
Reddit censorship - danjoc
http://techrights.org/2015/05/28/reddit-censorship/
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minimaxir
Shadowbans aren't meant for _censorship_. It's an artifact of old Reddit
design for spammers that hasn't been replaced yet. (I know the CEO mentioned
that was on the agenda, hence the improved suspension option)

Hacker News does shadowbans too which I am not happy about, but that's another
story.

~~~
dang
> _Hacker News does shadowbans too which I am not happy about, but that 's
> another story._

We almost never do that anymore except in cases of spammers or new accounts
that appear to be trolling, i.e. the cases where telling people you banned
them tends to be problematic. Apart from those, we almost always post a
comment in the thread saying that we banned the account.

[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20banned%20this%20acco...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20banned%20this%20account&sort=byDate&prefix=false&page=0&dateRange=all&type=comment)

~~~
minimaxir
I have noticed those comments recently and they are much of an improvement. :)

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gjulianm
This is from 2015. Reddit removed their shadowbans for regular users (still
enabled for spammers, I think) [1].

And, by the way, calling out censorship because of 1 shadowban when there's
even a subreddit to know if you're shadowbanned
([https://www.reddit.com/r/ShadowBan/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShadowBan/),
appears when you search shadowban reddit) is too much of a stretch, I think.

1: [https://techcrunch.com/2015/11/11/reddit-account-
suspensions...](https://techcrunch.com/2015/11/11/reddit-account-suspensions/)

~~~
danjoc
I don't know anything about shadowbans, much less changes in policies about
them. I only submitted the link because I thought it was an interesting read.

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atrophying
Free speech is a concept of government. Reddit is a for-proft corporation.
It's not censorship, it's a business refining its model.

Joke's on you that you thought reddit was anything but.

~~~
danjoc
The joke is on me, I guess. I've never understood how the line is drawn.
Freedom of speech and religion are both in amendment one. Free speech is a
right, but one can, evidently, open a website and suppress any opinion one
chooses. Freedom of religion is a right, but one cannot use religious beliefs
to deny gay people their rights. [1] That seems like a double standard to me
and I've yet to find a way to reconcile it.

edit: grammar, edit2: supporting story

[1] [http://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-orders-colorado-bakery-
cater-...](http://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-orders-colorado-bakery-cater-sex-
weddings/story?id=21136505)

~~~
nhebb
Freedom of speech protects you from government prosecution, with certain
limitations like yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater, etc. It doesn't mean
that others (e.g. Reddit) have to give you a platform for your speech.

Freedom of religion won't let you practice something that impinges upon the
rights of others or violates a law.

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Kristine1975
FWIW the "others don't see my posts, only I do" is called "shadow-banning" or
"stealth banning":
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stealth_banning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stealth_banning)

 _The practice involves making a user 's contributions invisible to all other
users, but visible to themselves, making them less likely to create new
accounts to add the same material._

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justinsaccount
If someone was censoring comments not kind to the pharma industry on that
post, you would think they would have also removed the comment that starts

"... horrible horrible medication. don't take it."

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hart_russell
I have stopped going on reddit. There is an obvious agenda trying to be pushed
in the guise of a purely user driven content aggregator.

~~~
justinsaccount
Everyone has an agenda. techrights.org has an agenda. Hacker news has an
agenda (You think you can post whatever you want here and not get banned?).

~~~
effingwewt
But most are clear about them, not lying. Also, let's not forget when they
called themselves a bastion of free speech, where people can come to share
ideas.

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__david__
Reddit had shadow bans _way_ before Conde Nast. This article acts like it's
blown up this huge conspiracy, but only uncovered something that is common
knowledge. It has all the conspiratorial fervor of the most witch hunt-y
Reddit threads—and it's not a good look.

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shrugger
Ironic how this will be flagged to shit and seen by only a few.

