Unable to load image

Bard spotting on Bluesky 17 October 2024 :marseyrandom:

Here we spot wild Bardfinn Bluesky activities.

Be valid and ping ! bardfinn for something worthwhile or create a new thread.

1
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

For the people who want the details:

I'm Penny Oaken; I have helped run /r/AgainstHateSubreddits since 2019. In 2020 we succeeded in getting Reddit to adopt a sitewide policy against hate speech, banning 4,000+ subreddits & 40,000+ user accounts in 2020.


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

We also pushed hard for a Moderator Code of Conduct that holds subreddit operators responsible for the uses their subreddits are put to by users.

In the past 365 days, Reddit has banned 200 subreddits as hate subreddits, 100 june-December 2023, ~100 January-June 2024.


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

That's the stable long tail โ€” AHS & Reddit's policy against hate speech are proof that social media can counter & prevent hate speech, and preventing hate speech has an effect of reducing violent organization & harassment.

That makes AHS the most successful protest movement ever on Reddit.


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

Lots of lessons learned along the way include :

Denying hate groups & trolls the Oxygen of Amplification

datasociety.net/library/oxyg...

BlueSky's "Nuclear Block" feature works for this purpose.

We don't dunk on or entertain bigots. They get their fuel supply choked off by the block.

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:jagldyome3h27twtp46nxen7/bafkreif5pzfc6t5twxex64znq7xfnpavswewlj4j2wr7nczzjwysn3jl4q@jpeg

The Oxygen of Amplification


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

My specific field of expertise is White Identity Extremism- i.e., neoNazis. For years before I joined AHS, I infiltrated neonazi groups on Reddit - sometimes by long, hard work, and sometimes by sheer luck.


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

I discovered (by luck) in 2017 that the people running /r/The_Donald were conspiring with the people running /r/CringeAnarchy, /r/MetaCanada, and many other hate groups on Reddit to harass anti-racist subreddit moderators off the platform.

The takeaway there is that /r/The_Donald was run by neoNazis


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

The people running /r/the_donald, CringeAnarchy, etc were also setting up and promoting Unite The Right in Charlottesville, were hosting ISIS propaganda videos & the Christchurch shooter's vid on /r/WatchPeopleDie, etc

They're Domestic Violent Extremists


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

So along the way I've also picked up the White House Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism

www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

And the final entry to this thread, the methodology I use to qualify my blocklists -

The Abusive Language Occurrences Ontology from Zeinert et al., (2021)

www.derczynski.com/papers/annot...


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

The ontology boils down to

  • is the speech abusive

  • is the abusive speech targeting someone (else)

  • is the abusive speech targeting someone else for abuse based on that target's group / inherent or perceived identity or demography


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

At least one of my blocklists, Carnival Barkers, is premised on the broadest possible reading of this ontology, and inspired by the real Twitter example of Boogie2988, who refused basic virtual hygiene and so had the effect of focusing 3rd party harassment on anyone he engaged with


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

You should probably not subscribe to Carnival Barkers. The rest of the lists are well characterised and their ontologies proven by time and effect)


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

Don't want to see Bitcoin or cryptocurrency hawkers / promoters? Neither do I.

bsky.app/profile/did:...


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

Don't want to see astroturfing sockpuppets, block evaders, people who violate boundaries and can't respect "No"? Neither do I

bsky.app/profile/did:...


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

Sometimes Nazis & White Identity Extremists slip past BlueSky Trust & Safety. We don't wonder "Why?", we just report them and throw them on the blocklists

bsky.app/profile/did:...


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

People who circumvent blocks? People who can't take the hint? People who feel entitled to a captive audience?

I don't like them. No one is entitled to your time and attention.

bsky.app/profile/did:...


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

People who patronise the targets / victims of hateful oppression and bigotry? The folks who like to tell protestors against genocide to shut up?

Don't like 'em.

bsky.app/profile/did:...


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

The rest of the lists are specific evils worth blocking by everyone, but members of certain groups will immediately recognise the names or parameters. They're not worth diving into.


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

HERE IS THE AWESOME PART

Anyone can make a blocklist

And the decentralised aspect means that layered moderation here is immune to government / billionaires / hackers leveraging power or privilege to shut it down


Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

If one person's account & their blocklists falls, if one hosting server falls, it doesn't break things for everyone else

Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Ms. Penny ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿง™โ™€๏ธ Oaken (@skywitches.net):

aclanthology.org/2021.acl-lon...

Alternate host for Zeinert et al (2011) since the link above is 403

Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Link copied to clipboard
Action successful!
Error, please refresh the page and try again.