[johrn]

> they will lose the tasty morsel they could currently be enjoying.

That tasty morsel of hardcore racism, rabid misogyny and all sorts of other fun hate groups, and the people that defend them because anyone should be allowed to say anything they want?

I don't understand why so many people think that getting rid of these groups is going to suddenly implode all the thousands of smaller, more focused communities that you mention.

[clavalle]

I don't mind if they get rid of the hate groups but you have to be careful -- hate is a very plastic term. If people feel like their self formed communities might come under some sort of 'distaste' police, they might just pack up and go somewhere else. Most people aren't afraid that they'll go after subreddits that are blatantly racist, they are afraid that is just the opening salvo. They are afraid that the whole place and discussions are going to end up being monitored, shaped, and censored to benefit the Reddit corporate image. And what good is a discussion board where discussions must be approved for mass consumption or worse, shaped for mass consumption?

You might say, 'that wouldn't happen' and it probably wouldn't but the leadership has not been very open about what they are doing and where they draw the line so people fill the unknown with the worst case.

They need a policy of containment, not eradication except in the most egregious circumstances or where the content is actually illegal. What they do need is better tools to wall them off and detect brigaiding so that kind of business, where the hate spills out, can be nipped in the bud.

[johrn]

I guess that might be something to worry about if it starts to happen. But I think it's a pretty poor argument to say "well if they ban racism, what's next?"

[arprocter]

It's interesting to see what is announced tomorrow.

A lot of people in this thread are mentioning the default subs - how is a mod of a sub with 8 million subscribers supposed to make sure every single thing posted isn't 'offensive'?

[clavalle]

Yeah. I'd classify it as a Very Hard Problem.

[clavalle]

Well, it's not just racism, even at this point, is it?

It's an odd hodgepodge. Another reason why it is probably worrying people more than it probably should.