I've been thinking a lot about this. Us engineers periodically think some version of "I'd like to put a text box on the internet, and hmm, maybe, yeah, some way

I've been thinking a lot about this. Us engineers periodically think some version of "I'd like to put a text box on the internet, and hmm, maybe, yeah, some way of storing and retrieving what someone else put in it". Sounds like another endeavor in a grand tradition of such endeavors. Everything else past that has insane ramifications. Do people put threats in that box? Do people put personal information in that box? Do people link to CSAM in that box? Do people link to radicalizing videos or viral misinformation in that box? Do people use this to harass and stalk others? To manipulate stock prices? To manipulate elections? The answer is "yes" to every single one of those things. You used to think it would be nice if people used your service, but now you realize to your horror you run a Nazi bar [0]. This is the question of the web now: how do you deal with Nazis? You might disagree, you might think it's about centralized/decentralized or analytics or JavaScript, but the only reason those things are relevant is Nazis. Don't forget there are two kinds of Nazis. We probably immediately think of the American History X Nazi, but don't overlook the respectable Nazi, the polite, well-groomed, non-tattooed Nazi. The Nazi with a bachelor's, or even a law degree or an MBA. They'll use your service too, in ways that might seem like speech you should allow [1] but is just the first Nazi walking into your bar. We gotta stop thinking "I'll put a text box on the internet" and start thinking "I'll figure out a way to keep Nazis out of text boxes on the internet". This sounds like a huge task but, and I want to be clear: this is _table stakes_ for any new service. The thing you're building isn't a text box, it's a Nazi-free text box. This is the bare minimum. Then, and only then, can we start building tech that starts to make us feel good about ourselves. That starts to address the loneliness epidemic, or the bonkers decline in adolescent mental health brought on by social media (don't--ironically--@ me on this one), tech that inspires us and brings us together instead of tech that isolates and depresses us, tech that respects us and our privacy instead of surveilling and exploiting us. We have to start thinking about what our tech will do to people when people start to use it, from 10 users to 1000 users to 1,000,000,000 users. We need to start taking responsibility for the things we create, it's no longer possible to just throw your hands up and say, "look I just put a text box on the internet, how was I to know blah blah blah". We have to know better. [0]: https://www.upworthy.com/bartender-explains-why-he-swiftly-kicks-nazis-out-of-his-punk-bar-even-if-theyre-not-bothering-anyone https://www.upworthy.com/bartender-explains-why-he-swiftly-k... [1]: https://kottke.org/16/11/the-14-features-of-eternal-fascism https://kottke.org/16/11/the-14-features-of-eternal-fascism