
Reddit Ireland turns off at midnight to stop racist trolls - AndrewDucker
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52992676
======
Barrin92
I used to post on the r/europe subreddit frequently and it's something I
noticed too. On occasion when I was up late at night the quality went down
considerably and it turned extremely toxic compared to discussions around the
rest of the day.

A lot of racism and in a very obvious way coming from foreign commentators who
were only remotely familiar with European politics. The French far-right
candidate in the last election even had a dedicated sub with not a single
comment in French, ironically enough.

~~~
non-entity
I thought r/europe has been like that for quite a while now.

------
grawprog
[https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/gyyv6y/temporary_c...](https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/gyyv6y/temporary_closure_of_rireland_at_latenight_hours/)

This might be a better link.

~~~
cpcallen
Not at the moment, it's not!:
[https://imgur.com/a/68M8iyN](https://imgur.com/a/68M8iyN)

~~~
grawprog
Oh...well, it was working when I posted it, I'm not a member of the community
and I could see it at one point but it does seem to be blocked now. I regret
not copying and pasting the post now, I didn't think it would vanish.

Sorry, the link did explain at the time I posted it.

------
andrewflnr
What is even being discussed here? A subreddit?

~~~
platemovement
The article isn't clear about it, but I believe it's:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/)

------
s9w
It's disgusting that the "article" doesn't even mention what this is all
about. It's not like there are suddenly bad people swarming an innocent sub
and "troll" it. There was an event happening in Ireland that is being censored
on there and around the globe. Everyone who tries to bring it to light is
being labeled a "racist troll" and punished by the machine.

And it's even more disappointing that it works - with multiple people here
wondering "why would people do that", without even looking for the real
answer.

~~~
eesmith
I take it you are afraid of mentioning whatever it is for fear of being
labelled likewise? There have been many events, so it's hard to know which
real answer you're alluding to.

~~~
s9w
yes

~~~
eesmith
Which means it could be racist trolling that you don't actually understand to
be racist trolling.

I've seen many green/new accounts. That's one way to comment about it.

~~~
s9w
True! It wasn't like that in the beginning though - this story has been purged
everywhere.

And this reporting in particular is saddening. Journalism is supposed to be
about facts and not feelings. This article does hardly contain any relevant
facts and only tells you how to feel - and it's being eaten up.

~~~
eesmith
It's a fact that people have feelings.

Journalism reports on feelings all the time.

A DDG search for "classic journalism feelings" easily found
[https://www.cjr.org/analysis/journalism_and_the_power_of_emo...](https://www.cjr.org/analysis/journalism_and_the_power_of_emotions.php)
\- "Journalism and the power of emotions"

> “Invisible Child” is an example of the power of storytelling. It’s also an
> example of what motivates many journalists, what we believe is possible
> through our narratives: to extend empathy for the individual to the group,
> to correct injustice and inspire change, or at least awareness. ...

> From stories about living conditions in New York’s slum tenements of the
> 1880s to the plight of children in contemporary homeless shelters, empathy
> is an integral part of journalism.

~~~
s9w
This is not a big opinion piece or a report on a grand problem of society.
It's about a singular event that happened on Sunday. In fact the BBC did never
report on that actual event itself (if their site search works correct at
least). But they did write about people trying to bring it to light and
labeled them racist trolls. That is not reporting and it's not even "just"
omission. It's straight up manipulation. They're doing the exact opposite of
what they're supposed to. And they're being paid by the very people they lie
to and harming them in the process by massively shifting the perceived
reality.

~~~
eesmith
There's more than one news source.

[https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/ireland-reddit-page-
sh...](https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/ireland-reddit-page-shutting-
overnight-as-moderators-try-to-stem-the-flow-of-extreme-racist-
content-39271777.html) says:

> "It comes as far-right groups have started an orchestrated attempt to hijack
> online discussions about an attack in Carrigaline with racist commentary."

[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Carrigaline&t=ffsb&df=w&iar=news&i...](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Carrigaline&t=ffsb&df=w&iar=news&ia=news)
shows almost only Irish reporting of that stabbing.

Eg, [https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/family-
of...](https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/family-of-
carrigaline-stab-victim-distance-themselves-from-online-
fundraiser-1004329.html) :

> The family of a teenager who was assaulted and stabbed in Cork at the
> weekend have distanced themselves from an online fundraising campaign which
> has been shut down after it was linked to vile racist rhetoric.

> ... Despite pleas for it not to be shared, several online social media
> accounts - many anonymous and troll accounts - as well as some far-right
> accounts based overseas, urged their followers to use the assault and the
> video clip to “control the narrative”.

> The incident and clip triggered a wave of racist commentary despite
> confirmation from friends of the injured boy that the attack had nothing to
> do with race.

~~~
s9w
Even in the lines you quoted there were several lies. But you know that topic
is verboten for people like me. I'll leave it at that.

~~~
eesmith
And some people honestly believed a underground child sex ring was located
under a pizzeria with no basement.

And that Obama was born in Kenya.

At what point do you decide that there is conspiracy preventing publication,
vs. that your hidden sources of information are lying to you?

------
sys_64738
Ireland? Why the heck would people troll that forum. Madness.

~~~
me_me_me
Hypothetically speaking, if a country can afford a standing army and pay the
thousands of privates for doing pushups and running around in circles with
backpacks and guns.

Then its not crazy to assume they can afford bunch of people trolling internet
forums in an attempt to destabilize (even slightly so) the internal politics
of neighboring countries.

Russian government is at weaker bargaining position when dealing with EU, then
when dealing with single small country. So their vested interest is to push
other countries to leave the EU.

------
jimbob45
Let’s call it what it is: censorship. They’re obscuring censorship under the
moral imperative of silencing the racism boogeyman.

~~~
weare138
Obvious trolling and/or racist comments get moderated on HN too, what's the
difference?

~~~
jimbob45
They don’t get removed though. You can still read them.

~~~
weare138
If you have the option set sure, but they still get flagged and removed from
the thread. I just don't see how moderating comments would be considered
'censorship'. Just go post that crap on your own subreddit. If someone is
purposefully highjacking a thread to derail it with off-topic comments then
they would be the one attempting to suppress someones else's opinion. If the
party in question is already acting in bad faith, I don't see how an argument
could be made in their favor.

------
pippy
Reddit has become insufferable in the last few years. It used to be a great
news and community aggregator, but since they switched to a social media
platform the quality of content changed. It's easy to brush this off as the
'hivemind' effect, but it's a nasty combination of corporations and
governments pushing agendas, identity politics, an eternal September, and even
admins and moderators pushing their personal politics. There's not a single
moderately popular subreddit that has no politics being shoved in your face.

Unlike the downfall of Digg/ stumbleupon, there's no alternative.

