In a move that isn't particularly surprising given their lack of support for intellectual diversity to date, Reddit has introduced outright bans to replace its shadow banning policy.
Reddit has introduced an "Account Suspension" feature that will replace Shadowbanning for non-spammers, though previously shadowbanned accounts are not going to be automatically unbanned.
A post on July 28, 2015 by Reddit admin /u/krispykrackers explains the basics of Shadowbanning, a tool initially created to counteract spammers by hiding their content without letting them know their account had been shadowbanned. However, this was Reddit's only tool for an account-wide ban, and it has since been used on people other than spammers as well.
Account Suspension will be more straightforward and transparent than a Shadowban. An F.A.Q. page (sic) linked in the announcement post states that only Reddit administrators will be able to apply suspensions, which can be temporary or permanent. Permanent suspensions will result in a message about the account's status being added to that account's userpage.
See, I'm a veteran. This means I was willing to take a bullet for the right of my countrymen to speak their minds. On this at least I have not mellowed as I've aged. My personal line in the sand is that we will never site ban for anything but over-the-top spamming or gross/repeated illegal activity while I am on staff. See my journal if you feel the need for that last statement to be expounded upon.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Thursday November 12 2015, @02:52PM
Redditors having strong opinions about reddit is a bit like high schoolers having strong opinions about high schools.
You're gathered with a huge group of people who, by their nature, are assholes, and a few people responsible for making sure they don't burn the place down. The former will always really resent the latter.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 12 2015, @03:04PM
Redditors having strong opinions about reddit is a bit like high schoolers having strong opinions about high schools.
Well, someone's arguments stand on their own merits, so I will at least give Redditors and high schoolers a chance to present their cases.
You're gathered with a huge group of people who, by their nature, are assholes, and a few people responsible for making sure they don't burn the place down.
Because the site will burn down if someone says something that certain people don't like?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday November 12 2015, @04:10PM
True.
Anybody with half a brain and an internet connection could do 5 (or less) minutes of research and determine that mods and admins are actively censoring things that shouldn't be censored.
Getting rid of r/coontown? Eh, okay, fine. Removing Snowden news and Drone Papers news from r/news? Totally not cool. And shadowbans were never cool, as they are the most dishonest, slimy, and chickenshit form of regulation imaginable. Shadowbanning is straight-up Stazi shit. You're in trouble, but you don't deserve to know why.
And they can hemorrhage users and be subject to embarrassing internal squabbles and reverse their position after its way too late. Sound familiar?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 12 2015, @08:49PM
SoylentNews, where absurdly Godwinning a debate gets you modded "Insightful". It's reddit, for fuck's sake. It's not something that actually matters. Statements like yours are fucking offensive to anyone who actually experienced the Stasi. (Note: "Stasi", not "Stazi". "Stazi" looks like a teenager's "clever" attempt to imply that the Stasi were Nazis, which is a fairer explanation than the actual explanation, which is simple lazy ignorance.)
Note: For any pedantic neckbearded cunt, I am very, very well aware that the Stasi were of Communist East Germany, whereas "Godwinning" would normally involve referring to Hitler. If you are incapable of seeing the comparison, well, fuck you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 13 2015, @12:28AM
Note: For any pedantic neckbearded cunt, I am very, very well aware that the Stasi were of Communist East Germany, whereas "Godwinning" would normally involve referring to Hitler. If you are incapable of seeing the comparison, well, fuck you.
Don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 13 2015, @01:22AM
So what you are saying is that you know goodwinning was the incorrect terminology but you used it anyways.
I mean I am just checking here. I don't want to rile you up any, cause you seem like you have anger issues.
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Friday November 13 2015, @01:07AM
not a huge fan of ethanol, but can't disagree with your take on this, as far as shadowbanning being simply despicable, inhumane behavior...
worse than the chickenshit disemvoweling boing boing does/did...
(? have not been back since i saw them do that to some posters a couple years back... again, despicable behavior)
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday November 13 2015, @02:13AM
You're gathered with a huge group of people who, by their nature, are assholes
That's not entirely true, it almost always depends on the subreddit.
One of my favourites is a non-mainstream sport and the community is pretty welcoming. On the odd occasion someone acts badly the community tends to do it's own policing.
It is a fairly small subreddit though, about 10,00 subscribers, so that probably helps.