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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."

20 of 308 comments (clear)

  1. First post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Unless everyone is commenting using Gab or Dissenter ...

    1. Re:First post by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sorry to burst your bubble, but I am not that convinced. Lies sell if they're presented louder and more often than reality. And since people concerned with the truth usually have real jobs that keep them busy, what you get to hear the most is the loudmouths that don't but need a scapegoat to pretend it's not because they're pathetic losers but because the Illuminati and Teh Elitez are keeping them down.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  2. 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 Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Gab is basically a haven for the extreme right wing who have been cut off from traditional platforms like Twitter. The comments on anything mainstream (even main stream conservative like Fox News) will be foaming at the mouth insanity which won't tell you anything aside from how the people who want to bring back the Holocaust need to start with themselves.

    3. Re:Good potential by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is unlikely. What it's more likely to do is mean that the comments on the Gab version of the forum will reflect the clientelle of Gab.

      Imagine, for the sake of argument, this wasn't Gab's project, but Slashdot's. All of a sudden you'd get comments comparing things to systemd, complaints about the MAFIAAAA with relation to copyrights, and so on. Does this mean that the New York Times is censoring comments about copyright and has some hard-on for systemd?

      No, it doesn't.

      Now look at the type of people who currently use Gab. Are they representative of the nation as a whole? Do you think you'll be able to tell what kind of content gets censored from, say, Breitbart or the Wall Street Journal by comparing the comments sections to Gab's?

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    4. 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.

    5. Re:Good potential by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Google already tried this with a product called "Sidewiki". It failed because few people bothered to install the add-on, and because the comments were unmoderated and unfiltered and sorted chronologically they were a toxic mixture of spam and trolling. Useful discourse was impossible.

      So pretty much like the main Gab site really. All the people booted off Twitter concentrated in one place. The best you can say about it is that it strongly supports free speech, but you don't go there for the quality of the content.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  3. Truly history repeats itself by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Any of you old enough to remember VPlaces?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Places_Chat

    It was exactly as the summary describes, except a chatroom instead of a comment section.

    1. Re: Truly history repeats itself by Virtual_Raider · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'm well old enough, but never heard of it. On its face isn't a bad idea, and I even agree with the stated reasons. But most of the current audience of the originating site have zero interest in open discussion. They want to censor opposing opinions as much as the "tech giants" by shouting down and booing (and doxing) their pet dislikes. I guess if it keeps them off the main comment sections they may become a bit more readable...

      --
      +Raider of the lost BBS
  4. That's interesting... by Crash+Dummy+Redux · · Score: 3, Interesting

    YouTube wants to turn off the comment sections on children videos because they attract child predators. All those displaced child predators can now go to Gab to comment on those videos. Unless, of course, Gab's TOS doesn't allow child predators to do that.

    1. Re:That's interesting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      news flash:
      bad people will do bad things by any means they can

  5. Gab, the reichtard supremacist infowars cult site? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yeah we sure need to pay attention to them trying to put unfiltered comments on everything on the internet, what a great fucking {SLUR} {SLUR} {THREAT OF VIOLENCE} the fucking {SLUR} {CONSPIRACY THEORY} {SLUR}'s will have then!

    You {SLUR} {SLUR} {EXPLITIVE} eater.

  6. Re:Wrest control from the tech giants by magarity · · Score: 4, Insightful

    and put it in the hands of the trolls. Great idea! I can't wait to see the result...

    No need to wait. Browse this site at -1 and you'll get the idea pretty quick.

  7. What's old is new again! by jlv · · Score: 3, Funny

    What's old is new again! This is the 4th or 10th iteration of something like this.

  8. Re:Good potential - TO ID NAZI COWARDS FOR LATER by Bryansix · · Score: 3, Informative

    Gab doesn't filter who registers there. It isn't a "Insert any description" platform. It is simply an OPEN platform.

  9. They need to step up their naming game! by ToTheStars · · Score: 4, Funny

    Come on, using an actual word? Real tech start-ups make creative (and trademarkable) misspellings by dropping vowels and stuff...I would take them much more seriously if they called it "Dissentr".

  10. We've seen this before... by Dwedit · · Score: 3, Interesting

    We've seen extensions letting you comment on any webpage before. The obvious downside is that you need to inform a third party of what URL you are visiting in order to fetch the comments.

    So it's basically spying on users, and it would be very hard to implement this in a way that does not spy.

  11. Re:Good potential - TO ID NAZI COWARDS FOR LATER by Bryansix · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's been cultivated as a free speech platform. They don't control who registers and posts except to ban people for committing actual crimes. People have been deplatformed due to speech off of the platforms they were kicked off of. There are many documented cases of this. What Gab attracts in the user base isn't directly influenced by anything Gab has said or done except to state that they are for free speech.

  12. Re:The only way this works is if people trust Gab. by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Informative

    Gab has proven not to censor things so far and taken a lot of heat for it.

    Gab has its own speech rules, and they have banned users over certain speech. For example, no doxxing, child porn, revenge porn, credible threats, spam, or selling drugs or weapons.

    So see, there are always limits. There is no freedom that exists without limits and/or consequences. We can discuss where to draw the line, but there is always a line. If someone tells you that there is such a thing as an "absolute freedom", they're full of shit.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.