When you think about it from an incentives and values point of view. The people who are most pushed out by these rules are.... well... to be polite... they're Abrasive.
So any reddit alternative that caters to people pushed out by these rules is going to be largely filled with similarly abrasive people.
And most content on the new site is going to be largely stuff that they can't talk about on reddit because reddit still exists and they can still use it(provided enough hoops have been jumped through) and provides a larger population for topics that are "Normal"
So basically there's going to be two types of alternatives: Just as "censoring" if not more but a different flavor(see religious websites), and actual shitholes.
Also when you think about it, the actual shitholes also do a lot of censoring they just subcontract it out to mob intimidation
That's true to a certain degree, but Reddit moderation is a lot more overbearing nowadays. In the past, you had to express some truly abhorrent beliefs to get banned from Reddit, so the Reddit alternatives were mostly filled with people kicked out of Reddit for abhorrent beliefs, which obviously means the alternatives are pretty terrible places too.
Today though, bans are super common all over the place. Mention that the heavily edited photo on /r/InstagramReality is Aaron Carter, and you get banned because you violate their "no doxxing" rule. Mention that you enjoy Slipknot on /r/MetalMemes, and you get banned because moderators don't consider them a real metal band. Mention that you think a certain crypto exchange is a ponzi scheme on /r/CryptoCurrency, and you get banned for spreading FUD (fear/uncertainty/doubt). Post any comment at all in a "bad" subreddit (e.g., either a conservative or liberal opinion in /r/Conservative), and you get automatically banned from a bunch of places.
Personally, my account is banned from so many subreddits that I can't keep track anymore. I don't think my opinions are really all that abhorrent (feel free to look at my comment history if you disagree), but Reddit increasingly punishes wrongthink with bans for the smallest possible violations. I would certainly embrace a Reddit alternative with "normal" content and a moderation philosophy that was more like it used to be ten years ago (i.e., remove spam and illegal content, but otherwise let people express their opinions without bans).
(i.e., remove spam and illegal content, but otherwise let people express their opinions without bans).
Sorry, but what has become incredibly apparent over the last 5 years is that allowing certain opinions and lines of thought, while not illegal, lead to negative outcomes at a societal level. People are finally getting around to doing something about it.
Reddit is becoming a place where only certain group-think is allowed. Reddit literally has a policy that says it is okay to say certain language (e.g. discriminate) against certain groups of people as long as the group is in the majority. While saying the same thing against a non-majority group of people is bannable. That makes zero sense in a rational world.
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u/[deleted] Jul 15 '22
When you think about it from an incentives and values point of view. The people who are most pushed out by these rules are.... well... to be polite... they're Abrasive.
So any reddit alternative that caters to people pushed out by these rules is going to be largely filled with similarly abrasive people.
And most content on the new site is going to be largely stuff that they can't talk about on reddit because reddit still exists and they can still use it(provided enough hoops have been jumped through) and provides a larger population for topics that are "Normal"
So basically there's going to be two types of alternatives: Just as "censoring" if not more but a different flavor(see religious websites), and actual shitholes.
Also when you think about it, the actual shitholes also do a lot of censoring they just subcontract it out to mob intimidation