How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

Re:How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addict... by LeifCarrotson on Wednesday July 19, 2017 @01:09PM (#14805869)

I agree in general, but some communications platforms (like Reddit, and like Facebook...and probably like HN) can be more or less accomodating of "echo chambers" that validate and magnify extremist viewpoints. On the other hand, similar effects can nourish minority cultures and communities...it's a hard problem.

I agree that free speech is a good thing, and I think that "You have to take the bad with the good, because we don't agree on what's good" is a broadly useful philosophy. But systems which take in both bad and good, and strengthen the bad more than the good, are themselves bad.

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Re:How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addict... by mantas on Wednesday July 19, 2017 @01:37PM (#14806156)

If the extremes were banned, then the promoted neutral/centrist view would become extremist on it's own.

Cross-subrreddit trolling and genuine spills at least minimises echo chamber effect somewhat. If that was limited or non-centrist subreddits/users were banned, the centrist (or whatever was supposed to be OK) echo chamber level would go off the charts.

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