I was ready to be on board with this just because Gawker is such a mess, but anyone that follows r/SubredditDrama knows of Violentacruz and r/creepshots just shouldn't exist. I find it surprising that Reddit moderators are going so far as to do this for the sake of someone that is putting hundreds, if not thousands, of women at risk of being stalked or otherwise victimized by the type of people that think there's nothing wrong with posting pictures them to gawk at or make fun of. I really wanted a site like Reddit to work and be able to function without too much politics or this kind of childish crap, but this is really taking the cake and encouraging me to build out another alternative.
There was a great discussion on the implications a subreddit like r/creepshots can have on r/TwoXChromosomes last week. I haven't visited the site yet today, but I'd imagine they just alienated their entire female userbase (myself included), as if the users of that site didn't do enough of that already.
There aren't really any good players here (Adrian Chen is also a horse's-ass). Anyways, these subreddit moderators are trying to protect their community, regardless of who is being targeted.
For people looking for more background on the drama:
Also note that Saydrah, who appears to be defending him a bit, was a long-time reddit mod (also was an active 2Xer and is pretty pro-women's-rights). She used to be much more active but someone doxed her a couple years ago and found out she was a social-media marketer (including consulting on reddit promotion) and the reddit community turned on her pretty quickly. She was personally harassed and some members of her family were as well. Part of the female community on reddit also turned on her a bit (though not so agressively) when she posed -- in a non-provocative fully-clothed manner -- in the Reddit calendar in 2009.
What is exactly wrong with taking pictures of clothed people on public places without their knowledge? I thought this happens all the damn time. Before the collective PC hysteria I saw /r/creepshots mostly as an oddity. Strange people doing strange things.
If /r/creepshots gets banned it will be just another step towards suppression of completely legal speech, because of emotional hyperventilation that has no basis in reality.
In regards to Violentacrez: Every community has shock jocks. I'm not condoning any of the actions, as that shit truly is creepy on an inhuman scale, but one should understand that without the community support, the guy has nothing.
The ultimate issue is not that an individual like Violentacrez exists, but instead that the community enables it.
I'm in two minds about this, mainly because I have an utter lack of sympathy for both sides.
I'm a regular redditor, and in all honesty I wasn't aware of any of any of this drama- I don't go to any of the creppy, weird subreddits mentioned, and have long since removed /r/politics from my front page. So, "Reddit" isn't readying for anything- just some overly militant subreddits.
Ditto, I've only heard very minor murmurs about this, having unsubscribed from all of the default subreddits save /r/gaming. /r/politics, /r/atheism, etc, are just cesspools of ignorance as bad as the people they lampoon daily.
I'm also having a hard time drumming up sympathy for Gawker - they have consistently and repeatedly proven themselves to be complete unprofessionals, have zero journalistic integrity or credibility, and have some of the worst, borderline libelous "reporting" I've seen on any major blogs.
It's like Violentacres and Gawker are built for each other - morally I'd consider them in the same ballpark.
Violentacrez is a scumbag and the fact that redditors are willing to stand behind him as some sort of show of reddit brotherhood is a large part of the reason why I don't go there much anymore.
0. Violentacrez sure seems to be disgusting, based on his online persona.
1. If you stand for free speech, you are going to be defending assholes and thugs and people who say disgusting things. We don't need free speech for people who emit rainbows. The ACLU defended the KKK's right to march, not because they thought the KKK was a bunch of nice guys or that the KKK would ever return the favor if the ACLU were in trouble.
2. It's more about the doxxing, which seems to be the one legal thing that isn't allowed on reddit. Either they have the policy that doxxing is horrible or they don't.
Anyone who attempts to defend the guy's actions on Reddit is an idiot and it was only a matter of time before someone brought their anger into the real world HOWEVER an individual is one thing, a reputable, established company is a totally different situation.
Sure they are media and sure the media loves a witch hunt but the bottom line is that their actions are threatening and it's blatant blackmail. In my opinion their actions are as disgusting as their targets online activity.
What always worries me is how accurate these dox are? What happens if they wrongly accuse someone? The internet is very unforgiving and it could literally ruin someone's life. They shouldn't be taking vigilante actions like this, especially endorsed by a company like Gawker. Although I disagree with the concept of these subreddits, this should be reported to the police - or worst case confront the users first. There seems to be little indication of this.
These people run multiple subreddits dedicated to ruining lives for sexual gratification and celebrity. I couldn't give less of a crap about what happens to them.
I'm not a fan of Gawker either but as of right now there's no proof provided in the link you posted. While it's possible, it's still just something one guy posted on Reddit.
The name of the company is Gawker. Ruining lives is how they make their money. Their most famous article is by an intern who went on a date with a guy and then publicly ruthlessly mocked him for having different (prosaic) hobbies from her.
I am also a redditor and some of the subreddits are a really high-quality communities. What I don't understand is, why the reddit owners allow even the most disgusting and inhumane stuff to be posted, as long as it isn't illegal.
I am not sure if it is just because of the personal preference of the owners, or they do not want to waste time with enforcing at least basic civility, or is it some inherent part of the reddit's success that anything not illegal is allowed to be posted there?
It is actually an interesting moral question: Is someone allowed to publicly deanonymize someone else?
I was confused because I thought violentacrez was some how related to the now-defunct mommy-blogger-hating blog http://www.violentacres.com/
Just a coincidence, I guess.
And that just goes to show you the danger of writing anonymously on the Internet, the next person to use the same nickname as you might be a drama-causing pedo.
Does anyone know if there's some source for "violent acres / violet acres" that they're both riffing off of?
That was the start. One really weird thing at the beginning was that reddit loved the story (probably made up) of violentacres purposefully causing a car crash, but in other threads with different contexts, they would consider people purposefully causing a car crash as completely bad, no other information required.
[+] [-] mnicole|13 years ago|reply
There was a great discussion on the implications a subreddit like r/creepshots can have on r/TwoXChromosomes last week. I haven't visited the site yet today, but I'd imagine they just alienated their entire female userbase (myself included), as if the users of that site didn't do enough of that already.
Edit: Can I get explanations for the downvotes?
[+] [-] naner|13 years ago|reply
For people looking for more background on the drama:
http://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/118qdg/the_r...
Also note that Saydrah, who appears to be defending him a bit, was a long-time reddit mod (also was an active 2Xer and is pretty pro-women's-rights). She used to be much more active but someone doxed her a couple years ago and found out she was a social-media marketer (including consulting on reddit promotion) and the reddit community turned on her pretty quickly. She was personally harassed and some members of her family were as well. Part of the female community on reddit also turned on her a bit (though not so agressively) when she posed -- in a non-provocative fully-clothed manner -- in the Reddit calendar in 2009.
http://reddithistory.wikia.com/wiki/Saydrah
http://www.reddit.com/r/InternetAMA/comments/11au8g/iama_say...
I got a little off track there but reddit has a pretty rich history with a wild cast of characters. Quite the soap opera.
Needless to say: Violentacerz isn't as one-dimensional as everyone assumes either, but he did do most of the things you've heard about.
[+] [-] 127|13 years ago|reply
If /r/creepshots gets banned it will be just another step towards suppression of completely legal speech, because of emotional hyperventilation that has no basis in reality.
[+] [-] fein|13 years ago|reply
The ultimate issue is not that an individual like Violentacrez exists, but instead that the community enables it.
> me to build out another alternative.
you could also just fork reddit: https://github.com/reddit/reddit
[+] [-] rjh29|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] untog|13 years ago|reply
I'm a regular redditor, and in all honesty I wasn't aware of any of any of this drama- I don't go to any of the creppy, weird subreddits mentioned, and have long since removed /r/politics from my front page. So, "Reddit" isn't readying for anything- just some overly militant subreddits.
[+] [-] potatolicious|13 years ago|reply
I'm also having a hard time drumming up sympathy for Gawker - they have consistently and repeatedly proven themselves to be complete unprofessionals, have zero journalistic integrity or credibility, and have some of the worst, borderline libelous "reporting" I've seen on any major blogs.
It's like Violentacres and Gawker are built for each other - morally I'd consider them in the same ballpark.
[+] [-] omgsean|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] danielweber|13 years ago|reply
1. If you stand for free speech, you are going to be defending assholes and thugs and people who say disgusting things. We don't need free speech for people who emit rainbows. The ACLU defended the KKK's right to march, not because they thought the KKK was a bunch of nice guys or that the KKK would ever return the favor if the ACLU were in trouble.
2. It's more about the doxxing, which seems to be the one legal thing that isn't allowed on reddit. Either they have the policy that doxxing is horrible or they don't.
[+] [-] Peroni|13 years ago|reply
Sure they are media and sure the media loves a witch hunt but the bottom line is that their actions are threatening and it's blatant blackmail. In my opinion their actions are as disgusting as their targets online activity.
[+] [-] thedrbrian|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] HyprMusic|13 years ago|reply
Take a look here, someone has already apparently been attacked because of these: http://www.reddit.com/r/CreepSquad/comments/11b39y/modpost_l...
Gawker has proved time & time again that it is a vile, ruthless company, I really wish this is an internet-wide ban.
[+] [-] rmrfrmrf|13 years ago|reply
Concern troll red flag.
These people run multiple subreddits dedicated to ruining lives for sexual gratification and celebrity. I couldn't give less of a crap about what happens to them.
[+] [-] saryant|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Evbn|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] peto123|13 years ago|reply
I am not sure if it is just because of the personal preference of the owners, or they do not want to waste time with enforcing at least basic civility, or is it some inherent part of the reddit's success that anything not illegal is allowed to be posted there?
It is actually an interesting moral question: Is someone allowed to publicly deanonymize someone else?
[+] [-] engtech|13 years ago|reply
Just a coincidence, I guess.
And that just goes to show you the danger of writing anonymously on the Internet, the next person to use the same nickname as you might be a drama-causing pedo.
Does anyone know if there's some source for "violent acres / violet acres" that they're both riffing off of?
[+] [-] danielweber|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] citricsquid|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jasveer|13 years ago|reply
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