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The craziest thing about this isn't just that so many people are controlling the literal news feeds to millions of others, but that they can do so while being a
by ve55 6y ago
The craziest thing about this isn't just that so many people are controlling the literal news feeds to millions of others, but that they can do so while being anonymous, were not chosen or elected in any reasonable way, have zero accountability, and do not even have a public record of what they delete and censor
- brodouevencode 6y agoAt least with Facebook and Twitter the editorializing is driven by their corporate culture and profit. With the Reddit mod system that water is way more muddied.
- SlowRobotAhead 6y agoIt’s much worse than that. It’s not many people, it’s a very small number that “run” Reddit. 92 of the top 500 subs are controlled by 5 people. [0] Yesterday this post was locked, and so many of the comments were removed by mods with no self-aware irony at all - I just checked and saw very few [REMOVED] posts, I think they removed the evidence they removed them - crazy. Check ceddit. Two mods, Cyxie and AwkwardTheTurtle moderate 1196 subreddits. They have more control over content on reddit than Sinclair Media has over news stations. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/fko21a/92_out_of_the_top_500_subreddits_on_reddit_are/ https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/fko21a/9...
- intended 6y agoThis is almost certainly a storm in a teacup. I saw this and went to check - in the few subs i confirmed, they are not top mods. Top mods have the actual power, to assume that they are setting the agenda for every sub by being the 14th mod out of 28, or the 9th and so on is impossible, given how fractious moderating teams can be. Drama is leaking into HN without anyone doing a sanity check on the claims.
- jshevek 6y ago>Drama is leaking into HN This is the most important comment on this page. The reasons for this are varied, but it's pretty obvious that cultural changes have occurred on HN during this pandemic.
- SlowRobotAhead 6y agoExcept you are not correct. Right now, criticizing any of the “default mods” will get you banned, making any post like the one I referenced will be deleted, Reddit is engaging in censorship like they never have before. Take a look at r/WatchRedditDie/ and tell me how it’s nothing.
- intended 6y agoBecause you always get banned for meta drama. That’s not even new. That is also moving the goal posts- exactly the kind of stuff you see on Reddit and not on HN. The point was about the claim- ‘ 5 people “controlling Reddit” ‘ and how it’s been absorbed and discussed without reflection. Not about default mods banning people for meta drama.
- Wohlf 6y agoSeems to be the same as traditional media, there's a limited number of gatekeepers either way.
- SlowRobotAhead 6y agoThat’s true. Except... wasn’t it the point that “new media” wasn’t to be so heavily... “curated”?
- mundo 6y agoAnd dang has mod privileges on every single HN thread. Could you spell out exactly why this is supposed to be worrisome, instead of just hinting at it?
- root_axis 6y ago> were not chosen or elected in any reasonable way Why would they be? The whole point of reddit is that users can create communities with whatever moderation and content policies that suit them. People visiting the subreddit aren't prisoners, they can view another subreddit, start their own, or just abandon reddit altogether. Who cares?
- brodouevencode 6y agoIt matters a great deal because of the subreddit namespace land-grabs. Someone coming to reddit for the first time might naturally go to r/politics (which has become notoriously left-leaning) and not be aware of the rich history of censorship there.
- streb-lo 6y agoThis is a tired argument. As terrible and kneejerk as/r/politics may be, it doesn't need to be some neutral ground of perfect arbitration for many reasons, the least of which is that it would be asking an insane amount of work from its volunteer moderators. If it skews left who cares? There are plenty of places to discuss politics online that skew to the right.
- brodouevencode 6y agoSee https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23186995 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23186995 Then advertise as such and don't pretend otherwise.
- intended 6y agoWhy are people accepting the claim without verification ? I took cyxie, mentioned on the list and checked a few subs - they are not the top mod of any. It’s almost certainly true for all the other cases. How is the claim “they control the news feeds” in any way substantiated ? Looks more like power users playing subreddit Pokémon, and then doing nothing with the subs they are a part of.
- dr_zoidberg 6y agoYou can literally go to the user page and see where the user is a mod. cyXie[0], who has been mentioned, is mod in hundreds of subreddits. /r/gaming, /r/pics, /r/movies, /r/IAmA and /r/EarthPorn are their top 5 by members, with anywhere in between 26 to 100 million members, depending on how much those communities overlap. [0] https://www.reddit.com/user/cyXie https://www.reddit.com/user/cyXie
- intended 6y agoAnd that’s not anything. He is not a top mod, being present on a mod list doesn’t imply control. Someone of those power users was top mod for one of the subs I knew of - had 0 moderating impact or activity. Cyxie is mod 14 on r/pics. Hardly a position of influence and power.
- dr_zoidberg 6y agoThat depends on how much policing over the other mods (specially those above you) the rest of the team enforces. If the mods generally don't mess with another mods decisions, or if people don't complain (I've posted complaints after a post of mine was unfairly deleted from a sub) they can "get away" with whatever action they take.
- intended 6y agoSure, and that’s a far cry from the click bait claim that “5 mods control 92 of the top 500 Reddits.” It’s not even a statement of actual harm- just that in case the teams don’t check, these guys could be getting away with removing stuff and therefore exerting some form of control. There may be some kernel, of truth, just to be absolutely and needlessly generous with the claim. However the truth is not going to be close, by a galactic mile, to the worthy of the drama with which this topic has been en-robed. I‘ve been a mod. If a shadowy mod had the ability to enforce their will effectively over a single sub, let alone multiple teams - frankly they would be amazing and should write books on their team management, work ethic and obsession.
- dv_dt 6y agoWell, exactly who has the last call on the hiring of the talking heads of the major media networks?
- ve55 6y agoI'm not necessarily trying to say this is better or worse than major media networks, but one issue is that it does appear to offer a greater illusion of 'this is what the people are actually saying'.
- treebornfrog 6y ago4chan is where all the memes come from apparently. They're all anon too. Not too problematic in my eyes.
- chipperyman573 6y ago"4chan is where all the memes come from" is in itself a meme and has never been true, including when 4chan was good (and it's certainly not now)