The President Versus the Mods

The President Versus the Mods

By Michael Wolraich on Fri, 05/29/2020 - 8:30am |

As a teen in the early 2000s, I spent a lot of time on online message boards. They were funny, chaotic places where my fellow nerds and I spent hours arguing about everything under the sun: sports, music, video games, the latest episode of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

No matter the topic, there was one universal experience: On every board, some divisive issue would inevitably erupt into conflict, and an angry group of users — often led by a single, vocal one who felt they were being treated unfairly — would lead a rebellion against the “mods,” the moderators who had the privileges to delete posts, ban unruly users, and set the rules of the board.

Sometimes, the mods quelled the fight or struck a compromise, and brought the board back into harmony. Other times, the angry users broke off and started their own forum, or the board simply became so intolerable that everyone left.

URL:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/29/technology/trump-twitter.html

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Ah the good old days...

by Michael Wolraich on Fri, 05/29/2020 - 8:31am

You *are* the young pup, aren't you...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serdar_Argic

by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 05/29/2020 - 8:53am

There's big big money involved this time, tho. A lot on the line. So I am most curious to watch how The Twitter proceeds. There is evidence that the way they have nonsensically moderated up to this point (seen enough examples myself, people cut off for really silly reasons) doesn't bode well. But now hopefully more than minimum wage moderating types have been engaged to handle the problem. We'll see.

by artappraiser on Fri, 05/29/2020 - 2:46pm

Brings to mind even something family members of differing views have mentioned to me: the New York Times itself does a superb job moderating comments on articles! It's easy to find bitchin from all sides about who they hire for op-eds and how they handle them, but you rarely see anything about how reader comments are handled except marveling at how they differ in quality from like, Facebook comments.

by artappraiser on Fri, 05/29/2020 - 4:30pm

Ahem, and the fine superfine moderation at Ye Ole Daggeblogge. [saved ya the trouble - knew it was on the tip of your lippes]

by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 05/29/2020 - 4:34pm

Maybe your new career in new world could be herding cats!

by artappraiser on Fri, 05/29/2020 - 4:45pm

I used to have the job of taking out the bags of dissected lab cats - better at this than you imagine.

[in a just world, this comment would win the internet for the day, but hélas...]

by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 05/29/2020 - 4:49pm

NYTimes cybersecurity reporter:

Huh. Just had my third conversation in two days with an employee at FB who admires the position Twitter has taken, and is disappointed in Zuckerberg's response. Wonder if this will come up at the all-hands meeting today.
— Sheera Frenkel (@sheeraf) May 29, 2020

by artappraiser on Fri, 05/29/2020 - 4:43pm

Pretty sure all-hands don't have a "no like" option" either. Maybe a frowny smiley?

by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 05/29/2020 - 4:54pm

Here's what employees are saying inside Facebook today about the company's decision not to take action against Trump's threatening posts: "History will not judge us kindly."https://t.co/vXVwULz8T3 pic.twitter.com/xU9SyrS448
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) May 29, 2020

by artappraiser on Fri, 05/29/2020 - 9:45pm

Wow. @therickwilson at his best. Cough up the $35 for an annual subscription to the Beast. Worth it in spades. https://t.co/t2JnnEeCuG via @thedailybeast
— Coffee Me (@RealScottSharp) May 30, 2020

could at least read the first 3 graphs w/o subscription

by artappraiser on Fri, 05/29/2020 - 11:46pm

SAD! —Trump is desperate to punish Big Tech but has no good way to do it

Trump's executive order shows how little power the president has over Silicon Valley.

By TIMOTHY B. LEE AND KATE COX @ ArsTechinca.com- 5/29/2020, 7:55 AM

by artappraiser on Sat, 05/30/2020 - 9:32pm

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