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The Guardian Publishes Comment Abuse Stats, Invites Debate On Moderation (theguardian.com)

AmiMoJo writes: British newspaper The Guardian has published some stats on its popular comment sections attached to each story. So far the Guardian's site has received 70 million comments, of which around 2% were removed for violation of community standards. Articles written by women tended to get the most blocked comments, especially if they were in male-writer dominated sections like sports and technology, while fashion was one of the few areas where men got more abuse. Further down the article the reader is invited to moderate some sample comments and see how their actions compared to those of the paper's staff. You can leave suggestions for improvement here.

176 of 303 comments (clear)

  1. The fuckin guardian by inode_buddha · · Score: 2

    should concentrate on their own credibility first, then worry bout their posters.

    --
    C|N>K
    1. Re:The fuckin guardian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      I went through their list of would you allow or block thing, and wow. Most of the comments I looked at and said, "well, I disagree with your opinion, but you're free to it and it's not overly trolly so allow", and they blocked almost all of those. It sort of felt like censorship of anything that didn't fit their view point. If that's how they run their news site, I actually kind of get your statement on credibility.

    2. Re:The fuckin guardian by Mashiki · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well they've got to go down this path bu choice, they're only 5 years out from complete bankruptcy that includes the money from the trust. They need to try showing people that they know how to remain solvant and can get their head on and fix the problems...and see...those problems? We want your opinion!

      Personally, I think them having Jessica Vallenti was a great idea, it was a really good comedy section. I mean look at these examples: One week she gets to tell the idiots that wolf whistling is sexist, a few weeks later, she says it's sexist not to wolf whistle at someone. Then she starts going off about how air conditioning is sexist, but it's really not sexist all in the span of 3 weeks.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    3. Re:The fuckin guardian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      re: Valenti, its feminist clickbait *** like her who create the entire 'commentary = abuse' problem.

      Following worth a read (but in general yeah, she really is beyond satire otherwise):

      https://off-guardian.org/2015/09/11/jessica-valenti-thinks-free-speech-is-less-important-than-her-comfort-zone/

    4. Re:The fuckin guardian by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I think the Guardian is a bit beyond your reading comprehension level, if that's what you got from those articles.

      I'm not a fan or regular reader of The Guardian, but I can see and respect what they are trying to do. Newspapers are dying and they are trying hard to go with the change, having picked a particular niche that does seem to be under-served. That is, high quality journalism and a high quality debate with fairly strict moderation, somewhat like a live debate would have.

      Of course you can argue if they are failing to provide high quality journalism or high quality debate, and I would on both counts, but at least they recognize the need to give readers something they can't get elsewhere.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    5. Re:The fuckin guardian by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Agreed. I would have only blocked the last one:

      “stupid ugly woman writes stupid ugly steaming pile of dog-shite”

      as it brought nothing to the conversation, but even that would be acceptable in some places. I saw no cases of actual abuse in their examples. If you can't take people criticising you, don't publish on the internet.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  2. Kek by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The same Guardian that has "quality journalism" on the top of the site,
    yet makes quality articles of mental psychosis such as manspreading,
    and even supported the bullying and defamation of a Rosetta scientist because of a shirt he wore?

    Why is such a site even posted on slashdot? Might as well post GAWKER articles.

    1. Re:Kek by westlake · · Score: 2, Insightful

      and even supported the bullying and defamation of a Rosetta scientist because of a shirt he wore?

      The guns and lingerie tee shirt was not appropriate dress for a globally televised event. Not least because the female engineers and technicians visible in the background were appropriately dressed, which implies a double standard. There are social obligations which come with being the public face of your project.

    2. Re:Kek by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      While I have my problems with the Guardian (their coverage of the Tower Hamlets and Rotherham scandals were awful), what you're referring to seems to be on the Comment Is Free section; basically their editorial section. By and large, comment pieces are either written by editorial staff, regular columnists, or guest editors and submitters, and should not be confused with the journalism that appears in other parts of the newspaper or website. I find the likes of Jessica Valenti to be pretty odious, not so much for her behavior on the Guardian (which is pretty over the top), but her even more lunatic ramblings in other places. Go look up her Twitter explosions when the whole UVA rape culture incident exploded. She really is a pretty unhinged person, and I notice she disappeared from the Guardian for a few months; an enforced sabbatical, I imagine.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    3. Re:Kek by mrbester · · Score: 1

      The T-shirt that was made for him by a woman (a friend) and no one was remotely bothered by it until some wanker not associated with anything to do with the project or even astronomy decided to get offended and cause a stink? That T-shirt? Worn by someone who volunteered to do the press conference and still no one said anything about it? Four words "Maybe change your shirt" that were never spoken because no one had a problem with it.

      Fuck your "dress code".

      --
      "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
    4. Re:Kek by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The opinion on whether a t-shirt was tasteful or not is also utterly irrelevant to the original topic as well. The original point is divided into two:
      1. Credibility:
      The news site, which is the focus of this article, found it less important to dish out articles on a great scientific and engineering achievement for Humanity, and instead focused on an insignificant and subjective smear campaign against a man because of a shirt he wore, because attacking people is easier than reporting on technology. The fact that they didn't ignore it like a rational person would and didn't focus on more pressing reporting of the event itself, is basically demeaning the whole achievement and showing that they have less interest in technology than they do in minor social squabbles you expect to read about only in those cheap "scandal" magazines.
      2. Abuse and double standards:
      The article's more specific topic is abuse. Not only that, but it clearly states men get more abuse in fashion related section.
      Yet here we have a perfect example of a man facing a libel crusade over a shirt, and the same crusade being perpetrated by the same people who are making anti-abuse programs, and urging against random masses on the Internet rallying and trolling and defaming people over superficial traits (fat activism, gender, looks, FASHION).

    5. Re:Kek by JDG1980 · · Score: 1

      That's completely, utterly irrelevant. Unless the woman who made it is the Archetype who speaks for all women and whose opinion is globally considered to be the final word.

      Well then, you can't claim feminists speak for all women either. Not when polls have repeatedly shown that less than one in four women is a feminist.

    6. Re:Kek by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      Well then, you can't claim feminists speak for all women either.

      Well then, you can't expose yourself in public and expect to get away with it.

      [no that has no relevance to your point, but your point had no relevance to mine either given that I did not make such a claim]

      You also realise that according to that poll, 82% are actually feminists, but seem somewhat confused on the definition.

      http://www.merriam-webster.com...

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    7. Re:Kek by walshy007 · · Score: 1

      You do realize, that a considerable chunk of those women know that definition of feminism, but reject it.

      They'll often believe in egalitarianism, but feminism has too much focus on females in the word it to actually be considered what that dictionary definition has down.

      To purposefully associate "feminine" with "fair" I think is pretty ironically sexist.

      As part of believing in equality, shouldn't gender neutral terms to describe gender neutral things be a part of their goals?

      And so to be for equality, you'd actually be against the use of the term feminism as it is sexist.

  3. Seems that most newspaper sites these days by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Have moved away from Slashdot-style semi-anonymous posts (login required, but real name not required) in favor of requiring Facebook or Linkedin accounts. The FB-assisted comment sections are almost always dull, predictable, and sparsely populated. A real live forum is where the action is. So what if it requires a gardener to pull the weeds; they can hire interns with freshly minted university degrees who are willing and able to moderate posts, as long as it comes with a chance to do some reporting work.

    1. Re:Seems that most newspaper sites these days by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Interesting

      What I've found from the news sites that have gone to Facebook is not only a much smaller set of comments, but a great increase in spam. By putting their faith in Facebook to weed out the malcontents, many sites literally destroy their comment sections.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:Seems that most newspaper sites these days by pipingguy · · Score: 2

      "By putting their faith in Facebook to weed out the malcontents, many sites literally destroy their comment sections."

      Who's to say that isn't what was intended? I'm sure many sites would like to get rid of user comments. "Just pay for our content. We don't need no talkback, especially if it is critical."

    3. Re:Seems that most newspaper sites these days by TheDarkMaster · · Score: 4, Informative

      Here in Brazil, usually when a site has a comment section based on Facebook is guaranteed that you will find the dumbest people you can imagine posting the most absurd/hatefull/shitty things. To avoid getting sick I usually block Facebook in its entirety using adblock and noscript.

      --
      Religion: The greatest weapon of mass destruction of all time
  4. LOL! The Guardian invites open civil discourse... by Narcocide · · Score: 1

    ... immediately everyone flames them.

  5. The so-called 'community standards' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    ... around 2% were removed for violation of community standards ...

    I have given up on commenting there because I know how they rate their 'community standards'

    It was an article on the flood of millions of migrants into Europe and I was asking if it is wise to allow so many of those who have no intention of integrate into the European culture ... and my comment was nuked

    There was no cussing

    There was no degrading of any specific race

    There was not even any mention of religion

    I was only commenting on the wisdom of allowing so many of those who had shown to not interested of integration --- and for that, I somehow has violated their 'community standard'

    As I said, I've given up commenting there --- them European liberals simply cannot tolerate anyone questioning what they do

    Totally useless !

    Captcha: despair

    1. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Because attacking anyone who raises issues of equality as an "SJW" is such an extraordinary sign of tolerance.

      There's nothing I love better than a partisan of one side of the political spectrum attacking members of the other side in a way that makes it clear they're just as guilty of the same illogic and sheer stupidity. Or, to put it more simply for someone like you; POT... KETTLE... BLACK

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      RASCIST!!!!!

    3. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by guestapoo · · Score: 5, Informative

      ...and it's annoying that, if you be banned your comments' history will be gone also, they are vapored without any warning. I were one of the 'victims'.
      And, after that I found out many readers have the same problems with this 'moderation system', no matter they are left or right, and they joke that 'CiF (Comment is Free, is what The Guardian call their comment section), but some comments are freer.

      And, their 'community standard' is very obscure, while some personal attacks are still there, some normal debates were deleted. When I demanded they show how I violated the rules (yes, with "please"), they deleted my comment also.

      It's not that I'm whining, I'll be fine that I must respect the 'rules', I will be OK if, 'you violated 'Section 1, clause 3', so your comment was deleted', but in The Guardian there is no rule. It's likely the moderators delete comments they don't like.

    4. Re: The so-called 'community standards' by oakgrove · · Score: 1

      woa so much agression. I can't take it

      --
      The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
    5. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by dave420 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Your comment was nuked because you made a baseless claim that they don't want to integrate. That is degrading. If you can't see why, you should get a refund on your education, as it failed you massively. If you could post the verbatim full text of your comment we could get to the bottom of this. As it is it sounds like your lack of critical thinking and desire to leap to the inaccurate led to the nuking, which is fair enough. I guess the Guardian doesn't want their comments section filled with idiots making stupid generalisations about people they don't know anything about.

    6. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by dave420 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Maybe if you didn't put labels on people to such a staggering degree, and thinking that all wearers of a label you've given them think entirely the same, you'd have fewer problems with people calling out your lazy thought processes. In a single post your argument hinges on all "SJWs" thinking exactly the same, and all "leftists" too. You appear to be terrible at critical thinking. No wonder you are so confused and angry.

    7. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      My wife (a doctor) sees patients (both male and female) who have lived in this country for 15 - 20 years, and they still need a translator because they haven't bothered to learn the local language. Some people simply don't want to integrate.

    8. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

      Some != all.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    9. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by Raenex · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Get real. Comments that go against the agenda are nuked for any or no reason beyond that they go against the agenda. The standard you're applying is only applied to one side of a position. One thing you can say about Slashdot, your comment may be moderated to the basement by groupthink, but at least it's there for people looking.

    10. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by Maritz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      People who spout "SJW" all over the show rarely demonstrate nuanced thought.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    11. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by Mashiki · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Maybe if you didn't put labels on people to such a staggering degree, and thinking that all wearers of a label you've given them think entirely the same, you'd have fewer problems with people calling out your lazy thought processes. In a single post your argument hinges on all "SJWs" thinking exactly the same, and all "leftists" too. You appear to be terrible at critical thinking. No wonder you are so confused and angry.

      So using their own label that they've defined theselves is a "lazy thought process." Why do I bet that if this was 1989, you'd be right there screaming about the regressive right, and whining that people too stupid and unable to engage in critical thinking to be able to take care of their nutjobs.

      But hey, if you want to learn something then go back and re-read my post. If however you want those people who are the regressive left to continue turning around and pissing all over your values while saying "people are confused and angry" and "simply don't get it." By all means continue, it's not like there aren't some of us who are old enough to have seen the writing on the walls with this type of stuff and are saving you some humiliation. By the by, you're either projecting or a mind reader. Since we know the latter can't exist, you must be the first.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    12. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by Eunuchswear · · Score: 2

      So, you've established that the Daily Mail doesn't have the same standards as the Guardian.

      What a surprise.

      --
      Watch this Heartland Institute video
    13. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by GNious · · Score: 5, Insightful

      (I'm in Belgium)
      When governments and societies take foreigners and group them together geographically, you end up with small enclaves where there's ca no reason or need to learn the national language.
      I can show you places in here in Belgium, where Arabic will help you more than French or Flemish, there are sections in Frankfurt where you might as well speak Turkish, large area in northern Mexico where half the population only speaks german and sections of Spain where no-one speaks anything but UK English.

      Yes, some people have no interest in integrating, but when there's no way to even use the national language, at lot of foreigners end up giving up trying to learn it.

    14. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by FauxPasIII · · Score: 1

      Well... it's a label describing a particular mode of thought and argumentation. If you aren't one of the ones who thinks and debates in the way Mashiki is describing, then he wasn't talking about you.

      --
      25% Funny, 25% Insightful, 25% Informative, 25% Troll
    15. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by silentcoder · · Score: 3, Insightful

      >"Muslims are 'not like us' and we should just accept they will never integrate, says former racial equalities chief Trevor Phillips"

      Replace "Muslims" with "Black people" and you have an exact quote from Hendrik Verwoerd. He was wrong, so is this "authority" you are appealing to now.

      Ironically -even if it was true, why is it an issue ? Why does emigrating have to mean giving up your culture ? As long as you abide by the local laws, why can't you keep your culture ? Why would "not integrating" scare anybody ? I don't recall British folk showing up all over the world ever making any effort to integrate in the countries they showed up in (dominate and steal all the resources yes, integrate - nope). Compared to that, some people living there who have another culture and leaves you alone is frankly not even an inconvenience, let alone a reason to be concerned.

      There are quite a lot of my fellow Afrikaners living in Britain and Australia now. They all still speak Afrikaans. Still have their weekend braais the way *we* do them (which is nothing like a barbeque), hell the import large swaths of our cultural delicacies like Biltong into those countries and are even starting to produce them locally. They sure as hell didn't fully integrate into those societies, in fact, they mostly live together in neighbourhoods where their neighbours speak their home language.
      I don't recall ever seeing anybody post a panicked response about the influx of hundreds of thousands of Afrikaners into those countries - and considering the vast majority of the Afrikaners who left genuinely *are* the worst of the worst our culture has to offer, the hardcore racist fucks who couldn't stand the idea of a black government (and those who left for other reasons - career related and such really are a tiny minority) - they actually deserved scrutiny, far more than some people fleeing for their lives from countries torn apart by wars which the UK helped start.

      So where was your comment then ? The vast majority of all emigrants *ever* has chosen not to integrate and even where some integration happens hardly any has ever FULLY integrated. You know what ? That's okay.

      You don't NEED to push integration, in a generation or two it happens all by itself. You have kids growing up in a culture thats different from the one at home, speaking a language in school other than the one their parents speak - they grow up a lot more integrated, and their kids even more so. The internal culture-clash of imigrant children does the integration for you - no need to force it, no need to even ask for it. Just sit back, relax, have a beer and let it happen automatically like it always has.
      And maybe you'll end up with a few of those rare enclaves where it really doesn't happen - like the small town in Argentina where Afrikaners settled who fled British rule after the war a century ago, or the towns in Southern Brazil that mostly speak German and Italian... and if that happens ? So what ? None of those groups are harming anybody. None of them are affecting the rest of the population in any negative way. Not a single one is intruding on anybody else's right to live by whatever culture THEY prefer... why should you demand the right to dictate the muslim emigrants MUST adopt western culture to live in western countries ?

      You wouldn't give up YOUR heritage so easily, and white folk living in the middle east make no effort to integrate generally, they don't abandon their heritage - why do you think you have a right to demand it of these folk ?

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    16. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by Sique · · Score: 1

      Even that is a claim, that is just a prejudice and not corrobated by any evidence. A hint: "not wanting to be exactly like you" is something very different than "not wanting to integrate".

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    17. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by Alomex · · Score: 1

      ...and you know this how?

    18. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Integration isn't a binary thing. I doubt anyone doesn't integrate at all, not eating any local food, knowing any of the local language, watching any local TV, importing all goods and possessions from their original country etc. Between that and integrating so much they couldn't be distinguished from a native there is a whole spectrum.

      Anyway, is there any evidence that significant numbers don't want to integrate to any significant degree? And what do you consider significantly integrated? Being fluent in the local language, giving up their religion for the local one, finding a job?

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    19. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by TapeCutter · · Score: 2

      Leftists do not tolerate challenging questions, legitimate or otherwise.

      Extremists of ALL political and religious colours abhore dissent, humans are born and raised on a handful of innate moral principles. For example "purity" is expressed on the far right by their puritanical view of sex, on the left it is all about the purity of our food and water. The unpopular and difficult solution for avoiding these mental cages is to try not to attach yourself to firmly to any particular political/religious tribe. It is difficult because it violates the innate morality of "loyalty".

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    20. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Any == too many.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    21. Re: The so-called 'community standards' by johnsmithperson123 · · Score: 1

      I'd say my typical statement: It's not neccessarily leftists. It's whoever is in power. If you have power, you attempt to silence speech of opposition. During earlier times conservatives did the same, now liberals are. If it shifts to another side again they will attempt to silence dissenting speech. It's one of the upsides of a country with politics like a pendulum, speech restrictions can only get so bad before they get better.

    22. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

      So using their own label that they've defined theselves is a "lazy thought process."

      It is when the people you accuse of being evilpaedoterroristcommienazis er I mean SJW don't actually call themselves as such. I'm pretty sure you've called me an SJW before but outside of some exceptionally facetious posts, I have not identified myself as one.

      Why do I bet that if this was 1989, you'd be right there screaming about the regressive right,

      You bet that because you're a nutjob who brands everyone who doesn't agree with you on everything as some evil "other" which has a completely homogeneous though process.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    23. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by Bongo · · Score: 1

      Some fair points, but one quibble. It took more than a generation or two, for integration to happen in South Africa. There's a balance between people living a sort of self imposed segregation, and them wanting to change the country's laws to enforce it. And it isn't about food and music, it is the critical issues like women's rights and gay rights and what kind of education children receive, where the law has to draw the line at something and that law needs to apply to everyone. People demonise Islam, but there is perhaps a little too much with the, no separation of church and state, and a little too much of the literalist readings. And everyone is different as an individual, there's no need to paint everyone with the same brush. And there may be some general patterns, as is the case with all countries which are gradually changing laws and attitudes towards women and gays and so on.

    24. Re: The so-called 'community standards' by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      Contrary to popular opinion among SJWs, all evils in the world are not perpetrated by the United States. There are plenty of other idiots in the world willing to destroy themselves or their neighbors. The Middle East is the perfect example of this.

      Whining about the US or Europe when it comes to the Middle East is a big fat red herring.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    25. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by oldmac31310 · · Score: 1

      Maybe your're commented mades no sense

      --
      http://www.acetonestudio.com
    26. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by oldmac31310 · · Score: 1

      The first I heard of the SJW label nonsense was right here on this site that needs an enema, from the dodgy likes of you Mashiki. I call bullshit. There is not a damn thing wrong with social justice. Note lower case. Labels make fools of us all. you should really stop it now.

      --
      http://www.acetonestudio.com
    27. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by oldmac31310 · · Score: 2

      NSFW!!!

      --
      http://www.acetonestudio.com
    28. Re: The so-called 'community standards' by jedidiah · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Quit blaming us for your own clear inability to get along with each other. You are barbarians stuck in a highly sectarian backwater. If you don't have some brutal tyrant keeping you in line, you start killing each other. Even if you manage something resembling modern democracy, you will immediately start to abuse each other.

      You can't blame the West for the fact that you hate and kill each other. You also can't blame the West for the fact that the only kind of government that works for you is subjugation by a brutal warlord.

      Your humanitarian crisis is all on you.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    29. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by oldmac31310 · · Score: 1

      Listen froth mouth - I work at a leftist publication and have done for a few years. No one here ever uses the acronym SJW. You are just wrong, deluded and have some stupid axe to grind. Chill. Try to be a better person. The world is not really out to get you.

      --
      http://www.acetonestudio.com
    30. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by dywolf · · Score: 1

      you used the language of a hate group to state something untrue.
      of course your post got nuked.
      not insightful, and no sympathy.

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    31. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      Being able to live together in the same appartment bloc with Turks or Germans would be an obvious good start. It's really hard to relate to this stuff if you've never actually been there or don't know anyone that's actually seeing this stuff on the ground.

      And yes, a certain part of it is being willing to assimilate.

      Although it helps if bleeding hearts don't overdo it by refusing to think with their heads.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    32. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by Udom · · Score: 1

      In an article on the middle east I got into trouble for posts which referred to the shared linguistic roots of Arabs and Jews as well as the fact that the biblical story of Noah and the Ark was plagiarized from the Epic of Gilgamesh. My opponent was a Jewish gentleman and the whole exchange was deleted. From that I learned that in the Guardian it's abusive to contradict the Talmud.

    33. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      No, it's just a lazy label like "feminazi" or "cultural Marxist". What it usually indicates is that the person using it is being intellectually lazy.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    34. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Any private enterprise is allowed to deny free speech at their whim. Your choice, as a free individual, is to decide not to contribute to such sites.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    35. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      Except they were already perfectly safe where they came from. They were already in refugee camps in a Muslim country. There was really no reason for them to make a dangerous water crossing and then wander all over a continent with different religious and political values.

      This seems like a problem best dealt closest to "home".

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    36. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by oobayly · · Score: 1

      Would you have accepted it if the AC cited The Independent?

      Have a look at Trevor Phillips' bio - he was a Labour politician, running for Mayor of London. Granted, he wasn't too pally with Red Ken, but he's not exactly Nigel Farage.

    37. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by Eunuchswear · · Score: 1

      I know who Trevor Phillips is.

      Doesn't stop him saying stupid things though.

      (P.S. The original article is from The Times, but since Rupert Murdoch is a dick I can't read it).

      --
      Watch this Heartland Institute video
    38. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by phorm · · Score: 1

      Similar issue in Canada where there are pockets that are vastly dominated by a given (non-local) culture/language. A friend of mine had parents who had been here for decades, but still didn't really speak English because they lived in a "Chinatown" where they could get all their personal needs met. It put a lot of pressure on my friend however, who was the oldest child. As she learned to speak full English in school, she had to deal with parent-teacher interviews and help her parents with legal/tax forms as they couldn't understand the English themselves. It's my personal opinion, but I find that moving to a country and not bothering to learn the official/dominant language, or at least some of the culture is pretty pathetic. Certainly if I moved out-of-country I'd do so for the betterment of myself and my family

      For the record, my wife is an ESL immigrant and agrees with this, as do the majority of our ESL friends. They do like to get together and speak the "mother tongue" and share food etc, but they also integrate with the community-at-large and make a good effort to learn English etc.

    39. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Replace "Muslims" with "Black people" and you have an exact quote from Hendrik Verwoerd. He was wrong, so is this "authority" you are appealing to now.

      He's the former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. That's some influential authority in the UK, and whether we agree with the statement or not, the fact that someone in that position is telling British people that foreigners must be allowed to avoid integration kills any pretense of equality or multiculturalism.

    40. Re: The so-called 'community standards' by silentcoder · · Score: 1

      Au contraire. The very idea of multiculturalism and equality fundamentally depends on not having an expectation of integration. It means letting them be a different culture and being okay with that.

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    41. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by T.E.D. · · Score: 1

      That's interesting.

      I don't know how things work in Europe, but in the USA this has been a complaint traditionally leveled against immigrant communities (we have our Chinatowns, etc). So far, it has never panned out, and second-generation immigrants all ended up learning English. Third generation almost never even know their grandparent's native language. (Which is actually kind of sad).

      People are making the same claims about Hispanic immigrants to the US today, but the last time I saw someone try to study it, they found the same 2nd and 3rd generation effects. Ironically, I went to lunch while composing this with a guy who is a Catholic Deacon, and he (without any prompting from me) described this exact process among the Mexican families he services. The parents have trouble (as any adult does with a new language), but the kids are all fluent English users by the time they've been in school a few years. This is in communities where, due to the sheer numbers, all the current masses have switched to Spanish. So to an English-speaker it looks like "they are taking over", but in fact we are taking over them.

      But perhaps Europe is already so linguistically diverse that things are different there? I don't know. But it seems like at least a possibility that the same thing goes on there as here.

    42. Re: The so-called 'community standards' by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Cultural integration I would posit is a prerequisite for multi-culturalism, as otherwise you merely have multiple cultures.

      But then I think all religionists are stupid so I may not be entirely unbiased here.

    43. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by orgelspieler · · Score: 1

      Let's say you moved somewhere due to war or human rights violations, something you hoped would be a temporary situation. Would you learn what you thought of as a foreign language right away? Or would you put it off since it was just a temporary problem? 5 years later, when it became clear that you weren't ever going home again, would you learn the foreign language then? How long would it take you to learn it, without any proper schooling? Would you give up after a few months of "where is the library" and "my flat is small"? Or would you stick it out? Then how many more years would it take you to learn medical-specific jargon?

    44. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 1

      SPELLIST!!!!!

      --
      No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
    45. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      I don't know anyone who identifies as a SJW. I do know people who identify as leftist, and we don't think all alike.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    46. Re: The so-called 'community standards' by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      I'm not a SJW, but the actions of the US affect me more than actions of any other country, and I have more influence on the actions of the US than on the actions of any other country (admittedly not a lot of influence). Therefore, I'm more interested in evils perpetrated by the US than evils perpetuated by, say, Malawi or Oman.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    47. Re: The so-called 'community standards' by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      So, if leftists ever get into power, they'll likely try to silence dissenting speech. The only credible Presidential candidate I consider a leftist is Bernie.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    48. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Sure. The younger generation will learn the local language. Assimilation takes time, often generations. We're just less patient nowadays, I guess.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    49. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Over in the US, we assimilate Muslims just fine. I don't know why you're having a problem. I'm willing to believe that there are different problems, but they're not because Muslims don't assimilate.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    50. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Look, moron, we have Muslims over on our side of the Atlantic. They seem to assimilate just fine. My Congressman isn't trying to institute sharia law or convert people to Islam. He represents Minnesota's Fifth District just fine.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    51. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Is it normal for people who are perfectly safe to make dangerous water crossings and try to settle in a continent with different religious and political values? If not, there is presumably a reason. I suspect you may be misinformed on the safety and acceptability of Muslim refugee camps.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    52. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      Time to grow up kid and let me help you out. Then again, you do seem to be taking something from their playbook. Unable to dispute anything, and goes right for the insults.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    53. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      It is when the people you accuse of being evilpaedoterroristcommienazis er I mean SJW don't actually call themselves as such. I'm pretty sure you've called me an SJW before but outside of some exceptionally facetious posts, I have not identified myself as one.

      Persecution complex? Who can say, but you seem to have read statements as "omg he's really labeling me." Then again, you haven't actually disproven anything, rather you're simply saying "exceptionally facetious posts" and then whining when I haven't labeled you as anything.

      You bet that because you're a nutjob who brands everyone who doesn't agree with you on everything as some evil "other" which has a completely homogeneous though process.

      So today's left doesn't have problems with the crazies in their midst? You're saying that those kids that are whining about microagressions, crying over people writing Trump2016, are afraid of free speech aren't actually nut jobs. Or is it you need help with basic reading? I can help with the latter if you need it.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    54. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by oobayly · · Score: 1

      Without a doubt there are different problems. Some will argue that the UK has made it too easy for them not to assimilate - can't speak English, have a translator, etc. Some will argue that the problem is with 2nd & 3rd generation British Muslims* - they've rose tinted glasses about "back home", ignoring the fact their parents & grandparents fought tooth and nail to leave the aforementioned "paradise". All the reasons people come up with will have a modicum of truth.

      * It's not just a Muslim issue - an Indian in university (Sikh) got annoyed when I called him English. The conversation went a bit like this:
      Him: I'm Indian
      Me: Oh, when did you move to London?
      H: I've always lived here
      M: So you're English.
      H: No I'm Indian
      M: How long have you lived in India?
      H: Never
      M: Ok then, what passport do you have
      H: British
      M: You're English...

    55. Re:The so-called 'community standards' by ThirdPrize · · Score: 1

      Compared to everyone else, you do.

      --
      I have excellent Karma and I am not afraid to Troll it.
  6. Opportunity missed by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What they failed to do was publish articles written by one gender/race under the alias of the opposing gender/race, serving it to part of the internet and seeing if there is a difference in the number of negative responses. They also didn't track the geographic region of the originating blocked posts. No conclusions can be taken from these numbers besides, "some people on the internet are assholes" which we already knew for a certainty thanks to the youtube comment sections.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:Opportunity missed by swb · · Score: 2

      The gender/race alias thing would be genius.

      It'd be so easy to do online you almost wonder why they haven't done it already, unless they're worried about what theories it might not validate.

    2. Re:Opportunity missed by Microlith · · Score: 1

      I see the dismissal and accusations of cherry picking are here already. The point readily highlighted by their data is that people seek out and shit on people based on race and gender. It's unlikely the A/B testing the GP cited has been done, as it'd be difficult and is somewhat outside the scope of a newspaper.

    3. Re:Opportunity missed by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

      I haven't dismissed their findings, I'm simply saying that any conclusion drawn from this data is premature, aside from the conclusion that some people on the internet are assholes.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    4. Re:Opportunity missed by swb · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Wait, you mean "going undercover" is a new thing that journalists don't know how to do? They never ghostwrite anything or use pseudonyms or otherwise mask their identity? And I'm sure it would be *so hard* to mask an identity on the Internet, I mean, nobody gets away with that. On the Internet, everybody knows you're a dog.

      While it doesn't entirely surprise me that columnists identifiable as specific genders or races might attract more negative comments, it'd be illuminating to have data on how often they write any kind of advocacy journalism or, and if, and to what extent they make their race or gender part of their subject matter.

      My guess is that high visibility blacks and women are highly correlated with either controversial opinions and/or controversial subjects. And that hostile commentary is highly correlated with controversial opinions or subjects.

      It seems less plausible that blacks or women who write in identity free tone about uncontroversial topics will attract identity-focused hostile comments.

    5. Re:Opportunity missed by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      So far as it goes, it seems like a reasonable conclusion to draw. They have found a pretty strong statistical correlation between writers who are female or non-white. If you read some of the analysis, there is some good points that there may be some selection bias going on, particularly as some moderation doesn't appear to follow the Guardian's community standards, but even with that in mind, there's a strong enough signal there to suggest that women and non-whites who contribute to the Guardian are more likely to attract certain kinds of posters.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    6. Re:Opportunity missed by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      That may be the case, but you can't then come out and say it's because they're women and ethnic minorities, which is what the article and the berk who submitted it are trying to imply.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    7. Re:Opportunity missed by Sique · · Score: 1

      No, all the article does is to point out the strong correlation. The "because" is something you read into it. I wonder why you might feel so inclined to conclude that the correlation pointed out in the article is actually a causation.

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    8. Re:Opportunity missed by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I wish they had gone further too, but this does provide solid evidence for a couple of important points.

      1. There is a real gender bias. It's mostly against women, but in a small number of categories it's against men.

      2. This bias may be partially accounted for by the feeling that a predominantly male/female space where the commentator feels safe and comfortable is being "invaded" by the other sex.

      It's also interesting that there seem to be certain trigger words that some people developed a Pavlovian response to. I think that deserves a lot more research.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    9. Re:Opportunity missed by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      I didn't say that it said there was causation. I said it implied it. You can imply things by not saying anything.

      The writer of the article probably knows that most Guardian readers graduated in underwater basket dancing and will form the required conclusion anyway.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    10. Re:Opportunity missed by Sique · · Score: 1
      This is a handwaving argumentation. "Why would someone point out a correlation if he didn't want to hint at a causation?"

      That's your opinion about the article. That's not what the article states. All the article does is saying that they did some data mining in their 70 mio comment database and found some strong correlations, which they list in the article. It's solely you who concluded that the article somehow constructs a causality.

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    11. Re:Opportunity missed by Maritz · · Score: 1

      The writer of the article probably knows that most Guardian readers graduated in underwater basket dancing and will form the required conclusion anyway.

      Laying on the irony thick there. Bias is only bad when it's the wrong kind of bias, eh? lol.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    12. Re:Opportunity missed by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Wait, what is the point you're making here? Trump is a high visibility white guy with controversial opinions and so attracts a lot of identity-focused hostile comments.

      Yes, that's the point I'm making.

      I'm also making the point that high visibility white guys have had controversial opinions forever and it was all considered normal. And blacks and women don't require controversial opinions to draw identity-focused hostile comments. They get them just for existing.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    13. Re:Opportunity missed by TheDarkMaster · · Score: 1

      "It's also interesting that there seem to be certain trigger words that some people developed a Pavlovian response to. I think that deserves a lot more research."

      Gotcha. I find it often. You just need to write certain keywords that quickly someone writes a crazed response. As example in my country if you just type "communism", promptly someone will want to kill you as if we were still in the cold war.

      --
      Religion: The greatest weapon of mass destruction of all time
    14. Re:Opportunity missed by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      On the Internet, everybody knows you're a dog.

      While that is an option, most journalists prefer to have their name attached to their stories because it's how they build up their careers

      It seems less plausible that blacks or women who write in identity free tone about uncontroversial topics will attract identity-focused hostile comments.

      That's kind of the point. People shouldn't have to hide their race or gender to avoid the abuse those attributes seem to attract.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    15. Re:Opportunity missed by Cederic · · Score: 1

      The point readily highlighted by their data is that people seek out and shit on people based on race and gender.

      What utter bullshit. You're jumping to conclusions.

      Here's another hypothesis: Female and ethnic minority Guardian journalists publish more stupidly one-sided and idiotic articles that draw a lot of negative feedback because it's almost impossible to find anything constructive to say about them. The Guardian records any contradiction to those articles as 'abuse' no matter how it's worded. As a result the statistics are skewed.

      If you want evidence, consider how many comments get blocked on any article that supports the myth of a gender pay gap. That's not people seeking out a journalist based on demographic attributes, that's the Guardian readership calling out the terrible journalism being presented to them.

    16. Re:Opportunity missed by Cederic · · Score: 1

      1. There is a real gender bias. It's mostly against women, but in a small number of categories it's against men.

      These statistics prove nothing of the sort.

      They haven't controlled for article content, for article stupidity, for whether the article is a troll or clickbait, for any number of other factors.

      This is because doing that would require some semblance of honesty, integrity and other words equally unsuitable for describing Guardian employees.

    17. Re:Opportunity missed by swb · · Score: 1

      That's kind of the point. People shouldn't have to hide their race or gender to avoid the abuse those attributes seem to attract.

      I agree, but I think we live in an era of such conspicuous identity politics that people who *do* flaunt their identity or take identifiable sides in identity politics will attract hostility. It's less overt racism against them personally than our culture's vehement reaction to identity politics.

      Like I said, there is little hostility towards women or minorities writing boring stories about bond futures or obituaries or other news pieces where the reporting is factual, as free as possible of ideological orientation and where the author isn't making a point of their own specific identity.

    18. Re:Opportunity missed by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

      this does provide solid evidence for a couple of important points.

      1. There is a real gender bias. It's mostly against women, but in a small number of categories it's against men.

      incorrect, you cannot draw these conclusions scientifically from this data. you fail at scientific method.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    19. Re:Opportunity missed by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      They were discussing this on the radio today. A Guardian journalist was explaining that the bias is there on non-controversial articles too. Sports reporting, financial news, that sort of thing.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    20. Re:Opportunity missed by Zaelath · · Score: 1

      As long as you're not confusing this "research" with Science, because it's hardly a double blind study is it? As the GP posits, the internet, cookies, dynamic hosting, etc, all makes a proper study trivially possible by serving the same article with a different author to groups of unaware readers and collecting their comments in isolation to the other groups.

      I had to give up reading The Register because it became a climate denial opinionfest, but before I did I could /always/ tell when I was reading an Andrew Orlowski piece by the rage inspired by his idiocy long before I checked the by-line.

      Maybe there's some selection bias for "controversial" minority journalists by editors? Who knows, certainly not the authors of this "study".

  7. "Community"? Orwellian terminology... by mi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    violation of community standards

    What's with the "community"? There are no "community" standards — the removed messages were deemed offensive by a handful of moderators. Moderators prone to keeping some posts more equal than others and susceptible to manipulation by evil regimes.

    Calling them "community" is redefining terms...

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    1. Re:"Community"? Orwellian terminology... by starless · · Score: 4, Interesting

      For what it's worth, my comments to the Guardian are these days are now in the category of: "Your comments are currently being pre-moderated".
      This is because I disagreed (in a fairly reasonable way - certainly not aggressive and not obscene) with the remarks of a British reporter, based in New York, who was making remarks about the situation in my home town of Baltimore. In that case it appeared that the reporter himself may well have been the person removing the negative comments. The fraction of comments removed from all posters for that article was a huge fraction of all those posted. However the Brit reporter (who may not even have visited B'more ) was apparently very sensitive to criticism - even if it wasn't that different from the criticism he was dealing out to some of the locals. One factor may be the "knee-jerk" anti-Americanism of certain segments of British society - who are surprised to receive similar criticisms back themselves.

    2. Re:"Community"? Orwellian terminology... by joboss · · Score: 1

      The problem is with "community" is they are actually the ones defining it. You can't avoid that to some extent but it's no excuse for things such as doublespeak or going to extremes.

      In my experience with this kind of thing I have always been one of the most reluctant to use the ban hammer or some form of authority. Most things others would moderate I say let the community deal with it. There are a lot of exceptions and different rules for different contexts. One might be the relative volume of such submissions which would raise the bar somewhat respectfully. The Guardian is not falling upon those standards. I would describe it as more devious in its approach.

    3. Re:"Community"? Orwellian terminology... by petes_PoV · · Score: 2
      It also happens that the standards applied to comments are stricter than those applied to the articles, themselves.

      Authors can and do get away with expressing outrageous opinions, not just ones that are factually incorrect, but offensive remarks, sexist and on rare occasions statements implying approval of physical abuse. If they gad appeared in the comments, they would have been removed. But moderation is not applied to their authors.

      --
      politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
    4. Re:"Community"? Orwellian terminology... by Maritz · · Score: 1

      Lots of assertions. Fuck all to back them up. Keep on asserting, bud.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    5. Re:"Community"? Orwellian terminology... by Eunuchswear · · Score: 1

      More detail might be nice.

      Did you contact the readers editor?

      --
      Watch this Heartland Institute video
    6. Re:"Community"? Orwellian terminology... by adhdengineer · · Score: 1

      Such as the latest "opinion" piece by frankie bolye where he pretty much called the senior tory leadership serial killers.

  8. More sites should use Slashcode by Etcetera · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Or at least... a Slashcode-like commenting, moderation, and meta-moderation system.

    For all we complain about it here, and for all the trolling that occurs, the Slashdot moderation system seems to have passed the test of time reasonably enough.

    Perhaps it's a little like that infamous definition of Democracy: It's the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried.

    1. Re:More sites should use Slashcode by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      The problem with Slashdot is it's a first-out-of-the-gate echo chamber. If something makes +3 it will likely get to +5. If something is at 1 or less it is likely to be ignored or downmodded regardless of content. Sometimes both happen in the same thread by two people making the same point.

      Lets try an experiment. At the time of my writing this the parent is at +3 and my post will be at 0. Will my hypothesis hold after 12 hours?

    2. Re:More sites should use Slashcode by guises · · Score: 1

      Slashcode has its problems, and the first-post thing is one of them, but it's a problem shared by every single user-moderated commenting system that I've seen. It's also something that can be addressed, it's not a fundamental problem with the system. Slashcode has the best user moderation system currently running, and what's disappointing about that it the fact that it's so old. Why doesn't it have more imitators?

      You're "experiment" though - that's just bullshit.

    3. Re:More sites should use Slashcode by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Except that that only applies to people reading with mod filters on.

      Unless this is some sort of game for you where you think you don't win the golden ticket if people don't think your posts are great.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    4. Re:More sites should use Slashcode by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      He didn't say the idea was ridiculous, he said bullshit. He put a word in quotations to demean. Intentional word usage has meaning. Intentional actions have meaning.

      These are standard social rules. Here, let me give you an example. [wikipedia.org] Of course I have done nothing to offend with your reasoning.

      You are attempting to demonstrate a "standard social rule" which you believe exists. You are expecting me to have an emotional reaction to your link, but I didn't. It's because I can separate criticism of my ideas from criticism of my person.

      My response to criticism of my ideas is asking for reasoning and evidence. I recognize that I am human. I recognize that I am fallible. I recognize that some of my ideas are likely "bullshit." If I want to be a better person, I should not have a strong emotional attachment to my ideas. I should not equate my ideas with my worth as a human being. Others need the freedom to criticize my ideas even harshly so. They should never be afraid of telling me one of my ideas are stupid, ridiculous, or bullshit.

      The "standard social rule" does exist, but that's only because intellectual immaturity exists. As people mature intellectually, they don't have as great a need to be "right" about things. They don't have the same emotional attachment to their ideas.

    5. Re:More sites should use Slashcode by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Slashdot's only real weakness is that people, especially groups of like-minded people, can use the -1 mods to try to silence people they disagree with. While I think having down-mods is a good thing generally, once a post gets a single +1 all the -1s should only count for -0.1 each.

      Controversial != troll.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    6. Re:More sites should use Slashcode by Maritz · · Score: 1

      Why don't you defend your position instead of spewing hollow insults?

      Why doesn't it have more imitators?

      Because slashdot is an echo chamber. Few people outside slashdot thinks the moderation system in use here is worth using.

      More than 1 person disagrees = groupthink/echo chamber. Yeah. Looks more like fucking whinging. Browse at -1. Done.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    7. Re:More sites should use Slashcode by rsmith-mac · · Score: 1

      Slashdot's only real weakness is that people, especially groups of like-minded people, can use the -1 mods to try to silence people they disagree with.

      Agreed. The system does very well with technology and science articles, as there's typically little argument over the facts themselves. However politics articles are highly prone to groupthink, with libertarian-leaning comments tending to do better than anything else (and heaven help the Trump supporter!).

    8. Re:More sites should use Slashcode by Etcetera · · Score: 1

      Do you really propose that thirty modpoints should be needed to offset a handful of mistaken moderators?

      Well... One benefit of the Slash moderating system is that moderations are limited to +5 or -1. It's never *too* hard to reverse a bad moderation. And, ideally, meta-moderation helps.

      In other systems, something that 1000 people have upvoted is basically impossible to correct. Slash is a bit more democratic and normalized in that way.

  9. Re:Moderation is a tool for abuse by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 5, Informative

    People who hold views that are contrary to the majority are targets for abuse. Moderation promotes groupthink. Take Slashdot for example.

    You don't understand Slashdot's moderation method? And no one is blocked - ever. browse at a lower mod level, and accept that not everyone will agree with you.

    You might even be exhibiting a little bit of Guardianesque ideas, in that you don't seem to want anyone to disagree with you.

    We've had a number of posters here lately that are pissed that someone replies, and disagrees with them. Life just doesn't work that way, and Slashdot has come up with the best way to exist with the tragedy of the commons ever.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  10. Men vs. Women by TroII · · Score: 1

    The more we're compared to one other, the less anyone will ever be happy. For a site where most readers understand that pitting minorities vs. whites or middle class vs. poor is how the wealthy elites keep the unwashed masses distracted from their exploits, Slashdot sure seems determined to futher all of this gender-based fomentation.

  11. Re:Moderation is a tool for abuse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It's true that Slashdot doesn't delete posts (or very few of them, anyway), but there is a fair amount of groupthink here, which is greatly exacerbated by moderators eager to promote those posts they agree with and bury the ones they don't - even the ones that are reasonably well thought out.

    This is not the site I'd go to for a "cross section" of thought on topics such as women in tech, immigration and tech, copyright enforcement, digital surveillance by the government, new products from Microsoft and Sony, TPP and trade deals, digital rights management. Even if someone tried to post a contrarian opinion, the only posts that would be visible to the casual visitor would be the (many) blistering "refutations" of what they had to say.

  12. Re:Moderation is a tool for abuse by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    I don't agree. And please don't say "Guardianesque" again, ever.

    Ohhh, okay.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  13. Diversity hires by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It looks like The Guardian just got a first-hand lesson on the flaws of "diversity". When allow racism and sexism to dictate your hiring policy, you'll inevitably get people who wouldn't have been hired on their merit alone.

    I wonder how much of the "abuse" was of the "you suck" variety. Maybe The Guardian needs to ask the UN to censor their critics as well.

  14. Same at Scientific American by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Same experience on Scientific American. No violation of their own stated policies. Not even mentioned global warming.
    Comment deleted.
    I complained and their reply was that I lost my "privilege" to post.
    I cancelled the renewal of my subscription and unsubscribed from any of their mailing lists.
    Absolutely disgraceful.

    1. Re: Same at Scientific American by johnsmithperson123 · · Score: 1

      American Scientist is the professional magazine. I still read SA but I ignore anything they say about global warming, they seem to be obsessed with it.

  15. Re:LOL! The Guardian invites open civil discourse. by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    well, they block anything that mentions race, so there's not a chance of having a civil discourse

    Your notion of civil discourse runs the gamut from A to A.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  16. Re:Moderation is a tool for abuse by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

    Slashdot allows you to read at -1, so there's a way around its moderation. What you write certainly applies to sites like the Guardian, but it cannot be said to apply to Slashdot to the same degree at all.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  17. Actual debate, or controlled opposition? by sethstorm · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Unlike The Guardian, Slashdot doesn't answer to political grievance groups (and has only removed one thing for Scientology).

    I'm not sure that this is debate as much as it is a justification.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  18. Re:Moderation is a tool for abuse by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Since you can turn off all moderation filtering (which I do, the site is quite boring if you read at higher mod levels), it's up to you as the reader. That seems to me to be the best approach. In other words, short of a few rather abusive posters (like APK when he goes off his meds), moderation only exists if you, the reader, decides it does.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  19. Re:Let's talk /.'s easily cheated one instead... a by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

    And the one poster who frequently has his posts outright removed from Slashdot appears, to demonstrate that there is a level of insane trolling that not even the /. editors will tolerate.

    Do you ever actually post anywhere else?

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  20. Growing free speech problem by joboss · · Score: 1

    | bigoted
    I tend to find in a lot of "communities" that this is used not simply mean those who come along and say something like "let kill and mutilate all the niknaks because of some big lie or misrepresented fact" or generally pointless meaningful things. People see it as a right to impose speech restrictions to impose their own morality and beliefs on others.

    | But xenophobia, racism, sexism and homophobia were all seen regularly. Take for example, some of the comments left below an article on the mass drownings of migrant men, women and children in the Mediterranean: “These people contribute nothing to the countries they enter”; “The more corpses floating in the sea, the better”; “LET THEM ALL DROWN!”

    I thought I might be paranoid but the Guardian proves me right further on in the article. Lets take a look at what they consider bigoted and vile:

    * “These people contribute nothing to the countries they enter”

    This should not be moderated and in fact opens healthy debate on that particular subject. If there's anything wrong with it it is that is is not well articulated. Obviously they don't literally contribute nothing but they might not make a net contribution or might not contribute enough.

    * “The more corpses floating in the sea, the better”

    Well this one doesn't add a great deal and is somewhat absurd so could be prune worthy if going for high quality comments. Otherwise it's nothing more than an way of saying "I really, really, really do not care." and that's a problem because the Guardian more than anything wants people to care. You can't have examples of people not caring going unpunished. All you have here is an article saying "YOU MUST CARE ABOUT THIS SO SO MUCH" and people responding with "Frankly, I couldn't give a damn." What you really have here is a sample of a comment that doesn't support the article. The comment is being removed because it's not in line with what the article wants you to think, feel, etc. I wonder if they did a poll on "do you support this article" if they would moderate the votes saying no for being bigoted.

    * “LET THEM ALL DROWN!”

    This is borderline. All it's saying is, "I'm apathetic." like the previous. It's very similar to the previous but less absurd. It's not really a serious discussion type comment so it could be pruned for that reason. It's harsh as hell but it's not saying the same as "Lets drown them." although the Guardian would no doubt want you to think that way. Although the Guardian would also like you to think that they are being forced onto boats there's no reason to believe that the sheer majority of them are making a wilful decision to try to come here.

    Let analysis their conclusions:

    * articles written by women attract more abuse and dismissive trolling than those written by men, regardless of what the article is about.

    I've almost never paid attention to the author of a news story. Once in a blue moon I might check or accidentally notice. If I'm representative of the common case then it might be because of what or how women right. I have no doubt this comment on the guardian would have me branded as a bigot and gagged accordingly. I find this article of theirs provocative so perhaps there's a higher chance it's written by a woman? It looks like it's half and half so not far off the mark there. I'd like to see what happens if they don't show the reporter's name.

    Not one of these comments is actually bigoted in any sense that is meaningful. At best they simply aren't saying enough. Here's what I think and that's all, not why. Removing them for that is fine. Removing them because if you don't agree with the article you must be bigoted then you have a problem of the opinion you are writing about becoming a delusion.

    There is also a possibility that moderators are spending more effort on articles written by members of groups they deem "vulnerable". Other possibilitie

    1. Re:Growing free speech problem by Maritz · · Score: 1

      So: “These people contribute nothing to the countries they enter”; “The more corpses floating in the sea, the better”; “LET THEM ALL DROWN!”

      These all suggest 'apathy' to you.

      Riiiiiiight.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  21. The gender bit is misleading by ScentCone · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's not about the gender of the author, it's about the agenda of the author. Regardless, most flamebait/troll posts are aimed at other comments anyway - at least that's apparent in watching this play out in other papers' comment areas. Also, the straight reporting or analysis vs. op-ed will make a huge difference.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    1. Re:The gender bit is misleading by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1, Insightful

      It's not about the gender of the author, it's about the agenda of the author.

      How do you figure that? It sounds like you are saying female authors troll their readers more.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:The gender bit is misleading by radio4fan · · Score: 2

      How do you figure that? It sounds like you are saying female authors troll their readers more.

      Some do in the Guardian. Jessica Valenti, for example, is a notorious troll.

      In TFA she is quoted as saying:

      'Imagine going to work every day and walking through a gauntlet of 100 people saying "You're stupid", "You're terrible", "You suck", "I can't believe you get paid for this". It's a terrible way to go to work'

      Hundreds of people say this, because it's true.

    3. Re:The gender bit is misleading by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      but also a lot of what is written about her is bullshit.

      I think this is the wrong way around. You meant to say, " a lot of what she writes is bullshit".

    4. Re:The gender bit is misleading by radio4fan · · Score: 2

      Ah, the old "1 million lemmings can't be wrong!" argument. Okay.

      Had I said "Hundreds of people say this, so it's true", you could have sensibly made that comment. But I didn't.

      She deliberately provokes aggressive reactions with her pointlessly inflammatory articles: she is a classic troll.

      Then she has the gall to complain when she gets the reaction she wants. The Guardian used to be leagues better than to publish the kind of drivel she writes for them: it's on the intellectual level of the Daily Mail.

      I assume they only publish it for the page views.

    5. Re:The gender bit is misleading by RedK · · Score: 1

      She was just mocking the MRA and anti-feminist movement, but of course they took the bait and immediately claimed she was a misandrist.

      Sounds like you when you claim Slashdotters are Misogynists because they disagree with a woman. Never mind the fact that the woman can be wrong (you know that's actually a thing right ? That woman can in fact be wrong on some things, sometimes ? Just checking that you know the difference between "hatred" and "Disagreement with supporting evidence"...). The point is, "mocking" people will cause those people to react to you. That is exactly the description of Trolling.

      So you say "she doesn't troll!" and then proceed to give an example where she trolls. Well good job on proving the point of the person you were replying to. Jessica Valenti is a no-talent Hack that threats The Guardian like her personal Turmblr blog.

      --
      "Not to mention all the idiots who use words like boxen."
      Anonymous Coward on Monday August 04, @06:49PM
  22. Re:Moderation is a tool for abuse by Pseudonym · · Score: 4, Informative

    [...] but there is a fair amount of groupthink here, [...]

    It's less of a problem than many people who are part of the groupthink clusters seem to think. My observation is that with a few exceptions, any comment which falls into groupthink territory tends to have its "+1, Agree" upvotes and "-1, Disagree" downvotes balanced out. Such comments never get to either -1 or +5.

    It's rare that all groupthink clusters align on Slashdot to the point where a non-troll comment gets moderated to -1. I think the only time it's ever happened to me was when I advocated Deep Space 9.

    --
    sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
  23. Huge flaws in their analysis by petes_PoV · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The newspaper has an article that explains a little of how they analysed their data (Postgres, cloud, Perl). However it does appear that they have "valued what they've got", rather than getting what they value.

    So, for example, they cite that 8 or their 10 most "abused" contributors were women (4 white, 4 not). But since the newspaper has a great deal of coverage of "women's" issues including a lot of highly opinionated articles about feminism -- but no corresponding articles, or sections, concerning men's issues their coverage is neither balanced, nor able to show how much abuse their "men's" writers would get, since they don't have any.

    They also counted all "moderated" comments (ones that do not meet their community standards) as being abusive and they assume that the abuse is directed against the author. However, they remove comments that are off-topic and ones that make personal comments about other commentators. So a comment that was removed because it insulted a commentator who was attacking the article (i.e. the insulter was supporting the author), would be counted as abuse against that author. They do not give reasons for removing comments and only have the single classification.

    Finally, The Guardian admits that it does not moderate either consistently: applying different levels of rigor depending on the topic, nor does it moderate all articles to the same extent. It also does not open all it's articles up to comments.

    In all, while their analysis does point to there being online abuse - they reckon they delete 2% of articles, from the 70 million submitted so far, the results are patchy, inconsistent and cherry-picked. It would never pass a peer review and seems to have been published more to push the newspaper's own agenda, rather than as an authoritative work to highlight a problem (they don't say if the level of "abuse" is rising or falling since they started in 1999).

    --
    politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
    1. Re:Huge flaws in their analysis by walshy007 · · Score: 1

      Peoples lack of attention to details like you've described seem to be a considerable problem.

      I find commonly the responses from going into detail into the problems with articles like this are "YOU HATE WOMEN" and other things along those lines.

      I've yet to find a way to get people actually interested in the details, rather than spewing forth knee-jerk hatred.

    2. Re:Huge flaws in their analysis by the_humeister · · Score: 2

      The newspaper has an article that explains a little of how they analysed their data (Postgres, cloud, Perl).

      I think I found the problem!

    3. Re:Huge flaws in their analysis by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The Guardian seems to be trying to set a high standard for comments in order to present itself as a place for serious, insightful debate. They obviously haven't seen Slashdot, which generates insight by tolerating pretty much anything within the bounds of the law.

      They also counted all "moderated" comments (ones that do not meet their community standards) as being abusive and they assume that the abuse is directed against the author.

      That's not quite right. They aren't saying those comments are abuse, they are just saying that they were moderated (e.g. for being off-topic). Certain topics and certain genders tends to have more comments moderated, meaning there is either more abuse or more off-topic stuff or more spam or some combination of lot.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    4. Re:Huge flaws in their analysis by T.E.D. · · Score: 2

      of highly opinionated articles about feminism -- but no corresponding articles, or sections, concerning men's issues their coverage is neither balanced, nor able to show how much abuse their "men's" writers would get, since they don't have any.

      That would be a total false equivalence. If group A runs most everything and group B does not, then arguing for more rights and privileges for group B is a qualitatively different thing than arguing for more rights for group A. You could only fairly make that comparison if everything was both now and historically equivalent for both groups.

      I don't think this should be a difficult concept. You don't see people get nearly as angry at kids punching adults in public as they do at adults punching kids. The power imbalance between the two makes them totally different circumstances. Everyone understands this.

      To argue differently when the different groups happen to be racial and/or gender based is to imply that there is no power imbalance between the two. That's plain horseshit.

  24. Re:Let's talk /.'s easily cheated one instead... a by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

    And APK's other trick, to pose as his own defender. Do you think we're all idiots?

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  25. The "dark side" of Guardian comments? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Those comments that they showcased in the article were in many cases perfectly legitimate debate.

    The comment was:
    “A 12-year-old boy, out at night, waving a BB gun? What sort of parent allows that? What happened is the product of a fucked up
    society/community/culture/upbringing. I'm sorry to say, but often black people are their own worst enemies.”

    You answered allow. We thought differently.
    This was removed for racism (“black people are their own worst enemy”; “fucked up community/culture” etc).

    Yeah, nice going Guardian. Don't allow a healthy discussion on black culture, just silence any controversial or unpopular opinions. Slashdot may have its groupthink, but comments are almost never deleted. A certain rarity on the net in this day and age of 'safe spaces'.

    The only comment I would have deleted was the very last one, "“stupid ugly woman writes stupid ugly steaming pile of dog-shite”, because it was just an insult without saying anything to back it up.

  26. Re:Moderation is a tool for abuse by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Funny

    Shut up, APK

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  27. Re:Moderation is a tool for abuse by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

    If you get a combination of +1s and -1s on the same comment on a contentious topic, you can reasonably infer what happened.

    --
    sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
  28. Broad definition of abuse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Possibly the best part is that they consider "whataboutery" to be abuse. So if a female author writes an article about the terrible incidence of suicide among young women, and how they need to be given special assistance, and a commenter says "uh ... men commit suicide about three times as often as women - why aren't you concerned about them?", that's classified as abuse.

    1. Re:Broad definition of abuse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's a comment that highlights the bias in the original article. To illustrate this, let's consider an example in which the usual political spectrum is reversed:

      Let's say that some right-wing publication were to publish an article about the terrible incidence of police shooting white people, and how we needed special support for whites and training for police not to shoot them. If a commenter were to say "uh ... black people get shot by police about three times as often as white people - why aren't you concerned about them?", would you still consider this a vacuous, trolling comment?

  29. Re:Let's talk /.'s easily cheated one instead... a by goose-incarnated · · Score: 1

    And APK's other trick, to pose as his own defender. Do you think we're all idiots?

    And yet another of his tricks - hijacking my account to post this:

    When has APK's posts ever been removed from slashdot?

    --
    I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
  30. Which brings up the obvious question by Krishnoid · · Score: 1

    Articles written by women tended to get the most blocked comments, especially if they were in male-writer dominated sections like sports and technology, while fashion was one of the few areas where men got more abuse.

    How did the articles on sports/technology fashion fare?

  31. Censoring comments, why? by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

    Why are they censoring comments? That's just comments for chrissake! Comments reflect people's opinion, all people, and ensures the reader to get a fair sample of what people think. So the Guardian may censor that comment, that I would have seen as interesting, and may keep this one that I may feel too politically-correct. It's a website, keep all comments! Add a "comment flagged but you may read it here at your own risk" button, or do a slashdot-like moderation (for newbies, slashdot keeps all comments, yes).

    --
    Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    1. Re:Censoring comments, why? by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      Why are they censoring comments? That's just comments for chrissake!

      If the comments are so worthless that they're junimportant "just comments", then why bother having them at all?

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    2. Re:Censoring comments, why? by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      What may be "unimportant" to you may be of more importance to somebody else - since the frontier between un/acceptable is very relative, subjective and unfair, it's better to keep all comments (hide the offending ones, but allow the user to show them).

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
  32. Re:Let's talk /.'s easily cheated one instead... a by goose-incarnated · · Score: 1

    Where'd you post that in this article before the date of your post now? You didn't. I checked your post history today https://slashdot.org/~goose-in... You panicked and are now caught sockpuppeting MightyMartian after apk you out a fool https://news.slashdot.org/comm... and you do what he says trolls do using sockpuppets https://news.slashdot.org/comm... You have proven apk right about what goes on here. You're busted MightyMartian/goose incarnated (or whatever many sockpuppet names you use).

    You missed the sarcasm in "And yet another one of his tricks - hijacking my account"? So, by me challenging MightMartian's assertion (basically defending APK), you feel I *am* him? Do you even read?

    --
    I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
  33. Re:Moderation is a tool for abuse by Maritz · · Score: 1

    If you believe in punishing criminals like those who use ransomware to blackmail users, you'll be constantly told what a fool you are, and probably be modded down as flamebait.

    Don't buy it. As full of gimps as slashdot is, I don't think there's a conspiracy in favour of ransomware operators. I think that's a pile of bullshit tbh.

    --
    I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  34. The Guardian's 8 test comments by davide+marney · · Score: 1

    Which comment would you block? Play the moderator role and take our quiz to see how your decisions compare to those of Guardian moderators

    In an opinion piece about what makes one a "feminazi": “Funny how so many journalists are female, and how many are feminists! A disproportionate number pollute journalism. Jusrt shows that men DO tend to do 'harder' jobs than keyboard bashing, while the technology that men designed and built is used to provide these harpies with a medium from which to spout their biased, sexist, hateful misandry.” CENSORED. This comment serves only to derail the conversation, and diminish the (female) writer. In tone and content it adds nothing of value to the conversation. Plus it is sexist, which our guidelines make clear won’t be tolerated.

    In a fashion piece: "So blue jeans are 'finally back'? This might be shocking for sheltered London-centric Guardian types but out in the real world, people have been wearing blue jeans quite happily for years." ALLOWED. This is a mild case of dismissive trolling (no, this isn't news: it is a fashion piece, about fashion trends) but it was not blocked because although dismissive, it is more a criticism of the article than the author.

    In an article about protests over the death of Eric Garner: “A 12-year-old boy, out at night, waving a BB gun? What sort of parent allows that? What happened is the product of a fucked up society/community/culture/upbringing. I'm sorry to say, but often black people are their own worst enemies.” CENSORED. This was removed for racism (“black people are their own worst enemy”; “fucked up community/culture” etc).

    In an opinion piece about antisemitic conspiracy theories "I don’t think that pointing out the disproportional political influence Jews have in most western societies can be called a conspiracy. But branding people that point it out and labelling them anti-Semitic seems to me part of a conspiracy." CENSORED. This was removed for antisemitism: claiming Jewish people have disproportional influence in politics is an antisemitic trope with a long history. The comment also seems to suggest antisemtism doesn't really exist other than as a way to silence people.

    In an article about Hillary Clinton and female voters: “THERE IS NO GENDER PAY GAP! Just more feminist crap portraying women as victims and men as perpetrators. Even worse is the lie we live in a rape culture with one in five women raped over a lifetime. Sure if you re-define what constitutes a rape including a drunk girl gives consent but regrets it next day.” CENSORED. This is a classic case of “whataboutery” and – specifically – “What about the men?”. In tone and content it adds nothing of value, and derails the conversation. Plus it is sexist, which our guidelines make clear won’t be tolerated.

    In an article about Jose Mourinho and Manchester United: “The Guardian, once a standard bearer of quality journalism now contains football journalists so in love with Mourinho it makes me sad. This is just the latest in an incredible long campaign for the despicable one to join the club of Matt Busby and Jimmy Murphy. I am astonished that the editor of the paper allows this dross to be published. You are a disgrace to the profession.” CENSORED. This was deleted because it is both author abuse and goes beyond reasonable criticism of the piece to smear both the Guardian and the journalist.

    In an opinion piece about the Oscars and LGBT people: “Oh dear. Can I award you the Oscar for the clunkiest metaphor in a wrong-headed Oscar-themed click-bait article?” ALLOWED. This is a mild case of author abuse and dismissive trolling. It was not blocked because it is more criticism of the article than the author. “Dismissive trolling” is usually blocked – comments like “Calm down, dear” or “On your hobby horse again, I see” which mock or otherwise dismiss the author or

    --
    "We receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us" - Faraday
    1. Re:The Guardian's 8 test comments by david_thornley · · Score: 2

      The Guardian decisions seem quite reasonable to me. The censored comments are generally offensive, frequently assume the author's pet position with no backing, and really don't add much to the discussion.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  35. Oh the irony by oobayly · · Score: 1

    "The Guardian Publishes Comment Abuse Stats, Invites Debate On Moderation" - by disabling commenting on the article in the link. I'm a regular on the Grauniad's website, and their censoring of comments has become ridiculous. I've have comments removed because I highlighted an author's hypocrisy, use of logical fallacies and general intellectual dishonesty.

  36. Ex-Guardian reader by Stephen+Chadfield · · Score: 1

    I recently gave up visiting the Guardian website after being an avid reader since my student days in early 80s. The reason for this was an increase in click-bait articles combined with heavy handed and capricious moderators in the comments section.

  37. Guardian Censorship by Stephen+Chadfield · · Score: 2

    My comment that people take screenshots of their Guardian comments and tweet them with the hashtag "#censoredbycif" was itself removed by the Guardian's moderators.

    http://www.chadfield.com/2015/...

    1. Re:Guardian Censorship by oobayly · · Score: 1

      When I get off my arse, I want to write a script that scrapes comments, and if it sees they've been removed, flag the cached record as such. That way I can see what's been deleted. It would be pretty easy to then tweet them automagically. In fact, that might be my task before the pub quiz tonight.

    2. Re:Guardian Censorship by oobayly · · Score: 1

      So, I cobbled some highly inefficient javascript together with nodejs and have left it parsing comments for the following article. The censored comments are fairly innocuous. You're apparently not allowed to cite Breitbart articles either.

  38. Must...not...say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Guardianesque guardianesque GUARDIANESQUE GuArDiAnEsQuE gUaRdIaNeSqUe GUAAAAAAAARDIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAANEEESQE!!!!11!!1

  39. Re:Moderation is a tool for abuse by thegarbz · · Score: 2

    Abuse and blocking are not the same things. Take your comment for example. You're suggesting that someone needs to browse at a lower than default moderation level. So someone needs to go out of their way to see comments that don't conform to the standard group think, and that can be an "abuse" of the moderation system to hide dissenting views.

    Slashdot moderation is like democracy. The worst form of government except for all the others. It's not broken (you can see alternate views quite frequently), it's not perfect (look at any AGW or nuclear power story to only see one side of the comments by default), but I'll be dammed if I've ever seen a better system.

  40. Re:Moderation is a tool for abuse by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2

    Slashdot moderation is like democracy. The worst form of government except for all the others. It's not broken (you can see alternate views quite frequently), it's not perfect (look at any AGW or nuclear power story to only see one side of the comments by default), but I'll be dammed if I've ever seen a better system.

    Having been around the intertoobz for a long time, I've seen that slashdot has avoided the tragedy of the commons - and that is incredible in itself. The world is filled with all manner of people, some great, some who just want to watch the world burn (why oh why did one of the most insightful statements in the universe have to come from a Batman movie?)

    But now we might have some 11 year old with an attitude on the same forum as a Nobel laureate. On the exact same footing. And over the years, in usenet groups and other places, I've seen that almost invariably, the 11 year old with the attitude wins. The Nobel laureate goes away.

    The best example I have.

    I've seen it happen in one group, a rec.radio.amateur.policy group, where a group of nuts with severe psycho-sexual problems utterly destroyed the group. One of the kooks ended up flooding the group with hundreds of "with the punce gotchya" (I have no idea) posts every day.

    Well meaning people will try to correct that problem. So a moderated usenet group was formed for Amateur radio. But the moderation was so heavy handed that people just stopped posting at all. The kooks were gone, along with everyone else. Then in an effort to generate some traffic, summary links to blogs were added. Turns out to not be popular, but if you try to complain, it will get blocked, because believe it or not, complaints about the group are not allowed on the group.

    By the way, they really cleaned up Dodge. Too bad it's a ghost town, with no active users.

    This is what awaits people who try to make disagreement go away by blocking it. First some "I agree" posts, then nothing. Then no one reading. Congratulations folks, you won.

    And that's the magic of Slashdot. It has managed to keep vibrant discussion alive without squashing trolls and flamers. Some folks will complain of course, there are people who don't like others disagreeing with them, and get really pissed if someone mods them down. And I've even done that on a few occasions, getting marked as flamebait for posting a link or somesuch. But all that means is someone with mod points disagrees with me - so be it.

    It's not fashionable to say anything positive about Slashdot, but their moderation system has nailed it.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  41. Re:LOL! The Guardian invites open civil discourse. by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    yours isn't the first example of a left-wing person suggesting that the commenter above them is stupid.

    I'm doing more than just suggesting, my friend.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  42. Re:LOL! The Guardian invites open civil discourse. by Cederic · · Score: 2

    Thus proving your own ignorance and prejudice. There was nothing stupid about the comment to which you replied. It was accurate and made a salient point.

  43. I Would Have Recommended Meta-Moderation by sampson7 · · Score: 1

    A decade or so ago, I would have recommended that The Guardian use meta-moderation. It seemed like such a panacea to have people of good will separate the wheat from the chafe. But meta-moderation (rather like democracy, now that I think about it) is only as good as the intellectual honesty of the people involved. Unfortunately, intellectual honesty seems to get sold pretty cheap. Instead, people are more interested in moderating to drive the outcome, rather than promote healthy debate. It's a little sad, actually, but I think the trend is going to have to be paid, professional moderators, ideally with some level of independence from the underlying news publication -- perhaps under the Ombudsman or OpEd model.

  44. Re:Moderation is a tool for abuse by Cederic · · Score: 1

    I'll get modded down now, for going 'I agree' but..

    The moderation system on Slashdot is indeed excellent. It's not perfect, it can be gamed, but generally it's a community led flexible and effective system that anybody can easily ignore through a change in their settings.

    Even the trolls get modded up if they're accidentally insightful or funny.

    Then again, I've modded 'troll' a comment on another story because an anonymous poster basically posted, "It's all the fault of [racial group]" with no justification, no relevance and no value. The Guardian would support me, but they'd block it entirely and they'd also block a post that added, "..because [reason], as described [reference]" whereas on Slashdot that will be evaluated and considered as a potentially interesting contribution, whether it's a popular or politically acceptable viewpoint or not.

    Slashdot moderation and metamoderation rocks. It's single-handedly kept the site alive by allowing continued interesting discussion, and that's the real draw of the site.

  45. Re:Moderation is a tool for abuse by WallyL · · Score: 1

    Whoosh!

  46. Re:LOL! The Guardian invites open civil discourse. by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    Did you actually take the "test" to see what you would block vs what they blocked? They blocked things that were critical of anything, including a comment talking about how the Guardian has really gone downhill in their sports reporting as they seem to like some player so much who is just ok. Their idea of things that need to be blocked are so far skewed, that they could easily be talking about how everywhere should be a safe space.

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    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  47. Re:So 'abusive' others compliment my work by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    You do realize that when you go off the handle like this, it just proves his point, right?

    He said nothing negative about hosts file usage, or your software, he merely pointed out that you have a tendency to be rather abusive, which you have to admit is rather true of your posting history. If you have issues with what he said, perhaps you should look deep down and reconsider the path of your life.

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    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  48. Re:Moderation is a tool for abuse by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    I liked DS9, but Voyager....

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    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  49. Re:LOL! Your post history shows you trolling me by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    So, according to you, every one of those people supports YOU, not just using hosts files, but you personally. That is not what I read out of any of those quotes, not a single one supported you in your relentless harassment campaign against all detractors. Abusive is the harassment, the posting repeatedly on every single thing someone posts, the constant offtopic trolling of anyone who dares to mention a flaw in your grand design. That is harassment and abuse, not anything any of us has said against you.

    My patented "days later"? What kind of crack are you on, and where can I get it? I read the story "days later" because I don't read on the weekend, which you already knew.

    Funny that you feel the need to bring another comment of mine into the conversation, now who is the stalking troll, who is being abusive? No, I am not a weasel, no I don't have problems finding women, and no I am not abusive. What I lack is time, as I spend most of it raising two kids.

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    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  50. Re:Facts support me in users quotes by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    So, not a single quote that supports YOU, just a bunch of quotes supporting the use of hosts files, or your host file solution. Just as I said, thank you for proving me right.

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    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  51. Re:Who said this Coren22? by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    You really have problems reading don't you? Being a single father means time commitments. I don't have the time to go out and find women, or hang out in bars, or go out on dates. That is part of being a single parent, which you would know if you ever even had kids. Not all of us have the free time to troll Slashdot day and night like you do, some of us sacrifice our time for other's benefit.

    I have no problems with women, I have problems with time. But you wouldn't know about any of that, as you weren't even married ever, were you?

    You try to use things I say against me like I will somehow care about these things, what you don't seem to get is that you will never get under my skin with these things. If they were really so important to me, I wouldn't be posting them on the Internet.

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    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  52. Re:Users supporting my work supports ME by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    Um, try learning English some time, I can't make anything out of this word salad you have posted.

    You are still hilarious though, tilting against those windmills as always. Keep up the good work Don Quixote.

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    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  53. Re:You project you care in your response by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    Keep it up troll, you are just making more of a fool out of yourself.

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    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  54. Re:You project you care in your response by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    Impressive, so I trolled YOU all day Friday while I was in bed sick?

    I'm not the butthurt one, you still are posting the same refuted arguments over and over like you are making some kind of point, it is HILARIOUS.

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    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  55. Re:Butthurt Coren22's 'refutation' quoted (lol) by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    More efforts to justify the trust we should all have in your software, yet you are afraid of your code getting "stolen" so won't publish it. Perhaps you should worry more about getting back on your meds, it appears they have stopped being effective again.

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    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?