

Reddit’s decision to police “behavior, not ideas” is reckless - kanamekun
http://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/how-reddit-works-as-an-incubator-of-hate

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Udo
I disagree that Reddit is an _incubator_ of hate, but the article makes a good
point showing it's a _channel_ for all kinds of communication, including -
apparently indiscriminately - racism and other kinds of hate.

In much the same way 4chan was getting increasingly linked in public opinion
with the bad things happening in /b/, it appears that Reddit has similar
albatrosses around its neck. At that point, it becomes very difficult to get
rid of a worrisome user segment - because of their nature and number, any
action to drive them away has a huge potential to backfire.

This is a bad position to be in for a business: you need to placate a growing
number of mean-spirited users who constantly probe the boundaries of what they
can get away with, and yet you have to do everything you can to avoid the
problem that your brand is publicly identified with the hate groups residing
on your site.

I want to point out that the goals of a company having these problems are not
necessarily the goals of people who want to deprive hate groups from having a
public and company-supported outlet.

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joshstrange
While /r/coontown is place filled with scum that doesn't mean we should shut
it down or ban it... These people are going to exist, reddit community or no
reddit community. It shouldn't be reddit's (or any internet company's) job to
police things people find offensive as long as they are legal (free speech).

Related, I'm a little worried about stores pulling the confederate flag. I
don't know where I stand on that. Don't get me wrong I think it's a terrible
symbol and the fact it was/is flying on government property is crazy to me (I
honestly did not know this was a thing). That said banning a flag or anything
product that uses said flag on your platform feels a little reminiscent of not
baking a cake for a gay wedding which I'm still conflicted on as well. What
about a confederate flag cake or a swastika cake?

Please understand I'm not comparing being gay to being a racist or a nazi I'm
just comparing people being made to produce something that is at odds with
their personally held beliefs. The example that hits home for me is if I run a
software development company and I have a client who asks me to make a product
for a political party I disagree with. Do I have the right to refuse to work
on the project? (this example happened to be as an employee) Or,
hypothetically, someone offers to pay me to make an anti-gay or racist website
for their cause/group. It's something I don't quite have my head wrapped
around and don't know how to feel about it all. I'd be interested to hear
other people's thoughts on the matter.

~~~
pocketgrok
I see what you're saying but I disagree. I don't think stores should be forced
to cary confederate flags anymore than they should be force to cary pride
flags (that is, not at all).

However, I don't necessarily think they should be able to deny their offered
service to bigots or gays. Services including, potentially, special ordering
flags from their manufacturer.

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Aeolun
Kitchen knives can be used to murder people. That doesn't mean we're not going
to use them.

~~~
sehr
A kitchen knife's sole purpose isn't to hurt someone.

~~~
mediumdeviation
And neither is reddit's. I'm sure /r/programming, /r/mylittlepony and
/r/NeutralPolitics, just to take a few examples, would find it very amusing if
they see people accusing them of being 'incubators of hate'.

~~~
sehr
The article was talking about a specific subreddit and it's purpose, nice try
though

~~~
twiceaday
The original title was "Reddit Is an Incubator of Hate" so some of the replies
you are seeing are referencing the old title.

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mahmoudhossam
I wouldn't mind hate if it was directed at buzzfeed.

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levlaz
I can't believe I fell for buzzfeed clickbait on HN. :(

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arsenide
Reality is an incubator of hate. You're not obliged to participate in it
online, much like in real life.

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eugeneionesco
No, it's not. What subs are you subscribed to?

~~~
sehr
The article is talking about the subscribers of a specific subreddit.

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dang
This post was flagkilled by users, but as we usually do when there's an
ongoing discussion, we unkilled it so commenting can continue.

We changed the title to (most of) the subtitle, since some of the flaggers
seemed to be reacting to the Buzzfeed headline.

