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Reddit CEO admits to altering user comments that were critical of him

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668 points wildmusings | 4 comments | 24 Nov 16 00:50 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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soup10 ◴[24 Nov 16 01:26 UTC] No.13027227[source]▶
Reddit has large radical left and radical right communities that are constantly fighting and overwhelm the site with political drama and propaganda. If they don't do something about it they are going to lose the users that come there to look at cats.
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ng12 ◴[24 Nov 16 02:48 UTC] No.13027619[source]▶
That's the problem -- there should be no "Reddit". The only interesting part of Reddit are the communities and there's no reason why the_donald and SRS can't exist under the same reddit.com domain. I really wish /u/spez et al. would take a hands-off approach except for cases where users are breaking the law.
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skybrian ◴[24 Nov 16 03:17 UTC] No.13027740[source]▶
Yep, that's the libertarian dream. It makes me nostalgic for the 90's when the web was new.

Now we know that spam and abuse make any large Internet forum suck. Your choice: moderation or cesspool.

Also, getting rid of the really extreme filth on the Internet is no fun and people generally have to be paid to do it, which is one of the things that keeps larger social networks in business.

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1. ng12 ◴[24 Nov 16 03:46 UTC] No.13027865[source]▶
I'm not convinced. Maybe a lot of people think of 4chan as a "cesspool" but I think it's actually quite functional with minimal moderation. They have a small volunteer staff to delete the absolute worst of the worst and let the rest roam free. The most radical thing they've ever done is made containment boards to keep the noise down.

I think the real problem is that sites like 4chan makes a tiny fraction of what Reddit does.

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2. skybrian ◴[24 Nov 16 04:00 UTC] No.13027940[source]▶
It works for 4chan's users or they wouldn't hang out there. But the level of moderation is a competitive feature. Users decide where to hang out based on the quality of discussion, and moderation has a direct effect on that (in both directions - too heavy-handed or too hands-off).

Also, in the end, the people who host a forum get to choose whether they really want to host a cesspool or not. If it's not working for them, they can shut it down, or maybe outsource moderation to Facebook or Disqus.

3. chillacy ◴[24 Nov 16 10:57 UTC] No.13029663[source]▶
One of the big problems still is brigading. Even creating a containment board doesn't stop that, and I suspect having a board allows bad behavior to be legitimized through peer approval, and snowballs it. Also, it's so much easier to shitpost than generate quality content, just like its easier to lie than to debunk a lie.
4. vacri ◴[24 Nov 16 12:47 UTC] No.13030028[source]▶
4chan has a much, much narrower demographic appeal than a generalist site like Reddit.