Hacker News Reader

Comment by furicane | Hacker News Reader

I wouldn't label the algorithm as anti-porn. I'd label it "how to lose user base and drive the company to a hole" algorithm. It's not likely that it detects actual porn, it's basically failing miserably and the result is abandonment. That's what you get when you want to be PC and yet another "me too, I do cool stuff too" company. There are lessons to be learned here, and for that - thank you Tumblr :)

View on HN

> That's what you get when you want to be PC

I'd hardly consider this "trying to be PC".

https://i.imgur.com/cgGx4JR.png

This is more about bowing down to America's backwards views on sex and nudity, most likely in order to appease advertisers and/or Apple.

I can't imagine the advertisers being too hot on literal nazism and white supremacism, though. At least I hope not.

It seems to me that boards are way more sensitive on female breasts then on white supremacism.

Well, you wouldn’t think so, but a lot of the anger on Tumblr the past few days has been that they’re destroying major communities (more than just NSFW; they deleted everything tagged with “chronic pain”, for goodness sake, and how is that relevant?), but leaving all the Nazis alone.

Deleting "chronic pain" posts makes sense if Tumblr is trying to eliminate drug-related posts with as much cleverness and grace as the porn purge. (Chronic is uncommon slang for marijuana.)

Chronic pain is also closely link with opiod abuse.

> and/or Apple

Apple has nothing to do with this. Tumblr was removed from the app store specifically because of child porn; plus, if the anonymous sources are to be believed, Tumblr have been working on this for >6 months, predating the app store snafu.

> That's what you get when you want to be PC

I don't understand this statement. Tumblr's user base, at least the portion who disagree with the site operators on this, are usually the ones accused of being “politically correct”?

I think the statement meant the company is trying to enforce PC, starting with porn, to the detriment of the existing userbase.

It's as dumb a move as you can possibly make; I don't know what the decisionmakers behind were smoking, but it must have been something strong.

I know what they meant, I'm confused at the accusation of it being politically correct.

You're not confused, and you felt the irony in my post. I wrote it's trying to be PC, and I didn't touch base upon what PC actually means - it's a broad term, different in everyone's eyes. Yes, Tumblr is bowing down to someone's standards, I called that PC, you are bothered by that statement - let's agree we disagree but you got the big picture and that's what matters.

That's fair, tumblr is very much being politically correct in that sense. I'm just so used to it being a right-wing insult against basically anything leftist.

Politics wakes strange bedfellows. There is no single coherent definition of acceptable behavior. All corners raise hell for what they consider unnacceptable. PC isn't exclusively left-wing.

... Wait, what do you think PC _means_?

I'm not sure anyone knows what PC means anymore.

It's beige, got a Turbo button in front, and keyboard connector in the back. Wait...wrong decade?

I mean, it's been pretty much the same if you ignore all of the people going "LMAO IM AN ATTACK HELICOPTER" and the like whenever anyone even mentions a social issue

That is a weak strawman. There is absolutely legit debate on the subject.

The origins are pretty clear: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_correctness

However lately, those on one side of the political spectrum in America have co-opted it to paint the other side as overly sensitive/weak etc. muddying it's original intent, often using "concern trolling" to rile up debate.

Examples: Sexual harassment, blackface

Reply on news.ycombinator.com