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My critique of Reddit isn’t so much about moderation per se, as it is about one-sided moderation. The ban of anything that opposes “the message”. It started ar

My critique of Reddit isn’t so much about moderation per se, as it is about one-sided moderation. The ban of anything that opposes “the message”. It started around 2015/16 and it was very clearly visible in all subs.

Capricorn2481 4y ago
They have only banned extreme political ideologies with vaguely violent leanings, and have done so for both sides of the spectrum
- thefz 4y ago
  The problem with Reddit is that they banned unilaterally the right wing.
  - Crusoe123 4y ago
    That is not true e.g.https://www.reddit.com/r/chapotraphouse https://www.reddit.com/r/chapotraphouse
    - thefz 4y ago
      One sub out of tens or hundreds on the other side won't change reality
    - coffeeblack 4y ago
      Try searching for claims the election was fraudulent “in 2020” compared to “in 2016”. One is banned, the other promoted. Not just on Reddit but on many social media.
    - _-david-_ 4y ago
      What is your point? The person you were responding to never said Reddit doesn't also ban left wing subreddits.
  - multjoy 4y ago
    Because the right wing were organising insurrections?
    - coffeeblack 4y ago
      Do people really unironically believe that?
      - dTal 4y ago
        That's pretty disingenuous, considering that the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack is currently headline news.
        leereeves 4y ago
        Have people forgotten 2016 so quickly? The left had a nationwide movement named "Occupy" and the Democrats and most media approved. The right did it once and the same people all lost their minds.
        krapp 4y ago
        Occupy was a series of legal protests, as opposed to a violent insurrectionist plot to subvert the legal transfer of power with sympathizers within the government. These are not the same.
        leereeves 4y ago
        Legal? Most occupy occupations were dismantled by the police, even in progressive cities like Oakland and Portland. Perhaps the police were wrong and the protestors had a right to occupy, but if so, why didn't the protestors on Jan 6 also have a right to occupy the Capitol? Violent? The only violence on January 6th was between police and protestors. There was plenty of similar violence at Occupy protests, but the Occupy protests also had other kinds of violence, like Sexual Assaults Reported in 'Occupy' Camps[1] Insurrectionist? "The FBI at this point believes the violence [on January 6th] was not centrally coordinated...there was no grand scheme...to storm the Capitol and take hostages."[2] Sympathizers within the government? Like Obama?[3] An attempt to disrupt the normal functioning of government? Yes, both were. That's actually a common protest tactic - protesters generally argue that a protest has to be disruptive to be effective. 1: https://abcnews.go.com/us/sexual-assaults-occupy-wall-street-camps/story?id=14873014 https://abcnews.go.com/us/sexual-assaults-occupy-wall-street... 2: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-fbi-finds-scant-evidence-us-capitol-attack-was-coordinated-sources-2021-08-20/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-fbi-finds-scant-e... 3: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-risky-embrace-of-occupy-wall-street/2011/10/19/gIQA2pQf1L_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-risky-embrace...
  - Jordrok 4y ago
    Tell that to /r/conservative where I am banned from for even attempting to present an alternate viewpoint. Dissent is literally forbidden by the subreddit's rules.
    - _-david-_ 4y ago
      There is a difference between a conservative subreddit only allowing conservatives and reddit banning conservative subreddits
      - Jordrok 4y ago
        You're missing the point. Reddit is not and never has banned subreddits purely for being conservative. That's a persecution fantasy that lives entirely in your head.
- Duwensatzaj 4y ago
  Yeah, that’s a lie. Try having what used to be the standard opinion about a certain topic less than 10 years ago and expect to be banned. Not just by moderators but by admins.
  - Angostura 4y ago
    Give an example - you can do that here.
    - himinlomax 4y ago
      One word: transgender. Any light criticism or joke results in a subreddit and site wide ban.
      - pseudo0 4y ago
        100% accurate, they purged all the feminist subreddits that aligned with JK Rowling a couple years back. Ironically you are now hard-pressed to find a moderator on r/TwoXChromosomes who actually has two X chromosomes. https://www.reddit.com/r/GenderCynical/comments/hovdsi/just_about_every_remaining_terf_sub_has_been/ https://www.reddit.com/r/GenderCynical/comments/hovdsi/just_...
        richbell 4y ago
        > Ironically you are now hard-pressed to find a moderator on r/TwoXChromosomes who actually has two X chromosomes. Pointing this out would get you banned from Reddit extremely quickly. Not a criticism, just an observation.
      - multjoy 4y ago
        Do you have any specific examples of the 'light criticism' or joke (including where it was posted) that directly caused the site-wide ban?
        himinlomax 4y ago
- woojoo666 4y ago
  Didn't they just ban tumblrinaction, which was just right-wingers making fun of tumblr users? It was a bit distasteful, sure, but violent and extremist? I don't think so
- ipiz0618 4y ago
  I tried searching for "Hunter Biden" on Reddit after reading about him in the news before the election. Nothing returned. Not a single post about this person, like he didn't exist at all. After the election, results started to appear. I'm not even American, just someone who wanted to look at comments about the news. I don't think "both sides" is an accurate statement of what's happening.
  - richbell 4y ago
    > I tried searching for "Hunter Biden" on Reddit To be fair, Reddit's search is completely broken. The only way you can get decent results is using Google...
    - SturgeonsLaw 4y ago
      Ironically, on this specific topic, Google has its own problems. If I search for "hunter biden emails" on Google, I get page after page of media analysis telling me what to think, but no link to the emails themselves. If I used that same search term on Yandex, the page hosting the emails is the very first result.
      - richbell 4y ago
        Oh yeah, I forgot that Google has also gone downhill. At least Reddit's search is consistent. ;)
        davewashere 4y ago
        I've found adding "reddit" to my Google search yields results closer to what I'm looking for than a Reddit search or a regular Google search.
shuntress 4y ago
I have not noticed this. What is "the message"?
- RedBeetDeadpool 4y ago
  Generally anything that does not fit the ideologies of a typical reddit mod, and yes they will have certain belief systems, as most people do not have the time or desire to be moderating even for a few hours a day for no monetary rewards, which the average reddit mod sort of needs to have. This is why reddit leans heavily socialist/communist/anti-capitalist (moderated by people who believe moderating for free is more important than a real job). Its a rabbit hole to dive into, but once you dig deeper you realize just how much political manipulation is occurring, not just in reddit mind you. Its tearing apart society.
  - shuntress 4y ago
    I think you are conflating normal people having normal opinions with some kind of conspiracy that simply doesn't exist.
    - RedBeetDeadpool 4y ago
      Other forums do not suffer from this particular political lean. Reddit mods in particular are known for authoritarian ban hammering because its the only way to quiet ideas that go against their worldview, and they often approach it as a holy war that they should control the information that is visible to the public eye so they can protect the public for them, and that the public themselves are unable to decide what is right or wrong by themselves. Political discussion is often so skewed on reddit the term hive mind is not only a term used to describe the website userbase, but also observable in real time. Hacker news doesn't suffer from this, thankfully, the moderators do not think its appropriate to manipulate or outright silence any viewpoints dangerous to the reputation of their ideologies. Which is why we're allowed to have these types of discussions here in the first place. On reddit, however, I have written statements that have been moderated away I presume "for the safety of the public" as if the public could not decide on its own. Don't assume that everybody on the planet agrees with that kind of sentiment. Go out there and talk to your right wing nutjob friends. They have differing opinions. Just because you don't see them on reddit doesn't mean they don't exist, nor that they are not normal people with normal opinions either. You can label it a conspiracy theory if you want. But that doesn't eliminate the presence of the facts from which the conspiracy theories have arisen, nor does it eliminate the the presence of covered up removal of those facts for the sake of engineering truth. You are just unaware of the world beyond the veil of your lived experiences. But it doesn't help that your emotions are so tied to your defense of your ego.

Capricorn2481 4y ago

They have only banned extreme political ideologies with vaguely violent leanings, and have done so for both sides of the spectrum

thefz 4y ago
The problem with Reddit is that they banned unilaterally the right wing.
- Crusoe123 4y ago
  That is not true e.g.https://www.reddit.com/r/chapotraphouse https://www.reddit.com/r/chapotraphouse
  - thefz 4y ago
    One sub out of tens or hundreds on the other side won't change reality
  - coffeeblack 4y ago
    Try searching for claims the election was fraudulent “in 2020” compared to “in 2016”. One is banned, the other promoted. Not just on Reddit but on many social media.
  - _-david-_ 4y ago
    What is your point? The person you were responding to never said Reddit doesn't also ban left wing subreddits.
- multjoy 4y ago
  Because the right wing were organising insurrections?
  - coffeeblack 4y ago
    Do people really unironically believe that?
    - dTal 4y ago
      That's pretty disingenuous, considering that the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack is currently headline news.
      - leereeves 4y ago
        Have people forgotten 2016 so quickly? The left had a nationwide movement named "Occupy" and the Democrats and most media approved. The right did it once and the same people all lost their minds.
        krapp 4y ago
        Occupy was a series of legal protests, as opposed to a violent insurrectionist plot to subvert the legal transfer of power with sympathizers within the government. These are not the same.
        leereeves 4y ago
        Legal? Most occupy occupations were dismantled by the police, even in progressive cities like Oakland and Portland. Perhaps the police were wrong and the protestors had a right to occupy, but if so, why didn't the protestors on Jan 6 also have a right to occupy the Capitol? Violent? The only violence on January 6th was between police and protestors. There was plenty of similar violence at Occupy protests, but the Occupy protests also had other kinds of violence, like Sexual Assaults Reported in 'Occupy' Camps[1] Insurrectionist? "The FBI at this point believes the violence [on January 6th] was not centrally coordinated...there was no grand scheme...to storm the Capitol and take hostages."[2] Sympathizers within the government? Like Obama?[3] An attempt to disrupt the normal functioning of government? Yes, both were. That's actually a common protest tactic - protesters generally argue that a protest has to be disruptive to be effective. 1: https://abcnews.go.com/us/sexual-assaults-occupy-wall-street-camps/story?id=14873014 https://abcnews.go.com/us/sexual-assaults-occupy-wall-street... 2: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-fbi-finds-scant-evidence-us-capitol-attack-was-coordinated-sources-2021-08-20/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-fbi-finds-scant-e... 3: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-risky-embrace-of-occupy-wall-street/2011/10/19/gIQA2pQf1L_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-risky-embrace...
- Jordrok 4y ago
  Tell that to /r/conservative where I am banned from for even attempting to present an alternate viewpoint. Dissent is literally forbidden by the subreddit's rules.
  - _-david-_ 4y ago
    There is a difference between a conservative subreddit only allowing conservatives and reddit banning conservative subreddits
    - Jordrok 4y ago
      You're missing the point. Reddit is not and never has banned subreddits purely for being conservative. That's a persecution fantasy that lives entirely in your head.
Duwensatzaj 4y ago
Yeah, that’s a lie. Try having what used to be the standard opinion about a certain topic less than 10 years ago and expect to be banned. Not just by moderators but by admins.
- Angostura 4y ago
  Give an example - you can do that here.
  - himinlomax 4y ago
    One word: transgender. Any light criticism or joke results in a subreddit and site wide ban.
    - pseudo0 4y ago
      100% accurate, they purged all the feminist subreddits that aligned with JK Rowling a couple years back. Ironically you are now hard-pressed to find a moderator on r/TwoXChromosomes who actually has two X chromosomes. https://www.reddit.com/r/GenderCynical/comments/hovdsi/just_about_every_remaining_terf_sub_has_been/ https://www.reddit.com/r/GenderCynical/comments/hovdsi/just_...
      - richbell 4y ago
        > Ironically you are now hard-pressed to find a moderator on r/TwoXChromosomes who actually has two X chromosomes. Pointing this out would get you banned from Reddit extremely quickly. Not a criticism, just an observation.
    - multjoy 4y ago
      Do you have any specific examples of the 'light criticism' or joke (including where it was posted) that directly caused the site-wide ban?
      - himinlomax 4y ago
woojoo666 4y ago
Didn't they just ban tumblrinaction, which was just right-wingers making fun of tumblr users? It was a bit distasteful, sure, but violent and extremist? I don't think so
ipiz0618 4y ago
I tried searching for "Hunter Biden" on Reddit after reading about him in the news before the election. Nothing returned. Not a single post about this person, like he didn't exist at all. After the election, results started to appear. I'm not even American, just someone who wanted to look at comments about the news. I don't think "both sides" is an accurate statement of what's happening.
- richbell 4y ago
  > I tried searching for "Hunter Biden" on Reddit To be fair, Reddit's search is completely broken. The only way you can get decent results is using Google...
  - SturgeonsLaw 4y ago
    Ironically, on this specific topic, Google has its own problems. If I search for "hunter biden emails" on Google, I get page after page of media analysis telling me what to think, but no link to the emails themselves. If I used that same search term on Yandex, the page hosting the emails is the very first result.
    - richbell 4y ago
      Oh yeah, I forgot that Google has also gone downhill. At least Reddit's search is consistent. ;)
      - davewashere 4y ago
        I've found adding "reddit" to my Google search yields results closer to what I'm looking for than a Reddit search or a regular Google search.

shuntress 4y ago

I have not noticed this. What is "the message"?

RedBeetDeadpool 4y ago
Generally anything that does not fit the ideologies of a typical reddit mod, and yes they will have certain belief systems, as most people do not have the time or desire to be moderating even for a few hours a day for no monetary rewards, which the average reddit mod sort of needs to have. This is why reddit leans heavily socialist/communist/anti-capitalist (moderated by people who believe moderating for free is more important than a real job). Its a rabbit hole to dive into, but once you dig deeper you realize just how much political manipulation is occurring, not just in reddit mind you. Its tearing apart society.
- shuntress 4y ago
  I think you are conflating normal people having normal opinions with some kind of conspiracy that simply doesn't exist.
  - RedBeetDeadpool 4y ago
    Other forums do not suffer from this particular political lean. Reddit mods in particular are known for authoritarian ban hammering because its the only way to quiet ideas that go against their worldview, and they often approach it as a holy war that they should control the information that is visible to the public eye so they can protect the public for them, and that the public themselves are unable to decide what is right or wrong by themselves. Political discussion is often so skewed on reddit the term hive mind is not only a term used to describe the website userbase, but also observable in real time. Hacker news doesn't suffer from this, thankfully, the moderators do not think its appropriate to manipulate or outright silence any viewpoints dangerous to the reputation of their ideologies. Which is why we're allowed to have these types of discussions here in the first place. On reddit, however, I have written statements that have been moderated away I presume "for the safety of the public" as if the public could not decide on its own. Don't assume that everybody on the planet agrees with that kind of sentiment. Go out there and talk to your right wing nutjob friends. They have differing opinions. Just because you don't see them on reddit doesn't mean they don't exist, nor that they are not normal people with normal opinions either. You can label it a conspiracy theory if you want. But that doesn't eliminate the presence of the facts from which the conspiracy theories have arisen, nor does it eliminate the the presence of covered up removal of those facts for the sake of engineering truth. You are just unaware of the world beyond the veil of your lived experiences. But it doesn't help that your emotions are so tied to your defense of your ego.