4 ms·

Your comparison falls short though, because there's not really a historical equivalent we can compare to. Being banned from social media is not like being thro

Your comparison falls short though, because there's not really a historical equivalent we can compare to. Being banned from social media is not like being thrown out of a pub by a bouncer. It's like being thrown out of every pub, nightclub, and church by the bouncer. If I may take an example from my own life: if I were to be banned from WhatsApp, I would not be able to * take part in my son's school group and social events. * participate in the neighbourhood group * participate in my local sports team * participate in the local party * participate in the business * participate in my university alumni group WhatsApp completely owns the social graph where I live. Almost to the point where one would not be able to live without it. A false positive ban would be catastrophic for me.

didibus 4y ago
I understand the impact difference could be argued, but some places the local community center or pub would also be the home to most of those. And similarly, it depends on the choice each of these groups make, like to all be on Whatsapp, some could be on Telegram, on Hangouts, on Facebook, etc. Nevertheless, I think you're right, scale is different and maybe that needs different rules because of that. Though, scale might also be why people can complain so much about it. I know people who have been shunned by their church, and the impact on their life from that is major. But if there's only a handful, they can't be a big voice to complain about it. On Facebook, everyone banned can bend together to complain about and create a counter balance. Now false positive I think is an even bigger argument. It's probably a lot more rare for a local pub or community center to wrongly kick you out. It can happen, but I'd say there's less chance, and you might get an easier time comming back or appealing. Something else I'm curious is how come this has so much impact on you, but so little on me? If I get banned from Whatsapp I'm just inconviened, but I can still call or text those people, mail/email them, show up to their physical locations in person, etc. I think the "couldn't be able to live without it" sounds a bit exaggerated to me, but maybe some places are way more dependent on Whatsapp then I realize with no alternative way to reach anyone?
- eckesicle 4y ago
  To give you just one example as to why it would have an outsize impact on my life. All parent association and much communication from school comes over a WhatsApp group with ~60 parents in it. If I were to be excluded then my son would miss out on lots of important information about upcoming events like birthday parties. It would be difficult for me to convince the parents of every other child to send their birthday invite especially to me by MMS or some other means. I participate in a handful of such groups. My sports club for example, certainly wouldn't inconvenience everyone by shifting to Signal or some other service just because I got banned from WhatsApp.

didibus 4y ago

I understand the impact difference could be argued, but some places the local community center or pub would also be the home to most of those. And similarly, it depends on the choice each of these groups make, like to all be on Whatsapp, some could be on Telegram, on Hangouts, on Facebook, etc. Nevertheless, I think you're right, scale is different and maybe that needs different rules because of that. Though, scale might also be why people can complain so much about it. I know people who have been shunned by their church, and the impact on their life from that is major. But if there's only a handful, they can't be a big voice to complain about it. On Facebook, everyone banned can bend together to complain about and create a counter balance. Now false positive I think is an even bigger argument. It's probably a lot more rare for a local pub or community center to wrongly kick you out. It can happen, but I'd say there's less chance, and you might get an easier time comming back or appealing. Something else I'm curious is how come this has so much impact on you, but so little on me? If I get banned from Whatsapp I'm just inconviened, but I can still call or text those people, mail/email them, show up to their physical locations in person, etc. I think the "couldn't be able to live without it" sounds a bit exaggerated to me, but maybe some places are way more dependent on Whatsapp then I realize with no alternative way to reach anyone?

eckesicle 4y ago
To give you just one example as to why it would have an outsize impact on my life. All parent association and much communication from school comes over a WhatsApp group with ~60 parents in it. If I were to be excluded then my son would miss out on lots of important information about upcoming events like birthday parties. It would be difficult for me to convince the parents of every other child to send their birthday invite especially to me by MMS or some other means. I participate in a handful of such groups. My sports club for example, certainly wouldn't inconvenience everyone by shifting to Signal or some other service just because I got banned from WhatsApp.