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> like people being in Texas makes them more objective?! This is the least charitable interpretation. Obviously, it is not talking about a single person moving

by tgma 2y ago

> like people being in Texas makes them more objective?! This is the least charitable interpretation. Obviously, it is not talking about a single person moving to Texas suddenly changing colors like a chameleon (although I suspect there is quite a bit of merit to that due to groupthink and community speech policing in BayArea/LA). And yes, I think it won't be a stretch to think Texas would be more objective representation of general US PoV and less of a monoculture than FB sites in California. This is not a value judgement, just a natural function of the distribution of people.

squigz 2y ago
> And yes, I think it won't be a stretch to think Texas would be more objective representation of general US PoV and less of a monoculture than FB sites in California But... how?
pavlov 2y ago
Is the distribution of people in Austin so very different from the Bay Area? Both states are internally diverse. And it’s just silly to suggest that “groupthink and community speech policing” is something that exists in California but not Texas.
- tgma 2y ago
  > Is the distribution of people in Austin so very different from the Bay Area? If we just go by presidential election, Travis County's result is more balanced than SF and San Mateo, almost on par with Alameda county, so the answer is "slightly." However, the moment you get exposed outside the core Austin area, you deal with predominantly red areas. To get the same effect you have to go as far as Placer County or Sonoma, so I don't think the FB workers in Bay Area (SF/Menlo Park) have quite the same level of exposure.
- cloverich 2y ago
  Its slightly but consistently different. I moved from Austin (after 30+ years in TX) to the west coast, and the group think / speech policing is extremely noticeable to me (spend most of my time in Portland and SF), even though its not extremely different. That being said I think a more nuanced but still political take on the move is, having moderators is important, and its less likely those moderation will be pressured to shut down if the moderators are actual jobs in a red state. Further the jobs are low skill jobs so they can be moved back (or elsewhere) as needed. Easy move even if the political capital is minor.
grahamj 2y ago
I don't see how it matters where the mods are located when their instructions still come from California.
- tgma 2y ago
  Of course it matters. Have you seen the emotional reaction people get to Trump/Kamala posts?
  - grahamj 2y ago
    No because I don’t use these shit platforms. But the point is if policy says to moderate content of type ABC then I don’t see why someone in TX would do something different than someone in CA. It’s the same policy.
    - tgma 2y ago
      If the policy were that precise you would not need humans.

by tgma 2y ago

squigz 2y ago

> And yes, I think it won't be a stretch to think Texas would be more objective representation of general US PoV and less of a monoculture than FB sites in California But... how?

pavlov 2y ago

Is the distribution of people in Austin so very different from the Bay Area? Both states are internally diverse. And it’s just silly to suggest that “groupthink and community speech policing” is something that exists in California but not Texas.

tgma 2y ago
> Is the distribution of people in Austin so very different from the Bay Area? If we just go by presidential election, Travis County's result is more balanced than SF and San Mateo, almost on par with Alameda county, so the answer is "slightly." However, the moment you get exposed outside the core Austin area, you deal with predominantly red areas. To get the same effect you have to go as far as Placer County or Sonoma, so I don't think the FB workers in Bay Area (SF/Menlo Park) have quite the same level of exposure.
cloverich 2y ago
Its slightly but consistently different. I moved from Austin (after 30+ years in TX) to the west coast, and the group think / speech policing is extremely noticeable to me (spend most of my time in Portland and SF), even though its not extremely different. That being said I think a more nuanced but still political take on the move is, having moderators is important, and its less likely those moderation will be pressured to shut down if the moderators are actual jobs in a red state. Further the jobs are low skill jobs so they can be moved back (or elsewhere) as needed. Easy move even if the political capital is minor.

grahamj 2y ago

I don't see how it matters where the mods are located when their instructions still come from California.

tgma 2y ago
Of course it matters. Have you seen the emotional reaction people get to Trump/Kamala posts?
- grahamj 2y ago
  No because I don’t use these shit platforms. But the point is if policy says to moderate content of type ABC then I don’t see why someone in TX would do something different than someone in CA. It’s the same policy.
  - tgma 2y ago
    If the policy were that precise you would not need humans.