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This paper is trash. On defining hate speech, "we focus on textual content that is distinctively characteristic of these forums", so, yes, banning specific subreddits resulted in less of that content in the overall Reddit. Did it make Reddit a more friendly place? Probably not as tensions have never been higher.

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> Did it make Reddit a more friendly place? Probably not as tensions have never been higher.

Did allowing hate speech make 8chan/Voat friendlier? There are plenty of unfriendly communities that lack overt racism/fatphobia, but I can't think of any friendly ones that do.

Yes. People weren't trying to censor each other so they were less pissed off.

8chan was a sacrificial site to distract the most fervent internet crusaders. Worked pretty well, I believe it still exists in some form, but it is out of peoples mind.

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