Coontown on Reddit

One of the most controversial subreddits out there is known as Coontown (r/coontown), which is – according to them – a ‘race realist’ group that details why black people are bad. To just about everyone else, it’s a racist cesspool.

A LOT of people want it shut down and there seems to be a tug of war going on as we speak. Former CEO Ellen Pao let it stay since the the sub wasn’t harassing anyone, but now that she’s gone, its future looks bleak.

My question is this: Should Coontown, and subreddits like it, stay on Reddit? Should Reddit be a bastion of free speech, as it once claimed to be, or should it moderate itself and remove such offensive subreddits?

And extend that to other sites on the Internet. Should such racists sites be shuttered? Where does freedom of speech end and the sensibilities of others begin? Who defines racist, who defines offensive, who defines ‘poor taste’?

Query: how (much) do its subscribers interact with the rest of the site? Surely seeing that sub on a list of posts or subscriptions is a big ol’ warning flag?

Many of the users use throwaway accounts (accounts used only to interact on that sub) and ‘main’ alts to post elsewhere. Some use the same account site-wide and are usually called out as ‘Coontowners’ when they post outside the subreddit in question.

“Free Speech” is entirely irrelevant.

Reddit is a privately owned website and is free to forbid or allow any standards it wants on the content that appears on its site. Reddit is not obligated to allow noxious fools to wave their privates on Reddit’s website.

OTOH, the fans of r/coontown are free to go set up their own website, on their own servers, with their own money, and say any dumb thing they like, in the comfort of their own space.

All in all, I think this is an ideal setup.

No, it should be left alone, to fester as it will. OK, Reddit isn’t the government and there’s no free speech issue here but Reddit is a cool site and if it starts shuttering subreddits the admins disapprove of then the less cool it will be, the less interesting it will be. This, alas, seems to be the way modern America is going though, with surprisingly many quite happy to silence voices they disagree with on their campuses, in their workplace and on the net. What they don’t seem to realize is that this is a two-edged sword and they may find one day to their consternation their own voices being silenced by the self-same weapon.

Free speech is both an ideal and a legal principal.

For what it’s worth, the discussion is moot (heh) because reddit has announced that the subreddit will be banned and the participants are planning on moving to a website of their own creation.

Shuttered by whom? Yes, everyone who is hosting/paying for/joining such sites should stop and should not enable or encourage or indulge in racism. Is that the question?

If people want to host their own servers make their own rules I don’t see how that’s different than opening a business and refusing content specific orders. I don’t think people should be forced to provide a means of expression for what they view abhorrent. Regardless of the PC ness of the issue.

Now should such expressions be banned entirely? No. People have the right to be offensive.

Kind of says it all right there as far as I’m concerned. These folks know that what they are saying and posting is wrong and offensive, or they would not need to hide behind alts to say it.

Personally, I’m good with letting this sort of thing continue. Don’t make the racists and other assholes martyrs or allow them to say their filthy shit behind closed doors and in the dark. Shine a bright freaking light on them and their message and bigotry. The only thing I’d change is don’t allow alts…make them fess up to their horseshit and be open about it. Best way to fight this sort of thing is to bring it out in the open and allow the assholes to spout their shit and get slammed for it (as long as they aren’t breaking the agreed upon board rules…just like here).

That’s my two cents, FWIW (probably adjusted for inflation it’s worth around face value, come to that)…

Please post your real name.

I think this came to a head because the r/fatpeoplehate subreddit was banned a month or two ago because of its over-the-top offensive content. And it truly was horrible.

And yet Pao defended r/Coontown by basically saying “free speech, man.”

Glad to see that it’s been taken down.

The moment someone takes a screenshot of a major advertiser’s ad next to a really racist thread subject, it’ll be taken down anyway. I figure the powers that be think they might as well do it before that happens.

Your link doesn’t say what you say it says.

All you’ve linked to there is a post by an admin who’s angry at the way the Ellen Pao situation has played out and is now bomb throwing. It remains to be seen what will come of /r/coontown. It wouldn’t surprise or trouble me if Reddit gives them the boot. If Reddit ever wants to make a profit - and of course, they do - they will need to squash the nastiness in order to attract advertisers.

It’s no different than any other corporate owned website, just like these forums.

/r/FPH and the others were deleted because they were organizing IRL harassment of real people outside the sub, not because of what was said there. That’s why /r/coontown is still in business. They’re a bot on humanity but they’re not actively following people into offline activities.

Pao didn’t really defend /r/coontown or the reddit take on “free speech”. She was trying to make a distinction between subs where people shoot their mouths off and subs that were taking specific harassing behavior.

“a blot on humanity”, I meant to say, not a bot.

Only the weak are scared of words.

I don’t think bots would be racist. Botist, maybe!

Disappointing reading comprehension.

If I ran a website, I wouldn’t allow something like r/coontown. They have freedom of speech, but that doesn’t mean freedom to post and link to whatever they want on my website, any more than they have the ‘freedom’ to post whatever signs and hold rallies on my property. Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from disapproval for that speech, including things like “you can’t be in my space or on my website any more”.

I enjoy many subreddits, but I think less of reddit for not getting rid of subreddits like r/coontown.

Obligatory xkcd link.

I’m all in favor of banning offensive speech, as long as I am the one to decide which speech it is.

Regards,
Shodan