6 ms·

One idea: To cope with all this, reduce the flagged posts presented by the algorithm to maybe 2 - 3 hours a day. For the remaining 5 hours, the algorithm could

One idea: To cope with all this, reduce the flagged posts presented by the algorithm to maybe 2 - 3 hours a day. For the remaining 5 hours, the algorithm could show them chats, pictures and videos that are harmless and uplifting. This might create a counterbalance, showing that there is still something good in social media. I think that's how RL works in most countries. You are not running through the streets, getting slapped with crime and therelike all the time. Of course, this also means you need more people to deal with the same amount of content as you do today.

duxup 7y ago
I think you might be on the right path, at the same time mandated "happy picture time" seems like it might be it's own weird world to live in. Moderator1: "Hey man how is it going today?" Moderator2: "Pretty good, it's kitten day."
- MrGilbert 7y ago
  That sounds pretty surreal, I agree.
neilv 7y ago
I appreciate the idea (and I've personally administered a dose of /r/eyebleach on lesser occasions), but institutionalizing that sounds to me like something out of a dystopian future story, not a decent solution. Maybe a better solution starts with reducing the scale of the problem, and includes measures like not tolerating so many fake accounts, being willing to lose real users permanently when you ban them, and cultivating better culture. And at least pay the moderators better for their trauma, rather than exploit people who have no better options. New-grad programmers get six figures, to entice them to work for a 'social media' company they know is a bit sketchy, but some of the people who bear some of the darkest side of the business get paid peanuts. Alternatively, one could change the business and infrastructure models, to distributed and interoperating common carriers (away from trying to snoop on, and manipulate, things people say, hear, and think). ISPs and protocols and programs, like we briefly had. But that requires no one becoming a billionaire by grabbing power over people.
Smithalicious 7y ago
So you're paying them for 2-3 hours of real work a day, and then another 5 hours of fake work? Why not just pay them only for the real work and give them the rest of the time off?
- MrGilbert 7y ago
  Because you would leave them alone with the impressions of the day - just because you only show them bad content for 3 hours, doesn't mean that they will automatically create a counter-balance in the free 5 hours. I force them to watch the bad side of humanity, so I also "force" them to watch the good side of it. It should be subtile, of course.

duxup 7y ago

I think you might be on the right path, at the same time mandated "happy picture time" seems like it might be it's own weird world to live in. Moderator1: "Hey man how is it going today?" Moderator2: "Pretty good, it's kitten day."

MrGilbert 7y ago
That sounds pretty surreal, I agree.

neilv 7y ago

I appreciate the idea (and I've personally administered a dose of /r/eyebleach on lesser occasions), but institutionalizing that sounds to me like something out of a dystopian future story, not a decent solution. Maybe a better solution starts with reducing the scale of the problem, and includes measures like not tolerating so many fake accounts, being willing to lose real users permanently when you ban them, and cultivating better culture. And at least pay the moderators better for their trauma, rather than exploit people who have no better options. New-grad programmers get six figures, to entice them to work for a 'social media' company they know is a bit sketchy, but some of the people who bear some of the darkest side of the business get paid peanuts. Alternatively, one could change the business and infrastructure models, to distributed and interoperating common carriers (away from trying to snoop on, and manipulate, things people say, hear, and think). ISPs and protocols and programs, like we briefly had. But that requires no one becoming a billionaire by grabbing power over people.

Smithalicious 7y ago

So you're paying them for 2-3 hours of real work a day, and then another 5 hours of fake work? Why not just pay them only for the real work and give them the rest of the time off?

MrGilbert 7y ago
Because you would leave them alone with the impressions of the day - just because you only show them bad content for 3 hours, doesn't mean that they will automatically create a counter-balance in the free 5 hours. I force them to watch the bad side of humanity, so I also "force" them to watch the good side of it. It should be subtile, of course.