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"We will not ban questionable subreddits," Reddit's then-CEO, Yishan Wong, wrote mere months ago. "You choose what to post. You choose what to read. You choose what kind of subreddit to create."
But in an apparent reversal of that policy, and in an unprecedented effort to clean up its long-suffering image, Reddit has just banned five "questionable subreddits."
The site permanently removed the forums Wednesday afternoon for harassing specific, named individuals, a spokesperson said. Of the five, two were dedicated to fat-shaming, one to transphobia, one to racism and one to harassing members of a progressive video game site.
Unsurprisingly, a vocal contingent of Redditors aren't taking the changes well: "Reddit increases censorship," read one post on r/freespeech, while forums like r/mensrights and r/opieandanthony theorized they would be next.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by NCommander on Friday June 12 2015, @08:01AM
My biggest issue with reddit's policy is its inconsistently applied at best, and has no transparency. Reddit has rules against doxxing, and similar practices, but again, enforcement is so hit or miss it really appears to me that reddit administrators only do something when forced to by bad media. Reddit, for better or worse, has always taken a stance that whatever topic you wish to discuss has a home on their site. I don't know how this was discussed internally at reddit, but for them to take a massive change against their's site stance of "any topic is fair game" with no prior discussion or announcement is going to rub a LOT of people the wrong way.
Still always moving
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2015, @08:57AM
What the AC above failed to mention is that high traffic pro-SJW subreddits are getting trolled out of existence. While anti-SJW subreddits may occasionally see a retaliation, if you go into a popular pro-SJW subreddit you will see every single topic touching on the dividing issues heavily trolled, with troll comments upvoted to the top.
You see threads with people asking is there some other place they can go to to have a peaceful discussion all the time.
Some less popular subreddits with active mods manage to keep things under control, but popular ones need help from reddit itself if they are to survive.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2015, @07:05PM
What the AC above failed to mention is that high traffic pro-SJW subreddits are getting trolled out of existence.
Considering the majority of "SJWs" I've seen on the internet gang up to relentlessly troll anyone and anything they don't approve of, I'd say they brought it on themselves. If they can't handle being trolled back, then they should probably stop witch hunting and fabricating drama over idiotic things like fitness ads and smoothie labels.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2015, @11:12AM
> Reddit has rules against doxxing, and similar practices, but again, enforcement is so hit or miss
That's because the majority of reddit's enforcement is done by volunteer editors. If it were done by corporate staff it would take a much larger payroll than they can afford.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ikanreed on Friday June 12 2015, @01:30PM
All rules applied on a grand scale are hit-or-miss, NCommander.
I don't use reddit, it's a shitty community and represents the worst of internet navel-gazing. But it's gigantic. And when a moderator on your site sets out to specifically harrass the CEO of one of your biggest corporate collaborators, of course that's going to draw enough attention to warrant actual enforcement.
Redditors will turn anything into a free speech issue, up to and including illegal, privacy violating porn subreddits. The r/creepshots whinestorm is only a couple years old.
Here's what's going to happen: the worst trolls will flee to voat, the vast majority of redditors will stop caring about this next month, and a scant few internet idiots are going to do illegal, shitty things to "get back" at reddit.
Internet imagined "free speech" ideologues are the worst.
(Score: 3, Informative) by K_benzoate on Friday June 12 2015, @04:00PM
including illegal, privacy violating porn subreddits
Citation needed. It may have been distasteful and creepy but no one ever proved they were breaking any laws. Some users were using private messages to share genuinely illegal content, but the same can be said for e-mail. The solution is to take action against those specific criminals. Also, some of the SJW subreddits were deliberately planting material and then reporting it to try and shut down subs they didn't like. It's a tactic they tried again more recently (unsuccessfully) against 8ch.
Free expression is the most important right that we have, and defending it will always mean battles at the fringes of decency. You should be more grateful that people are willing to do so on your behalf.
Climate change is real and primarily caused by human activity.
(Score: 1) by KGIII on Saturday June 13 2015, @05:17AM
The freedom of speech only applies to the government. If a business (or person) want to stop you from espousing your views on their website they are free to do so. If the government tries to stop you then you have a matter of law on your hands. There is no protected speech on this site, on Reddit, on Fark, or on any site.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2015, @10:42AM
No it doesn't. FoS means the freedom to speak without fear of prosecution or retaliation over the expressed ideas.
If a business (or person) want to stop you from espousing your views on their website they are free to do so.
That doesn't mean they aren't violating FoS, merely that they aren't committing a crime.
(Score: 2) by K_benzoate on Saturday June 13 2015, @09:49PM
You're confusing the concept of free expression, which is a philosophical position and ethical ideal, with the First Amendment to the US Constitution. When a government entity violates The First Amendment, a crime has been committed, as well as a moral outrage. When reddit starts banning speech they find offensive, they've not necessarily broken any laws, but they're slipping into an abyss of ethical decay. We've decided, as a society, not to criminalize all behavior that are merely unethical. It's not illegal to cheat on your wife*, for example, but you are not acting ethically. If you try to defend yourself by saying, "Hey, I'm not breaking any laws" you would be both factually correct and morally bankrupt.
People who fire back with the "it's only censorship when the government does it!" non-rebuttal miss the point entirely. reddit isn't breaking the law, they're just acting shitty.
*I believe it actually is a crime for members of the Military, but I'm not certain
Climate change is real and primarily caused by human activity.
(Score: 1) by KGIII on Sunday June 14 2015, @08:08AM
I do not believe I am missing the point of free expression. I just do not feel that they have an obligation to provide it. Should they? I think so. It is not my site and I can not force my opinions on them. I can complain but that does nothing more than give them the power to control my emotions. Frankly, I would rather not cede that right to a bunch of pixels.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 2) by tathra on Sunday June 14 2015, @05:09PM
adultery (cheating on your spouse) is illegal in most of the US, and you're correct that its a violation of the UCMJ (article 134); for officers they also get hit with article 133 (conduct unbecoming of an officer and gentleman).
(Score: 2) by Anal Pumpernickel on Saturday June 13 2015, @05:53AM
Some users were using private messages to share genuinely illegal content
What's scary is that such a thing even exists. Government censorship at its finest. The first amendment may list no exceptions, but the government doesn't care about that.
(Score: 2) by fliptop on Friday June 12 2015, @04:42PM
I'll 2nd this. When I worked in radio, the late great George Kellas [theintelligencer.net] told me something I'll always remember: You'll never do a show that's all things for all people. That advice can be applied to anything.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.