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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be THRILLED that Reddit has banned the terrible subreddit Fat People Hate?

35 replies

MrsNextDoor · 15/06/2015 11:11

I posted about it a couple of weeks ago asking on here if I WBU to think that it should not be allowed.

Most people on MN felt I was BU as people should be free to give their opinions.

HOwever even Reddit...renowned for it's dark corners...has decided that r/FatPeopleHate is too much and has BANNED IT!! Reddit says they can't allow the harassment of individuals.

Ha! It was a disgusting sub. There are still others...mean, racist and disgusting...but this is a start at least.

OP posts:
NomiMalone · 15/06/2015 11:16

YABU.

Banning r/FPH while subreddits like r/cutefemalecorpses, r/sexyabortions and /coontown still exist is laughable.

Ellen Pao has bowed to the pressure from the pro-fat brigade and has shown herself to be a ridiculous hypocrite.

Original poster
MrsNextDoor · 15/06/2015 11:17

Yes. But it's a start surely? They need to be pressured.

OP posts:
IsItStupid · 15/06/2015 11:18

YANBU to hold your opinion.

But personally I don't think it has solved the problem. The reddit clone voat now has over 8000 subscribers to it's fat people hate (link if you want proof) and is growing.

A lot of people have jumped ship to other sites.

I never frequented fat people hate and indeed thought it was awful but I don't think banning it has really helped as it has just raised the ire of over 150 000 users who then spammed the rest of reddit. You may not have noticed on the front page due to heavy censorship in the past few days but r/all revealed a lot.

NomiMalone · 15/06/2015 11:19

Who needs to be pressured?

You either support free speech or you don't. It's not a smorgasbord you can pick and choose from.

I'm not surprised a subreddits like FPH became so quickly popular. There are a lot of people out there sick of seeing deluded pro-obesity crap everywhere.

Original poster
MrsNextDoor · 15/06/2015 11:20

Nomi but sub reddits which are openly praising rape, death of fat people, racist hate...that's NOT free speech it's hate speech.

OP posts:
Original poster
MrsNextDoor · 15/06/2015 11:21

AND whilst I don't subscribe to pro-obesity neither do I think it helpful or NORMAL to post daily about obese people and how you'd like to kill them or to take secret pictures of people as they go about their business and humiliate them.

OP posts:
IsItStupid · 15/06/2015 11:23

Although r/fatpeoplehate was not banned because it was hating on fat people. It was banned because they could trace personal harassment of fat people back to the sub (i.e. people were identifying the "fatties" pictures and harassing them and their families).

So I can support that ban for that reason.

However the way reddit has portrayed the ban (as censorship as opposed to preventing harassment) has left it wide open to criticism, particularly for it's uneven and hypocritical approach.

IsItStupid · 15/06/2015 11:23

"secret pictures of people as they go about their business and humiliate them."

Agree that it is wrong to do that. But surely no different to millions of other websites and gossip magazines?

Fugghetaboutit · 15/06/2015 11:25

It's mostly men praising those things, right?

FarFromAnyRoad · 15/06/2015 11:26

Seems a bit silly to me. Banning it gives it more publicity and also creates a vacancy. Banning doesn't change minds or opinions by the way OP.

LazyLouLou · 15/06/2015 11:35

I think this may be one of those times when I am happiest not knowing what the hell the OP title meant. Reddit? subs?

It sounds as though I have missed being aware of some nasty shite.

Ignorance is indeed bliss!

lucysnowe · 15/06/2015 11:45

Nomi, r/fatlogic is still there for all your anti-HAES needs although it can be a bit LOL fat person too.

YANBU OP but there is so much dross on reddit (as well as the good stuff). Even the main subs are full of rubbish upvoted by menrights/stormfront twats. Pao is going to have to do a massive clean out before its reputation changes.

PennilynLott · 15/06/2015 11:53

I know I'm spoilt by mumsnet, but every time I look at reddit I'm shocked by how MRA it is.

IsItStupid · 15/06/2015 12:01

Pennilyn I know! I have my subs carefully set but every so often I venture out and always return shaking my head. I've read some crackers on there which put anything I've ever said carelessly to shame.

LongDistanceLove · 15/06/2015 12:04

Problem is, is that it will drive it somewhere else, it doesn't fix the problem.

3.1 billion people all over the world have some form of Internet access. A proportion of those people will be complete cunts, illegal activity of course should be stopped. But shutting down the sub reddits just brings exposure to them and enables them to pop up elsewhere.

LatriceRoyale · 15/06/2015 13:11

I'm completely stunned. Never used reddit before and made the mistake of googling the topics listed above. What the hell is wrong with people? That's some horrific material.

billyokey · 15/06/2015 13:34

YABU to be 'thrilled' by the erosion of free speech and the rise of censorship on the internet. The difference with a subreddit like FPH is that none forces you to go there, look at the content, contribute (I personally never have) so whilst people have the freedom to disengage from any content they find offence, people should also have the freedom to post whatever legal content they want to

Mamus · 15/06/2015 14:12

...blah blah free speech censorship oh noes people won't let me be abusive about others wherever and whenever I please Confused

YANBU, OP.

billyokey · 15/06/2015 14:15

Yes because free speech is all about being abusive....

DoughDoe · 15/06/2015 14:27

I think they need to work out what they are. Either they remove nasty sites or they don't. They can't just arbitrarily say 'fat hate is bad' but 'black hate is fine' and 'rape and anti-female violence is ok'.

Original poster
MrsNextDoor · 15/06/2015 16:47

Dough you're right of course. I think part of the issue is that whilst Reddit has long been a very popular site, for a long time it was mainly used by young white men. So it had/has an imbalance of sexism and other "Isms".

It's exploded due to it's sometimes excellent content...people...like me...middle aged woman...like it for the newsy areas and the interesting discussions....there are some excellent subs.

OP posts:
lucysnowe · 15/06/2015 16:51

I am glad to read their are some mumsnetters on reddit!

Yes it is mainly young white men still I think, and then you get the hate groups deliberately upvoting stuff, as I said, which is pretty horribly designed to poison their minds. And then you get all the kind of rotten.com stuff which is nasty but pretty juvenile (but again, probably promoted by the hate groups).

reddit is OBSESSED with the idea of free speech as some kind of noble aim when really it is being miffed when the moderators crack down on racism, sexism etc.

Original poster
MrsNextDoor · 15/06/2015 17:20

Lucy ooh. We need a Nest of vipers sub don't we!!

OP posts:
Alyosha · 15/06/2015 17:26

FPH was banned because they were harassing people off the site. The other incredibly offensive subs have remained because they don't harass people off Reddit.

ggggllll · 15/06/2015 17:27

I disapprove of probably about 90% of stuff on Reddit, so I avoid that stuff.

I am very happy that all the porn fans, atheists, dope smokers, fattists, thinists, pro-abortion campaigners and so on don't have their stuff taken away because I disapprove of it - it wouldn't thrill me if they did, it would sicken me.