4 ms·

Bluesky Has a Death Threat Problem

15 points by xqcgrek2 2y ago

ggm 2y ago
Maybe I was hopelessly optimistic but I thought Bluesky was going to keep human moderation in the loop and not just "be" a kinder, gentler place, but enforce it. This article suggests it was happyness and rainbow thinking: It's not actually funding the oversight needed to keep stupid shit out of the feed. (not on either X or bluesky: I decided socials aren't good for my mental health and I do HN and limited amounts of other interaction online in basically focussed and curated spaces only)
- 762236 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - ggm 2y ago
    Eh. I like the outcome, If it's flagged it will be because the flame gets tedious. I don't personally think unorthodox opinions are very informing all the time. A small amount of salt adds flavour, I agree. After a while a bucket of crabs emerges and then everything is snippy.
- MBCook 2y ago
  I’m not on it, but from what I’ve seen posted online from a few people who had problems it seems like their main theory was the idea that they wouldn’t have to do too much. Between their “federation” and the ability to make your own lists or feeds it sounded a bit like they thought it was up to users to control their experience. I would hope they would act on death threats and such but it sounded like they wanted to be more “open” and less “censor-y” than old Twitter, which was already a problem place for a great many.
  - ggm 2y ago
    Technologists seem to have hopeless, irredeemable optimism that "just a bit more tech" will solve social problems. I think Musk's removal of the tech underpinnings of X was perhaps the counter-example which proves "not enouch tech" creates problems, but I do think "it's nice here so it will go on being nice here" is latent in how people talk about Bluesky, Mastodon, all the "other" socials. People love to kibbitz about HN, and it is maybe clique-y but at the same time it's not just one or two people reminding everyone "be nice" -pretty well anyone can do it, and they do. Maybe there's some threshold level where that kind of self-policed experience dies against the tides. I don't think being less censor-y is a good idea. I know thats hugely unpopular with a massive cohort of people. I don't for a minute pretend its defensible against a reductionist hard-core free-speech view of the world. I just think it turns out living in a completely-free speech world is tiresome. Some restraint turns out to be more than just "be nice" to be effective. "be nice: or else" basically. But "or else" means you're in a permitted space, not an unconstrained space.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
bediger4000 2y ago
I've never gotten a death threat on bluesky.
- mgraybosch 2y ago
  Neither have I, but I don't talk shit about trans people for a living, either.
  - aitche 2y ago
    Neither does Singal. He wrote some thoughtful and well-researched articles on medical malpractice, and this mob descended on him with death threats and other abusive and violent vitriol, simply because they didn't like the conclusions he reached from his investigations, and that he was publicly expressing these to a broad audience. Then again, then someone's entire world view rests on what is fundamentally a lie, perhaps it's not surprising to see such excessive reactions when reality is exposed. Not that this is any excuse of course.
    - PaulHoule 2y ago
      He's a provocateur. The Economist runs articles that are skeptical of transgenderism, so does The New York Times. That's one thing. Singal seeks out specific members of the transgender community to harass. His aim, I think, is to provoke transgender people into doing stupid things like making death threats so he can turn around and write articles on another platform about the death threats he gets. Like a schoolyard bully he has one eye on the rules and is careful to not quite cross the line that he gets kicked out. He confuses people by crossing over activities on different platforms, like if you see that blog post he does not show all of the things that he did to provoke people. On X, for instance, he calls for people to dogpile on people at Bluesky, etc. First I heard about him there were people on Mastodon who said people were leaving Bluesky because Singal hadn't been kicked out. I did see his Bluesky and it was exactly what I expected and I muted him the same way I mute anybody who blames their problems on cis people.
      - 2y ago
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

15 points by xqcgrek2 2y ago

ggm 2y ago

Maybe I was hopelessly optimistic but I thought Bluesky was going to keep human moderation in the loop and not just "be" a kinder, gentler place, but enforce it. This article suggests it was happyness and rainbow thinking: It's not actually funding the oversight needed to keep stupid shit out of the feed. (not on either X or bluesky: I decided socials aren't good for my mental health and I do HN and limited amounts of other interaction online in basically focussed and curated spaces only)

762236 2y ago
[flagged]
- ggm 2y ago
  Eh. I like the outcome, If it's flagged it will be because the flame gets tedious. I don't personally think unorthodox opinions are very informing all the time. A small amount of salt adds flavour, I agree. After a while a bucket of crabs emerges and then everything is snippy.
MBCook 2y ago
I’m not on it, but from what I’ve seen posted online from a few people who had problems it seems like their main theory was the idea that they wouldn’t have to do too much. Between their “federation” and the ability to make your own lists or feeds it sounded a bit like they thought it was up to users to control their experience. I would hope they would act on death threats and such but it sounded like they wanted to be more “open” and less “censor-y” than old Twitter, which was already a problem place for a great many.
- ggm 2y ago
  Technologists seem to have hopeless, irredeemable optimism that "just a bit more tech" will solve social problems. I think Musk's removal of the tech underpinnings of X was perhaps the counter-example which proves "not enouch tech" creates problems, but I do think "it's nice here so it will go on being nice here" is latent in how people talk about Bluesky, Mastodon, all the "other" socials. People love to kibbitz about HN, and it is maybe clique-y but at the same time it's not just one or two people reminding everyone "be nice" -pretty well anyone can do it, and they do. Maybe there's some threshold level where that kind of self-policed experience dies against the tides. I don't think being less censor-y is a good idea. I know thats hugely unpopular with a massive cohort of people. I don't for a minute pretend its defensible against a reductionist hard-core free-speech view of the world. I just think it turns out living in a completely-free speech world is tiresome. Some restraint turns out to be more than just "be nice" to be effective. "be nice: or else" basically. But "or else" means you're in a permitted space, not an unconstrained space.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

bediger4000 2y ago

I've never gotten a death threat on bluesky.

mgraybosch 2y ago
Neither have I, but I don't talk shit about trans people for a living, either.
- aitche 2y ago
  Neither does Singal. He wrote some thoughtful and well-researched articles on medical malpractice, and this mob descended on him with death threats and other abusive and violent vitriol, simply because they didn't like the conclusions he reached from his investigations, and that he was publicly expressing these to a broad audience. Then again, then someone's entire world view rests on what is fundamentally a lie, perhaps it's not surprising to see such excessive reactions when reality is exposed. Not that this is any excuse of course.
  - PaulHoule 2y ago
    He's a provocateur. The Economist runs articles that are skeptical of transgenderism, so does The New York Times. That's one thing. Singal seeks out specific members of the transgender community to harass. His aim, I think, is to provoke transgender people into doing stupid things like making death threats so he can turn around and write articles on another platform about the death threats he gets. Like a schoolyard bully he has one eye on the rules and is careful to not quite cross the line that he gets kicked out. He confuses people by crossing over activities on different platforms, like if you see that blog post he does not show all of the things that he did to provoke people. On X, for instance, he calls for people to dogpile on people at Bluesky, etc. First I heard about him there were people on Mastodon who said people were leaving Bluesky because Singal hadn't been kicked out. I did see his Bluesky and it was exactly what I expected and I muted him the same way I mute anybody who blames their problems on cis people.
    - 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]