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Just to be clear: There are no statistics in this article, just some anecdotes selected to push a particular narrative. I don't claim to know whether working a

Just to be clear: There are no statistics in this article, just some anecdotes selected to push a particular narrative. I don't claim to know whether working as a FB moderator is 'catastrophic' or not, but this article makes an emotional case for it rather than a rational case for it. It reminds me of reporting around the Foxconn suicides - sure, each is a tragedy, but it turns out the Foxconn suicide rate matches the national rate.

xivzgrev 7y ago
Yes it is an emotional argument. I used to work somewhere with content moderation. From my conversations with people on that team, the effects in this article are spot on, and I would argue are damaging. Maybe not catastrophic but journalists gotta make bank too. Think of the disgust or shock you might feel if you saw, say an adult flirting with a kid, or if that’s not graphic enough, having sex. Now imagine you need to see that every hour or so for your job, 5 days a week, forever. There’s no end, there’s no stopping people. At best you lose some of your humanity and innocence - nothing really shocks you any more. At worst it causes some form of PTSD or you even sympathize with what you are seeing. I can see how that could be less painful in short term than continuing to be shocked and depressed with things you don’t agree with.
- baud147258 7y ago
  From other articles on Facebook moderators, some have been exposed to things that are much worse (in my opinion) than your examples.
  - boring_twenties 7y ago
    Worse than an adult having sex with a child? What would that even be?
    - Gibbon1 7y ago
      There is a video floating around of a couple of guys from a US backed Syrian rebel group cutting the head off a 12 year old boy.
      - boring_twenties 7y ago
        ... glad I asked
0x262d 7y ago
"this is just pushing a narrative" is the perpetual bleating cry of people who want to ignore something that challenges their views
maxlamb 7y ago
A particular narrative? Isn't it common sense that watching extreme graphic violence all day every day will lead to a lot of psychological issues for a significant percentage of people? This article about FB moderators in the U.S. paints a more detailed picture: https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/19/18681845/facebook-moderator-interviews-video-trauma-ptsd-cognizant-tampa https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/19/18681845/facebook-moderat...
titzer 7y ago
"There are no statistics in this article, just some anecdotes selected to push a particular narrative." Please don't reduce people to data like this. Plese don't automatically assume bad faith on the part of the authors of the article. Consider there are actual people involved here, reporting their experiences. Don't make it into some kind of social-justice battleground or science experiment, just consider their perspective without instant judgment.
- iamnotacrook 7y ago
  You could say exactly the same about anti-vaxxer nonsense. The lack of statistics makes it something where you can only wring your hands and say "oh, how awful" and not "yes, but..." and consider meaningful alternatives.
  - titzer 7y ago
    There is a stark difference in the anti-vaxxers are directly advocating for dangerous policy changes. I don't see anything of the sort here.
    - chii 7y ago
      The problem is that to someone on the fence about vaccination, they take legitimacy from articles that appeal to emotions and don't back up facts with data. Anti-vaxxers write the same way.
      - Apocryphon 7y ago
        This article cites clear examples of psychological harm and trauma being inflicted upon Facebook moderators. That itself is sufficient data.
- malandrew 7y ago
  There was no assumption of bad faith, just pointing out a lack of logic and supporting evidence, and that we should take things with a grain of salt. Appeals to emotion and innumeracy are serious problems in society right now and it's totally reasonable to identify when people pushing an argument are either appealing to emotion or being innumerate, so that others can plainly see that an argument lacks more substance than it appears to have.
malandrew 7y ago
These appeal-to-emotion articles written by people with an ax to grind make me this of this article I read recently: https://theotherlifenow.com/depressive-capitalist-realism/ https://theotherlifenow.com/depressive-capitalist-realism/
spookthesunset 7y ago
What statistics would you gather to prove this? Not everything in life is cheap and easy to quantify. Some things are just stupefyingly obvious. For example, constantly looking at videos of puppies getting microwaved or people getting beheaded in front of their kids for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week just might really fuck with you. Like, what data do you want to back that up?
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

xivzgrev 7y ago

Yes it is an emotional argument. I used to work somewhere with content moderation. From my conversations with people on that team, the effects in this article are spot on, and I would argue are damaging. Maybe not catastrophic but journalists gotta make bank too. Think of the disgust or shock you might feel if you saw, say an adult flirting with a kid, or if that’s not graphic enough, having sex. Now imagine you need to see that every hour or so for your job, 5 days a week, forever. There’s no end, there’s no stopping people. At best you lose some of your humanity and innocence - nothing really shocks you any more. At worst it causes some form of PTSD or you even sympathize with what you are seeing. I can see how that could be less painful in short term than continuing to be shocked and depressed with things you don’t agree with.

baud147258 7y ago
From other articles on Facebook moderators, some have been exposed to things that are much worse (in my opinion) than your examples.
- boring_twenties 7y ago
  Worse than an adult having sex with a child? What would that even be?
  - Gibbon1 7y ago
    There is a video floating around of a couple of guys from a US backed Syrian rebel group cutting the head off a 12 year old boy.
    - boring_twenties 7y ago
      ... glad I asked

0x262d 7y ago

"this is just pushing a narrative" is the perpetual bleating cry of people who want to ignore something that challenges their views

maxlamb 7y ago

A particular narrative? Isn't it common sense that watching extreme graphic violence all day every day will lead to a lot of psychological issues for a significant percentage of people? This article about FB moderators in the U.S. paints a more detailed picture: https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/19/18681845/facebook-moderator-interviews-video-trauma-ptsd-cognizant-tampa https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/19/18681845/facebook-moderat...

titzer 7y ago

"There are no statistics in this article, just some anecdotes selected to push a particular narrative." Please don't reduce people to data like this. Plese don't automatically assume bad faith on the part of the authors of the article. Consider there are actual people involved here, reporting their experiences. Don't make it into some kind of social-justice battleground or science experiment, just consider their perspective without instant judgment.

iamnotacrook 7y ago
You could say exactly the same about anti-vaxxer nonsense. The lack of statistics makes it something where you can only wring your hands and say "oh, how awful" and not "yes, but..." and consider meaningful alternatives.
- titzer 7y ago
  There is a stark difference in the anti-vaxxers are directly advocating for dangerous policy changes. I don't see anything of the sort here.
  - chii 7y ago
    The problem is that to someone on the fence about vaccination, they take legitimacy from articles that appeal to emotions and don't back up facts with data. Anti-vaxxers write the same way.
    - Apocryphon 7y ago
      This article cites clear examples of psychological harm and trauma being inflicted upon Facebook moderators. That itself is sufficient data.
malandrew 7y ago
There was no assumption of bad faith, just pointing out a lack of logic and supporting evidence, and that we should take things with a grain of salt. Appeals to emotion and innumeracy are serious problems in society right now and it's totally reasonable to identify when people pushing an argument are either appealing to emotion or being innumerate, so that others can plainly see that an argument lacks more substance than it appears to have.

malandrew 7y ago

These appeal-to-emotion articles written by people with an ax to grind make me this of this article I read recently: https://theotherlifenow.com/depressive-capitalist-realism/ https://theotherlifenow.com/depressive-capitalist-realism/

spookthesunset 7y ago

What statistics would you gather to prove this? Not everything in life is cheap and easy to quantify. Some things are just stupefyingly obvious. For example, constantly looking at videos of puppies getting microwaved or people getting beheaded in front of their kids for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week just might really fuck with you. Like, what data do you want to back that up?

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]