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Reddit admins could have garnered more sympathy and understanding if they framed their actions purely in terms of site reliability and manpower instead of any w

by jasode 12y ago

Reddit admins could have garnered more sympathy and understanding if they framed their actions purely in terms of site reliability and manpower instead of any weights about the morals of various subreddits. Two admin messages with vastly different theses: First was the yishan post[1]. The TLDR of that one was, "we don't police subreddits/morals/etc." The problem with that post was that it was a ticking time bomb waiting for any inconsistency with the admins handling of subreddits to be scrutinized and vilified. The yishan post should have never been written. The reddit masses felt their intelligence was being insulted. The second post by alienth[2] has a much better message. The TLDR of that one was "we're getting overwhelmed by DMCA takedowns". Reddit admins can then drive the point home that they know other subreddits such as /notfamousstolenphotos are questionable but at least those are not getting bombarded by DMCA notices. They can then go on to stress that they just don't have the manpower (technical team and legal team) to address (fight) all of the DMCA notices to keep /thefappening up. Reddit was basically a victim of a DOS (Denial Of Service) attack by way of DMCAs instead of ip packets. It's great that reddit has some lofty ideals of being "hands off" but it also has to have the manpower to uphold those ideals. I suppose reddit could ask volunteers to work for $0 salary and review all the DMCA takedowns coming in but that would be a logistical nightmare. Reddit could try to maintain a stance similar to Kevin Rose Digg AACS encryption keys[3] but I don't think they have the resources to do it. In any case, the yishan post has already poisoned the well and any subsequent message to clarify the admins' predicament is getting tainted by it. [1]https://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/2foivo/every_man_is_responsible_for_his_own_soul/ https://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/2foivo/every_man_is_r... [2]http://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/2fpdax/time_to_talk/ http://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/2fpdax/time_t... [3]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AACS_encryption_key_controversy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AACS_encryption_key_controversy

maxerickson 12y ago
Their messaging is incoherent because they are trying to capture all the good feels from supporting "free speech" while navigating the legal minefield that comes with their size. Never mind that they categorically ban certain types of speech (doxing, stuff that is illegal). I suppose if you summarize their messaging as "we ban inconvenient speech" it isn't all that incoherent, but that isn't a terribly pleasing stand to take.
- _delirium 12y ago
  It seems their dividing line is mostly related to quantity of legal issues (subreddits generating huge numbers of takedown requests, and possibly other things like subpoenas). They don't seem to care about inconvenience in more of the "politically inconvenient" sense, e.g. the neo-Nazi subforums aren't touched. I've also seen warez-heavy subreddits shut down, though one dedicated to sharing paywalled academic papers has flown under the radar.
  - DanBC 12y ago
    There are a bunch of self harm and thinspo subreddits that are not touched, until those subreddits start breaking other laws (collecting and distributing personal information about people under 13 for example). Watching reddit feels its way through conflicting law and Reddit "hands off" stance is interesting.

by jasode 12y ago

maxerickson 12y ago

Their messaging is incoherent because they are trying to capture all the good feels from supporting "free speech" while navigating the legal minefield that comes with their size. Never mind that they categorically ban certain types of speech (doxing, stuff that is illegal). I suppose if you summarize their messaging as "we ban inconvenient speech" it isn't all that incoherent, but that isn't a terribly pleasing stand to take.

_delirium 12y ago
It seems their dividing line is mostly related to quantity of legal issues (subreddits generating huge numbers of takedown requests, and possibly other things like subpoenas). They don't seem to care about inconvenience in more of the "politically inconvenient" sense, e.g. the neo-Nazi subforums aren't touched. I've also seen warez-heavy subreddits shut down, though one dedicated to sharing paywalled academic papers has flown under the radar.
- DanBC 12y ago
  There are a bunch of self harm and thinspo subreddits that are not touched, until those subreddits start breaking other laws (collecting and distributing personal information about people under 13 for example). Watching reddit feels its way through conflicting law and Reddit "hands off" stance is interesting.