Reddit banned all "QAnon" subs today

[Xzi]

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.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

So uh

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

 

[Veho]

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.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

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

 

[nando]

they should be put in prison

 

[KingVamp]

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.

 

[Xzi]

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.

 

[AkikoKumagara]

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

 

[Attacker3]

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.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

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

 

[Attacker3]

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.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

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.

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

 

[Attacker3]

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".

 

[Hanafuda]

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.

 

[Joe88]

When you have to ban a LARP...

 

[TotalInsanity4]

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.

 

[Attacker3]

When you have to ban a LARP...

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

 

[Xzi]

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?

 

[Attacker3]

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?

 

[Xzi]

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.