4 ms·
> the upvote mechanism is definitely harmful in most use cases, because it prioritizes groupthink over expertise. > but it's also definitely beneficial in plac
by skinkestek 5y ago
> the upvote mechanism is definitely harmful in most use cases, because it prioritizes groupthink over expertise.
> but it's also definitely beneficial in places like Stack Overflow, where there's a logical reason to assume that the most popular answer might have any correlation at all with the best answer.
> the best answer will always be at or near the top in a place like Stack Overflow. so the upvote mechanism is useful there. but the most racist answer will always be at or near the top in a forum where racist people just share opinions.
The obvious answer to this however is not to remove the very useful upvote button everywhere but to
- stop frequenting racist forums,
- if they are actually racist, tell law enforcement (where applicable)
isn't it?
- BrightGlow 5y agoI was lurking here last year during the racial justice protests, and before that during the James Damore controversy. I still saw casually racist/sexist posts get upvoted fairly often. A discriminatory argument can be stated well and seem reasonable on its face, but still be discriminatory. It's the kind that moderators here are too lenient against and won't really want to delete as long as there isn't a pattern of it, because it could just be an well-meaning person suffering an error in judgement. I don't know how our world is supposed to move past that, or if it's even possible. I would have probably been a little less disappointed in the state of humanity if some of those posts had been flagged, because there were a lot of them across the whole internet.
- genewitch 5y agoIs being racist against the law? Why would someone tell law enforcement?
- vadfa 5y agoRacism can be considered hate speech, which is illegal in places with no right to free speech such as most countries in Europe. For example: https://www.report-it.org.uk/reporting_internet_hate_crime https://www.report-it.org.uk/reporting_internet_hate_crime
- wowaname 5y agoI don't know why you're getting downvoted when you're correct here.
- implements 5y agoIncitement to racial hatred, done publicly, can be held illegal if it crosses certain thresholds. I don’t think this means Europeans don’t have free speech. Consider both: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exceptions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exce... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_laws_of_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_laws_of_the_United_Sta...