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A couple of thoughts here: 1. I wonder how much of this is also driven by 'cancel culture', invasive media coverage, etc? After seeing stuff like how Scott Ale

by CM30 4y ago

A couple of thoughts here: 1. I wonder how much of this is also driven by 'cancel culture', invasive media coverage, etc? After seeing stuff like how Scott Alexander's life got upended a bit after the New York Times covered Slate Star Codex, I wouldn't be surprised if many niche communities decided that making their discussions and ideas publicly viewable wasn't worth it. Why open yourself up to real life consequences from a puritanical culture when you can limit discussions to those you know share similar views? 2. I also suspect the feeling that third parties were profiting from said information without really crediting the source may have had an impact too. I know a few communities that didn't share info until one of their own members had covered it on YouTube because they were sick of large channels and websites repackaging the info and getting credited as the 'source'.

karaterobot 4y ago
> Why open yourself up to real life consequences from a puritanical culture when you can limit discussions to those you know share similar views? Or with people who may have wildly different views from you, but whom you trust to disagree amicably and remain tolerant of those views. I started a private discussion board a few years ago for just this purpose: it became impossible to have a good-faith discussion of almost anything on the open web. Within the boundaries of a private community, you can have some expectation of safety that you can't have if the audience is the entire world, as it is on Twitter (or even HN). With that safety you can disagree more with less fear of consequences, which is how it should be (and was, before all this shit).
AussieWog93 4y ago
People are definitely scared about being "outed" in private communities too. Seems anything with searchable text creates fear.
DoItToMe81 4y ago
Many niche communities now are entirely accepting of, and active participants in, knee-jerk feigned outrage and groupthink. I don't think fear of cancel culture is a big aspect, since a lot of them actively cheer it on. Remember, the well small places draw from isn't filled by other niche communities and tech people anymore -- it's Twitter, Reddit and Facebook. In the case of places that are not self hosted, like Discord communities, closing off is often a means of survival against a mostly automated moderation system. I've seen several relatively large Discord communities be wiped out by small groups of obsessive and sad people going around and reporting out of context posts until one finally pops the server and gets it deleted.

by CM30 4y ago

karaterobot 4y ago

> Why open yourself up to real life consequences from a puritanical culture when you can limit discussions to those you know share similar views? Or with people who may have wildly different views from you, but whom you trust to disagree amicably and remain tolerant of those views. I started a private discussion board a few years ago for just this purpose: it became impossible to have a good-faith discussion of almost anything on the open web. Within the boundaries of a private community, you can have some expectation of safety that you can't have if the audience is the entire world, as it is on Twitter (or even HN). With that safety you can disagree more with less fear of consequences, which is how it should be (and was, before all this shit).

AussieWog93 4y ago

People are definitely scared about being "outed" in private communities too. Seems anything with searchable text creates fear.

DoItToMe81 4y ago

Many niche communities now are entirely accepting of, and active participants in, knee-jerk feigned outrage and groupthink. I don't think fear of cancel culture is a big aspect, since a lot of them actively cheer it on. Remember, the well small places draw from isn't filled by other niche communities and tech people anymore -- it's Twitter, Reddit and Facebook. In the case of places that are not self hosted, like Discord communities, closing off is often a means of survival against a mostly automated moderation system. I've seen several relatively large Discord communities be wiped out by small groups of obsessive and sad people going around and reporting out of context posts until one finally pops the server and gets it deleted.