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No discussion including both reddit and free speech would be complete without this little bit of history: >We want to democratize the traditional model by givi

No discussion including both reddit and free speech would be complete without this little bit of history: >We want to democratize the traditional model by giving editorial control to the people who use the site, not those who run it. >— Reddit FAQ 2005 >We've always benefited from a policy of not censoring content >— u/kn0thing 2008 >A bastion of free speech on the World Wide Web? I bet they would like it," he replies. [reddit]'s the digital form of political pamplets. >— u/kn0thing 2012 >We will tirelessly defend the right to freely share information on reddit in any way we can, even if it is offensive or discusses something that may be illegal. >— u/reddit 2012 >We stand for free speech. This means we are not going to ban distasteful subreddits. We will not ban legal content even if we find it odious or if we personally condemn it. Not because that's the law in the United States - because as many people have pointed out, privately-owned forums are under no obligation to uphold it - but because we believe in that ideal independently, and that's what we want to promote on our platform. We are clarifying that now because in the past it wasn't clear, and (to be honest) in the past we were not completely independent and there were other pressures acting on reddit. Now it's just reddit, and we serve the community, we serve the ideals of free speech, and we hope to ultimately be a universal platform for human discourse (cat pictures are a form of discourse). >— u/yishan 2012 >Neither Alexis [u/kn0thing] nor I created Reddit to be a bastion of free speech >— u/spez 2015 And more recently this quote from reddit a employee: "Our rule1 protects groups that are attacked based on a vulnerability, which doesn't pertain to white people or men as a group." Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/NgOxEg0.png https://i.imgur.com/NgOxEg0.png What is rule 1? "Remember the human. Reddit is a place for creating community and belonging, not for attacking marginalized or vulnerable groups of people. Everyone has a right to use Reddit free of harassment, bullying, and threats of violence. Communities and users that incite violence or that promote hate based on identity or vulnerability will be banned." (https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy) So in practice, according to one of their employees it's actually: "Remember the non-white male human. Reddit is a place for creating community and belonging, not for attacking non-white people or women. Everyone except white people and men have a right to use Reddit free of harassment, bullying, and threats of violence. Communities and users that incite violence or that promote hate against non-white people or women will be banned." And this is absolutely born out in their repeated banning of male-centric subs, while the most toxic community I've ever seen remains, because it's wildly sexist against the correct sex. And there are multiple "fragile white redditor" type subs also. Reddit used to be a cool new thing with real potential. I remember participating in the first secret Santa and my gift was the third most popular in the world. And the utterly wholesome Ameristralia movement. Then they shot it in the head in 2015 and completed their bait & switch. tl;dr: reddit is really, really racist, sexist, and authoritarian

meatsauce 5y ago
riffic 5y ago
I have a nearly 16 year old reddit account and as a middle aged white guy I completely back the first rule given in Reddit's content policy. If you're unhappy with this being stated explicitly, you can like, just not use Reddit. I do not want the site catering to anyone who those who will use Reddit to attack marginalized or vulnerable groups. These people will not be missed as Reddit users. Content Policy: https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy
- YawningAngel 5y ago
  The first rule is fine, but the interpretation given in the screenshot is in my view both unreasonable on its own merits and incorrect on the substance of what the rule actually says
- RobertWHurst 5y ago
  That kind of reply is a quintessential example of the arrogant self important horsedip that is runing reddit. You personally may want to live in an echo chamber with a bunch of highschoolers, anarchists, socialists, tankies, and the woke but there is a reason why reddit is not nearly as well regarded as it use to be, and its not because people lement the loss of hateful spaces. The idea that you have some sort of moral high ground; that people such as yourself are equipped to be the town censors - it's the peak of Dunning-Kruger effect in action. I have a reddit account as old as yours, the site has far less interesting conversations as it as languished severely, vandalized by by its self-flagulating management. I cannot wait for the day that these woke communities loose favor with society as a whole, their endless purity spiral will destroy them from within.
  - riffic 5y ago
    this (your) ideological absolutism is not a hill I choose die upon. It seems you would rather look the other way upon a site harboring this material. The content is harmful and the admins made it clear they will not allow it within their site. As a user, this is fine by me. By the way the word is `lose`, not `loose`.

meatsauce 5y ago

riffic 5y ago

I have a nearly 16 year old reddit account and as a middle aged white guy I completely back the first rule given in Reddit's content policy. If you're unhappy with this being stated explicitly, you can like, just not use Reddit. I do not want the site catering to anyone who those who will use Reddit to attack marginalized or vulnerable groups. These people will not be missed as Reddit users. Content Policy: https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy

YawningAngel 5y ago
The first rule is fine, but the interpretation given in the screenshot is in my view both unreasonable on its own merits and incorrect on the substance of what the rule actually says
RobertWHurst 5y ago
That kind of reply is a quintessential example of the arrogant self important horsedip that is runing reddit. You personally may want to live in an echo chamber with a bunch of highschoolers, anarchists, socialists, tankies, and the woke but there is a reason why reddit is not nearly as well regarded as it use to be, and its not because people lement the loss of hateful spaces. The idea that you have some sort of moral high ground; that people such as yourself are equipped to be the town censors - it's the peak of Dunning-Kruger effect in action. I have a reddit account as old as yours, the site has far less interesting conversations as it as languished severely, vandalized by by its self-flagulating management. I cannot wait for the day that these woke communities loose favor with society as a whole, their endless purity spiral will destroy them from within.
- riffic 5y ago
  this (your) ideological absolutism is not a hill I choose die upon. It seems you would rather look the other way upon a site harboring this material. The content is harmful and the admins made it clear they will not allow it within their site. As a user, this is fine by me. By the way the word is `lose`, not `loose`.