Re:The Efficacy of Reddit’s 2015 Ban Examined Through Hate S...
by intended on Tuesday September 12, 2017 @12:39AM
(#15224856)
I think some conclusions are being drawn too soon, from a study which cautions
> In a sense, Reddit has made these users (from banned subreddits) someone else’s problem. To
be clear, from a macro persepctive, Reddit’s actions likely did not make the internet safer or less
hateful.
From section 6.6 -
> Recent work has shown that some banned subreddit users migrated to other social media sites like
Voat, Snapzu, and Empeopled [29]. The banning of r/fatpeoplehate and r/CoonTown led to the rise
of alternatives on Voat.co, for example, where the core group of users from Reddit reorganized. For
instance, in another ongoing study, we observed that 1,536 r/fatpeoplehate users have exact match
usernames on Voat.co. The users of the Voat equivalents of the two banned subreddits continue to
engage in racism and fat-shaming [22, 45].
In a sense, Reddit has made these users (from banned subreddits) someone else’s problem. To
be clear, from a macro persepctive, Reddit’s actions likely did not make the internet safer or less
hateful. One possible interpretation, given the evidence at hand, is that the ban drove the users
from these banned subreddits to darker corners of the internet.
As I recall - it took time for Coon town and FPH to metastize. That the metastizing process may well be REQUIRED, to get a critical mass which results in a succesful cleansing.
Further this study is based on specific keywords, which the researchers took great pains to curate - but human ability to hide improves with practice - the change of lexicon to words that Wont be easy to track with basic lists.
FINALLY - People should flip this on its head - should reddit or any site be compromized, and suppose subs which "fight for equality and freedom and goodness for the world" are banned - what would this study imply?
> In a sense, Reddit has made these users (from banned subreddits) someone else’s problem. To be clear, from a macro persepctive, Reddit’s actions likely did not make the internet safer or less hateful.
From section 6.6 -
> Recent work has shown that some banned subreddit users migrated to other social media sites like Voat, Snapzu, and Empeopled [29]. The banning of r/fatpeoplehate and r/CoonTown led to the rise of alternatives on Voat.co, for example, where the core group of users from Reddit reorganized. For instance, in another ongoing study, we observed that 1,536 r/fatpeoplehate users have exact match usernames on Voat.co. The users of the Voat equivalents of the two banned subreddits continue to engage in racism and fat-shaming [22, 45]. In a sense, Reddit has made these users (from banned subreddits) someone else’s problem. To be clear, from a macro persepctive, Reddit’s actions likely did not make the internet safer or less hateful. One possible interpretation, given the evidence at hand, is that the ban drove the users from these banned subreddits to darker corners of the internet.
As I recall - it took time for Coon town and FPH to metastize. That the metastizing process may well be REQUIRED, to get a critical mass which results in a succesful cleansing.
Further this study is based on specific keywords, which the researchers took great pains to curate - but human ability to hide improves with practice - the change of lexicon to words that Wont be easy to track with basic lists.
FINALLY - People should flip this on its head - should reddit or any site be compromized, and suppose subs which "fight for equality and freedom and goodness for the world" are banned - what would this study imply?