Orlando Shooting Response Shows Reddit Can't Be the ‘Front Page of the Internet'

The answer is to talk about it. We live in an ugly world. There will be ugly speech related to that ugly.

While it's tempting to push all that to the side, doing so works like Disneyland does. It's a facade, unreal.

Do this enough and denial will bump up against reality.

That is often more ugly than that which got suppressed.

I won't defend the substance or lack of it until this speech. No need.

However, those who believe they have answers, or better, need to take it right to the people, or they are actually doing more harm than good.

This is about norms. Those who do speak contribute very strongly to norms. Get it yet?

When we respond with law, due to speech issues, we start a cycle of bad law, or egregious law and that will be checked by an increase in people acting out.

Norms have almost as much strength in regulating our behavior as laws do. Ignore them at our mutual peril.

First of all, the very idea of a "front page of the Internet" is just silly. The Internet doesn't work like that - it's not a magazine.

Furthermore, nothing is being "drowned out". People who want meaty, insightful discussion about events will find it, and people who want to engage in internal-reddit-drama will find that.

If there's a problem, it's the ratio of people who want meaty, insightful discussion on important events, to people who prefer to engage in meta navel-gazing / internal-reddit-drama / etc. And honestly, I have no idea how to change that.

This has just been increasing over the years. They are quickly reaching their 'Digg moment' and users are seeking a non-extreme alternative. Unfortunately the early alt-reddits caught all the fph and /b/ teir posters reddit pushed out early (looking at you Voat) and have a terrible reputation thanks in part to being more free. Its a bit of a catch-22, and a HUGE opprotunity for the right players to move in.

Full disclosure:

I am moderating a sub that is not doing message control with removals and banning.

Norms are used instead. It's effective, and the stronger user community results in far fewer moderation activities being required.

Pressure to confirm runs high. Users are seeking a real dialog, not some sanitized, Disneyland thing.

The escalation of internal drama is a clear artifact of the wrong tools being used for a necessary job.