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It's moderation. "Censorship" implies suppressing free speech, which this is not. It's simply removing undesirable content from a privately-owned website.
by rcfox 11y ago
It's moderation.
"Censorship" implies suppressing free speech, which this is not. It's simply removing undesirable content from a privately-owned website.
- Goronmon 11y agoIsn't it both? I don't see how moderation (in the form of removing/editing content) isn't censorship.
- wisty 11y agoGet ready for someone to tell you that the legal definition of "censorship" is only if the government does it.
- bhandziuk 11y agoYou were 13 minutes ahead of me but I didn't reload the page so I just said it anyway. :)
- shpx 11y agoI think he was implying that it doesn't. Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication or other information which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient as determined by governments, media outlets, authorities or other groups or institutions.[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- bhandziuk 11y agoBecause it's not the government doing it I'd say.
- Goronmon 11y agoBut censorship isn't limited to governments.
- mfukar 11y agoLet me clear it up for you: Say you post an article about the current state of socioeconomic affairs in the EU in /r/askscience. Your submission will be deleted, because /r/askscience's subject is not to host such articles. There is room elsewhere in Reddit for such an article. This is an example of moderation.
- Goronmon 11y ago...and censorship. They aren't mutually exclusive terms.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- endgame 11y agoPeople have been saying this since the forum age (at least), but privately-owned websites have become the new public spaces.
- scarmig 11y agoModeration doesn't seem right either, though: the people who wanted to be part of those (toxic, terrible) communities had chosen to go there, and the only times they popped up in other communities was people linking to them as a sign of how terrible the people there are (counterproductive as a strategy). Moderation implies curating an intermingling of user-generated comments so as to provide a super experience for the people reading those comments. There was no intermingling here. I think a large part of the anger is that people on Reddit tend to recognize it's a patchwork of communities, each with distinct borders you can't cross accidentally, and they like it that way. In contrast, this decision is motivated by a desire to expand Reddit's appeal to new users and as an advertising platform, both of which rely on it having a good reputation to the outside world.
- lmm 11y agoThis is absolutely censorship. Censorship doesn't have to be done by governments (this seems to be a weird American blind spot).