We feel strongly that this incident is more part of a reckless disregard for the company’s own business and for the work the moderators and users put into the site. Dismissing Victoria Taylor was part of a long pattern of insisting the community and the moderators do more with less.
Miscommunication implies there was any communication at all or any kind of real planning in place to compensate for the loss, when in reality the moderators and A.M.A. guests were left stranded. Though company leaders have apologized publicly, they still have not fully explained the decision.
I'm kind of amazed by the degree to which websites like Reddit have gone mainstream. An op-ed in the New York Times about internet drama? Really drives home how huge it has gotten.
What's annoying is how internet culture has this "lol for the lulz" attitude about everything, and the moment you take something seriously you're called out. I bring this up because this isn't just internet drama. It's about an internet company and a management mistake. This post comes across more antagonistic than I wanted it, and it's not so much directed at you, but your post brought up the thought.
As with everything, I think that there is a balance to be struck about how seriously one should take internet drama. On the one hand, dismissing something just because it's on the Internet is obviously not a good approach, and I think this is changing (with laws against cyberbulling becoming more prominent, for instance). On the other hand, I think it is also possible to go too far in getting 'outraged' about things that happen on the Internet, and I think there's been a fair bit of that with Reddit's latest blunder -- lots of anger about subreddits "falling prey" to the "empty promises" of Reddit admins, downvote brigading and nasty comments on said subreddits, the portrayal of Ellen Pao, and so on seem vastly disproportionate to me considering the issues at stake.
I agree! In both cases there seems to be this kind of departure from reality. But then again even in the ridiculously angry anti-reddit movement stirring on reddit, they are saying and posting horrible things because "lol it's the internet". The idea that it's "just words" and internet life isn't real lets people say such vitriolic things, I think.
I'm not sure how far we can go without referring the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory.}(http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19) and later, more serious treatments of the topic.](https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-online-secrets/201409/internet-trolls-are-narcissists-psychopaths-and-sadists) >The relationship between trolling and the Dark Tetrad is so significant that the authors write in their paper: >> "... the associations between sadism and GAIT (Global Assessment of Internet Trolling) scores were so strong that it might be said that online trolls are prototypical everyday sadists." [emphasis added]
I'd be guessing, but I would not be suprised to learn that the entire design of hubski has evolved to deal with the balance of concerns here - the ability to discuss important topics without being harassed online or doxxed and threatened. There are many people who find anonomity to be important to their personal survival. I have less of a need for it than I once did, but I have objections to being tracked, watched and monetized - and of course, it's possible some political shift could occur that makes what I said somewhere five or ten years ago a cause of suspicion. The McCarthy flap should underline the risk of having one's politics become retroactively controversial. But by the same token, to quote Penny Arcade, "Shitcock." Those who can act with impunity often do. Most people don't - but it doesn't take all that many rampaging sociopaths to disrupt a functional culture. But I simply cannot remember such a wonderfully documented example. That's exactly what's happening at Reddit. (Even leaving out the potential complication that the Interim CEO is one herself, an assumption I find worth keeping in mind.) But I don't think it's an internet phenomenon. I think it's more visible on the internet, because nothing ever truly vanishes. It will be familiar to anyone who's been gossiped about; forced out of a church or even a town due to some whispering campaign. On the internet you may not be able to prove who did it - but you can't argue that it didn't happen. So let's turn the question on it's head. Could it be that this, the latest episode of "Internet, Threat or Menace" be more about concerns that if the dynamics of such behaviors are made obvious, we might evolve better means of dealing with them?
That was decently written but cringe worthy. Cringe goes out towards the NYT editorial Board and the people that felt that they are important enough to have a NYT editorial about silly internet drama. I should see if they want an article about the time I got butthurt about something that happened at the animal shelter I work at when an old lady told me I wasn't disposing of doggie doodoo in the proper way. Also noteworthy IMO is the fact that people are forgetting that: 1) /u/dacvak was apparently fired for being to sick to work (which is illegal in many civilized countries); and 2) redditgifts founder /u/kickme444 was fired after moving to SF a few months ago from the town he moved to because of the local family support for a family member that has MS. I am also surprised that more people have not been surprised that significant RES contributor /u/solidwhetstone has stepped down from his roles due to the toxicity.
Fair enough. But so is my volunteerism at animal shelters was a real part of my and others lives as well. I agree that the distinction between IRL and AFK are meaningless for "us" as they are so intertwined. On one hand I really could not care less about what happens with SRD, SRS, IAMA (where I proudly had zero karma which was a joke in between karmanaut and I) or anywhere else. I modded 2 defaults and was very involved and now I do not give a shit. On the other hand I kinda do care about what happens to people like kickme or dacvac or chooter who have been kicked in the balls and pushed out to the curb. But that still does not effect my daily life. reddit was a hobby that I was very involved in and If reddit or voat or hubski disappeared tomorrow I would not care. I modded secretsanta/redditgifts for a couple of years and got them their Guinness record, was mentioned in a blog post and many articles around the globe. Then I quit when I could not stand the bullshit and then modded mostly in the SFWPN for a couple for years and now quit that, Tis the cycle of Internet life. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I would be effected by maybe just reading paper or other sites more. No more than that. Just like I no longer volunteer at animal shelters as the stupid little old lady politics was too much for me there. I just direct my volunteerism energy elsewhere. Tis the cycle of life.