Archived Auto reject posts containing that "Downvoting is censorship" copypasta? (ideasforvoat)
submitted ago by ketsuban
Posted by: ketsuban
Posting time: 5.4 years ago on
Last edit time: never edited.
Archived on: 2/12/2017 1:51:00 AM
Views: 447
SCP: 22
22 upvotes, 0 downvotes (100% upvoted it)
Archived Auto reject posts containing that "Downvoting is censorship" copypasta? (ideasforvoat)
submitted ago by ketsuban
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[–] Chih 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I'm worried if this would turns into an arms race, of sorts. Ban this wall of text (how? will come back to that...), it will get changed slightly. Ban v2, there will be v3, etc.
So ban the accounts that do it? They make new ones. Ban IPs? That could be problematic for people who share connections (not just households, I'm thinking universities...)
And with the initial restriction of downvoats, new people like me essentially count on older users to use their downvoats to clean up spam. And back to the first point, how do you ban a wall of text? Do you check each new post to see if it's a copy (then check for v2, v3, etc... that's gonna eat up resources), or do you focus on post structure and a handful of keywords (which would open the possibility of false positive bans, not good for a site that values freedom above all)?
I'm no expert, but I can't think of any way to make this feasible without unintended consequences. I mean, you could try to temp-ban people who get too many downvoats, but that would be abused. You could consider letting anyone downvoat a post once it hit a certain threshold (-10? -15?), but that also would be gamed over time. Apply selective pressure to spammers, they will evolve to flourish in a new paradigm. Apply widespread pressure, and regular users will shoulder the burden as well, and lessen the idea of a community free of meddling.
In the end, that copypasta is the Westboro Church of Voat. It's here, it's going to continue to be an annoyance. It will trick new users into thinking there is a controversy where there is none. And all the average user can do is hide their hollow protest from site with their downvoats. Me personally, I write it off as the 'cost of business' of being on the internet, along with pun threads and rickrolls.
[–] ketsuban [S] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
You have a good point. It would be very difficult to enforce.
I have a feeling that at least, if there is a filter that says "contains these words in this order" (in an undisclosed way as to make them guess) in the fashion of the copypasta, that they might at least write new copypasta. New copypasta would at least be more amusing to read.
[–] Chih ago (edited ago)
I definitely agree :D