding allowed on 4chan, etc ). the fundamental problem is pretending to be a white supremacist as a comedic device, and actually being one, are not easily distinguished on an anonymous message board. especially when the most popular form of humor on that board, is trying to be edgy and/or imitating someone you think is stupid. if you are old enough to remember /b/ raiding Hal Turner, i'm pretty sure that same thing would have happened to Alex Jones had raiding not been banned.