Reddit and the Struggle to Detoxify the Internet (2018)

Re:Reddit and the Struggle to Detoxify the Internet (2018) by tha_nose on Tuesday March 05, 2019 @01:05PM (#19312600)

"Detoxify"? Reddit and the internet was fine until the establishment decided to take control of it and censor it. If people didn't like reddit's or the internet's "toxicity", they wouldn't use it. Nobody is forcing anyone to use reddit. If the puritans at the new yorker or the rest of the media don't like reddit, they simply don't have to use it. It would be like me complaining about the toxicity of the new yorker and demanding the new yorker be "detoxified". Or, I could simply not consume the new yorker's content.

The new yorker along with the rest of the media uses the same excuse that china, russia and others use to censor. I guess "detoxify" sounds better than "clean up".

https://news.sky.com/story/china-cracks-down-in-clean-up-of-...

All this "detoxify" or "clean up" internet nonsense is just cover to censor and control the masses.

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Re:Reddit and the Struggle to Detoxify the Internet (2018) by davidw on Tuesday March 05, 2019 @01:07PM (#19312625)

> Reddit and the internet was fine until

You need to spend some more time with the Usenet archives.

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Re:Reddit and the Struggle to Detoxify the Internet (2018) by tha_nose on Tuesday March 05, 2019 @01:21PM (#19312767)

What about it? What you find "toxic", others might not find "toxic". That's my point. And if there is "toxicity" in usenet, don't use it. Or use the newsgroups that you find less "toxic".

But you are missing my point. My point isn't about "toxicity", it's about censorship. "Toxicity" is just an excuse to censor and control.

Usenet had been around for decades and has always been "toxic". So what? Did the world end?

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Re:Reddit and the Struggle to Detoxify the Internet (2018) by davidw on Tuesday March 05, 2019 @01:32PM (#19312864)

Because normal people don't want to frequent toxic environments. It's unpleasant.

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Re:Reddit and the Struggle to Detoxify the Internet (2018) by tha_nose on Tuesday March 05, 2019 @03:40PM (#19314024)

Is that why reddit is so popular? It was "toxic" and yet it grew and normal people used it in droves. Your argument contradicts itself. Most people don't mind reddit or usenet or the "toxicity". It's a handful of busybodies with power trying justify censorship. No different than the church ladies whining about "toxic" rap or "toxic" tv or "toxic" whatever when they themselves are toxic too.

And who defines normal? The saudis? The chinese? The catholic church? The US government? The media? Or do you get to decide?

If you find it unpleasant, then don't use it. If you don't like baseball, then don't watch it. Go watch something else. Everytime we as a society get beyond the puritanical blasphemy craze, it rears its ugly head again.

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Re:Reddit and the Struggle to Detoxify the Internet (2018) by rexpop on Tuesday March 05, 2019 @01:08PM (#19312638)

> Nobody is forcing anyone to use reddit

When the public forum is demolished, and discourse flees to corporate platforms, we no longer have a meaningful choice.

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