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Why do so many sites not called reddit care about what happens on reddit so much? Is it like a barometer where the racism of reddit is a general indication of the racism of the Internet?

reddit wants to be a power player of internet business. when it claims to be the "front page of the internet" it takes on a mantle of some respect. Also, a lot of stuff happens on reddit enough for some items to become newsworthy, it's a progenitor of viral stories.

Now imagine that the front page has the most vile content imaginable. If the NYT put racist tirades of shit in the corner of every edition's front page, people would want that gone.

 

[HariKari]

Now imagine that the front page has the most vile content imaginable.

It never did, even if you used /all. You had to look for it. The admins aren't that dumb. The Pao rebellion being the exception, because the number of people involved in that was way more than just the racist subs. But even just letting them use reddit's features had the potential to backfire on them, so the banning is understandable.

 

[Fenderputty]

Why do so many sites not called reddit care about what happens on reddit so much? Is it like a barometer where the racism of reddit is a general indication of the racism of the Internet?

I personally just think it's interesting to watch them struggle through their libertarian bullshit, walking a thin line trying to appease everyone and trying to monetize.

 

[m3k]

Crazy how many of them are focused on african americans. Crazy how singled out it seems for us.

I'm not black but it really is crazy

 

[freeofgreed]

You had to look for it. The admins aren't that dumb. The Pao rebellion being the exception, because the number of people involved in that was way more than just the racist subs. But even just letting them use reddit's features had the potential to backfire on them, so the banning is understandable.

Not even remotely true. Like others have been saying go to any of the default subreddits and tell me you won't see a highly upvoted racist comment.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

WatchNiggersDie

...

In 2015 no less. And active.

 

[Yeoman]

Not only that but they bled into the comments. You couldn't step foot in /r/news or /r/worldnews or /r/askreddit or many other big subreddits without wading into a pile of racist shit

This is exactly what I would notice as well. I'd be browsing some thread in /r/worldnews, and see an irational out of the blue offensive comment by someone. Often the racism/homophobia/hatred would be subtle. It would get quite a few up votes too. When you click their username lo and behold they're a subscriber to a number of the subs in the OP. It absolutely skewed the website because a disproportionate number of people like that frequented reddit. They were given free hosting of their content and a place to organise.

 

[Future]

This is exactly what I would notice as well. I'd be browsing some thread in /r/worldnews and see an irational out of the blue offensive comment by someone. Often the racism/homophobia/hatred would be subtle. It would get quite a few up votes too. When you click their username lo and behold they're a subscriber to a number of he subs in the OP. It absolutely skewed the website because a disproportionate number of people like that frequented reddit. They were given free hosting of their content and a place to organise.

What's the solution? Ban racists from posting? Can't reddit moderators do this if they are so inclined?

 

[Yeoman]

What's the solution? Ban racists from posting? Can't reddit moderators do this if they are so inclined?

Banning those subreddits is definitely a start. It eliminates the places they use to organise but it also gets rid of their free "advertising" - those subreddits were obviously also attracting like minded people.
I've been browsing the internet for quite a while, I've been a moderator on a number of websites. If there is one thing I've learned, it's that if you want useful and intelligent discussions you need strict moderation. Take a look at GAF, people that hold nonsensical and intolerant opinions are basically banned on sight. Sure a few slip through the cracks but the ban eventually catches up to them.

 

[abstract alien]

This is possibly a stupid question, but I must ask. Exactly what type of content was in watchniggersdie and coontown? Was this just a play on words with silly news clips so they could laugh, or was this some hard core snuff territory type stuff? Reddit is still pretty foreign to me, but I thought it was moderated to an extent. Never knew you could openly have community parties with racist or other types of oppressors on there.

 

[GrizzleBoy]

Reporter: What do you say to people who think reddit and by extension, you, are a dick for hosting hate forums?

Reddit CEO: It's important we protect everyone's free speech. We shouldn't sensor things we don't like. Everyone should have a voice. Do I like the fact that r/watchniggersdie is a thing? No. It clearly should be r/watchblackpeopledie, but I understand their need to get their message out. If they believe black people are the scourge of the earth, who am I to judge them? Just leave them alone and don't visit their sub if you don't like it.

Reporter: I've just had news as you were talking that analysts all over the world are saying that if you remove all these hate subs, your income will increase x50 due to sponsorships and su-

Reddit CEO: I'm sorry what did you say? I couldn't hear you over the sound of me deleting every single hate sub, ever. Forever. Fuck hate subs.

 

[FortuneFaded]

First they came for "WatchNiggersDie", and I did not speak out;
Because I was not a racist,
Then they came for "CoonTown", and I did not speak out;
Because I was not a racist,
Then they came for "koontown", and I did not speak out;
Because I was not a racist and it was essentially the same thing,
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.

 

[KAP151]

I didnt even know that shit existed.

What the fuck?

 

[Crispy75]

Exactly what type of content was in watchniggersdie.

It did exactly what it says on the tin.
Videos and pictures of black people dying/dead.
Accompanied by celebration and laughter.

 

[Smushroomed]

Good on reddit. Get rid of that vile shit or else it will be known as 4chan part 2.

 

[Nightbird]

It did exactly what it says on the tin.
Videos and pictures of black people dying/dead.
Accompanied by celebration and laughter.

 

[Crispy75]

Good on reddit. Get rid of that vile shit or else it will be known as 4chan part 2.

This sums up my opinion on the matter.

The whole free speech argument is so bent backwards it hurts. Supporting someone's right to hold abhorrent views does not mean you have to give that person a megaphone.

 

[abstract alien]

It did exactly what it says on the tin.
Videos and pictures of black people dying/dead.
Accompanied by celebration and laughter.

I was hoping it was just an ugly tag for something else, but I guess not.

 

[Prototype]

WatchNiggersDie

...

I just don't understand how this can even be allowed in any case, free speech or no.

What would the goal of such a subreddit be? To have intellectual discussion? It's clear that a case like this is only using free speech as a thin veneer to promote hate. It's absolutely disgusting.
I had no idea such things were allowed in reddit. Really makes me question going there anymore. I have never been a frequent user of their site, but this has to be a joke right?
It's like asking to see what you can do to make the world a worse place.

 

[Shotgun Kiss]

They didn't explicitly tolerate it, they just didn't act on it. It would have been irrelevant in either case, the content would have shown up because you were specifically looking for it. Do you not trust yourself on Google because their results don't completely filter out awful things?

Big difference. It's completely unreasonable to expect Google to filter out every single search result, just as it would be to expect Reddit to filter out every single offensive post. Whole subreddits however, are significantly easier to filter out.

A better comparison would be if Google had search filters that specifically allowed you to search for racist content.

 

[Kelthink]

First they came for "WatchNiggersDie", and I did not speak out;
Because I was not a racist,
Then they came for "CoonTown", and I did not speak out;
Because I was not a racist,
Then they came for "koontown", and I did not speak out;
Because I was not a racist and it was essentially the same thing,
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.

Lol, where's this from?

 

[Chainsawkitten]

Lol, where's this from?

Parody of a famous poem.

 

[twinturbo2]

See yah, assholes.



Reddit has mentioned than any similar subreddits would be banned too.

This happened with r/NeoF**. They tried coming back, but were shut down again.

*I added the asterisks, btw. That's not blocked in the forum.

That's not going to stop them. Here's how I would do it.

Take away the ability to create new subreddits unfettered. Wanna start a new subreddit? Here, fill out this form, if it's not racist, illegal or Gamergate-related, then we'll allow it. Porn subreddits are okay, as long as it's legal and not stolen nudes.

If you organize raids on other subreddits to do trolling, automatic lifetime ban, no exceptions.

A new group of full-time mods will be hired to moderate things and settle disputes. A subset of them will be like a Supreme Court to make final decisions.

If there's no "report this" button, it needs to be added to make the full-time mods' jobs easier.

 

[Guy LeDouche]

I just don't understand how this can even be allowed in any case, free speech or no.

"Free speech" pertains to the government restricting your speech. Reddit is not the government.

This is really basic stuff.

 

[Lakitu]

Here are the subreddits he is a moderator of:
http://imgur.com/NU2h9Ml

What the fuck. I don't even want to know what r/goebola is.

 

[Black Republican]

dont be sad guys, any nigger/nigga/1800-dial-a-nigga questions you might have, just come to BCT.
Slayven serves fried chicken with a side of asian girl on the daily.

Tons o fun

 

[Jackpot]

bu bu but think of all the opportunities to debate we'll be losing!

 

[HariKari]

Not even remotely true. Like others have been saying go to any of the default subreddits and tell me you won't see a highly upvoted racist comment.

Highly voted (not racist) comments from people that also post in racist subs? Sure. Most people don't check someone's comment history before upvoting them. Highly voted, blatantly racist stuff on top default submissions? Excluding Pao week, can't think of any.

 

[CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls]

I wonder what the ETA will be until those users leak into other areas of Reddit a la the Pao controversy and starting spreading that horseshit elsewhere...

 

[Gattsu25]

I wonder what the ETA will be until those users leak into other areas of Reddit a la the Pao controversy and starting spreading that horseshit elsewhere...

Haven't read the comments sections of /r/jokes, /r/news, /r/pics, and /r/worldnews in a while, I take it.

Just read the comments for anything involving black people and you'll see that there tends to be a shitload of overtly racist comments that typically get upvoted

 

[CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls]

Haven't read the comments sections of /r/jokes, /r/news, /r/pics, and /r/worldnews in a while, I take it.

Just read the comments for anything involving black people and you'll see that there tends to be a shitload of overtly racist comments that typically get upvoted

I avoid the defaults, but I'm not surprised this is already happening.

Reddit just needs to do a clean sweep of their site and be relentless with banning users. It's like they're scared to stand up for the shit they espoused years ago.

 

[MrBadger]

About time. I'm glad they've stopped hiding behind "other viewpoints" and "freedom of speech" and just banned them. There's really no discussion there. Place was openly racist and supporting people with racist ideologies

On another note, I'm not seeing any photoshops of Spez as Hitler on the front page. Ellen Pao was way more hated after FPH was justifiably banned.

 

[Measley]

WTF?

 

[Veritigo_X]

WTF?

I know right? Just stepping on the US Constitution and ignoring that middle class American that needs help.

 

[Astarte]

So Reddit got rid of their /pol/ equivalents? Rad.

 

[freeofgreed]

What is /pol/? Keep seeing it referenced.

 

[AlimNassor]

reddit was far more racist then 4chan. It's a sad day in hell when the infamous 4chan is less racist then the number 1 site.

 

[Astarte]

What is /pol/? Keep seeing it referenced.

A 4chan board that's /stormfront/. Pretty much a hive of people hating every minority and yadda yadda yadda. Reddit's boards were much worse than /pol/ because lately /pol/ mods have been keeping people quarantined and in check. "/pol/ mods"

Much like the rest of 4chan, people pretending to be idiots and doing things 'ironically' attracted people who actually believe it.

Thanks to 'ironic' racism and the like, the /pol/ subsection of 4chan is now a quarantine for Stormfront rejects and people complaining about 'white genocide' and stuff.

Sample quotes from right now on the front page:

See, /pol/ is a board where ironic shitposting has gone done a terrible path. /Shit4chanSays/ is also another ironic shitposting board but at least it's incredibly friendly and hilarious. The memetic irony can form a black hole.

 

[Dio]

What is /pol/? Keep seeing it referenced.

Much like the rest of 4chan, people pretending to be idiots and doing things 'ironically' attracted people who actually believe it.

Thanks to 'ironic' racism and the like, the /pol/ subsection of 4chan is now a quarantine for Stormfront rejects and people complaining about 'white genocide' and stuff.

Sample quotes from right now on the front page:

White Genocide is the biggest issue facing White countries today.

Mass immigration + forced assimilation = White Genocide.

I didn't vote for Diversity or Multiculturalism. Did you? They are just code words to make White countries non-White countries.

Should we give nukes to Iran so they can wipe the Jewish filth from this planet?

>"Even if my ancestors did bad things, how does that mean I'm guilty?"

STOP FUCKING DOING THIS!

YOUR ANCESTORS DIDN'T DO BAD THINGS, THEY JUST DID WHAT EVERYONE ELSE ON EARTH DID, BUT BETTER.

The moment you admit that your ancestors were wrong to fight back against the Amerindians, or prosecute wars against Arab and Ottoman aggressors is the moment the libs win, since you've accepted their initial premise.

 

[freeofgreed]

A 4chan board that's /stormfront/. Pretty much a hive of people hating every minority and yadda yadda yadda. Reddit's boards were much worse than /pol/ because lately /pol/ mods have been keeping people quarantined and in check. "/pol/ mods"



See, /pol/ is a board where ironic shitposting has gone done a terrible path. /Shit4chanSays/ is also another ironic shitposting board but at least it's incredibly friendly and hilarious. The memetic irony can form a black hole.

Much like the rest of 4chan, people pretending to be idiots and doing things 'ironically' attracted people who actually believe it.

Thanks to 'ironic' racism and the like, the /pol/ subsection of 4chan is now a quarantine for Stormfront rejects and people complaining about 'white genocide' and stuff.

Sample quotes from right now on the front page:

Good ole 4chan.

 

[RangerX]

I genuinely can't believe that those sub forums were allowed to exist in the first place.

 

[Gordon Shumway]

I genuinely can't believe that those sub forums were allowed to exist in the first place.

Sounds like you don't believe in freedom!

 

[marrec]

I wonder what the ETA will be until those users leak into other areas of Reddit a la the Pao controversy and starting spreading that horseshit elsewhere...

Luckily, other areas of Reddit are usually well moderated and those users won't last long if they post vile shit.

 

[Mohonky]

I dont even nderstand reddit, its a clusterfuck. Worlds worst fucking site to navigate.

 

[Slayven]

dont be sad guys, any nigger/nigga/1800-dial-a-nigga questions you might have, just come to BCT.
Slayven serves fried chicken with a side of asian girl on the daily.

Tons o fun

WHo are you?

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Some gamers found a email list of journalists colluding with each other. Some other gamers were harassing people. We like to throw them all in the same group.

This is a terrible misunderstanding of the whole thing.

 

[Steiner84]

what exactly is coontown? I dont want to goole it..
never heard it and cant imagine what that could be..

 

[marrec]

what exactly is coontown? I dont want to goole it..
never heard it and cant imagine what that could be..

It was a subreddit for racists.

This is a terrible misunderstanding of the whole thing.

Misunderstanding or...?

 

[Fersis]

Do they still have the sub forum about hating NeoGAF?

 

[Steiner84]

It was a subreddit for racists.

yeha but i dont understand the reference..
coon? what am i missing`?