# Reddit banned all "QAnon" subs today



## Xzi (Sep 13, 2018)

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/406344-reddit-bans-qanon-subreddit

Thoughts/opinions?  IMO it's been a long time coming.  I'd rarely wander over to that cesspool but when I did it was all about inciting violence, "researching" child pornography, and an extremely disturbing cult-like mentality.  It's hard to tell exactly how many of the people there were being sincere, but there were plenty who would estrange themselves from their families and then post about it.  All over an inexplicable belief in some internet rando shitting out open-ended conspiracy theories.  Doesn't really seem worth it, especially now.


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## TotalInsanity4 (Sep 13, 2018)

So uh

I know that my location says "under a rock," but what's "QAnon"?


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## Veho (Sep 13, 2018)

TotalInsanity4 said:


> So uh
> 
> I know that my location says "under a rock," but what's "QAnon"?




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon



> QAnon (/kjuːəˈnɒn/) is a conspiracy theory
> [...]
> QAnon adherents believe that Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, George Soros, and others are planning a coup while simultaneously involved as members of an international child sex trafficking ring. According to this idea, the Mueller investigation is actually a countercoup led by Donald Trump, who pretended to collude with Russia in order to hire Robert Mueller to secretly investigate the Democrats. Other beliefs are that the Rothschild family are the leaders of a satanic cult, and that certain Hollywood stars are pedophiles.


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## TotalInsanity4 (Sep 13, 2018)

OH! So like, completely sane and rational people, alright /s


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## nando (Sep 13, 2018)

they should be put in prison


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## KingVamp (Sep 13, 2018)

I sometimes accidentally end up in r/greatawakening. Didn't pay attention to it that much, but from what I remember, it was just more conspiracy theories nonsense. I didn't know how bad it was. Unfortunately, some people are going to claim it was censorship. In fact, just a quick glance at that site comments, people are taking about it. As if companies aren't allowed to moderate their sites anymore, especially when their rules are broken constantly. Let alone if the content isn't outright breaking the law.


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## Xzi (Sep 13, 2018)

TotalInsanity4 said:


> OH! So like, completely sane and rational people, alright /s


Yes, totally.  A couple weeks back "Q" essentially told his groupies that the NSA was no more and Barack Obama was in Guantanamo, they immediately believed it without questioning.  When Obama was on TV for McCain's funeral service, they made excuses like "it's just CGI" or "he's a clone."

Edit: It's absolutely hilarious until you remember these people can vote.


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## AkikoKumagara (Sep 13, 2018)

People biting into (false) conspiracies and propaganda hook, line, and sinker. It's embarrassing, honestly.


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## Attacker3 (Sep 13, 2018)

Pretty disgusting how reddit is banning a lot of different subreddits recently. Heavy blow to free speech, but I'm totally fine with it. They're allowed to do it, and once they start getting ban happy, they're allowed to fail as well.


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## TotalInsanity4 (Sep 13, 2018)

Attacker3 said:


> Pretty disgusting how reddit is banning a lot of different subreddits recently. Heavy blow to free speech, but I'm totally fine with it. They're allowed to do it, and once they start getting ban happy, they're allowed to fail as well.


They're not gonna suddenly go under just because they've finally had enough of extreme fringe conspiracy groups intentionally spreading false information, for the same reason that Twitter won't fail for putting Alex Jones in time-out


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## Attacker3 (Sep 13, 2018)

TotalInsanity4 said:


> They're not gonna suddenly go under just because they've finally had enough of extreme fringe conspiracy groups intentionally spreading false information, for the same reason that Twitter won't fail for putting Alex Jones in time-out


I think you are misinformed on what is happening. Look at Banout2018. Series of people trying to cleanse the site of anything that breaks Reddit's vauge rules. They're planning to go for The_Donald next, and other large subreddits. I never said they were suddenly going to go under, and I don't know why you put those words into my mouth.


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## TotalInsanity4 (Sep 13, 2018)

Attacker3 said:


> I think you are misinformed on what is happening. Look at Banout2018. Series of people trying to cleanse the site of anything that breaks Reddit's vauge rules. They're planning to go for The_Donald next, and other large subreddits. I never said they were suddenly going to go under, and I don't know why you put those words into my mouth.





Attacker3 said:


> and once they start getting ban happy, they're allowed to fail as well.


I've seen some pretty extreme stuff on r/the_donald as well, I'm quite frankly surprised that that one isn't already gone tbh. I'm all for the free dispersal of ideas, but if those ideas are blatant falsehoods or done in a way that encourages harm to another group or individual then there also need to be repercussions, which are well within the right of Reddit to dish out and other than the typical attention-hogging whining that the recipients virtually always give I don't see it having a perceptible long-term negative effect on the site as a whole


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## Attacker3 (Sep 13, 2018)

TotalInsanity4 said:


> I've seen some pretty extreme stuff on r/the_donald as well, I'm quite frankly surprised that that one isn't already gone tbh. I'm all for the free dispersal of ideas, but if those ideas are blatant falsehoods or done in a way that encourages harm to another group or individual then there also need to be repercussions, which are well within the right of Reddit to dish out and other than the typical attention-hogging whining that the recipients virtually always give I don't see it having a perceptible long-term negative effect on the site as a whole


And like I said before, I never said that it would have any negative effects at all. I said that if they get "ban-happy", they were "allowed to fail".


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## Hanafuda (Sep 13, 2018)

I'm sure it was a freakshow, but a lot of reddit is. I'm never a big fan of policing or suppressing speech, even if they have the right as a private entity to do so. Just one of those "First they came for the ______, and I did not care because I am not a _______" type things.


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## Joe88 (Sep 13, 2018)

When you have to ban a LARP...


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## TotalInsanity4 (Sep 13, 2018)

Attacker3 said:


> And like I said before, I never said that it would have any negative effects at all. I said that if they get "ban-happy", they were "allowed to fail".


Which is what I responded to.


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## Attacker3 (Sep 13, 2018)

Joe88 said:


> When you have to ban a LARP...


Yeah it's very weird. Who knows, they might have been onto something, but who knows?


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## Xzi (Sep 13, 2018)

Joe88 said:


> When you have to ban a LARP...


I guess if they were LARPing as angry baby boomers posting death threats and/or "role playing" as pedophiles, sure.  Still not at all surprising that that kind of content gets you banned, is it?


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## Attacker3 (Sep 13, 2018)

Xzi said:


> I guess if they were LARPing as angry baby boomers posting death threats and/or "role playing" as pedophiles, sure.  Still not at all surprising that that kind of content gets you banned, is it?


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## Xzi (Sep 13, 2018)

Attacker3 said:


> Snip


You're free to browse the content yourself, I'm sure it's archived somewhere.  The death threats toward political figures they disliked were near-constant, that's for certain.


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## Attacker3 (Sep 13, 2018)

Xzi said:


> You're free to browse the content yourself, I'm sure it's archived somewhere.  The death threats toward political figures they disliked were near-constant, that's for certain.


Burden of proof is on you, buddy.


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## Xzi (Sep 13, 2018)

Attacker3 said:


> Burden of proof is on you, buddy.


It really isn't.  Since they were banned for violations of the rules (which include those regarding inciting violence and child pornography), the burden of proof is on you to show they didn't break the rules.  I'm just reporting what I saw while the sub was still active.


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## FAST6191 (Sep 13, 2018)

At first they positioned themselves as something of the forum to the internet. I am loathe to grant any one company that position (even poor old usenet has been a bit gutted now giganews and astraweb more or less control it). I mostly ignored them* as they seemed functionally the same as slashdot, digg, fark and a billion meta aggregator + discussion things that came before.

*I think I would have recognised the name but it was probably not until the following that it actually blossomed into anything


It would continue to do nothing for me and as I would never run across it from a simple search then its mindshare for me never grew (naturally I have no account). However I did notice a few people pointing people at it almost as a service when they were not inclined to run their own forum.

Then came the spurious bans, seemingly in line with the mentality, ethos and purported morality most of the other California tech firms (one I frequently find to be illogical, self contradicting and generally wrong on so many levels, made all the more aggravating by the positions they had as a jumping off point as ones I enjoy**). If you are doing the private company bit then so be it, however it instantly changes you from service provider to content source if not in a legal sense (though probably actually that as well) but certainly in a moral or intellectual one. They then become just another company and as disposable as any software only tech firm.

**somehow I ended up with the 90s and early 2000s hacker mentality. Information is good stuff and stifling its flow and attempting to control things ain't cool. A lot of the drivers of said companies seem to have started off the same way which makes this all the more jarring.


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## dimmidice (Sep 13, 2018)

Excellent.



FAST6191 said:


> Snip



I feel like this is more about Reddit rather than them banning Qanon subs.


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## Clydefrosch (Sep 13, 2018)

good. social media websites have to break this shit up whenever and wherever they can.

crazy crap like this would've never been able to form 30 years ago, not in this size and so 'coherently' at least. and it's so dangerous.
same with the incels and other crazy, often trump related groups. break them appart, make it so they cant constantly tell each other they're right and they might even normalize again.


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## FAST6191 (Sep 13, 2018)

Clydefrosch said:


> good. social media websites have to break this shit up whenever and wherever they can.
> 
> crazy crap like this would've never been able to form 30 years ago, not in this size and so 'coherently' at least. and it's so dangerous.
> same with the incels and other crazy, often trump related groups. break them appart, make it so they cant constantly tell each other they're right and they might even normalize again.



While the internet poses an interesting thing to think about vis a vis effectiveness and the ability to reach an audience more easily* the trouble for me comes in figuring out where to draw lines. I look out and see stuff like what black lives matter or antifa have become and how violent shitheads are overrepresenting within it and have to wonder.

*there have been loads of "undergound" movements for decades with elements I would rather not have dictating the tempo. The idea that such things would not have been able to form is laughable to me. If you want a nice local example Baader-Meinhof probably fulfils that.

Also as the saying goes sunlight is a wonderful disinfectant.


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## Ev1l0rd (Sep 13, 2018)

Took them long anough.

Repeat after me: Nazis are bad people and shouldn't get a platform.

Can't wait for them to go after t_d but thats not ever gonna happen I fear, as much as I would rejoice at the thought.


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## Deleted User (Sep 13, 2018)

Good riddance. What a bunch of loonies.


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## FAST6191 (Sep 13, 2018)

Ev1l0rd said:


> Took them long anough.
> 
> Repeat after me: Nazis are bad people and shouldn't get a platform.



Tricky. While I can't say I have ever found their ideology in any way appealing or useful to deny someone the chance to speak is a very different matter. Allowing someone to spew utter bollocks gets them laughed at (if you want a mantra then sunlight, wonderful disinfectant), suppressing them runs the risk of making them think like they are onto something and giving their thoughts some allure to people.


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## Ev1l0rd (Sep 13, 2018)

TotalInsanity4 said:


> I've seen some pretty extreme stuff on r/the_donald as well, I'm quite frankly surprised that that one isn't already gone tbh. I'm all for the free dispersal of ideas, but if those ideas are blatant falsehoods or done in a way that encourages harm to another group or individual then there also need to be repercussions, which are well within the right of Reddit to dish out and other than the typical attention-hogging whining that the recipients virtually always give I don't see it having a perceptible long-term negative effect on the site as a whole


Spez has said he's okay with the_donald a while ago (Vox article on the matter). It's pretty much the one subreddit that I doubt they'll ever purge (probably out of fear for it looking political since it supports everyone's favorite turd, Donnie, with a cult like mentality) which effectively makes it a safe heaven for most communities that got purged (I recall t_d inviting incels to their subreddit back when r/incels got banned) for breaking subreddit rules.


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## slaphappygamer (Sep 13, 2018)

Veho said:


> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon


Just read the page, since I know nothing about it. Trump must be a believer since he allowed “a major qanon promoter” a photo op in the Oval Office. What a nut......unless you know Wikipedia is fake. I don’t think it’s right for reditt to moderate this way. Everyone should have the freedom to speak/type what they want. Guess they will have to go elsewhere.


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## Chary (Sep 13, 2018)

I mean, on one hand, that's kinda lame to just wrap up and ban a whole subreddit from having a voice. Ooooon the other hand, though, seems like a bunch of nutjobs. Yikes.


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## Clydefrosch (Sep 13, 2018)

FAST6191 said:


> While the internet poses an interesting thing to think about vis a vis effectiveness and the ability to reach an audience more easily* the trouble for me comes in figuring out where to draw lines. I look out and see stuff like what black lives matter or antifa have become and how violent shitheads are overrepresenting within it and have to wonder.
> 
> *there have been loads of "undergound" movements for decades with elements I would rather not have dictating the tempo. The idea that such things would not have been able to form is laughable to me. If you want a nice local example Baader-Meinhof probably fulfils that.
> 
> Also as the saying goes sunlight is a wonderful disinfectant.



is this actually what happens, or just what certain groups constantly portrait such groups as?
because no matter what metric you check, blm and antifa, even together, barely scratch the level of violence, attacks and open murder of the far rights.
i would very much doubt the image fox news and breitbart paint of antifa is in any way close to reality.

the thing about drawing lines is, when there's groups who specifically band together to hate and attack others, you ought to draw the line sooner rather than later.

underground movements of the past were different, in that they were often heavily localized and if they were scrutinized at all, they remained underground where they didn't do as much damage. only few if at all managed to band together on a federal or national level where they were actually dangerous for the bigger picture of society.

if neo nazis can openly recruit and spread their hate in broad daylight, if they can drive cars into counterprotesters and kill them without punishment, sunlight has lost most of its ability to stop these people.
cause they have a president and a whole propaganda station providing protection.


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## Viri (Sep 13, 2018)

Yeah, I'm sure banning the discussion of a conspiracy theory will get rid of it completely, lol. When you ban something like this, you're just going to add fuel to the fire.


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## Clydefrosch (Sep 13, 2018)

Chary said:


> I mean, on one hand, that's kinda lame to just wrap up and ban a whole subreddit from having a voice. Ooooon the other hand, though, seems like a bunch of nutjobs. Yikes.


they still have a voice.
but no one, especially not private corporations, have to offer anyone a platform.


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## Ev1l0rd (Sep 13, 2018)

FAST6191 said:


> Tricky. While I can't say I have ever found their ideology in any way appealing or useful to deny someone the chance to speak is a very different matter. Allowing someone to spew utter bollocks gets them laughed at (if you want a mantra then sunlight, wonderful disinfectant), suppressing them runs the risk of making them think like they are onto something and giving their thoughts some allure to people.


I don't find it complicated at all. Reddit isn't a free speech zone, its just part of the sites mentality (and a large portion of it's userbase) to consider free speech important. It's a privately owned business, ergo if they don't want to support Nazis on their platform, they can silence them away from their platform, because these Nazis do end up submitting content, which means that that which is submitted represents Reddit as a whole to the public (and for them, importantly: how advertisers view them).

It's not like Reddit clones don't exist (such as Voat) that are morally bankrupt enough to permit Nazis, so I'm not too worried about silencing them away from a site like Reddit. They can do it, it's their right to do so, and those that are gone don't pollute a site that I like to use to discuss things on the internet anymore, while also helping fix the image that makes it harder to show Reddit to friends, because you first have to overcome the "Nazis use it with no repercussions" stigma, which is a tough one.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------



Chary said:


> I mean, on one hand, that's kinda lame to just wrap up and ban a whole subreddit from having a voice. Ooooon the other hand, though, seems like a bunch of nutjobs. Yikes.


They can still have their voice, but Reddit does not need to supply them a platform to express said voice. If Reddit chooses not to host them, then that is Reddits own choice. Again, it's not like platforms that are morally bankrupt enough to host them don't exist and otherwise they can set up their own regardless.


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## comput3rus3r (Sep 13, 2018)

Say bye bye to freedom of speech around the world. Welcome the new communist regime AKA political correctness.


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## x65943 (Sep 13, 2018)

Attacker3 said:


> Burden of proof is on you, buddy.


Did you actually read any of their stuff? They literally thought Obama was in Gitmo and that the "man" speaking at McCain's funeral was not Obama, but a hologram/cgi

I don't support banning them, but they were definitely NOT onto something.

In these situations I think 99% of the people are joking, but 1% are just crazy enough to believe it


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## Viri (Sep 13, 2018)

comput3rus3r said:


> Say bye bye to freedom of speech around the world. Welcome the new communist regime AKA political correctness.


Reddit doesn't have to give freedom to speech to anyone. And if you think Reddit has freedom of speech, then LOL! For funzies, go read how their news section reacted to the Pulse nightclub shooting.




x65943 said:


> Did you actually read any of their stuff? They literally thought Obama was in Gitmo and that the "man" speaking at McCain's funeral was not Obama, but a hologram/cgi
> 
> I don't support banning them, but they were definitely NOT onto something.
> 
> In these situations I think 99% of the people are joking, but 1% are just crazy enough to believe it


Awww, those sound funny. I love conspiracy theories.


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## FAST6191 (Sep 13, 2018)

Clydefrosch said:


> is this actually what happens, or just what certain groups constantly portrait such groups as?
> because no matter what metric you check, blm and antifa, even together, barely scratch the level of violence, attacks and open murder of the far rights.
> i would very much doubt the image fox news and breitbart paint of antifa is in any way close to reality.
> 
> ...



Historically have right wing type been some of the bigger cunts outside of places where communism was a thing? Sure. Presently? That is more tricky from where I sit.

The image most news sources paint of anybody is often far from reality. It is a problem, has been since minstrels wandered into town proclaiming the victory of the king over a dragon. Today though there are hours of unedited footage available from the ground if you want to. Endless instigation, heinous shit and other things from any number of people there. Even if it was "infiltrators" then there seems to be remarkably low will from the black clad set to police their shit.

As far as sunlight have you looked into the aftermath of some of the things you reference? No small number of people lost jobs and had lives ruined. So much so it was given as a reason for many not to attend later events, advice from trusted sources within that segment...
Also without punishment? I assume you are referring to the Charlottesville thing. Arrested, charged ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-44645984 ) with serious crimes, detained, case appears to be ongoing ( https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/...esters-White-Nationalist-Rally-487431481.html ). Where do you find no punishment in that?


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## Taleweaver (Sep 13, 2018)

So basically, QAnon is where all those "I was abducted by aliens!!!!!" peeps went after the X-files went off the air. 


I think I've read an article on them, but really...are they really more than a bunch of idiots? Yes, they can incite rage and spread lies, but how are they going to amount to anything? If it wasn't an online thing, I'd be more afraid that they'd hurt each other. I mean...are they even able to hold discussions without people being suspicious? I'm not even joking: how can a group of paranoid people NOT be paranoid toward each other on an anonymous online platform?


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## Joe88 (Sep 13, 2018)

x65943 said:


> Did you actually read any of their stuff? They literally thought Obama was in Gitmo and that the "man" speaking at McCain's funeral was not Obama, but a hologram/cgi
> 
> I don't support banning them, but they were definitely NOT onto something.
> 
> In these situations I think 99% of the people are joking, but 1% are just crazy enough to believe it


I think he meant the "violence" and such or pedophiles which him or the media didn't provide any actual evidence of.
Also why are some people calling them nazis? Were they calling the for the extermination of minority groups or something? Just a bunch of loon stuff as far as I can tell that even goes past your typical alex jones conspiracy rant.

As fast mentioned, all this is going to do it feed into their conspiracy's that they were onto something and were shut down to silence them. They will just move elsewhere though and keep spreading and growing.


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## Viri (Sep 13, 2018)

Joe88 said:


> As fast mentioned, all this is going to do it feed into their conspiracy's that they were onto something and were shut down to silence them. They will just move elsewhere though and keep spreading and growing though.


It won't even end on Reddit, it'll just fuel the fire on Reddit, and make moderation to remove the stuff even harder there. They'll probably end up with more people researching the Q anon stuff on Reddit. 

I bet the very fact that this thread exist, probably caused a few people to actually see wtf the Q anon shit is. My self included.


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## kevin corms (Sep 13, 2018)

KingVamp said:


> I sometimes accidentally end up in r/greatawakening. Didn't pay attention to it that much, but from what I remember, it was just more conspiracy theories nonsense. I didn't know how bad it was. Unfortunately, some people are going to claim it was censorship. In fact, just a quick glance at that site comments, people are taking about it. As if companies aren't allowed to moderate their sites anymore, especially when their rules are broken constantly. Let alone if the content isn't outright breaking the law.


They will use this to say conservatives are being censored...


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## TotalInsanity4 (Sep 13, 2018)

kevin corms said:


> They will use this to say conservatives are being censored...


How is that different from any other day of the week, though


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## Whole lotta love (Sep 13, 2018)

kinda sad cause that shit can be hella funny to go on when you're bored


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## kevin corms (Sep 13, 2018)

TotalInsanity4 said:


> How is that different from any other day of the week, though


Its not, the worst part is Tucker Carlson or someone like that will report it as conservatives being censored and then president Trump will take it seriously.


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## KingVamp (Sep 13, 2018)

I'm pretty sure the "Q" is more than just an online thing, at this point.


Spoiler


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## FAST6191 (Sep 13, 2018)

Maybe they are all big star trek fans.


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## Deleted-401606 (Sep 13, 2018)

Xzi said:


> http://thehill.com/policy/technology/406344-reddit-bans-qanon-subreddit
> 
> Thoughts/opinions?  IMO it's been a long time coming.  I'd rarely wander over to that cesspool but when I did it was all about inciting violence, "researching" child pornography, and an extremely disturbing cult-like mentality.  It's hard to tell exactly how many of the people there were being sincere, but there were plenty who would estrange themselves from their families and then post about it.  All over an inexplicable belief in some internet rando shitting out open-ended conspiracy theories.  Doesn't really seem worth it, especially now.



Unfortunately any community that attracts nerds is going to have some of these types.


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## Xzi (Sep 13, 2018)

Joe88 said:


> I think he meant the "violence" and such or pedophiles which him or the media didn't provide any actual evidence of.
> Also why are some people calling them nazis? Were they calling the for the extermination of minority groups or something? Just a bunch of loon stuff as far as I can tell that even goes past your typical alex jones conspiracy rant.
> 
> As fast mentioned, all this is going to do it feed into their conspiracy's that they were onto something and were shut down to silence them. They will just move elsewhere though and keep spreading and growing.


They've still got The_Donald on Reddit, and that will probably never shut down given how much Spez defends it.  They've posted memes about running over protestors with cars and the like, so about the same degree of unhinged that "Q" subs were.  Then again, I'm not sure, the "Q" people might've been forced to make their own subs if even T_D decided they were too batshit crazy.


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## Ev1l0rd (Sep 13, 2018)

Xzi said:


> if even T_D decided they were too batshit crazy.


There's such a thing as being too harsh for the_donald?


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## Xzi (Sep 13, 2018)

Ev1l0rd said:


> There's such a thing as being too harsh for the_donald?


I guess so.  It's probably more that T_D idolizes Trump and tries to elevate him to something he isn't, while the "Q" crowd pretends it's somebody behind the scenes in the administration who's accomplishing all the things Trump isn't.  There are those that believe Trump _is_ Q, but there's still plenty of infighting that goes on within those communities.

BTW, "Q" more than once slipped up and revealed his identity through screenshots/pictures.  He's nobody important of course, but the followers go on pretending like it never happened.


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