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I have no love for the political ideology or behavior of this group but they weren't breaking any laws or even any more rules than other groups on reddit that s

I have no love for the political ideology or behavior of this group but they weren't breaking any laws or even any more rules than other groups on reddit that still operate. They were just politically unviable. Centralized corporate means to communicate (like, say, this one we're using) always go bad eventually. It's the natural lifecycle of online forums. Once money involved it's only a matter of time before the profit and drama-avoidance incentives of the corporation win over the wishes of the users. Reddit hasn't been usable since 2013.

root_axis 6y ago
> They were just politically unviable. We all know reddit leans a bit left, but the ban also included /r/chapotraphouse which is a leftist subreddit that was also notorious for rule breaking. Frankly, it seems reddit went out of its way to accommodate the_donald for a while now.
- cryptoz 6y ago
  > We all know reddit leans a bit left Do we? I think reddit 'leans a bit right' if anything. Especially in the city-level subreddits or country-level, or communities like that, there is (in my experience) a heavy-handed right-leaning attitude. I noticed this about 10 years ago and it has gotten much much more pronounced. The subreddit r/canada turned extreme-far-right about 10 years ago. Most of the cities I live in downvote left-leaning posts instantly. I don't think reddit was ever left-leaning in the past and I don't think it is now, either. Sure, left-wing views are posted, sometimes upvoted and tolerated, but I do not think they are the majority. I consider myself left-wing but feel unwelcome in most subreddits due to my opinions. I'll post anyway, but, it's not a left-leaning site at all IMO.
  - amadeuspagel 6y ago
    > Do we? I think reddit 'leans a bit right' if anything. Especially in the city-level subreddits or country-level, or communities like that, there is (in my experience) a heavy-handed right-leaning attitude. Who subscribes to such subreddits? People who are invested in their city or their country, which is itself a right-wing attitude. Apart from that, people are more right-wing at the city-level. Many who would roll their eyes at someone talking about "national identity" or wearing a flag pin, talk about "neighborhood character" and wear "I ️ $city" t-shirts.
  - newfriend 6y ago
    > I think reddit 'leans a bit right' This has to be a joke. Either you are so 'left-wing' that you consider Obama, Biden, etc, as 'right-wing', or you are ignoring the vast majority of the site. 'left-wing' views are not 'tolerated', they are celebrated. There are consistent 60k+ upvoted 'trump bad', 'obama good', 'republicans bad' posts from default subs. When's the last time you've seen anything 'right-leaning' on /r/all? I haven't seen anything since they blocked TD from appearing there.
    - cryptoz 6y ago
      I am not joking, and yes Obama and Biden are very clearly right-wing politicians. I have not seen a single actually left-wing policy out of either of them. Also, please don't assume the people you're talking to online are 'joking' when they express their serious views. It's against HN guidelines to assume such bad faith in my answers. > 'left-wing' views are not 'tolerated', they are celebrated. I don't see that at all on reddit.
      - Eugeleo 6y ago
        I guess it depends on how you both define left wing. From the economic perspective, maybe not (except medical care for all, maybe); from the human-rights perspective (e.g. gender rights, race-related policies), the more popular subs are surely leaning to the left.
      - newfriend 6y ago
        Reddit is an American company, with a largely American user base. From an American perspective, it is a very left-leaning site. Judging reddit from the point of view of a communist is not helpful. I'm sure there are people who view Trump as too left-wing, but that doesn't make it so. > I don't see that at all on reddit. I do see that on reddit.
  - hollandheese 6y ago
    If it was left-wing in any actual way r/chapotraphouse wouldn't have been quarantined let alone banned.
- superkuh 6y ago
  I wasn't making that claim at all. Reddit corp. politics aren't left or right. It's just whatever gets them the most ad money, personal information sale money, and the least bad press.
Pfhreak 6y ago
> they weren't breaking ... any more rules than other groups on reddit Do you have data that backs this assertion? Because it seems to run counter to the stated reasoning for the removal of the subreddit.
- coolspot 6y ago
  Before reddit banned TD, they had a sticky post documenting timeline of reddit’s assault and archived proofs of same behavior by other subs. Specifically, initial quarantine was imposed in a response of an user’s comment saying something like “kill the cops”, which was deleted by TD moderators, but reddit quarantined TD anyway for “calls for violence”. TD has collected and archived links to similar comments in other subs like r/politics which didn’t lead to quarantine of those subs.
Consultant32452 6y ago
I generally agree with everything you said. The phrase "politically unviable" has taken on a totally different meaning to me this year. I don't watch his show, but Tucker Carlson has the most watched cable news show at the moment, and yet somehow it's becoming politically unviable to advertise on his show. Who would have ever thought that ideas with a plurality of support/viewership would be politically unviable. We are living in clown world.
- subsection1h 6y ago
  Tucker Carlson has a "plurality of support"? Less than 2% of Americans watch his show. Do you mean a pluraility of support from cable news viewers (a.k.a. poorly-educated boomers)?
13415 6y ago
I've written about it elsewhere, so just a quick comment: The best thing is to get rid of all political zealots on a forum. The majority of users are not interested in the political opinions of these people (who usually defend fringe views), and political agitation in online forums is not needed or any way beneficial for democracy. It just annoys the vast majority of normal users.
- afiori 6y ago
  That is for sure how I feel looking at r/pics trending post in the last months

root_axis 6y ago

> They were just politically unviable. We all know reddit leans a bit left, but the ban also included /r/chapotraphouse which is a leftist subreddit that was also notorious for rule breaking. Frankly, it seems reddit went out of its way to accommodate the_donald for a while now.

cryptoz 6y ago
> We all know reddit leans a bit left Do we? I think reddit 'leans a bit right' if anything. Especially in the city-level subreddits or country-level, or communities like that, there is (in my experience) a heavy-handed right-leaning attitude. I noticed this about 10 years ago and it has gotten much much more pronounced. The subreddit r/canada turned extreme-far-right about 10 years ago. Most of the cities I live in downvote left-leaning posts instantly. I don't think reddit was ever left-leaning in the past and I don't think it is now, either. Sure, left-wing views are posted, sometimes upvoted and tolerated, but I do not think they are the majority. I consider myself left-wing but feel unwelcome in most subreddits due to my opinions. I'll post anyway, but, it's not a left-leaning site at all IMO.
- amadeuspagel 6y ago
  > Do we? I think reddit 'leans a bit right' if anything. Especially in the city-level subreddits or country-level, or communities like that, there is (in my experience) a heavy-handed right-leaning attitude. Who subscribes to such subreddits? People who are invested in their city or their country, which is itself a right-wing attitude. Apart from that, people are more right-wing at the city-level. Many who would roll their eyes at someone talking about "national identity" or wearing a flag pin, talk about "neighborhood character" and wear "I ️ $city" t-shirts.
- newfriend 6y ago
  > I think reddit 'leans a bit right' This has to be a joke. Either you are so 'left-wing' that you consider Obama, Biden, etc, as 'right-wing', or you are ignoring the vast majority of the site. 'left-wing' views are not 'tolerated', they are celebrated. There are consistent 60k+ upvoted 'trump bad', 'obama good', 'republicans bad' posts from default subs. When's the last time you've seen anything 'right-leaning' on /r/all? I haven't seen anything since they blocked TD from appearing there.
  - cryptoz 6y ago
    I am not joking, and yes Obama and Biden are very clearly right-wing politicians. I have not seen a single actually left-wing policy out of either of them. Also, please don't assume the people you're talking to online are 'joking' when they express their serious views. It's against HN guidelines to assume such bad faith in my answers. > 'left-wing' views are not 'tolerated', they are celebrated. I don't see that at all on reddit.
    - Eugeleo 6y ago
      I guess it depends on how you both define left wing. From the economic perspective, maybe not (except medical care for all, maybe); from the human-rights perspective (e.g. gender rights, race-related policies), the more popular subs are surely leaning to the left.
    - newfriend 6y ago
      Reddit is an American company, with a largely American user base. From an American perspective, it is a very left-leaning site. Judging reddit from the point of view of a communist is not helpful. I'm sure there are people who view Trump as too left-wing, but that doesn't make it so. > I don't see that at all on reddit. I do see that on reddit.
- hollandheese 6y ago
  If it was left-wing in any actual way r/chapotraphouse wouldn't have been quarantined let alone banned.
superkuh 6y ago
I wasn't making that claim at all. Reddit corp. politics aren't left or right. It's just whatever gets them the most ad money, personal information sale money, and the least bad press.

Pfhreak 6y ago

> they weren't breaking ... any more rules than other groups on reddit Do you have data that backs this assertion? Because it seems to run counter to the stated reasoning for the removal of the subreddit.

coolspot 6y ago
Before reddit banned TD, they had a sticky post documenting timeline of reddit’s assault and archived proofs of same behavior by other subs. Specifically, initial quarantine was imposed in a response of an user’s comment saying something like “kill the cops”, which was deleted by TD moderators, but reddit quarantined TD anyway for “calls for violence”. TD has collected and archived links to similar comments in other subs like r/politics which didn’t lead to quarantine of those subs.

Consultant32452 6y ago

I generally agree with everything you said. The phrase "politically unviable" has taken on a totally different meaning to me this year. I don't watch his show, but Tucker Carlson has the most watched cable news show at the moment, and yet somehow it's becoming politically unviable to advertise on his show. Who would have ever thought that ideas with a plurality of support/viewership would be politically unviable. We are living in clown world.

subsection1h 6y ago
Tucker Carlson has a "plurality of support"? Less than 2% of Americans watch his show. Do you mean a pluraility of support from cable news viewers (a.k.a. poorly-educated boomers)?

13415 6y ago

I've written about it elsewhere, so just a quick comment: The best thing is to get rid of all political zealots on a forum. The majority of users are not interested in the political opinions of these people (who usually defend fringe views), and political agitation in online forums is not needed or any way beneficial for democracy. It just annoys the vast majority of normal users.

afiori 6y ago
That is for sure how I feel looking at r/pics trending post in the last months