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posted by martyb on Friday June 25 2021, @12:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the The-Mod-Squad dept.

There has been some discussion about moderation on this site leading to some misconceptions and misstatements. This story is an attempt to set things straight. It lays out the historical underpinnings for moderation, history of its implementation on Slashdot, and its later refinement on SoylentNews.

Before that, though, I am going to take this opportunity to thank fnord666 who is out Alternate Editor-in-Chief. I could not handle the load alone and his efforts have made a huge difference! Further, please join me in thanking him as he reached a new milestone: over 6,500 stories posted to the site! Many a late night or rare free moment has been generously given to the site. Teamwork++!

History:
The code for this site is a fork of code written for Slashdot. In that site's early days, it was apparent that some comments were much more interesting and informative than others. It was just as apparent that some users would just as gleefully troll the community. Moderation was conceived as a way to sift the wheat from the chaff and help users more easily avoid the "lesser" comments and more easily find the "gems".

Further, to encourage posting "good" comments, Karma was introduced. "Good" comments earned Karma; "bad" comments lost Karma. Moderation was a mechanism by which Karma could be allocated.

Slashdot experimented with several ways to moderate comments. First, it was just the staff who could moderate. Soon, there were too many comments to keep up, so a select group of members from the community were invited to moderate comments. Again, that failed to scale up, so those who had been selected were invited to recommend still other users to moderate. And, again, there were scaling issues.

Solution: make Mod Points (modpoints) available to every registered user in good standing and who indicated in their preferences that they were willing to moderate.

Originally, mod points were handed out randomly and expired after something like 6 hours: "Use 'em or lose 'em".

For the most part, that seemed to work. But there were some perceived issues and meta-moderation was implemented and introduced — moderate the moderations. Unfortunately, it experienced many of the same issues that it was supposed to rectify with comments, just one level abstracted. Further, it was unwieldy and when all was said and done, didn't work all that well, anyway.

Early Tweaking:
Such was the state of things when SoylentNews started. Well sort of. The code base we started with was not current and the meta-moderation code was broken. So much so, that meta-moderation was ripped out of the code just so regular moderation could be made to work. With that behind us, we finally we had a working moderation system on our site. Yay!

That worked okay for a while, but we found ourselves with complaints from many users that they wanted to moderate and lacked mod points. Nice problem to have, right? This was combined with many more comments than moderations. It was thought that we needed more mod points made available to the community. So, after unsuccessfully tweaking the mod point allocation algorithm, it was decided to just not expire mod points until day's end. Every user in good standing got 5 mod points each morning (00:10 UTC) and those were available until day's end whereupon any remaining modpoints were reset and a new set of 5 of modpoints were allocated.

That helped! But jerks will be jerks.

Mod Bombs:
We started to run into problems with "mod bombs" where one user "A" would apply all 5 of their mod points to downmod one other user "B". So code was written to allow checking for such moderations. Staff could generate a report and find such activity. It was decided that:

If you used ALL of your modpoints to downmod ONE user, that was a modbomb. IOW, 5 downmods bad; 4 downmods were permitted.

Initially, anyone who "modbombed" was manually given a "timeout". The first time earned a one month suspension of moderation privileges. A second occurrence earned a six month suspension.

Later, because there were still many more comments than moderations, the number of modpoints allocated to each registered user having good Karma was increased from 5 to 10 per day. The modbomb threshold was, however, kept the same: 4 downmods was still okay, 5 (or more) downmods to the same user was "bad".

A complication arose in that there is no easy way for users to keep track of how many downmods they had made on one other user. User "A" may do 3 downmods of user "B" in the morning and 4 down mods of other (unrelated) users. In the afternoon they might perform 2 more downmods of user "B". Purely unintentional transgression. When you only have 5 mod points it was reasonable to assume that a user could mentally track how many times they downmodded a single user in one day. With 10 daily mod points available, that became less reasonable.

So, along with the allocation of 10 modpoints per day (easy) it was intended to have code written that would kick in when processing moderations: when the threshold was exceeded, the excess downmods would be automatically rejected. And that is still the intent.

The upshot of all that is that when checking for modbombs, we no longer give a "timeout" for 5 downmods against a single user in one day. We just revert the excess mods. We do take note of repeated excesses and are fully prepared to issue a "timeout" when warranted. (e.g. 8 downmods in one day, or several days in close proximity targeting the same user. This is not done unilaterally but rather in consultation with other staff for confirmation.)

Sock Bombs:
First, there some who failed to take the hint that, maybe, they should take a look at what they were posting when they received repeated downmods. We are a community, not your personal soapbox. So, they created new ("sock puppet") accounts and proceeded to upmod their own comments, aka a "sockbomb". Staff have ways to note such behavior based on the IPID and SUBNETID that is recorded with every comment and every moderation. We try to give the benefit of the doubt. But, certain patterns do become apparent and are not tolerated. Upmodding your own comment is grounds for an immediate moderation ban.

Second, just as there is a limit on how many downmods can be targeted at one user in a day, so there is a limit on upmods. The same limits apply, each user "A" is limited to 4 upmods of user "B" in a given day, just like for "modbombs". Again with the caveat of no up-mods of your own account..

Summary:
Our experience is that the current system could stand some refinement, automation of transgression detection and mitigation is in plan (but it will be a while), but for the most part, what we have works well in the vast majority of cases. In short, Wheaton's Law still applies: "don't be a dick". Following that seems to work the best for the most. (With apologies to anyone named Richard. =)


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 5, Touché) by janrinok on Friday June 25 2021, @06:19PM (57 children)

    by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 25 2021, @06:19PM (#1149221) Journal

    What do you mean 'Finally taking this seriously'? The moderation hasn't recently been changed - it has been like it is now for a long time. Perhaps you now understand it better but there hasn't been any change to the software since well before COVID came along.

    That said, if we can have some actual consequences for sockpuppetry and shitposting (like totally-not-ethanol-fueled and his "hurr hurr teh j00000z!" diarrhea...) maybe we can still salvage something here.

    Of course you can - MODERATE THEM DOWN! When their karma gets too low - they cannot post because the system will impose the timeout automatically. We are surprised that we have to keep explaining this to some people. Sockpuppetry is already covered as describe by martyb.

    We would also like to have consequences for those in our community who attack the person, often using foul language or insults, rather than arguing against the statement that the person is making. But that might have unexpected consequences for some of our community.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +3  
       Troll=1, Insightful=1, Informative=1, Underrated=1, Touché=1, Total=5
    Extra 'Touché' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   5  
  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @06:39PM (19 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @06:39PM (#1149235)

    Or you could just skip over the posts you don't like. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean you deserve to or must nuke it. Outside of crapflooding, I don't think ANYTHING needs to be done about the posts. It's all subject to very strong disagreement anyway. Modding doesn't result in an objectively better site.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by janrinok on Friday June 25 2021, @06:56PM (15 children)

      by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 25 2021, @06:56PM (#1149252) Journal

      Think of it from the point of someone new coming to the site. If the first story they look at is all EF or similar shit posting, do you think they will join us?

      What about those who want to have a serious discussion? I have to read at a threshold of '0' because many ACs have posts that are useful for the discussion taking place. Having to cut them out by having a higher threshold means that posts by ACs - any ACs - will not be seen.

      I've been here long enough to see that the amount of political, personal and crap posts has increased significantly. As others have pointed out - many of our good contributors have already cut and run. I want the community to grow - but not just as a place where people come because they have been kicked out of everywhere else. I would prefer to see a place where intelligent discussions can take place, where I and perhaps others can learn from what the comments have to say, and where people don't act like children throwing stones and then crying to the staff when they get hurt.

      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @06:58PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @06:58PM (#1149256)

        If they're that feeble-minded, then perhaps they shouldn't be on the internet. One of the reasons for the current dark age is that people have completely lost any ability to manage their own emotional state. Trolling versus unpopular view point can be rather tricky to distinguish.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @04:07AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @04:07AM (#1149498)
          Or maybe it's so easy just to judge by first impressions and skip over to ars technica or any other site rather than waste time digging through shit to see if there's anything worthwhile. First impressions count.
      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Friday June 25 2021, @07:15PM (2 children)

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday June 25 2021, @07:15PM (#1149262) Journal

        I've been here long enough to see that the amount of political, personal and crap posts has increased significantly.

        My read is that's a consequence of the times we live in, not anything Soylent is doing or not doing in particular. The ability to listen to and tolerate differences of opinion is essential to civilization, but it's an ability that has been allowed to atrophy, or that has been outright destroyed for mercenary purposes.

        The pendulum will, however, swing back in the other direction. We're at peak division now, so it can't be long.

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @11:51PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @11:51PM (#1149400)

          The pendulum will, however, swing back in the other direction. We're at peak division now, so it can't be long.

          You naive optimist you... of course the things can go worse and of course they will, nobody has managed to prove Murphy wrong.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 28 2021, @07:03PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 28 2021, @07:03PM (#1150506)

          You aren't a full RWNJ but you've been parroting their misinformation and misleading rhetoric for a long time. The pendulum swings back once people start returning to reality. Currently I see no change from conservatives, and actually an increase in pushing misinformation.

          The best litmus test we have is the 1/6 insurrection. Once conservatives can admit that as a group they tried to betray our very democracy then we'll see the pendulum swinging back. Until then we're dealing with people in an alternate reality who are seriously considering a new Civil War.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @10:34PM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @10:34PM (#1149373)

        "As others have pointed out - many of our good contributors have already cut and run."

        And EF is to blame for all that? Why don't you start deleting or rendering "bad" posts unreadable, then, since everybody browses at 0 or -1? Why didn't you do this years ago? Why don't you use the spam mod as a marker for deletion? When free speech is the only novelty your site has because every other site is full-woke, what differentiates you from superior competitors now that SN is full-woke? Surely your staff all trust each other to make the right decisions regarding which comments deserve the spam mod, right? And if those comments are modded spam then they would do nobody any good to be read, right?

        But it's probably easier just to blame EF.

        • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday June 25 2021, @11:21PM (3 children)

          by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 25 2021, @11:21PM (#1149386) Journal

          And EF is to blame for all that?

          No, not on his own. But the significant increase in 'noise ', trolls and flamebait from some community members and ACs has certainly contributed. As have the personal insults and attacks that are frequently made.

          Why don't you start deleting or rendering "bad" posts unreadable, then, since everybody browses at 0 or -1?

          Because when the staff do it we get accused of censorship. When the community moderate down it is acceptable to the community.

          If i knew what you mean by 'full woke' I would reply. I'm sorry but it isn't in my dictionary. However, even without knowing what it means then I can reply to the following:

          When free speech is the only novelty your site has because every other site is full-woke, what differentiates you from superior competitors now that SN is full-woke

          You are always free to leave this site and use the services of our 'superior competitors' - where you are suggesting that you wouldn't have free speech? Not sure what you are actually looking for in a site.

          • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @12:09AM (2 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @12:09AM (#1149413)
            Not all censorship is evil. EF deserved to be censored for what is clearly racist attacks on jews and blacks. And pretty much everyone else. So do a fee others, because you ARE known by the company you keep.
            • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday June 26 2021, @05:38AM (1 child)

              by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 26 2021, @05:38AM (#1149517) Journal
              If only your views regarding censorship were held more widely. But perhaps you are not seeing the accusations that are being leveled at the staff when somebody presses the wrong button when commenting and their comment is lost. They are convinced that it is something that the staff are doing to censor them.
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @10:32PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @10:32PM (#1149772)
                Just blame it on shitty perl code. Totally believable. Or an overly complicated database backend that hiccups on occasion. We've seen both often enough, so posts disappearing because of a subtle timing bug are totally credible. And probably teue in many cases. Just look at the FORMKEY bug still cropping up. If someone posts, sten quickly goes elsewhere, they won't see the error message.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @11:48PM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @11:48PM (#1149399)

        Think of it from the point of someone new coming to the site. If the first story they look at is all EF or similar shit posting, do you think they will join us?

        Howzdat relevant?
        Will you miss the "new subscribers" target and won't get your Christmas bonus? Aren't you able to charge the ad industry higher because your eyeballs basket has to few of them?

        I've been here long enough to see that the amount of political, personal and crap posts has increased significantly.

        That's a consequence. Of the real world outside. What do you expect, enter the S/N cocoon and live the bliss forever?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @12:12AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @12:12AM (#1149414)
          Turn off your ad blocker and you still won't see ads. Can't you be at least a bit less obvious in your lame attempts at trolling?
        • (Score: 3, Informative) by janrinok on Saturday June 26 2021, @05:44AM (2 children)

          by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 26 2021, @05:44AM (#1149518) Journal

          Nobody has ever been paid for working on SN - there are no bonuses, no payments, no salaries. Everybody is an unpaid volunteer. Similarly, there are no subscriber targets - but we would be pleased if the community grew and attracted new voices.

          Where have you ever seen advertisements on SN? We don't do it, and our intention is that we never will.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @03:01PM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @03:01PM (#1149651)
            This same troll does a driveby a couple of times a month, pretty much the same wording every time. I'd say a bot, but even a bot would do a better job.

            Got a pretty good idea who he is.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 28 2021, @07:06PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 28 2021, @07:06PM (#1150511)

              Oh really? Who am I?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @06:56PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @06:56PM (#1149253)

      Ideally, modding would be done to reward/promote comments that improve the quality of the comment section. The main issue is that most people lack the ability to do so in an objective way. It's how you wind up with things that are objectively true being modded as troll even when they aren't inflammatory in the slightest bit.

      Shy of computer intelligence using a rubric to score things, I don't see a way around that.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @11:55PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @11:55PM (#1149402)

        Ideally, modding would be done to reward/promote comments that improve the quality of the comment section. The main issue is that most people all humans lack the ability to do so in an objective way.

        There's no objectivity when it comes to human nature, don't delude yourself and don't try to gaslight others you yourself can be/are objective.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @11:41PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @11:41PM (#1149393)

      Just because you don't like it doesn't mean you deserve to or must nuke it.

      It doesn't mean I cannot or should not do it either. Modding is a form of expression by itself.

  • (Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @06:54PM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @06:54PM (#1149248)

    She's one of the worst downmodders of the bunch. And she's a big believer in censorship. She only complains about moderation because other people come along to undo her bullshit.

    The system is basically fine. Don't mess with it

    • (Score: 2) by Tork on Friday June 25 2021, @08:11PM (5 children)

      by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 25 2021, @08:11PM (#1149299)

      She's one of the worst downmodders of the bunch.

      Something you cannot actually prove.

      She only complains about moderation because other people come along to undo her bullshit.

      From what I've seen you stinkards won't leave her alone. If she's such a terrible person maybe try not drowning her out with YOUR half-baked bullshit.

      --
      🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
      • (Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @08:58PM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @08:58PM (#1149321)

        Oh please! Nobody is "drowning her out". Her own repulsive shouting does that perfectly well. Makes EF sound like a sage

        • (Score: 2) by Tork on Friday June 25 2021, @09:04PM (3 children)

          by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 25 2021, @09:04PM (#1149324)
          Then your contribution isn't really needed then.
          --
          🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @10:29PM (2 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @10:29PM (#1149370)

            Who's asking?

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @10:34PM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @10:34PM (#1149372)
              No one, your own logic is failing you.
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @07:41PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @07:41PM (#1149726)

                No one

                Exactly, like I give a damn...

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @03:02AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @03:02AM (#1149478)

      As you can see, she and her little friends are doing it right now. They can't handle criticism. They just act infantile.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @04:13AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @04:13AM (#1149500)
        Aw, all butt-hurt by what exactly this time? You right wingers are such delicate snowflakes Hint: anyone who takes user moderation seriously is seriously fucked up. Ditto anyone who thinks tossing user moderation is unthinkable even though it doesn't fulfill its stated goal.
      • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday June 27 2021, @03:52PM

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday June 27 2021, @03:52PM (#1149979) Journal

        I work alone, snowflake. If other people are supporting me with mods, that means it's all the more honest since they're not being forced to or told to coordinate their efforts, at least not by me.

        If you smell shit everywhere you go, odds are good the one who stepped in the dog mess is you, not everyone else around you.

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
  • (Score: 3, Disagree) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday June 25 2021, @07:30PM (2 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Friday June 25 2021, @07:30PM (#1149272) Journal

    Way to miss the entire point. If I didn't know better I'd think you did that on purpose.

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @07:47PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @07:47PM (#1149283)

      You don't know better. That's the problem with you. Your New York City pseudo-education has left you ignorant.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @09:06PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @09:06PM (#1149326)
        You say that like you're not the one failing to get the point. lol
  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @12:21AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @12:21AM (#1149416)
    Nobody has said that the moderation system has been changed - just that the increased volume of shit finally forced people to pay attention to it. cf NCommander's condemnation of it, and TMB quitting because he was told to play nice instead of being a total asshole most of the time, the neonazi and white supremacy posters, the conspiracy nutcases, etc drowning out everything and everyone else.

    And anyone who still believes that user moderation will fix this somehow if you jutfind the right mathematical formula is a fool. There is no magical formula, because trolls will always find a way.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by coolgopher on Saturday June 26 2021, @01:26AM (22 children)

    by coolgopher (1157) on Saturday June 26 2021, @01:26AM (#1149449)

    Trial a “-1 Ad hominem” mod for a bit?

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday June 26 2021, @01:54AM (21 children)

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Saturday June 26 2021, @01:54AM (#1149460) Journal

      The problem with that is that the people most likely to be on the receiving end of it don't actually know what an ad-hom is. Ad-hom is when you offer insults *in lieu of* an argument. As an example, I get accused of this a lot because I have a tendency to dump my peaches flambe over the heads of the deserving...but it's *with a counterargument attached.* Since I'm generous, I give insults along with arguments, rather than instead of them :)

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
      • (Score: 2) by coolgopher on Saturday June 26 2021, @02:30AM (1 child)

        by coolgopher (1157) on Saturday June 26 2021, @02:30AM (#1149471)

        I'm in favour of educating people of that. Catering for the lowest common denominator just dumbs things down. Better to help lift the bar instead. We all learn by testing boundaries, not the absence of boundaries.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @04:18AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @04:18AM (#1149501)
          Attempting to reason with known nutcases and those who argue for the sake of argument (eg. khallow) is a waste of time. So why not tell them they're a dumbass while laying out the reasons why they're a dumbass?
      • (Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Saturday June 26 2021, @03:16AM (18 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 26 2021, @03:16AM (#1149483) Journal

        Ad-hom is when you offer insults *in lieu of* an argument.

        No. Ad hominem is when you shoot down an argument based on irrelevant aspects of the alleged character of the person making the argument. "You're an idiot" is an insult. "You're wrong because you're an idiot" is an ad hominem.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @04:24AM (15 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @04:24AM (#1149504)

          in your case both ate true, so either works just fine. Don't blame anyone else - you built up tour reputation as a dumbass all on your own, dumbass.

          It's not an ad hominem if it's true. Same as calling someone a dirty nazi isn't an ad hominem if they're a nazi and don't wash.

          • (Score: 3, Insightful) by janrinok on Saturday June 26 2021, @06:13AM (13 children)

            by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 26 2021, @06:13AM (#1149522) Journal

            It's not an ad hominem if it's true.

            I don't agree with you - such comments are still attacking the person in an effort to counter their argument, which presumably the attacker has failed to do by logical debate alone. Why does someone not washing mean that their views are any less valid than somebody else's? I may not like their personal hygiene but they may still be expressing a valid point. Why should their political or religious beliefs, the colour of their skin, their personal habits, or where they live mean that they cannot hold a valid opinion on other matters?

            If the attacks you are making are not linked to the subject under discussion then they are both off-topic and ad-hom in my book, and it doesn't make any difference at all how you dress it up by claiming that you also explain why someone is wrong. The latter is all that is required and the former are personal attacks. Methinks you are confusing libel (which isn't libellous if it is true, in the UK at least) with ad-hominem attacks (which have no such distinction).

            • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday June 26 2021, @08:19AM (11 children)

              by aristarchus (2645) on Saturday June 26 2021, @08:19AM (#1149550) Journal

              If the attacks you are making are not linked to the subject under discussion then they are both off-topic and ad-hom in my book, and it doesn't make any difference at all how you dress it up by claiming that you also explain why someone is wrong.

              In the opinion of nearly 3000 years of philosophers, your book is wrong, janrinok. Understandable, what with you being British, and not knowing that under British law, the greater the truth, the greater the libel. My god, man, get at least the logic, or the law correct. before you pontificate!

              • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday June 26 2021, @10:41AM (10 children)

                by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 26 2021, @10:41AM (#1149575) Journal

                Defamation: libel and slander

                Definitions of defamation

                1. You should be on guard against making statements which could be defamatory. A defamatory statement is one which injures the reputation of another person: it "tends to lower him in the estimation of right-thinking members of society generally".

                2. Such a statement constitutes a "libel" if it is:

                • published (publication, for these purposes, is simply the communication of the defamatory matter to a third person)
                • and in writing, print or some other permanent form.

                3. A statement will amount to a "slander" if it is

                • published; and
                • made orally or in some other transient form.

                Now there are defences to slander and libel - namely if the accusations are true. However, personal qualities using such terms as (and I am quoting from previous posts) 'shit stain', 'fucking moron.' and other similar accusations are impossible to prove in a British court and are therefore not valid defences for a person committing libel. So as I understand it, telling somebody that they are stupid and ignorant is acceptable but expletives such as those I have quoted are not.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @03:16PM (2 children)

                  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @03:16PM (#1149654)

                  If someone doesn't wash themselves, and is a nazi, calling the. a dirty nazi is not defamatory. It is their actions that defame them, not someone else pointing out the pre-existing truth. And yes, there was a court case where a dirty nazi sued for defamation and lost on that basis, back in the pre-internet age.

                  Successive courts have held that if your reputation is already shit because of your own.behaviour, someone caliing attention to that behaviour is hardly defamatory because you had no reputation to lose in the first place. Where is the damage to their already ruined reputation?

                  Just look at all the comics making fun of Rudy Guacamole-brain. His reputation is already so low that they would welcome him suing them for defamation - just more material for their routine. Same with all those tattle-tale books about Trump.

                  • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday June 26 2021, @05:09PM (1 child)

                    by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 26 2021, @05:09PM (#1149686) Journal

                    IANAL

                    If someone doesn't wash themselves, and is a nazi, calling the. a dirty nazi is not defamatory.

                    I don't recall quoting those examples, but I will try to explain by using them. But I don't believe you would get that through a British court.

                    Have you any evidence that he doesn't wash himself? How do you know of his personal hygiene? Have you ever met him? I suspect not - so a claim that he is dirty is entirely unsubstantiated.

                    What do you offer as evidence of him being a Nazi? Have you seen his membership card? Have you seen him wearing any signs or insignia known to be used by the Nazi Party? Having right wing views, even if they are extreme, does not mean he is actually a Nazi. Do you have any supporting evidence? Again, I suspect not and again the accusation is unsubstantiated.

                    One may not agree with his views, he may express views that one finds extreme, but that doesn't make the use of the phrase 'dirty nazi' accurate and its use would be libellous. The accused might well have extreme right-wing views which you might find abhorrent and to state such is entirely accurate, but not to make claims that one cannot substantiate.

                    The use of such phrases suggests to me several things. The accuser is losing an argument and trying to garner additional support by making claims that are unsubstantiated. Additionally, the discussion is becoming heated and the accuser is using an ad-hominem attack to attempt to gain the moral high ground.

                    However, if you refer to the examples that I did quote which have been taken from actual comments posted on this site then I suspect you would recognise that there can be no justification for their use in any intelligent discussion. In my view, they simply inflame the discussion and damage the reputation of the accuser rather more than the accused.

                    Of course, the law may be different in other countries, but I suspect that it is at least similar with regards to the degree of accuracy required to make potentially defamatory claims.

                    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @10:48PM

                      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @10:48PM (#1149775)
                      Even your quote of what constitutes defamation in british courts (which is not the definition of defamation in other common-law jurisdictions) says it has to negatively impact someone's reputation. In other words, if their reputation is already in tatters, you simply cannot defame them.

                      And a guy who shows up in court wearing a swastika t shirt and smelling of body odor such that everyone can smell it can't be defamed by being called a dirty nazi.

                      And dirty nazis do exist. We had one show up a couple of years ago, hiding and then showing his swastika t shirt under his jacket in an attempt to disrupt a social event open to the general public. Could have definitely benefited from a run through the car wash.

                      Thrown out, and told if he came back - ever - the cops would be called. Dirty nazi is an accurate description, and calling him that does no harm to his reputation.

                      Most common law jurisdictions take the more practical position that truth is a perfect defence, so even if it harmed their reputation, too bad, so sad, even if there was harm, still not a foul.

                • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday June 26 2021, @08:40PM (6 children)

                  by aristarchus (2645) on Saturday June 26 2021, @08:40PM (#1149741) Journal

                  Now there are defences to slander and libel - namely if the accusations are true.

                  Under US law, not under UK.

                  The greater the truth, the greater the libel

                  The ‘Mansfield’ referred to in quots. 1787 and 1882 was William Murray, first Earl of Mansfield (1705–93), ...

                  https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199539536.001.0001/acref-9780199539536-e-963 [oxfordreference.com]

                  Of course, like most things English, it libel laws in Britain have an interesting history. https://archive.senseaboutscience.org/data/files/A_quick_guide_to_libel_laws_in_England_and_Wales.pdf [senseaboutscience.org]

                  Where did the libel laws come from? English libel law was invented by the judges of the Queen's Bench as an alternative to duelling, to allow gentlemen to defend their reputations without resorting to violence. Like trespass and negligence, libel is a form of civil law. Civil law is concerned with the rights and duties of citizens, unlike criminal law, which addresses offences against society, such as murder or assault.

                  Well that explains why janrinok did not appear on the field of honor when I challenged him some years back.

                  A quick guide to libel laws in England and Wales Libel laws in England and Wales are notoriously complicated and restrictive. Sense About Science launched our campaign to Keep Libel Laws out of Science in June 2009, when we became aware of the extent to which our libel laws were chilling scientific discussion and open debate. We were surprised to hear how our libel laws were chilling discussion in so many different areas, but coming to the libel laws as scientists, we had a steep learning curve. We were helped in this by many fantastic lawyers and experts, and we thought we should share what we have learnt. Our libel laws will be changing soon: because of the huge groundswell of public support for libel reform, the Government has published a draft defamation bill –the first attempt to reform our libel laws in over a century.

                  But it is how English libel laws work that is a problem.

                  Laws are biased towards the claimant. Libel cases are easy to bring,but difficult to defend. Claimants do not need to show that what has been communicated is false or damaging for a case to proceed; instead the burden of proof rests with the defendant to show their words are defensible. Because libel cases are extremely costly and defences are uncertain, the majority of those threatened with a libel suit will back down rather than try to defend their words, meaning cases rarely reach court.

                  Truth is not a defense, it is more a matter of damages. (Those Lords of Britain!)

                  This is why Protesters in front of a McD's, pointing out how unhealthy their food is, were guilty of libel under English law, even though the alleged "libel" was admittedly true [wikipedia.org]. [Subsequently overturned by the European Court of Human Rights, possibly setting Brexit on its path.]

                  And, interestingly, this is why Johnny Depp tried to sue a tabloid in Britain, even though in his case it did not work.

                  As for calling someone a filthy Nazi, party registration should be enough, and as for the filth, please take a look at my journal, Anti-intellectualism, Know-Nothings, Critical Race Theory [soylentnews.org], and peruse your way down to the link to ‘Redneck Rave’ Descends Into Throat Slashing, Impalements, and Mass Arrests [thedailybeast.com], where one of the main attractions seems to be amatuer mud-wrassling, in the close-to monster truck bog. Great graphics.

                  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @11:28PM (5 children)

                    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @11:28PM (#1149784)
                    Here's something interesting. From your post:

                    A defamatory statement is one which injures the reputation of another person: it "tends to lower him in the estimation of right-thinking members of society generally".

                    So it looks like people who use nyms to post pseudo-anonymously can't sue for defamation since any attack against their nym isn't linked to their personal reputation.

                    That someone has disclosed their true identity to several others is irrelevant - that's private, and fails to establish a public link between their personal reputation with the public and the defamation.

                    So threats of suing for posts that defame a nym simply won't hold water. Because a nym's reputation, where the actual posters identity is not generally known to the public, can't defame the person hiding behind the nym.

                    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 27 2021, @09:24AM (4 children)

                      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 27 2021, @09:24AM (#1149903)

                      Doxing someone, on the other hand, could do great damage to their reputation, or to them? Two rules of life: one, friendly fire isn't; two, social media, isn't.

                      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 27 2021, @01:01PM (3 children)

                        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 27 2021, @01:01PM (#1149939)
                        Doxxing someone does absolutely no harm to their reputation. we used to have printed phone books that gave out your name, address, and phone number to everyone. No big deal.

                        Anyone who believes anonymous posting is truly anonymous and that their identity cannot be traced back to them is a fool.

                        Is your name on your mailbox? Your mail? Do you have a license plate on your car? Are your name and picture in a Yearbook? Have you ever done an interview on TV, radio, or for the newspapers? Ever spoken at a council meeting? Got a license for your dog? Bought or sold property? Gone to court? Testified in court? Borrowed a library book? Bought anything online? Paid for anything with a credit or debit card or a cheque? Leased an apartment or house or car or hotel room? Seniors bus pass? Gotten a pay cheque or direct deposit for work? Appeared on a voters list? Cell phone contract?

                        Unless you can answer NO to all of those, you are not anonymous. Your true identity is all over the place.

                        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 28 2021, @07:24AM (2 children)

                          by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 28 2021, @07:24AM (#1150255)

                          Yes, your real identity is all over the place, but on the internet, no one knows you are a dog. Or, in the case of Ethanol_fueled, that you are a district court judge, sworn to uphold the law without prejudice or bias. And it does seem a whole lot of Capitol Rioting Insurrectionists wish they had kept their usernames separate from the pictures of them storming the Capitol Building.

                          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 28 2021, @07:18PM (1 child)

                            by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 28 2021, @07:18PM (#1150516)

                            Jeebus in cracker form Batman!

                            If EF was able to become a judge then the US is doomed.

                            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 28 2021, @09:43PM

                              by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 28 2021, @09:43PM (#1150584)

                              Not saying he is, or not, but just an example where being doxxed might have an effect on a reputation. Of course, you have heard of Louis Gohmert? Used to be a judge. Roy Moore? (Baron Sasha Cohen's pedophile?) Was a judge. Kavanaugh? Maybe being outed as Ethanol_fueled on SN might not damage the reputation of an USAian judge.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 28 2021, @07:13PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 28 2021, @07:13PM (#1150513)

              British politeness taken to a fault.

              Top notch old chap!

              Any idea why British sarcasm has become a near art form? Because your cultural insistence on polieness violates human nature, so the ad-homs leak out in ever more cloaked disguises. When people are being true idiots like khallow, ignoring data and frequently using bad faith logical fallacies, then yes they should be called idiot, moron, stupid, whatever. It is actually a disservice to pretend an adult should be taken seriously when they would get schooled by a freshman level debate team.

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday June 27 2021, @12:49AM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 27 2021, @12:49AM (#1149802) Journal

            in your case both ate true

            So how does one eat truth? Not interested in the rest of your post, of course.

        • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday June 26 2021, @08:09PM (1 child)

          by aristarchus (2645) on Saturday June 26 2021, @08:09PM (#1149733) Journal

          By George, I think khallow actually learned something! Excuse me while I pick myself up off the floor.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 28 2021, @07:20PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 28 2021, @07:20PM (#1150517)

            It is always temporary and comes with very strict ideological limits. Such learning goes out the window the instant you stray into "Fox news is wrong" territory. I think he is secretly Tucker Carlson and Ethanol-Fueled, which explains why EF claims San Diego origins. Sad sad thumb faced man that Cucker.