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Gab Wants To Add a Comments Section To Everything On the Internet (cnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the tussle-continues dept.

Okian Warrior writes: Free speech social network Gab has launched a new comments platform, Dissenter, which allows users to make comments on every single website on the Internet without fear of censorship or banning. The Dissenter platform, which integrates with Gab as either a website or a browser extension, allows users to comment on any web page in the world, with the ability to upvote, downvote, and reply to other comments.

"A free, open-source utility that allows people to dissent from orthodoxy and express what they are really thinking, without fear of reprisal, is essential in order to wrest control of the Internet and public discourse from Silicon Valley tech giants," said Gab founder Andrew Torba. "Gab.com and dissenter.com lead the way in keeping the Internet free. All people are welcome to use our products to express themselves freely." One example of recent comment censorship was review website Rotten Tomatoes' removal of comments for unreleased movies this week, which the review website claimed was due to "trolling."

3 of 308 comments (clear)

  1. Good potential by onyxruby · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The interesting thing will be to compare the comments left via the extension and those left directly on the website. It could be a good way of exposing just how prevalent censorship has become in the modern town square.

    1. Re:Good potential by aitikin · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It could be a good way of exposing just how prevalent censorship has become in the modern town square.

      I don't think it would. As, based on my understanding of the tool, one would have to be using "Dissenter" in order to view the comments on it, while anyone can view the comments directly on the website, many people will never see the "Dissenter" comments.

      I foresee it being more of a situation where one side will primarily post publicly and then the other side would post on "Dissenter" and it turns into a twisted echo chamber...kind of like Facebook.

      --
      "Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
    2. Re:Good potential by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Possibly true, but not all things are political. I know of a particular situation on an old game (EverQuest) where the company is known for blatant, over the top censorship and sock-puppeting. An alternative, well known forum like this would be welcome. Just last week they did a mass ban and lockdown on anyone who disagreed with their particular "rebranding" of a long-awaited, but ultimately bizarrely out of touch pair of servers. After spending two weeks grappling with all the rants and negative feedback, they just started locking things down and banning, while issuing a very slight but inconsequential modification (and changing their words).

      It is quite welcome to have contrasting points of view as up front as possible, quite often companies take a giant shit on something you are paying good money for, and try to silence all opposition. Sure, it undoubtedly will involve a lot of racism, trolling, off-topic posts and namecalling, so some form of meta moderation will be needed to squelch people who just cannot control themselves.