I actually debated whether or not it was worth it to share this on HN earlier. I'm loathe to delve into politics on HN, after all. My conclusion is that the technical details of this post would merit sharing.
I still have mixed feelings on deplatforming, but the technique itself was interesting (obvious in retrospect, but retrospect usually is), so it gave me something to think about - thanks.
It seems the author's repeated and overuse of the word 'fascist' and 'Nazi' sounds like a far cry of the nature of the website in question that they're targeting. On each use, the word starts to become meaningless.
De-platforming works to some extent until you keep continuously doing it; then it doesn't work. In fact, it creates an even worse outcome. They will either start running their own servers, creating their own encrypted chat rooms on either Signal or Telegram which they cannot be kicked out of.
Nice technical read though. But this I'm afraid is not the solution.
what’s the group size limit for a signal group chat? i bet it’s a loooot smaller than 88 million.
Assholes will always be with us. Taking an action that blunts their influence is never going to permanently solve anything because the permanent solution is constant participation by as many people as possible in society; that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it and all is lost.
You solve the problem of authoritarian asshattery by building a world whose people know that their world is pretty good actually, and they are actively engaged in keeping it that way instead of having the temptation of burning it down. And then just like pairing a bridge; once you’re done painting it’s time to go back to the other side and start painting again.
it is hard work to do this, it does not happen often, and it is actually worth fighting for.
Interestingly it was Mussolini who said, “Fascism should more appropriate be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power." And this past election cycle and especially the past week, we've seen quite an alignment of those powers: the largest market cap companies, and a soon to be ruling political party.
I actually debated whether or not it was worth it to share this on HN earlier. I'm loathe to delve into politics on HN, after all. My conclusion is that the technical details of this post would merit sharing.
It was killed instantly. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25700030