It was hyperbole. In quotes and everything. My point was that the Democrats should have taken a much more hard-nosed approach that involved crushing the Republicans where and when they could, without mercy. Instead of doing whatever they did which doesn’t involve getting down and dirty and fighting for what they believe.
I just used some more colorful and hyperbolic language about it. And know what, it wouldn’t have got a blink around here. That’s the thing; we as a community get it, while the Reddit mods don’t.
And really… it’s a bit ridiculous to suspend people for just commenting about when violence might be appropriate, especially if they’re not advocating it, promoting it, or even using violent language. Just speculating about when it might be appropriate and when it might not be. I didn’t say “We need to blow up X when Y happens” or anything, just something along the lines of “If X happens, then that’s the line past which the shooting should start.”
I’ve been a Reddit member for something like 15 years, until a couple of (IMO) relatively innocuous comments and now I’m cut off for good? Didn’t even get warned until the first one a couple of months ago, and then this?
FWIW, I found the comment that got me the AI warning for violence - it was rescinded by human moderation. This happened on April 19.
It was made in the LAMF forum regarding an article on Trump supporting tech companies that were being hurt by Trumps trade war on China. The comment is:
I’m starting to think these guys are all idiots.
”The only way our business will survive is if we kick the ass of our biggest, not to mention only, supplier! We need to destroy the one who makes our success possible”
It still kind of a WTF……frankly, if I had said directly I wanted to kick someone’s ass it would necessarily be violent, it frequently just means a big win, as in “I’m going to kick his ass in the next election”.
A few weeks ago in the r/murderbot subreddit, a thread requested quotes from Murderbot. I posted one such quote (which had been posted a few times previously in that subreddit in the previous few years) “If you bother her again, I will break every individual bone in your hand and arm. It will take about an hour.”. I got modded and threatened with a ban for posting threats. Oh well.
…does basically say that violence is appropriate. Maybe not under all conditions, but ‘under some conditions violence is appropriate’ does seem implied. If @puzzlegal is correct here, then I can understand why Reddit decision-makers are coming down extra hard on the edge cases:
I don’t use Reddit every day but I like knowing it’s there. Maybe this level of skittishness is justified under this regime. Certainly the regime is always looking for excuses to punish or at least discourage dissent.
Yup, i don’t think that’s innocuous. It would be allowed here, because it’s not a direct call to violent action. But i can totally see it being forbidden under a stricter policy.
The Murderbot quote and the “kick their ass” comment would be allowed by any human moderator who was aware of the context, IMHO.
Amusingly, I appealed the warning and pointed out the context. I was assured my appeal was reviewed by a human moderator, but the warning stood. Brave New World
That’s pretty much my thinking too- I wasn’t calling for violence or even advocating it; just speculating on when it might be appropriate. And IMO, it’s patently idiotic to take the approach that it’s never appropriate, or that speculation is the same as advocating for violence.
It’s conceptually the same as saying “If someone breaks into someone’s house without their permission, that’s when they might get shot.” In no way am I calling for violence, just speculating on when it might be appropriate for someone to engage in violence. Which isn’t quite the same as condoning it.
And as far as condoning violence goes, they’ve got a huge double-standard if you’ve ever looked at r/combatfootage or any of the Ukrainian war subs. People routinely cheer videos watching Russians get blown up, killed, etc… Which in my mind is a lot further along the path of condoning and encouraging violence than mere speculation about when violence may be necessary.
Reddit is unusable nowadays. I had been there for 10 years, and they started doing bans and censorship for extremely mild things ever since they did their IPO. They’re terrified of anyone being too upset to watch the ads, so they’re banning people for anything, making the boards unusable.
Here are some reasons I’ve either gotten banned outright, or gotten temporary bans:
Saying reddit is scared to offend nazis because they’re scared nazis won’t watch the ads
Saying the KKK is violent
Saying if the Trump administration starts putting political prisoners in El Salvador, that one of our allies should invade El Salvador, free the political prisoners, and put the president in prison.
My impression is it started around the time they did their IPO around spring of 2024. Its been basically unusable since. I had no problems on reddit until spring/summer of 2024, right after they did their IPO. Ever since they ban for virtually everything. What is weird is its usually the innocuous posts that get you banned. Just mentioning violence can get you banned, even if you’re just saying ‘terrorism is violent’ you can get banned for that. They want to make it as non-controversial as possible so nobody is too offended to watch the ads and make the stock price go up. In the process they make discussion virtually impossible there. Once an alternative shows up, people will flock in large numbers away from Reddit.
I’m still surprised that Reddit is moderating this kind of mild language that might be indicative of violence so heavily…….because there is so much insanely horrible stuff on Reddit .
Forum after forum full of graphic videos of the “BDSM anal sex doll water sports spanking gangbang” variety, entire forums dedicated to bullying a single individual, usually a low level influencer of some sort, forums of active drug users that facilitate trafficking, forums that facilitate prostitution, Ashley Madison style forums for adulterous hookups, forums promoting scams.…..
Yet they are having their AI flag every instance of “kick your ass”. I just hope they’re checking everything and not just concentrating on forums with a political left wing slant.
As the updated saying goes — “the revolution will not be monetized.”
(Not original to me. This has been floating around for 15 years or so, but it hasn’t gotten the traction I think it deserves.)
Basically — do not expect free expression in any online space whose entire existence depends on capturing lucrative engagement in as innocuously inoffensive a manner as possible.
That’s part of what has me so baffled and suspicious.
I think they’re terrified of either governmental retribution, or like others are saying, that advertisers are going to get jittery.
But you’d think the hundreds of sex and porn subreddits or all of the horrible Ukraine war drone strike footage would be worse than people making rather tame comments using violent imagery or metaphor.
I wish there was an alternative; at least I can still read it even if I can’t post on it.
Interesting that online talk platforms are basically the opposite of television, in which any hint of sex is heavily censored, but violence is ever-present (even in kid’s programming).
But yeah: some combination of concerns about profitability (via the usual eagerness to avoid offending advertisers, plus the new eagerness to avoid offending Dear Leader) seem to be making Reddit a ‘walk on eggshells’ sort of place, now.