Reddit bans a top 10 subreddit with over 150k subscribers | Hacker News Reader

Reddit bans a top 10 subreddit with over 150k subscribers

reddit.com

30 pointsDanBlake29 comments

So... top management at reddit literally allows loud and vocal groups to deny even the right to exist for other groups whose opinions they don't agree with. I don't condone hating on fat people (or any group of people), but all these fat-haters were doing was expressing their own opinions amongst themselves on a containment sub. And if top execs at reddit can express their hostility for a certain group of people (in this case fat-haters) by straight-up kicking them out for intolerance or harassment, I don't see how they're any more tolerant or less harassing than the very people they just banned.

The likely impetus for the ban was harassment of the Imgur administrators, which is a different story than "free speech."

> but all these fat-haters were doing was expressing their own opinions amongst themselves on a containment sub.

Untrue. They were posting stolen, posted elsewhere, and original pictures of obese people just to make fun of them. That was the entire sub's purpose, to victimise and bully people. You could go on that sub any day of the week for months and that was their entire front page, pictures of fat people and hateful comments.

How long do you honestly think a sub would last if it took random pictures of black people and then everyone posted hateful comments? Even a week?

There's absolutely nothing "contained" about what they were doing. Plus they would invade other subs and threads, brigading those with differing opinions to themselves.

>How long do you honestly think a sub would last if it took random pictures of black people and then everyone posted hateful comments?

Uh, there is one and is still up: https://www.reddit.com/r/coontown

That isn't an argument for defence of FatPeopleHate. It is just an argument for Reddit to remove more subs. That's fine, I'd happily see that sub go the way of FPH.

>They were posting stolen

Just because the people who originally uploaded those pictures don't understand how the internet works doesn't make the images stolen.

The stated justification is not about the nastiness of the opinions expressed on that subreddit, but about their behavior in terms of harassing other members. There are plenty of equally odious subs that are still up and running.

If you read the thread, between all the torches and pitchforks there are a fair number of comments supporting that viewpoint, for instance:

"I love how everyone is saying no, but they actually have [harassed users in other subreddits]. Most recently someone took pics from a /r/keto post and not only posted to FPH, but also got in a huge argument with a lot of members there. That's not the only time I've seen FPH in the wild." http://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/39bpam/removi...

"I got this PM from a /r/fatpeoplehate mod for having a BMI of 25.7" (vicious and obscene content elided) http://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/39bpam/removi...

"Some of you may know that we are currently under a comment brigade from many users from /r/fatpeoplehate due to the current top post of the subreddit, linked here." http://np.reddit.com/r/GrandTheftAutoV/comments/35rp8l/a_mes...

I am not even remotely shocked or surprised its FPH that got the axe. I won't shed any tears for them. Still, its a bit concerning.

If you were planning an ideological cleansing, wouldn't your first target be something that no one wants to defend?

Of course, often, ideological cleanses aren't even planned. They just happen organically as advocates and those in power become incapable of separating their ideology from common principles.

This comes off at fake to me. Yeah they're removing 5 harassing subreddits like /r/FatPeopleHate but they're leaving arguably worse subreddits, like /r/CoonTown/, up? This feels like they just kinda picked a few subreddits people have seen to make examples of them and hope it makes advertisers more comfortable.

>This feels like they just kinda picked a few subreddits people have seen to make examples of them and hope it makes advertisers more comfortable.

Hello, Cpt. Obvious. Same reason why TwoX was put on default lists even though TwoX community strongly were opposing that.

Yes, this comment is more inline with what's going on. It has little to do with protecting people from harassment, it's about trying to make reddit more appealing for advertisers and imgur more appealing for a buyer.

It's really messed up that they banned /r/fatpeoplehate. There are so many fucked up subreddits that aren't banned, and that directly target individuals.

/r/coontown /r/shitredditsays /r/rapingwomen /r/killingwomen /r/CuteFemaleCorpses

And the list goes on and on...

No surprise here. Anyone who thought that reddit allowed all legal content has definitely not been paying attention. They are tightening their rules, though I still don't quite get how the gore dedicated subs are still allowed (especially the ones dedicated to gore involving children).

Huh. Weren't they trumpeting transparency in their value statement where they prepped the userbase for banning subs a few weeks/months ago? I wish they had the courage to voice their reasoning behind killing those subs, rather than the bland corporate statement they issued.

This is GREAT news. I'm all for freedom of speech but that "fatpeoplehate" sub-Reddit's only purpose was to victimise, bully, and harass people. They'd literally take people's Facebook pictures, Reddit postings, or go out and snap pictures of overweight (and often disabled) people just to bully them.

I don't care how you feel about obese people, this type of thing is unacceptable. I don't care what justification you use (race, sexual orientation, dress style, hair color, etc) it is unacceptable across the board. You don't have to be fat to see that this is wrong, you just need to have basic empathy.

PS - I've spent a LOT less time on Reddit as a direct result of how toxic the community has become. Hopefully this will roll that back if just temporarily.

>I'm all for freedom of speech but

Hint: this is a good sign you aren't.

"I'm all for freedom of speech, but that obscene material just has to go."

"I'm all for freedom of speech, but that blasphemous material just has to go."

"I'm all for freedom of speech, but that sexist material just has to go."

Freedom of speech doesn't extend to other's rights being infringed. Bullying, harassment, and abuse aren't covered under freedom of speech.

Your examples don't apply. It would be more akin to:

"I'm all for freedom of speech, why can't I shout racist expletives at black strangers in the street?"

"I'm all for freedom of speech, why can't I send people abusive messages online?"

"I'm all for freedom of speech, I should be allowed to take photos of people going about their daily business, then encourage a bunch of my friends to be abusive towards that person."

Do you think it is ok to walk down the street and shout abuse at people? If not, then why it is ok online? Or is it only ok when thousands of people shout abuse at one individual rather than one on one abuse?

> "I'm all for freedom of speech, why can't I shout racist expletives at black strangers in the street?"

What right of others' does that infringe?

In general I recommend Ken White's writings on hate speech and the 1st amendment: http://popehat.com/2015/05/19/how-to-spot-and-critique-censo...

But anyway, none of this of course applies to the reddit example since reddit is a private entity which can do as it sees fit.

There's no right not to be offended

You are confusing 'OK' with 'has the right'. I do believe people have such a right.

Who on earth joins a subreddit called /r/FatPeopleHate?

The same people who make fat jokes. Which encompasses a lot of people since few people are sympathetic towards a group of people whom by-and-large are at fault for their weight problems.

Most fat people are at fault. Many aren't. Even some of those who are don't play the victim or blame others.

So some fat people may deserve scorn, but a whole lot don't.

>who by-and-large

I didn't say that all were, I said most are. You're agreeing with me. If you're going to be pedantic make sure you're actually attacking what I said and not a strawman you set up.

A small minority of obese people have a glandular problem. Some are from childhood obesity and/or have a hormonal imbalance that affects metabolism. My sympathies go to those people; but most fat people are fat because they have poor diets and live sedentary lifestyles and so many of them pull the gland/hormone/not-my-fault card that the legitimate cases are ignored. You can blame lazy fat people for the perceived "delegitimization" of those (legitimate) excuses.

Think of it as 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf'. The more people who claim it is outside of their control, who are lying, when someone finally makes the claim and it is true - they are ignored - because of the liars.

Sorry for the late reply.

I'm just saying I don't think most fat people act the victim based on my observations, I think you're overstating the amount that do.

Hm? I don't think I made any claim that 'most fat people act the victim", only that the ones that do ruin it for everyone else because the large majority of the ones who make excuses are lying . If there wasn't some significant number of people who make these excuses - there wouldn't be jokes around the concept.

I think there's a case of miscommunication somewhere. I'm not saying most fat people are lying - but that most fat people who are making excuses are lying. Most fat people I know own up that it's their poor diet/lack of exercise/love of food that is the reason they are fat. However most people claiming that it is their genetics are typically lying. Which is why we have tasteless jokes around the idea. [0].

Quick disclaimer: an excuse can be legitimate and someone "making excuses" could have a legitimate excuse. Some do, but most people who attempt to use those excuses are lying. That is my claim and is what I recognize to be the majority opinion and the majority result.

[0] Tasteless joke http://i.imgur.com/dl09rDa.png

Yeah, I just don't observe that many people keeping their genetics in the fridge like that woman. Just from the fat people I meet, I've heard very few pull the victim card. I think it's overblown how many fat people do act like that, not a "significant number" in my opinion. Maybe it depends on the place/culture, but I don't see it

I've been seeing a lot of speculation that the actions of the new regime are in preparation for a reddit IPO. How much truth there is in that I do not know.

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