4 ms·

I had never heard of Yik Yak until today (and the mentioned competitors). I tried Yik Yak out, 5 minutes after it was deleted. I can't express how disgusted I

by antr 12y ago

I had never heard of Yik Yak until today (and the mentioned competitors). I tried Yik Yak out, 5 minutes after it was deleted. I can't express how disgusted I am by the contents/comments within the app. It's full of hate speech, insults, sexism, etc. I find really disturbing that these sort of apps get vc money, really disturbing.

mycroft-holmes 12y ago
Couldn't you say the same thing for Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Reddit?
- antr 12y ago
  On Facebook and Twitter I've never seen a friend or someone I follow make some disgusting comments like I've seen on Yik Yak, specially the top, upvoted stuff. I never used Tumblr (only when visiting a blog) and only visit Reddit sporadically. So no, I can't say the same.
  - snowwrestler 12y ago
    Try running a search on Twitter--you'll see some nasty stuff, depending on the search term. Yik Yak is basically just location-based search, so there's no social filtering. (As opposed to on your Twitter feed, where you create a social filter by selecting the accounts you follow).
- acheron 12y ago
  "It's no worse than tumblr" is quite the damning with faint praise.
sean_grant 12y ago
You should know that Yik Yak is an amalgamation of whatever the users say around you... If it's filled with hate speech, that would be your surrounding environments fault and not Yik Yak.
- antr 12y ago
  Oh I know, I also tried the "Peek" feature: used for home, work and my university (it was over a decade ago I graduated). It didn't move the needle. Very disturbing. Btw, I'm in Europe, so all of the comments I saw were in English, as in American English, so I'm guessing us Europeans aren't getting the best of the US. This is not data, just an observation.
  - EdwardDiego 12y ago
    > I saw were in English, as in American English Entirely off-topic, but what English variant is taught in Europe? I'm going to ask a German colleague to spell the word 'colour' I think.
    - antr 12y ago
      British english. Colour vs color. Lift vs elevator. Single vs one-way. :)
      - untog 12y ago
        Are you sure? When I was in Germany kids were learning American English. It might vary country to country.
        antr 12y ago
        I'm not saying this is 100% the case in every school. The school I went to was British English, for sure other schools teach in American English, as I'm sure there are plenty of Americans teaching around Europe. I'm just talking from experience/observation.
    - toong 12y ago
      They pick up American english from tv, British english in school. So it's more of a mix ...
    - jeffreyrogers 12y ago
slimetree 12y ago
Those are the long tail of comments. If VCs judged all user-content services by the long tail of submissions, most wouldn't raise any money. (I realize that might be a good thing, but I presume then that you have the same complaint against Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
- antr 12y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9070088 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9070088
  - slimetree 12y ago
    Still, that just means the long tail is worse, which necessarily happens when anonymity is granted. The best comments-- i.e. the ones that make using the app fun for users-- are also uniquely possible on Yik Yak (or services like it).
JDiculous 12y ago
It's got to be your area. I'm in NYC and have never seen any hate speech in the few times that I've used it.
- Nicholas_C 12y ago
  If you're near a college area the posts get ridiculous. I deleted it pretty quickly.
Estragon 12y ago
I haven't tried Yik Yak as it seems like a black hole of drama and ignorance. However, I think it is being used in interesting ways. Students were able to use it to severely disrupt a frivolous and disruptive class requirement. It's potentially very democratizing, though perhaps it's only bringing out the worst aspects of democracy. http://emutalk.org/2015/01/a-new-faculty-challenge-fending-off-abuse-on-yik-yak/ http://emutalk.org/2015/01/a-new-faculty-challenge-fending-o...
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
Crito 12y ago
In my neighborhood, Yik Yak is nothing but a bunch of proclamations about social justice related topics, and people humble-bragging about their sex lives. Yik Yak is only as good as your neighborhood. I wonder, do you oppose the funding of hosting companies that provide email services, or allow people to run IRC servers? Do you have a blanket opposition against the funding of services which are used to disseminate user-generated content?
MichaelGG 12y ago
I tried it in SF (fidi and soma). I didn't find offensive stuff, but I'd actually have been happier if it was /b/ level. Instead it was just... lame? Self references to YikYak seemed to get votes. The top ones were old jokes. I'm 33 so perhaps I just don't get it anymore.
tedks 12y ago
I've literally never had that experience with Yik Yak. There's a report button if anyone makes an explicit threat; other than that, when you hold a mirror up to society, it's not the mirror's fault what's reflected.

by antr 12y ago

mycroft-holmes 12y ago

Couldn't you say the same thing for Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Reddit?

antr 12y ago
On Facebook and Twitter I've never seen a friend or someone I follow make some disgusting comments like I've seen on Yik Yak, specially the top, upvoted stuff. I never used Tumblr (only when visiting a blog) and only visit Reddit sporadically. So no, I can't say the same.
- snowwrestler 12y ago
  Try running a search on Twitter--you'll see some nasty stuff, depending on the search term. Yik Yak is basically just location-based search, so there's no social filtering. (As opposed to on your Twitter feed, where you create a social filter by selecting the accounts you follow).
acheron 12y ago
"It's no worse than tumblr" is quite the damning with faint praise.

sean_grant 12y ago

You should know that Yik Yak is an amalgamation of whatever the users say around you... If it's filled with hate speech, that would be your surrounding environments fault and not Yik Yak.

antr 12y ago
Oh I know, I also tried the "Peek" feature: used for home, work and my university (it was over a decade ago I graduated). It didn't move the needle. Very disturbing. Btw, I'm in Europe, so all of the comments I saw were in English, as in American English, so I'm guessing us Europeans aren't getting the best of the US. This is not data, just an observation.
- EdwardDiego 12y ago
  > I saw were in English, as in American English Entirely off-topic, but what English variant is taught in Europe? I'm going to ask a German colleague to spell the word 'colour' I think.
  - antr 12y ago
    British english. Colour vs color. Lift vs elevator. Single vs one-way. :)
    - untog 12y ago
      Are you sure? When I was in Germany kids were learning American English. It might vary country to country.
      - antr 12y ago
        I'm not saying this is 100% the case in every school. The school I went to was British English, for sure other schools teach in American English, as I'm sure there are plenty of Americans teaching around Europe. I'm just talking from experience/observation.
  - toong 12y ago
    They pick up American english from tv, British english in school. So it's more of a mix ...
  - jeffreyrogers 12y ago

slimetree 12y ago

Those are the long tail of comments. If VCs judged all user-content services by the long tail of submissions, most wouldn't raise any money. (I realize that might be a good thing, but I presume then that you have the same complaint against Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

antr 12y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9070088 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9070088
- slimetree 12y ago
  Still, that just means the long tail is worse, which necessarily happens when anonymity is granted. The best comments-- i.e. the ones that make using the app fun for users-- are also uniquely possible on Yik Yak (or services like it).

JDiculous 12y ago

It's got to be your area. I'm in NYC and have never seen any hate speech in the few times that I've used it.

Nicholas_C 12y ago
If you're near a college area the posts get ridiculous. I deleted it pretty quickly.

Estragon 12y ago

I haven't tried Yik Yak as it seems like a black hole of drama and ignorance. However, I think it is being used in interesting ways. Students were able to use it to severely disrupt a frivolous and disruptive class requirement. It's potentially very democratizing, though perhaps it's only bringing out the worst aspects of democracy. http://emutalk.org/2015/01/a-new-faculty-challenge-fending-off-abuse-on-yik-yak/ http://emutalk.org/2015/01/a-new-faculty-challenge-fending-o...

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

Crito 12y ago

In my neighborhood, Yik Yak is nothing but a bunch of proclamations about social justice related topics, and people humble-bragging about their sex lives. Yik Yak is only as good as your neighborhood. I wonder, do you oppose the funding of hosting companies that provide email services, or allow people to run IRC servers? Do you have a blanket opposition against the funding of services which are used to disseminate user-generated content?

MichaelGG 12y ago

I tried it in SF (fidi and soma). I didn't find offensive stuff, but I'd actually have been happier if it was /b/ level. Instead it was just... lame? Self references to YikYak seemed to get votes. The top ones were old jokes. I'm 33 so perhaps I just don't get it anymore.

tedks 12y ago

I've literally never had that experience with Yik Yak. There's a report button if anyone makes an explicit threat; other than that, when you hold a mirror up to society, it's not the mirror's fault what's reflected.