3 ms·

It was only founded in 2005 and hasn't been a bastion of free speech since at least 2016 or 2017, in my opinion. So while I wouldn't say reddit's culture has ch

It was only founded in 2005 and hasn't been a bastion of free speech since at least 2016 or 2017, in my opinion. So while I wouldn't say reddit's culture has changed that quickly, American culture certainly has as it's gravitated towards mainstream media shutting down non-PC topics and content

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
As recently as 2018, the company was taking a pretty strong stance (https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-44779237 https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-44779237), deliberately avoiding a hate speech ban and saying things like "we are not the thought police".
- goalieca 6y ago
  I would argue they say that in public but massive content manipulation through moderation is not even a secret.
  - silicon2401 6y ago
    I agree and would go further to say that's obvious. Why would a company not say whatever's safest and most beneficial to their image?
- silicon2401 6y ago
  Let's say the company was acting like the thought police. Do you think they would go and publicly announce that "we are the thought police"? PR statements have as much value to me as a pigeon's fart. As a regular user I don't have any visibility into the leadership, but it's been obvious for years that at least at the level of users and moderators, there has been a hard shift away from free speech like there was in the earlier days. I only joined reddit in 2011/2012, but even then there was still a strong feeling of free speech, which includes the freedom to heinous and despicable (but legal) speech. Maybe the leadership tried protecting free speech in 2018, but users and moderators had long since drifted away from promoting free speech by that point.
  - SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
    > Let's say the company was acting like the thought police. Do you think they would go and publicly announce that "we are the thought police"? I do. They wouldn't say it in exactly that way, but they would (and did: https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045715951 https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045715951) post an explanation of which thoughts are so hateful they need to be policed.

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago

As recently as 2018, the company was taking a pretty strong stance (https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-44779237 https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-44779237), deliberately avoiding a hate speech ban and saying things like "we are not the thought police".

goalieca 6y ago
I would argue they say that in public but massive content manipulation through moderation is not even a secret.
- silicon2401 6y ago
  I agree and would go further to say that's obvious. Why would a company not say whatever's safest and most beneficial to their image?
silicon2401 6y ago
Let's say the company was acting like the thought police. Do you think they would go and publicly announce that "we are the thought police"? PR statements have as much value to me as a pigeon's fart. As a regular user I don't have any visibility into the leadership, but it's been obvious for years that at least at the level of users and moderators, there has been a hard shift away from free speech like there was in the earlier days. I only joined reddit in 2011/2012, but even then there was still a strong feeling of free speech, which includes the freedom to heinous and despicable (but legal) speech. Maybe the leadership tried protecting free speech in 2018, but users and moderators had long since drifted away from promoting free speech by that point.
- SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
  > Let's say the company was acting like the thought police. Do you think they would go and publicly announce that "we are the thought police"? I do. They wouldn't say it in exactly that way, but they would (and did: https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045715951 https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045715951) post an explanation of which thoughts are so hateful they need to be policed.