Why trolls won in 2016

gizmodo.com

14 points·MilnerRoute··5 comments

I believe the trolls should win, because it is better than the alternative. Specifically, the alternative where all public discourse on the internet is governed by well-intentioned but iron-fisted and unaccountable entities.

That's not to say that moderated forums are inherently bad, but I think they should be like hacker news: geared towards specific interests with moderation in place to ensure things don't get too far off track. Facebook et al are not that; they are far too public in the sense of being "for the people" rather than being "for the person with certain specialized interests."

Of course its possible that the trolls fail because people online become too sophisticated to be susceptible to their tactics, but I don't think this is a realistic alternative when talking about Joe Public.

Yet another article that conflates "protecting user" with wanting censorship of people who are on the right politically. Same with the fake news, and all wrapped up in any anti corporation narrative. Yawn.

What these trolls are showing is that everyone can lose. In some instances people lost their jobs for expressing wholly moderate views. Anything right of the extreme left is supposedly trolling, anything left of the extreme right is supposedly infringing on rights. Society has become a parody of itself.

“Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.” -- B. Franklin

They can't even get Milo Yiannopoulos' name right, you're asking them way too much.

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