| I’ve seen this happen before. Back in the good ole days of the libertarian internet. You had subreddits which had zero moderation, because again “the best ideas succeed”. Those places got filled with the hate speech, vitriol, harassment, stalking and toxicity. Minorities and women left, because they were basically hunted. Logical arguments dont work, because hate, harassment and anger are emotionally driven behaviors. This creates the toxic water cooler effect. The fact that its ok to say horrible things, attracts more people who are happy to say those things. You lose diversity of arguments, view points and chances to challenge ideas. You increase radicalization, dramatically speed up the sharing and conversion of anger into action. Eventually, the subs brought in moderation. As did every social media platform in existence. The people who didn’t like it, created their own spaces. Which didn’t do well. Because those positions and spaces are NOT popular. Facing this fact, they are now turning to shut off opposition and moderation, because that is necessary to keep the ball going. This isn’t even opinion, this is the history of the past 30 years. It’s not even that old! I really do hope this time its different. Genuinely, I said it when the new communities were created. I meant it then, I mean it now. Moderation is fucking toxic and unhealthy. I rejoined moderation recently, and in the first 10 frikking items, I had to see a dead baby pic from an un covered ethnic war zone. I really want this to succeed, and want it to be good for users. I am hoping it is. But experience is clear - making space for hurtful speech, results in more hurtful speech and people just leaving to places where they dont have to be harassed. Blue sky should probably see a jump in users over time this year. |